Post subject: Cut the largest stone possible from your high $$ rough?
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:15 am
Established Member
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 11:11 am Posts: 43 Location: Northwest USA
I have a few pieces of large, eye clean emerald rough. Each large enough to cut a sizable stone or a number of smaller ones. Picture a 10 carat or larger single stone or multiple 3-4 carat stones.
I have no current market for any sized stones, but will eventually sell what I cut. Larger stones sell to a smaller audience, small stones sell to a larger audience and often sell faster.
Do you always cut the largest stone possible from your high dollar rough?
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:06 pm Posts: 2267 Location: Chapel Hill, NC / Toronto, ON
If all else (clarity, colour, etc) is equal, then yes. You pay a premium for large rough, which goes right out the window if you end up cutting the rough into small pieces.
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 11:11 am Posts: 43 Location: Northwest USA
Faceting 101 by Arya wrote:
If all else (clarity, colour, etc) is equal, then yes. You pay a premium for large rough, which goes right out the window if you end up cutting the rough into small pieces.
Thanks Arya, you make a good argument in favor of the largest gem possible.
Post subject: Re: Cut the largest stone possible from your high $$ rough?
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:42 pm
Active Member
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 9:04 am Posts: 72
I knew this was true, but wanted to run a couple of numbers for personal entertainment.
Using actual rough pricing from a dealer website, for Amethyst (Emerald would be even more extreme)... The price per carat obviously rises as the rough increases in size (roughly price per carat ~ size/10+1.50).
So even with Amethyst, a relatively large piece of rough (say 27 carats) costs about 5x a piece of rough of 1/3 the size. So in your example, you would much better off cutting a large stone from rough than 3 small stones - the one large strong being worth 1.75x the total value of 3 smaller stones.
That's all for Amethyst - large eye clean emerald rough is far more rare than large Amethyst and the (per carat) multipliers would be that much more extreme.
If I use finished Tsavorite Garnet prices from GemVal (not rough pricing, and I don't have access to Emerald pricing), after a bit of interpolating a 9 carat is worth 2.5x the total value of three 3 carat stones.
There's a pretty substantial difference there - and if the plan is to (eventually) cut and sell to make a profit there a radical difference. Using GemVal (risky I think) the difference is thousands(+) of dollars .
[All that presumes natural stones, size doesn't impact synthetics like that.]
Post subject: Re: Cut the largest stone possible from your high $$ rough?
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 3:59 pm
New to the Forum or The Quiet Type
Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:56 pm Posts: 8
Shape is a huge factor when buying rough. Even if the stone is small it may have a great shape to maximize yield, this is where you can make a few $$$. Larger (Clean) stones are rare! Do not waste these, they are to hard to come by at a good price. Again, shape is everything. Large stones with a bad shape or area's you need to saw clean should not be at a premium price. you cannot sell a client the rough weight of the stone , only the final product. So if you buy a 50.ct rough, but your yield is only 5.ct clean, then you should be wary of paying the premium price for it.
Post subject: Re: Cut the largest stone possible from your high $$ rough?
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2017 4:20 pm
Valued Contributor
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:08 pm Posts: 381 Location: Lyon, France
BUT.. How much more is a perfectly/interestingly cut but smaller emerald worth than bigger emerald with a worse cut. I was looking at a huge parcel of Afghani emeralds the other day he had a few pieces that were already cut and they looked terrible. Totally windowed, etc. The rough was really nice, vibrant color and shocking clean for emerald. I was dreaming of doing a beautiful cut with no window, making a small stone but something you hardly ever see.
Can we figure out how much a thai cut, windowed 8ct emerald is vs a 4ct (let's say you lose half to get the perfect cut) cut with great light return, color, lots of sparkles....
The question here was not a size vs quality balance, but cutting one large stone vs multiple smaller but easier to sell stones. The balance between retaining weight vs best appearance on a single stone is fairly different. Generally I'm in favor of cutting for the best stone rather than the heaviest but the market may or may not reward that.
Post subject: Re: Cut the largest stone possible from your high $$ rough?
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2017 11:03 pm
Gold Member
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:32 am Posts: 1730 Location: Suwanee, GA US
With emeralds, any of the sides are already close to what you want the pavilion at. You orient them for color in the culet and many have a stronger side. Then you maximize your return on the crown. Covered in the videos. And just because the youtube icon picks up Jampeg, don't assume that it what it is about. When you are cutting something at $4k per caret, every touch to a lap is money out the drain.
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