Hello everyone!
I have an interesting story I visited a jewelry store in the Phoenix area to buy gems taken out of gold items, they did not have any but took my name and number. A few days later the store phoned and said there was a person wanting to sell some gem stones, I rushed over to discover an older person sitting there, I asked if they had some gems for sale, yes in the suitcase, suitcase I replied. Well there was a large suitcase full to the brim with boxed gemstones, I quickly made a deal and rushed home with my treasure, I open the suitcase and was flabbergasted by the contents, thousand of carats of gems most in little display boxes others such as hundreds of topaz in plastic bags, citrine’s amethysts peridot smokys etc. Also in bags. I have spent hours sorting testing valuing these items and have become overwhelmed. I think I may not live long enough to be able to sell all of this.
Any suggestions would be interesting, I am booking some gem shows but they require lots of prep and time of which I have little.
Thanks for your time.
Lou
I don’t even understand the directions on here but here goes. I’d be interested in buying some, but obviously not for a lot of $ since it’s a gamble on if they are real, quality etc. I always think it’s fun to try to ID a bunch of stones. If you’re interested in selling off some, let me know. I hope this is ok with the rules- I just started on here
A lot of people sell on eBay, but of course you might not get the individual prices you’re looking for there. But if you just want to be able to sell several without too much time / prep investment it may be worth you looking into. On the good side, shipping is fairly inexpensive for gemstones. Best of luck with them.
Thanks will try
Hello,
I think the best way for you is to FIND some Parteners those partisipating i minerals&gem shows around your place . All the Best.
Lots to unpack here…I am a gemologist, gem faceter and occasional buyer/seller. You really haven’t given enough information for us to advise you very much. A few points. First, the size of the gems matters a lot. If you have a suitcase full of stones which are fractions of a carat up to about two carats for most low to mid priced stones, they aren’t worth much on a per carat basis. A second factor which influences and decreases price is inclusions (flaws) or lack of transparency in faceted stones. A third issue is color…i.e., is the stone good color compared to others of it’s ilk. You’d need to do some price research to price your stones…comparing them to what’s on offer, say, on line (which is easiest). Just for starters, amethyst, citrine, smoky quartz and peridot in sizes under a carat are going to be around a dollar a carat on line in middling color. You might have to price yours at half or a third of that to sell them easily. You also have to consider the cut of the stones and whether they are “paper worn” from being handled…from your description, possibly not, since they are boxed or bagged. You also have an ID problem, since you really can’t be sure these stones are genuine, right?
Another factor you have to consider is your market. You’ll get a higher price if you sell the stones one by one, but how long is that going to take? So your more likely market for loose gemstones is wholesale or somewhere between wholesale and retail on line, to jewelers and collectors.
You can get some idea of prices by looking at a large site selling loose gems, like gemselect.com and also looking at the much lower prices at GemRockAuctions.com. You have bought yourself a real time-soaker in terms of research on pricing and classification regarding gemstone parameters. You might want to first cherry pick, looking for the largest, most well cut, cleanest and best color stones and see if you can sell those, perhaps at a show and perhaps on line in the many venues where folks do that. If you provide more info, and perhaps some representative photos, perhaps some of us could say more.
Another suggestion for you… make contact with the local gem and mineral club…there may be some members who would look over your hoard and venture some in person opinions. I hope I have not been too simplistic here, but I just assumed you had no gem knowledge at all. -royjohn
Lou,
I dealt in gemstones and are very beautiful AAA and real.
Ive mived and also for health reasons can sell like i used to. Also, as you mentioned shows are a lot of time and work and I used to live right outside NYC the jewelry district.
So if you or anyone else reading this desires a specific stone usually in large sizes all real and authentic then send me an email of interest and let me know. All i definitely know the country they came from and sometimes the mine because i got them all from an acquaintance in the miner / cutter area. I’m offering very good pricing since I’m trying to liquidate most of the inventory. TY
Ken
Thank you for the great info I wll post some pics soon
I just hope you’ll give me first shot at that 10 ct sapphire you find in there…LOL!
-royjohn
Very good info thanks. I do have all the gemology equipment and three spectrometers two digital, also two gem microscopes etc as I am a retired chemist and enjoy doing analysis on the gems
Small sample of collection not too exciting but will keep me busy
Well, if you have all the gemology equipment, you don’t need much help with ID, I guess. I have the Gem Guide, and their color book,so if you have trouble with benchmarks for valuation, you can message me and I’ll be happy to help. Some of the stuff in your next to last photo above looks larger and possibly worth more than the run of the mill quartz, peridot, light aqua, etc. shown in bulk in the other pictures. If you have mid-price to higher priced stuff that is damaged or windowed or poorly cut, I am always interested in things to recut at the right price if they are larger stones. -royjohn
What if he just took the ones that were scuffed, scratched , faceted , went over to his local harbor freight bought a tumbler, spent 60 bucks on fine walnut shell for finishing items to high polish in the bead blaster/tumblers .
Just all the faceted ones in there. He can get the vibrating one , its quicker. Or. Get the barrel type just let them roll , check them every few days . Its not gonna defect them. It will remove the blemishes .
Juust a thought
Think again about this suggestion. If you tumble a stone, it gets rounded, so tumbling faceted stones would abrade all the facet junctions and edges and round the stone. Yes, you would take out the scratches and polish the surface, but the facet edges would be degraded. Since part of good cutting is the crispness of the facet edges, the stone wouldn’t qualify as good, or even poor cutting anymore. I think, regrettably, this goes under the heading of “kids, don’t try this at home.” -royjohn
For anyone that is unexperienced or looking to gain knowledge from these forms please disregard the comment in which a member implies that you might be able to Walnut blast or tumble flawed faceted stones in any hope fixing scratches or imperfections any type of cut stone that goes into any type of air abbasive or Tumblr this will and ruin any facets tumbling will round stones and ruin any previous cut / faceting as well as any airbrasive work that you do when you use a material hard enough to remove scratches then the air abbrasion material is hard enough to remove faset lines if you have a faceted stone that has a poor cut re-cutting it correctly if you possess the skills and the equipment to do so would be the correct way to approach any type of chips scratches or poor faceting uneven facets etc. I am guilty of trying all different types of methods for grinding cutting polishing all different rocks above all different types. I I’ve always researched different ways of doing things more efficiently after enough research and comprehension of the process it’s a good idea to run tests on similar material don’t just jump straight to scratched faceted stones that you can’t even ID cuz you might put a ruby in a tumbler and not even know it I’ve seen it happen I’ve seen worse things than that I probably also committed with some good consider sins of the trade while learning basically if you just need to betrayed or it’s a hobby please do your own research test on less valuable specimens most places have local classes or clubs you can join that would teach you do stuff right don’t just one source of a YouTube video or hear some guy say go to harbor freight and tumble your faceted stones assuming you’ll be fine
It appears your purchase was largely of small faceted gemstones sold within the jewellery industry as small stones for earrings, small rings and decorative items. Comparative costs can easily be got from manufacturing jewellers who use such stones and also wholesale suppliers’ catalogs. Larger gemstones above 3-4 carats are a different entity, as these are usually sold by the piece. You may have got a bargain but only time will tell.
Hello Dear
Could you help me in this topic ?
Thanks
Saeed.P
I undersrand glassblower. I have a lot too but usually large one stines a few matched that would work for earings like older ribies before the first embargo. Mine being singles but having to log the information on each is time consuming.
Ken