In recent years, many traditional investments like currencies (Notes), Digital Currency(bitcoin) , and properties have experienced significant depreciation. In contrast, certain gemstones, especially sapphire, ruby, opal, and alexandrite, have consistently maintained or increased in value, demonstrating their strength as tangible assets. This resilience positions them as powerful and safe investments.
To share this stable investment opportunity globally, I propose establishing a robust selling platform. By creating a secure and user-friendly online marketplace, we can educate potential investors on the benefits of gemstone investments and engage a worldwide audience. By incorporating resources on their historical value performance and collaborating with international gemstone experts, we can ensure informed decision-making. Furthermore, emphasizing responsible sourcing and ethical selling practices will reinforce consumer trust and commitment to sustainability.
I’m eager to discuss how we can collaborate on this promising initiative to offer a secure investment option and enhance global economic security.
First, change the Tax Law so that gemstone price appreciation is taxed as a Capital gain.
Second, keep good reords.
Third, do Not have a Public Market. Keep it more like private transactions as does real estate.
Do NOT include diamonds. They’re crap.
Go to local GEM SHOWS (check online for locations and dates) and ask dealers if they will buy back gems you buy from them for what you paid or the market value of the gems.
Discuss gems as investments with dealers who trade in gems BEFORE deciding to invest.
Gems can be a good investment; selling at a profit instead of building a collection or using in jewelry locks up cash that can be put into growing investments unless discretionary income is sufficient to invest in assets that can be liquidated when and as/if needed to a willing buyer.
This is a new venue for us. We have owned a collection of spinels since 1979, and never thought they were worth anything. They were bought by our sellers from a woman in Seattle, and we were told this collection came from a refugee in Cambodia. That country is not a source of spinels and they are probably from Myanmar/Burma. Since spinels are getting more valuable, we want to sell now. We are in our 80s and are loooking for advice. Or collection is 83 stones, averagen cwt is 4.8 cwt. As you can see, and as we have been told, we are the unwitting owners of a collection that is unique,. We do have interest from big name auction houses,but I still think we could do better by ourselves. I hope you can help us here.
this is the only part thaw would not work. gems have bin around lot longer than diamonds and in appropriation way longer to establish a tax on them. It would have to be a global scale effort as they hail from all over the globe, that means that a grand international agreement on a global scale would have to take place, and then you would have the issue with back tax on gems for over 200 years old hahahahah. It would take 10 life times to do or even implement the foot print plan properly. that would collapse the industry totally, before a massive global reset could take place and then a set of legal parameters would have to be established and lined out for preowned and vintage gems! the cost would be astronomical. As it is already seen as a luxury Item and already quite costly it is cheaper to do a gem investment portfolio and sit on your values until there is a demand as the industry has always done. To implement a tax profile for the industry would do nothing but esentualy further displace the markets already quiet spirit standing clientele would dissipate and more financial loss for the lower income bracket that reliye on selling personal items all paid off like engagement rings and second hand gold artefacts to get out of a tight spot at times.
To pout it bluntly it would only further collapse an already currently declining market.
what the world has not yet understood or come to terms with is that gems are more voluble than we credit them for. The rear earth elements that we wear with such confidence are also somewhat volatile to the void of time sure it takes longer but they do easily get lost or broken down( du to oxidisation and polarisation…) and will also at some point seas to exist unless they are looked after witch not every one can do today! du to hi costs and replacement in some cases is totally impassable du to cost and or rarity.
from the dark ages to around almost 200 years ago only the hi wealth and Royalty owned such thing, now there is a slight bit more knowledge out there about them. gems where only coveted by the extremely wealthy not just because of there beauty, but also because of there ever growing rarity and forever increasing values, Ruby’s in this instant where around 180 pound per ct back in the late 80’s for your top top stones now they are over 3000 to 12000 ponds in some of your top top stones. personal I think that every one should invest in gems if they can. They where part of the very first origins of currency and bartering, but how to appropriate it to day with all the instant gratification with lab grown and semi synthetics and the nine other variants of cheap manufactured remakes that are always perfect and always way way cheaper till you need to cash out on that investment and it is wealth nothing, unlike real gems that may have gone up as much as 63 to 84% over a 8 to 12 year period.
