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 Post subject: Buying damaged faceted gems... any recommendations?
PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:56 pm 
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Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2017 11:11 am
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Location: Mexico
I've been buying damaged lots of gemstones because I enjoy sorting them and good gems are beyond my budget. Lately I've been searching for more sellers but I'm not sure how reputable are the websites I've seen. I don't mind if the stuff is heavily included, chipped, or badly cut, as long as it's varied. I also don't mind if it's treated or mixed with synthetics, or a few cabochons here and there. Does anybody know of a trustworthy online shop that ships internationally (I'm from Latin America)? Preferably not quartz - I already own a lot. Thanks for your time! :)


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 Post subject: Re: Buying damaged faceted gems... any recommendations?
PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 11:39 am 
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Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 1:49 pm
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Location: South Africa
glasspremia, really a tricky one that. it may be possible but I have never had any success in trying to do what you would like to do.
The easiest would seem to be to ask pawn shops or gold exchanges for the stones they have removed from settings. I have tried this with no luck. What seems to happen is the decent stones are identified as they may have some value to either the client of gold buyer, then they simply seem to disappear, possibly to established buyers, the seller.

You can pick up lousy stones off e-bay, would they be what you are looking for is another question. I have never done it.

Good luck


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 Post subject: Re: Buying damaged faceted gems... any recommendations?
PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:28 pm 
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Hi, Sean. Thanks for your response.

I did try asking local pawn shops but the 5-6 I called already had arrangements to sell the gems :(

I'll clarify: I don't hope to find anything valuable in the lots. I just want a variety of gems, and since I can't afford first hand well-cut eyeclean gemstones, I'm fine with getting the less appealing scraps. As long as they're varied! Like I said I own a lot of (wonky) quartz and I still love it.

Ordering off ebay is tricky... I don't want to order some synthetic corundum and get a lousy CZ instead. I'll admit a synthetic (actual chrysoberyl) alexandrite listing I saw is tempting me, so maybe I'll try it in the future.


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 Post subject: Re: Buying damaged faceted gems... any recommendations?
PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:36 pm 
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Location: North Carolina
Locally, most cash for gold places seem yo have bags and bags of stones. The downside is convincing them to sell them at a reasonable price.

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Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


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 Post subject: Re: Buying damaged faceted gems... any recommendations?
PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 11:34 pm 
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Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2017 11:11 am
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Location: Mexico
Thanks for the advice, Stephen. Maybe I used the wrong word for it, but usually these stores I referred to also buy 10/14K gold.

Your comment kind of made me curious, though. What would be a fair price to pay per carat for a lot of unknown stones? The lots I've bought before state their quality and contents, so this would be my first time "blind". Though I do assume they must have taken out all the valuable stones, there is a difference between buying random apatite and stuff that could turn out to be high-lead glass when checked.

The cheapest lot I've found online is around 10 cents per carat. I may buy it if I don't find anything else. Hope I don't get shipped a 1/4lb rock when paying 50USD :roll:


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 Post subject: Re: Buying damaged faceted gems... any recommendations?
PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 2:25 am 
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Frankly, they usually have no clue. Most of it is crap, because most jewelry turned in at cash for gold stores are crap, and honestly most stones in jewelry are crap. Tons of synthetic rubies and sapphires, loads of simulants, and some real gems mixed in. They'll pull out the diamonds almost invariably because that's fairly easy, but usually the good colored stones will be mixed in. I've been able to pull out emeralds, tanzanites, sapphires and a variety of other stones just by looking. Of course having a raman spectrometer helps a lot in the cleanup, though frankly a polariscope, a refractometer and SG will do for most things.
What a fair price is is really hard to hash out. They always want me to make an offer, and I am not that good at lowballing--on the other hand, as a whole the material has very little value and even a trained eye is likely to pull out some crap with the good. If you're buying it as a lot sight unseen I'd pay as little as possible because most of it will be good for aquarium gravel and not much else. Another problem is that a lot of these guys realllllly don't know colored stones so they'll have a pretty unrealistic idea of the value.
I have managed to buy some pretty sweet stones at good prices over the years, but given the amount of work involved and the negotiations I mostly do it for a bit of fun and variety in seasons between gem shows rather than as a regular thing.

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Rough and cut classic and exotic synthetic gems:https://store.turtleshoard.com


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 Post subject: Re: Buying damaged faceted gems... any recommendations?
PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 7:57 pm 
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I don't know if they have these in Mexico but how about yard sales, garage sales or flea markets. probably unlikely to find much but there could be the rare good find.


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