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Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached ?
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Author:  lookingforgems [ Tue May 14, 2019 2:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached ?

These are the best Photos I have at moment but maybe someone can tell me if there is anything they think looks
"Good";

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Author:  Stephen Challener [ Tue May 14, 2019 2:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

One cant' do a real appraisal from photos and such, but I can say nothing here looks very valuable. Not too many are going to break into double digit values. It's a fun collection though, and with that age there's a slight possibility of some older classic being tucked away in there that's harder to get nowadays. I wouldn't bet on it in this case though.

Author:  lookingforgems [ Tue May 14, 2019 2:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

Just a tip. If you download the Photos tpo your computer you can then enlrge them even further to see the writing more clearly.
I am just concerned as to how much of it is "Good" worth having Gems against lesser quality. Dont like to qualify everything by how much its worth but just wonder "how I did" .

Author:  lookingforgems [ Tue May 14, 2019 2:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

Stephen Challener wrote:
One cant' do a real appraisal from photos and such, but I can say nothing here looks very valuable. Not too many are going to break into double digit values. It's a fun collection though, and with that age there's a slight possibility of some older classic being tucked away in there that's harder to get nowadays. I wouldn't bet on it in this case though.


What about the piece of Rubellite ? Its about, approx, 8cms x 7cm x 5cm .

Author:  dchallener [ Tue May 14, 2019 3:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

I agree with Stephen - looks like a nice amateur collection, but nothing especially nice. The piece of jade isn't bad - looks North American to me. a couple nice jaspers for someone to cut. If I ran across it at a Flea market I might try to buy them for a couple dollars, but I wouldn't pay much.

Author:  lookingforgems [ Tue May 14, 2019 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

So are you infferring that the Opal and Rubellite is worth a few dollars only ?.

Author:  Barbra Voltaire, FGG [ Tue May 14, 2019 4:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

Lookingforgems, all of your stones would have value to someone....on some level.

The tastes and needs of folks in our trade vary.

Some collect esoteric rare curiosities, and others only stones of a quality appreciated by the consuming public and others inexpensive specimens which they can fiddle around with in a tumbler or with their lapidary equipment.

Quote:
So are you infferring that the Opal and Rubellite is worth a few dollars only ?.

There are opals and rubellite which are gems and others which are mineralogical samples.

Have you considered bringing your collection to your closest Gem and Mineral Society and have some of their members give you opinions with the collection in front of them for inspection?

Author:  lookingforgems [ Tue May 14, 2019 4:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

Barbra Voltaire wrote:
Lookingforgems, all of your stones would have value to someone....on some level.

The tastes and needs of folks in our trade vary.

Some collect esoteric rare curiosities, and others only stones of a quality appreciated by the consuming public and others inexpensive specimens which they can fiddle around with in a tumbler or with their lapidary equipment.

Quote:
So are you infferring that the Opal and Rubellite is worth a few dollars only ?.

There are opals and rubellite which are gems and others which are mineralogical samples.

Have you considered bringing your collection to your closest Gem and Mineral Society and have some of their members give you opinions with the collection in front of them for inspection?


Yes I might well do that then. Thanks good suggestion. On a seperate issue. Is Alexandrite a gem that is souight after ?.

Author:  Barbra Voltaire, FGG [ Tue May 14, 2019 4:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

Yes, gem quality alexandrite is sought after.
Remember the BMW. :wink:

Author:  dchallener [ Tue May 14, 2019 11:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

I did see a couple opals that might be nice -- but it was hard to see them in the photo. I have quite a bit of opal, so am not really in the market, except for exceptional stones that are cheap. I got some nice Coober Pedy last month for $2/gram from some folk that were selling off their entire collection. Alexandrites are certainly sought after - it depends on the color, the color change, the clarity, cut, and size. I didn't see any tourmaline that I particularly liked.

Author:  Stephen Challener [ Wed May 15, 2019 1:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

I finally spotted the rubellite. That one looks fairly nice actually and may be worth up to a few hundred dollars, though it is hard to tell much from the small photo. Could you take a picture of that alone?
There are a couple of potentially sizeable imperial topaz crystals in there too--these aren't going to be super valuable because they look fairly beat up, but yeah.

Author:  dchallener [ Wed May 15, 2019 5:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

Where is the tourmaline you are pointing to? 12B A-2? It looks pretty beat up, but it is REALLY hard to see in the photo. There is another one to the right of it a couple but it is even harder to see.

Author:  EthanMac [ Wed May 22, 2019 7:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

My eyes almost instantly wondered to rubellite too. I like that piece a lot.

Author:  Debbie K [ Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

I think you guys may be a little spoiled. I'd be excited to get my hands on these; there looked like there were some decent tourmalines, beryls and topaz, not to mention the opals. It wouldn't make you a fortune, but it looks like some nice stuff to me. And that spinel would probably fetch a pretty penny, not to mention the purely lapidary stuff. And what about those garnets? They looked pretty nice to me. Not the best color, but you guys know what they're going for. And what about that primo blue opal in the third picture next to the emerald in matrix? I wouldn't be surprised if it's the most valuable thing there.

Since they were nice enough to label what they are, you can look up comps on Ebay and Etsy for a lot of these. OpalAuctions will give you an idea about some of the opals. Doublets aren't worth that much. Some of the things have gotten cheaper (Lapis, for example) than it was 40-50 years ago; and some have appreciated in value. That mineral specimen with the rubelite tourmalines is from California, unless I'm mistaken, as it is in what appears to be lepidolite, and they're not real cheap either. Some of the jaspers are difficult to find, too. And that's a nice ruby in matrix specimen, too.

My best advice to you is don't let someone come in and cherry pick pieces. Educate yourself about what you have before you decide what to do with it. Bear in mind as this is an old collection, you're not dealing with a lot of treated stones (to the same degree of sophistication) that you would be if this were a newer collection, therefore, they'll be worth more. But, you need to make sure when you do sell them that the original collector was accurate in what he believed these things to be. You need to make friends with a gemologist and a mineral geek.

Another place to look is Mindat, they won't give you prices but you'll learn more about what you have. This is probably going to make a gemologist/mineralogist out of you before you're done. I ended up with a gallon plastic bag of faceted gemstones and that's the reason I got into gemology; just to be able to identify what I had. You're in for a lot of fun!

Example of what I mean by misidentification: I bought some "topaz" and in a baggie there was a stone that was a different color. It had perfect cleavage but the color was off. It had barely decipherable writing on the bag that said "green aquamarine". I knew because of the cleavage it couldn't be. I came very close to dopping it up and faceting it but thought, why not get an Refractive Index on it before I start. Turned out to be a phosphophyllite and is worth a considerable chunk of change. This is the only time something turned out to be something better than what I thought I had, usually it's the other way around.

Debbie K

P.S. I'm jealous! I'd have a lot of fun working on some of that rough.

Author:  Barbra Voltaire, FGG [ Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Is there anything that looks good in the photos attached

Debbie K: Excellent post!

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