They tried to do an implementation of this in Africa to see if it could bring in a revenue feed and it lasted a month till they saw the global cost it would take to implement such a tax program.
Hi there OscarG. There are actually 3 different collections avalabill + an unlimited stock of new stuffs that swish our way monthly, So pleas feel free to contact me at any time on WhatsApp my number is
(+27628364146) best regards Jarryed.
I have a serious difficulty dealing with anybody who cannot spell. The same with the other person that has replied to me. It doesn’t give me confidence in your credentials. English is my second language, but I could never be taken seriously, not would I expect to see yout that way either. Let’s just say this conversation never happened. Call me whatever, but some standards still must apply.
I think the main issue with that idea is that, at least in the USA, precious gems (just like gold coins, silver coins, etc.) are regarded as collectibles and, as such, capital gains are taxed at 28%.
This is excellent advice. We are trying to sell a collection of spinels, which we have had since 1979. It consists of 83 stones, with an average gem weight of 4.8, and a total of 398 cwt. Sotheby’s representative hand-carried them to NY and told us to expect huge sums, but then refused them based on our assumption that this collection came from Cambodia. In the meantime, we sought the advice of an accountant, who told us the same thing. You will be able to deduct the cost of the purchase, and reduce that by any costs you have had dealing with the attempted sale, evaluations and other expenses. At the end, yes, you will need to pay that 28% or so rate for a collection.
That is undoubtedly true, and I was advised about that. We are poor enough not to have had to file taxes for the last couple of years, but next year, I will be happy to! We have had these stones since 1979 (crazy, I know), and our costs will be carefully documented. So will our income from selling some of them be included in that calculation (we started with 529 cwt, although we donated some). I am not a person who would object to paying taxes on legitimate profits. 28% shocked me when I was told, but it is what it is. I live my life that way.
The complexities of our tax laws here in the US are challenging to navigate. Reading the tax laws on capital gains, the quoted 28% for “collectables” is a maximum rate, not a “will be” statement. In most cases, it is based on the taxable income for the individual. It could be anywhere from 0 - 20% in most situations. There is also the strategy of offsetting the impact of capital gains with tax-loss harvesting. Unfortunately, there may be a State level capital gains tax as well.
I am not a CPA, so anything I have stated here should be investigated/verified with a licensed accountant.
I am puzzled by the auction house’s behavior when they realized the stones were purchased from Cambodia. Have not found any FTC or international regulation (modern or historical) where gemstones from there, were placed under a trade embargo. The only items under banned/restrictive trade have been archeological artifacts since 1999. Even if the stones originated from Myanmar (Burma), the auction house wouldn’t be at risk, since the only gemstones that have been under an embargo are Rubies and Jade.
Having a small collection of Spinel in both mineral and facetted variety, I have become very interested in this topic. Thank you!
We don’t even know for certain that the stones are from Cambodia, as we have nothing in writing about it —basically just hearsay from a middleman. I suggested that Sotheby’s get one of them tested, and we would pay. They returned the collection instead, saying that they would have to go to outside counsel, which could be prohibitively expensive. I believe the debacle over the Buddha Jewels has a lot to do with their decision. Their compliance chair is new as of this year, according to them.
So, now we are going with Heritage, and the collection will be broken up. And that is OK. I have been working on this for 15 months now, and although it is a disappointment, I will still be involved. I did have withdrawal symptoms when the collection sat at Sotheby’s for 3 1/2 months! The lesser of the gems may be on the market after 10/26. Only two or three are under two cwt. I am 81, and this will probably keep me busy until I am gone!
First, I should have thanked you for the excellent tax advice! Also, it made me wonder what Sotheby’s was doing here. Christies has no such restrictions, because I asked them. Neither does Bonhams nor Heritage.
Gemstones as a safe financial have two problems. One is the finite resource of natural gems versus synthetic gems whose supply can be ramped up as required by the market, or despite it. This should increase the value of natural gems. However, the technical enhancement of the latter as it is now happening does not create confidence in the consumer, particularly if he/she has to seek expensive tests to verify authenticity. The diamond cartel is currently striking back at synthetic diamonds but most customers don’t care because it is, after all, a diamond, and much cheaper. The second problem is that the current sale processes work best on personal trust because of so many rip-offs in the current market places. Trust takes time to build and many gem sellers just want a quick sale with no hassles. It is perhaps ironoc that it has taken the recent synthetic diamonds to wake up the “big guys” to the danger of synthetics in the market place. Alas, too late. They should have said something when cubic zirconia (not even natural zircon by composition) badly confused the marketplace about natural zircon.
