I happen to butt in whenever possible so I couldn't resist it this time either:-) I'm not a pro, but jewellery is a great passion of mine so I read and learn a lot about it, and think I know quite a bit more than a usual consumer. So here are some advices. Before considering your stone, consider the design. What I've learned in the last few years is that I don't need a particular stone to attract me to a piece of jewellery - I need a distinctive design. Also keep in mind that colors of transparent materials (like aquamarine) change with the light that's shining on them (depends how bright it is, what's the source of it etc.), so an aqua that looks beautiful in the jewellery store might not look so fine at someone's home with not so good lighting. It will still be blue, but it may be quite a bit diferent shade of blue. That's why I emphasize design, cause a nice design will be beautiful in any light. You say that you'd like something that will keep a great deal of value. Well, there's only one rule - great quality keeps great value. Buy the best possible stone in terms of color and clarity, i.e. with the most intense and clearest shade and with the best transparency. Cut is not of great importance, it's mostly a personal preference. It doesen't matter if the stone is very big, quality is what you're after if you want a lasting value. Next stop are accent or side stones. They have to be of high quality as well, but they also have to be well matched. That means that you don't have one of them looking 3 times more brilliant than another. They need to match in beauty and brilliance, not just color and clarity. Of course, being products of nature they can't be identical, but they should be as close to that as possible. And then there's the setting. Fine jewellery (the kind that keeps most of it's value) is made of the best materials, so if you want white metal go for 18 karat white gold or platinum (if you can afford it). The thing about fine jewellery is that you don't cut costs to make that perfect piece, you pay whatever it takes. To explain, in the production of fine jewellery there are no shortcuts, no avoiding some processes to make the production cheaper and quicker (like not polishing places that are not noticable, for instance) - every detail is done with precision, but be prepared for the costs. If you don't know much about gemstones, it's best to buy stones with certificates of gemological laboratories. They will ensure that the stones are natural and tell you anything you need to know, from treatements to dimensiones, clarity and color descriptiones etc. They also make jewellery somewhat easier to sell if necessary, but they increase the starting price as well. When it comes to gemstones, who you buy from is more important than what you buy, so stick only to good jewellers that have fine reputation and references. To make sure, ask (I think you have a right to do that) what is their hallmarking system. To explain, hallmarks are the things you can read on each piece of jewellery and generally represent fineness or purity of the metal, but fine jewellers also put their own hallmarks which guarantee that the thing is their product and that they stand behind it's quality, craftmanship and materials used. It's like they take responsibility for it. I think you should only work with those that use their own hallmarks (it can be a company's logo, an acronym or something similar) to insure quality and integrity. If you'd like to know even more, I can recommend you a website that is one of the most informative when it comes to fine gemstone jewellery and principles of it's value - it's www.suwagem.com . It's got a lot of interesting articles for you to explore and great examples of fine jewellery design. Best of luck!
Marijan from Croatia
P. S. You say that you'd like an aqua that people will not think of as a blue topaz. Sorry to dissapoint you, but unless someone is carrying some instruments and a microscope (and knowledge) with them, they will not be able to tell the diference just by looking.
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:43 pm Posts: 514 Location: North Carolina
jennzy,
Here is another excellent stone. Jeff Graham is an excellent faceter, one of the best, and he also deals rough, (as does Precision Gems who is no fool himself when it comes to faceting) and faceting equipment.
What I'd like to point out here is that the stone for sale is of very good color, is cut by one of the best faceters around who has access to the best rough available, is flawless, has some uniqueness (read the description) and is priced at $150 a carat.
Now, this is for a loose stone, and as a previous poster commented, you still need to put it into jewelry. It does let you then work with a jeweler/goldsmith to create something personally special, deciding whether to integrate the stone into a design, or design so as to emphasis the stone's color, cut and clarity (of which this stone has all three).
