Category Archives: Brasil

John and Laura Ramsey write: Kunzite an “American Gem?”

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Kunzite 10025Kunzite was first discovered in the USA by George Kunz who, amongst other things, traveled around the USA examining mining sites and described minerals that had not been previously known. Kunzite was unique at the time based on its color. The mineral spodumene had previously been discovered but not the pink/lavender variety. Of course since that time good quantities have been found notably in Brazil and Afghanistan. As with most pegmatite minerals quantities of kunzite available in the market can vary wildly according to mining production. One of the best analogies to understand mining economics of minerals like kunzite, tourmaline and aquamarine exists in casinos. Mining these minerals is similar in many ways to putting money into a slot machine. Miners start with a certain amount of capital and keep putting money into the project. They may or may not hit a jackpot before their capital runs out. Sometimes a miner will give up and the next miner into the same mine will hit the jackpot. Note the gem in the photo. This gem is a wonderful example of cut and color in kunzite. The piece is 50.50 carats and is very nicely cut.

John and Laura Ramsey write: More Rough-Uncut Morganite

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Last post everybody loved the picture of the rough-uncut Morganite crystal. We decided to add in another photo of rough Morganite. This time you can see the more normal orange color that a lot of Morganite displays coming out of the ground. From certain mines the color is intense enough that cut stones show a nice color as-is. Some people like the peachy color. If you take these stones and put them out in the sun—especially a hot Brazilian sun—they will turn pink. Many people like the pink color. The pink color is stable and will not turn a different color in the sun. If a person wants to accelerate the color change from Peach to Pink all you have to do is put the stones in a kiln. Run the kiln up to about 900` and turn it off. This simply accelerates a natural process and is accepted and well known in the gem trade.

John and Laura Ramsey Write: Magic Color in Imperial Topaz

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imperial topaz photogem pictures 040 For a gem dealer nothing takes the place of going to the mining areas. The two gems you see pictured are ones we found by going to the right place. The cut stone is one piece of a small lot of 3 pieces we bought many years ago in Brasil. The color is truly amazing and truly a collectible color. The stone is over 10 carats in weight. According to prices seen fairly recently for similar (but not quite as good) gems—it is worth several thousand dollars per-carat. This is a color and size and clarity in Imperial Topaz very seldom seen available for sale

John and Laura Ramsey Write: Alexandrite the Rare Birthstone

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edited alex photo

June is always a great month—sunshine, flowers, school is out, and Alexandrite is its birthstone (shared with Pearl that is).

Rarity is one of the hallmarks of gems. All gems are rare. For instance and by comparison gold is about 30+ dollars per gram. The most affordable gems match and surpass that easily (Amethyst, Citrine, and Red Garnet). Gold owes its price to its rarity. If gold were as available as iron or aluminum its price would also be per-ton and not per-ounce.

If rarity is a big deal in this world then Alexandrite (natural Alexandrite) is way underpriced even at prices I’ve seen listed. The prices I’ve seen large fine Alexandrite listed at wholesale would extrapolate to between $50,000 and $100,000 PER-CARAT retail—or more.

For our first 15 years in the business there was almost no quantity of good Alexandrite in the market. There were a number of stones from time to time mined in Sri Lanka that might be OK for size and clarity but their color ranged from dark muddy brown to dark muddy green. Not exciting. However, in 1987 there was a miraculous discovery of Alex (we’re friends now) in Nova Era, Brasil. Luckily we were in Brasil several times that year and got to see and buy large amazing Alexandrite gems in quantity. It was the proverbial kid in a candy store experience.

At the turn of this century there was a discovery of Alexandrite in India. This was welcome since the material from Brasil was largely out of the general market by then. The gem in the photo is from the Indian find.