I love cutting gemstones, and what could be more perfect than faceting during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus? What I don’t love is attempting to correctly price colored stones. Trying to make competitive comparisons from the Internet is hopeless. I have taken a nice Tanzanite that I cut, and compared it to stones that are basically the same size, and from the pictures provided, the appearance seems virtually the same, and one site on the Internet will be selling that stone for $50 while the next site is selling it for $500, and a third site is asking $5000.
Pricing guidelines such as the ones given on this site have such a broad price range that I wasn’t being helped out by that either. I understand that this is a result of all the variables that have to be considered. I decided I needed to use a more scientific approach in identifying some of those variables.
With that in mind, I subscribed to Gem World International for access to their price guidelines, but those are useless without proper grading, so I spent almost $500 for their World Of Color, color grading system. Using the materials and information provided I have determined what I think is the correct grade for some stones based on color, clarity, cut and polish, etc…
After that I could use the grade to refer to their pricing guide which is updated every two weeks, and come up with a recommended wholesale, or retail price for a particular stone.
I always knew that color was important, but I was shocked at how dramatically the price was affected by the tone and intensity of the color. Anyway, my reason for this post is because now that I have establish what I believe is the correct price for some of the stones, I need to find out how I did. I think the only way to do that is to hire a professional appraiser and have them evaluate the same stones. If the prices I came up with are vastly different than what a professional appraiser comes up with, then I’m back to square one and I need to learn a lot more.
I don’t need any paperwork for an insurance company, or certification of any kind. I just need an expert opinion on the true value of these stones. Depending on the cost, I have 15 to 20 stones I would like to have appraised. They include Tanzanite, pink tourmaline, Chrome tourmaline sapphires, emerald, ruby, spinel, and a few others.
Can anyone recommend a good appraiser that might want to take on this sort of task at a reasonable price? I am located in the Coachella Valley area of Southern California.
Thanks for any assistance, or advice.
Larry