Be cautious of buying a gemstone for it's 'investment' value. Read Richard Wise's "Secrets of the Gem Trade" and look at the difference between wholesale and retail on things like diamonds.
jennzy, Be cautious of buying a gemstone for it's 'investment' value. Read Richard Wise's "Secrets of the Gem Trade" and look at the difference between wholesale and retail on things like diamonds.
i tried looking for his book at a bookstore and they don't seem to carry it
hi Marijan, thanks for your advice!!!
i do have a design in mind. i either want an emerald cut or cushion cut with diamonds surrounding it...
i am going to try to get my hands on the best of the best hence i'm starting now (remember, i'm only 20 ) diamonds are easy to find, i have a jeweller in mind who is going to make the ring for me. and all i need left is to find aquamarine stone
that is a cushion cut right?? if not, what kind of cut is it? i think its pretty![/img]
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 1:21 am Posts: 99 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Jennzy;
Barbra is right. Your pix looks like a princess cut. Cushion cut gives reference to the softening on corners with extra girdle facets. Since you have already been to Jeff Grams site I'll sent you back there. For an example of a cushion cut look at this pink tourmaline You will need to scroll down 4 gemstones to see this one. Most cushions are rectangular rough that couldn't make the sharp corners due to size of the rough. Thus the softening of the corners will give you a greater finished size than the emerald cut. Cushion cuts are seen in square stones also like this citrine It should be the first one on the page. This is a square cut cushion. Compared to your pix I think you can see the difference. Hope this helps. BTW, look through Jeff Grams cut stone pics and read the design info he gives. This will make you familiar with different cuts faster than any of us and the pics are great. Also, if you consider the quality of jeff's gems his prices are right on target. (He dosen't give anything away!) You shouldn't be paying anything higher. That's a compliment to Jeff Gram. He is good at what he does and he knows it.
Take care, bob miller
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:42 pm Posts: 2846 Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Quote:
diamonds are easy to find, i have a jeweller in mind who is going to make the ring for me. and all i need left is to find aquamarine stone
Out of the mouths of babes... For all that diamonds are supposed to be rare and precious, it's probably a lot harder to find a nice aqua than it is to find a nice diamond.
You can also learn something from a single photo - for example the one you posted. Setting is not really a straight and even square, and prongs that hold diamonds (or whatever those stones are) aren't uniformly placed and spaced. A nice example of poor craftmanship. Those are some of the things to pay attention to when looking at jewellery.
When it comes to cut, cushion and emerald aren't exactly that similar, except they have a similar outline. They have a diferent kind of brilliance; cushion has larger number of smaller flashes, while emerald cut has only a few larger ones, and it's the kind that looks like stairs going inside the stone - that's why such cuts are called step cuts as opposed to brilliant cuts. Emerald cut reveals more internal imperfections, so choose it only if you find a very clean stone with a nice sparkle, but you're lucky cause aquamarine is generally one of the cleanest stones around so that shouldn't be a problem. Emerald cut would even further emphasize that beautiful clarity aquamarine is known for. However, if you're drawn to stones with more scintillation ("life" or "dance" of light), go for a cushion. Keep in mind, however, that with an emerald cut it's not a good idea to use too many accent stones cause they tend to overpower the center stone (cause it's brilliance is not as lively). Cushion has rounded corners as many have already mentioned. There are also some other cuts that look similar to those two, so check out princess cut (square in shape), radiant cut (octagon) or ascher cut (octagon step). If you're not into browsing the actual stores, there are many examples of nice jewellery on youtube, so take a look.
This is pretty typical for most any product. Years ago I used to work in a shoe store selling name brand shoes, and the store mark up was double. However once a year when the Florshiem salesman came in, we could buy at very low prices for our own use. THis is back in the 70's, but shoes that were typically sold for $80, the store paid $40, and we could buy for about $15 which I supose was the cost.
People seemed to get annoyed that a jeweler marks things up 2x, but don't talk about every other store out there doing the same thing. They need to survive just like everyone else.
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:47 pm Posts: 2505 Location: Eastern Europe
Aquamarine nice & small ... as much as I recall that's even taller order then nice & large since these stones have light colors typically. This one below is anything but typical:
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:57 pm Posts: 158 Location: Boulder Creek, California
wow! that is a nice blue!
i don't have a problem with mark up: i didn't fly around the world or develop the connections to get the stone.....nor did i cut the stone nor is my eye as educated re good v poor stones. all that has to be factored into the price of the final product. i think buyers sometimes forget that all these things cost time/$ before we even see the stone.
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