Hi all,
I am just wondering where most of you who also cut gems as a profession or hobby purchase quality facet grade gem rough. I am looking for honest sellers who understand what facet grade means.
I have purchased from a number of reputable sellers (Milstead, Joe Henry, John Garsow, and New Era, to name a few), but also want to check other possible sources as well.
Thanks
Larry
If you are confident in your ability to identify facet rough via photo, you can shop here: Rough Raw Gemstones For Sale | Gem Rock Auctions
The USFG keeps a list of rough dealers. Most of these are “boutique” dealers who deal in select facet rough by the piece at high prices, but they carry very good quality rough and will take returns on unaltered rough. You can do a lot better pricewise with parcel dealers and in-country sellers on line, but these are often variable quality parcels with wildly varying prices and little in the way of return privileges (mostly only exchange for other rough) and difficultly shipping items back anyway. That said, if you know what you are doing, these dealers will often have what you want at a much better price. Your dream would be to find a widow or widower with a substantial horde of facet rough to dispose of and very little idea of how to do that, so plug into your local rock club to learn of such sales, which are infrequent. The USFG Faceter’s Symposiums at Tucson in February and Franklin, NC in July are good sources of rough, with several very good dealers attending each. The collateral shows in Franklin, NC (and other local rock shows) will also have some dealers from Africa showing up with variable quality rough which you will have to pick thru and occasional lapidary dealers with an odd shoebox of rough they will bring out if asked. Also check with Farooq Hashmi and his cousin Amir Hashmi, who always have quality rough. -royjohn
Check out: eurekaeureka.etsy.com Some rough listed, but huge amounts available that are not listed, a complete list can be obtained by contacting shop owner
Thanks!
hi all I love this convocation as this is one I think gets over looked way to often.
it is becoming exindingly difficult to finde good facet grade rough in A B or C grades as materials begin to shrink in size, over the past 12 years I have seen a heavy decline in seizable gems even in the more common gem types. I attribute that to no new elevations in the sector, as there are so many new manufactured goods that of large and perfect quality. The genuine articles can not keep up! the other day I came across a parcel of gems that had very convincing citrine and amethyst gems so convincing that I almost made the mistake of thinking that it could have bin a new find or a different gem type but after an RI test I got to the bottom of it, 
hydrothermal glass with some of the real thing in powdered forum thrown in to the chemical mixture. Not to mention some of the synthetic garnets that are being made now that are no different to their genuine counterparts.
I think that it is a very very important to go and view what you are trying to perches! as a lot of synthetic materials are now grown just as there real thing and it can be hard to determine via online picture and videos.
it is always best to see what you are buying or to work with a reputable source that are trustworthy and that you can go back to if there is ever any problem.
We supply cut gems swell as rough in large quntatys but will only do so if the buyer comes to view first due to all the problems that could arise, We have even set up facility’s to house our overseas guests whilst processes are under way because it can be a timely process.
as gems becomes rerar and more impossible to find in large sizes, its the best thing to do as a lapidaries is to stock pile if you can fined materials if you are able to financially do so.
the market has taken a bit of a dip world wide du to hi cost of living everywhere! and the demand for luxury items have dipped in sales and not to many people are seeing the value in natural gems at the moment, because no one is pouting it out there it is no fast rollover it is a long wait but extremely viable given the right turnaround times and appropriations!
gems will only grow in there rarity du to the fact that they are not being as actively sought after as before! however there are some of the bigger names that are still being actively sought out, Ruby Emerald and Sapphire also Alexandrite here in Africa. here we have an abundance of rough materials but no buyers active except for some collectors and noveists as a result there is a lot of cheap hi end materials around if you know who to speak to around here lol.
the market will eventually pick up a gain it is inevitable this has happened many times when there is mass unrest or financial destress from things like war world wide epidemics.
In the last 5 years we as a world wide sepses have had both and more the last time that happened was world war2. I am positive in thinking so I would say that the worst is almost over.
But to answer the actual question I would say do a visit to Sri Lanka or South Africa if that is to costly ask at your local gem shops or gem groups.
Best regards Jarryed.