I have worked with Dominican amber and Larimar, but then became interested in other gems. Accidently, I saw at an auction a tourmaline. I was fascinated ,and luckily I won. And now I have won 2 pieces.
I began to find answers for what it was I have bought.
And what a jungle. There were high prices and others at very low prices. I found two similar ones, with $ 1000 / ct higher in price than the other.
So I got very confused.
Both of my tourmalines have an IGI certificate. IGI writes that those type of tourmaline are referred as ParaĂba Tourmaline,
It does not say which country they come from.![167dc44d-566d-46d3-b6d2-5c4455206bf0|587x500]
The certificate says not so much about the quality.
And then they are encapsulated.
I’ve read that tourmaline is categorized by the 4 C. So if I want to find out what the rating is on those 2 pieces, do I then have to break the packaging and then send it to a new gemmologist or can it be evaluated based on the certificate and package and maybe just from the picture?
I hope someone can answer my question and possibly make a cautious offer of what value my tourmaline has
any copper bearing tourmaline will be referred to as Paraiba. It can come from Mozambique or Afghanistan or Brazil. The Brazil one is the expensive one. looks like windex. And value as you can guess is based on color mostly. clarity second
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IGI is garbage - pariaba comes from brazil - somebody stated that some tourmaline from Mozambique & Nigeria are to be considered pariaba. real pariaba is very expensive any thing over a carat is worth between 2k - 15k depending on quality & a natural unheated stone. Do your homework - you may have a stone worth a lot of money. good luck
Paraiba tourmaline, only comes from Brazil. Other tourmalines with the vivid bluish-green tourmalines, are noted “copper-bearing.” You can get it appraised at GIA, as I have done in the past, when I thought that I might have purchased a synthetic Alexandrite, instead of a genuine Alexandrite. Lucky for me, GIA graded the stone and it was authentic.
gia has appraised synthetic alexandrite as authentic [ google it gia alexandrite mistake ] if you have a colored stone send it to AGL or take your chances
I remember reading in an article somewhere, possibly on this site, that some international standards body had gotten together and decided that any copper-bearing tourmaline counted as paraiba. Obviously the people who live in South America, especially Brazil, where Paraiba (sorry, I don’t know how accent marks work on this device) is actually located were pretty upset by this. As it seems to them to be the same issue as people selling "champagne"or “burgundy” that did not come from those places. Which the EU eventually put an end to.
Regardless I assume most labs in the northern hemisphere will regard any copper bearing tourmaline as paraiba, but South American Labs might not, and you will probably find a lot of contention over this for quite a while.
Copper-bearing Tourmaline…Paraiba is easily one of my all time favorite gemstones to just sit and stare at. Especially Paraiba of the neon blue variety.
Your getting a lot of varied advice. Obviously if you plan on trying to resell the stones you’ll want the most sound advice you can find. The gemstone certification says it is a natural Paraiba, and am sure they are right about that. However; it isn’t the most reputable company to have your gem certified from, as you might have gathered from an individual’s comment earlier of “IGI sucks”. I believe that was the statement . And this probably isn’t the forum to say this, but what the hell. Gemstone consumers, and I’m talking about all buyers of gemstones on all levels from investors like myself, to retailers, to the end user, seem to pay the highest premiums when certified through the GIA…in this country especially.
You have two very beautiful rocks there my friend. I have to admit I’m jealous I wasn’t there to bid with ya. I know this is a personal question, and I only ask because I assume you didn’t get these for $1.00 each, and your hear looking for professional advice because you don’t want to find out you over paid by a bundle. Maybe you already answered this and I just didn’t see it…but uh…How much did you pay for them individually? In my opinion, one is worth quite a bit more than the other.
Okay, here’s my opinion on them as a gemstone and jewelry investor. Let’s assume everything on IGI’s certificate is 100% accurate. Its still very limited in information. They dont give ya a lot to go by. They’re both extremely great stones, and they are quite rare. Rare means there is value of course. Also they are good sized…over 2 carats. The cuts are mixed cuts and definitely not the best cut for a stone like this. Just my opinion. I think it brings the value down a little. The top picture shown of the green/blue color…i wouldn’t spend more than $2500.00 And sell at around $6-7,000.00. The bottom one that appear to much more vibrant in blue color ( never can be sure with pics) is worth a bit more in my opinion…buy at no more than $5,500.00 And sell at a reasonable retail mark up of 10mm% (jk jewellers retail mark up is redonkulous) but sell at $13-$16,000.00.
Now listen though…its hard for anyone here to be very accurate in knowing these things with out investigating the stones ourselves with our own loops…so people may come across as confident in knowing exactly what the value of your stone’s should be…but I assure you, they don’t know shit. I’m sure there is a high-end jeweller near you somewhere. You should take them there and have them inspected by their certified gemologist. And or see what it would cost to insure. Good luck on those.
. And this probably isn’t the forum to say this, but what the hell. Gemstone consumers, and I’m talking about all buyers of gemstones on all levels from investors like myself, to retailers, to the end user, seem to pay the highest premiums when certified through the GIA…in this country especially.