The IRS considers ALL collectables as subject to the MAXIMUM 28% LONG TERM CAPITAL GAINS TAX. If your ordinary income tax rate is BELOW 28%, the lower ordinary income rate will apply. These are tax brackets based on your INCOME less qualified dividends, less municipal and state bond income, less long term capital gains on market securities…Real estate is another completely different matter and is taxed by different rules entirely…Precious metals are also taxed at the same rate. Anything including stocks and bonds, bought and sold under 1 year are considered ordinary income and taxed according to your income tax bracket. Long term gains for non collectables including securities (stocks, bonds, ETF’s etc) including cryptocurrency is taxed at 15% for most people. A higher rate of 20% will apply to how much income one has. For married filing jointly the 20% capital gains rate is over 600K per year for INCOME, single filers, it’s $530,770. A 0% applies to single filers with incomes up to $48,350, married joint, $96,700 … These the rates for 2025. The zero rate was the result of tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Prior to the tax cuts, 15% was for all long term gains for market traded securities, except for high income earners. Collectible capital gains rates were left intact. The IRS frowns on collectables.. including precious metals, gemstones, art work, antiques, coins and stamp collections, chinaware, silver flatware, furniture, jewelry, you name it- any personal property that has value can be considered a collectible. Meticulous documentation with sale reciepts for a basis, must be kept if sold at a profit after one year of ownership.. Also beware that transactions involving collectables are treated by the IRS as CASH transactions, whether or not its an exchange or a barter or a sale for cash. The cumulative 1 year amount that must be reported on Form 8300 is 10K per year cumulative. In otherwords, two transactions of 5K each within a year is still reportable as a 10K cash transaction. As an example, suppose you put down a 10K cash downpayment for new car, the seller or autodealership will report the 10K on Form 8300 to the IRS. These rules were meant to catch drug dealers and money launderers. Not filing the form or not paying collectable capital gains taxes will bring extra IRS scrutiny, could lead to tax evasion charges. These are only the tax implications of gemstone investing. Not to mention at all the valuation problems of the gems themselves. Additional costs are renting a bank safety deposit box, limited access to same. Gemstone investors beware!
Hi Troy, I don’t know whether I’ve clarified or confused with the explanation below. I’ve had to deal with a nightmare in selling Hawaiian real estate as non resident investment property; and trying to value and find my basis for over 10 kilograms of physical sterling silver and at least 4 ounces of 18K gold. And also valuing a bunch of unset semiprecious stones left over from my days of being hobbist jeweler…I wanted to send my precious metals to a refiner in return for investment grade 0.999% pure physical gold and silver bars or investment grade physical coins…most of the sterling was acquired as scrap at under $4.00 per oz, acquired over several year. I had hoped to trade for “like of like” in order to escape the maximum capital gains taxes. The like to like exemption was repealed decades ago. Now I’m stuck at the maximum rate of 28%.. the basis will be reset, however, I have no idea of how to value the stock of precious metals that I have as the records were too old and were lost in a move…a “good faith estimate” might be acceptable to the IRS, but I would also have to specify quantities for ever year of purchase at the average price of purchase for those years…The unset stones that I have are an entirely higher level of crazy complexity.. as a retired senior citizen investor, I am at the age where I have to make withdrawals from my IRA.. those withdrawals have jumped my taxable income in to next tax bracket of 35% based on gross income. AGI will be less due to non taxable income and qualified dividends plus standard deduction for married filing jointly…Searching the State and Federal tax codes by using AI assistance has been a great help, but still must consult repeately with my accountant and legal council…Collectables are nothing but a giant pain in the butt!..
I also have to add that overall, the price of gemstones has increased 5 to 10 fold over the last 4 decades, it’s kept up with inflation, and for valuable stones has exceed cumulative inflation since the 1990’s..That being said, the gem market is nothing short of treacherous… it’s both buyer and seller beware!
