John and Laura Ramsey Write: Speaking of Unobtainium…..

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The gem in the photo is pretty much the ultimate Santa Maria Aquamarine. A few years ago this stone came into our hands—literally—and amazed us all. A fellow I know in Brasil owns one of the mines in the mining district which produces the Santa Maria Aquamarine of fame. He made this stone available and WOW what a stone! It is about 11+ carats and about the most intense aquamarine blue we’ve seen to date. Now, that being said there is a pretty wide range of color produced from those mines down to some colors more normally found in the aquamarine range. Natural products are like that: unique gifts from Nature all according to what was happening in the Earth at the time. If that stone were available in today’s current market it would be for sale for many times the asking price of when it was produced. Why??? There was production back then and several mines and miners were active. Since then many have given up. Mines in that mining district seem to be a lot like slot machines. Put the money in and you may or may not get a reward. Many times we’ve heard about miners giving up after running out of capital and the next guy in at the mine hits a big pocket of gems right after he starts up. What a business….

John and Laura Ramsey write: More Rough-Uncut Morganite

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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.

Gems At Large® writes: Price Point vs. Quality Point

Golden ring isolated on the white background gem pictures 097 (3)We’ve all heard from time to time the term Price Point. Mostly this is a trade term used in business to business talk. People in many businesses try to “hit a price point.” It is a fact that it is possible to crank the cash register more frequently with more affordable items. Unfortunately in many cases this means cheapening a product until it really is not as good as we all might want. How many products have we all bought that seem like a great deal due to an attractive price only to regret the lack of quality—clothing that lasts only a wearing or two, a water faucet that lasts only a year or two, and on and on. I’ll bet that we could generate thousands of examples amongst ourselves. Our goal with Gems At Large® has always been to put quality ahead of price. Look at the difference between the two rings in the photos. The light weight flimsy looking ring is a stock photo of what we would call a “price-point” ring. The shank is so flimsy it is what we refer to as a dental floss shank—so light weight and flimsy that a good firm hand shake would seemingly bend it into a different shape. The nice looking other ring is a Gems At Large® ring. In the Gems At Large® ring quality was the first consideration. Of course in the Gems At Large® ring cost more—it didn’t hit a price point. It achieved what we, here at Gems At Large® have come to call a Quality Point™.
There are plenty of places to buy price point merchandise. Our goal is to give you the opportunity to find and enjoy Quality Point™ gems and jewelry. Our goal is to make quality available–as affordably as we can–with our years traveling the world seeking and finding world quality gems and jewelry.
Another word important here is “value.” Value is actually irrespective of price. An item of good value is one that is priced fairly for what it is. An item may have a low price and still be a poor value if it is not even worth the low price. On the other hand an item may be quite expensive and still be a good value—if it is worth the price paid.

John and Laura Ramsey write: WHAT MAKES A SAPPHIRE BEAUTIFUL???

The photo we’ve included in this posting is a good example of a really great sapphire. What makes is so beautiful and appreciated the world around? First of all there is what it is not. It is not so pale a color that we would say “who cares?” Secondly, the photo shows a stone that is not so dark that we would say “who cares?” What we are showing in the photo is a “Goldilocksgem pictures 095 (2)” sapphire that is “just right” when it comes to depth of color. Not too dark, not to light. Next we have a stone that is not hampered by a lot of eye visible inclusions. The gem in the photo is relatively “clean” and flaw free. The combination of a just right color and good clarity give us the opportunity of seeing nice reflections off of the back facets while we are looking down into the stone from the top. The gem in the photo is relatively well cut and that is another reason we’re getting some nice reflections off the back facets. Color, clarity and cut…3 out of the 4 “C’s”. The only thing left is the size (weight in carats). Well, we’ll leave that to the imagination this time….Is it 1 carat, 5 carats, 50 carats? Might as well dream………

John and Laura Ramsey write: More Record Prices—Ruby this time….

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Just recently an important Burmese ruby and diamond ring was sold at Christie’s in Hong Kong. While the diamonds surrounding the ruby were nothing to discount all accounts of the sale referred to the ruby as if it were all by itself in the ring.

Counted alone the ruby went for a per-carat record of just over USD $550,000 per-carat. At 6.04 carats the total came to almost USD $3,333,000.00.

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John and Laura Ramsey write: “World Record Sapphire”

Fitting into the theme of world records being set for gems and jewelry the spring auction late in April by Sotheby’s saw a new per-carat record for a sapphire. The gem is recorded as being a 28+ carat Kashmir gem. According to the auction house the proceeds of the sale are going to charity. With a total price exceeding $5 million USD the per-carat price was over $180,000.
In the lore of colored gemstones Kashmir sapphire is the bench mark. The purity of the blue in Kashmir stones is indeed stunning. Traditionally the Kashmir stones are said to have slight haze but that seems to vary from piece to piece. After spending months maybe years of my life in Thailand (ruby/sapphire central for the world) and seeing gem after gem I would have to say that a fine Burmese sapphire can be every bit as lovely. Some traditionalists may want to disagree but that is just fine. To a true lover of gems they are all like a family—each member is wonderful on their own and for their own unique characteristics.
For instance, about 10 years ago or perhaps a few more there were some fabulous blue sapphires from Madagascar which were certified as untreated. Many of these gems were absolutely stunning. A great Ceylon stone is also beautiful. In fact many of the most famous sapphires are Ceylon stones residing in the important state collections of the world.
Group of  blue sapphire shape with clipping path

John and Laura Ramsey report Gem News—

Exciting news this year in a world seeming somewhat depleted of fine colored gems: two great finds…

First, there has been found what may be a 50 ton boulder of Jadeite in Hpakant, Burma.  Depending upon what could be the final weight of the boulder and the quality of the jadeite therein a possible several billion dollar rock.  Yes, that’s billion with a “b.”

Also reported to be found is a new pocket of rubellite tourmaline in Brazil.  The mine—the famous Cruzeiro mine.  All the rough has already been sold.  The find was in the 10’s of millions of dollars.  Already sent off to the ends of the world.

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Ruby and Pink Sapphire—between the lines with John and Laura Ramsey

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Ruby and all colors of Sapphire are simply different colors of the same mineral: Corundum. Hooray for Corundum—without you we would be missing a lot in the gem world.

Ruby is red corundum colored by chromium, and Pink Sapphire is pink corundum colored by a little less chromium than Ruby. The difference is this: Ruby has a little less than 1% chromium and Pink Sapphire generally has about 1/2 of that.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. What happens in the gems that don’t know enough to fit squarely in one camp or another? Well, some Pink Sapphires get close to red and some Rubies have apparently had a brush with Clorox and come up a little pale to be considered “red.”

Some of the best fun we’ve had was in the late 90’s when we would buy some of the more pale Burmese Rubies that were cut a little chunky on the bottom in what they call a “mixed cut.” The mixed cut would have a heavy rounded bottom in an effort to conserve color. We would buy these, cut the bottom to a “brilliant” bottom pretty much like a diamond is cut, lose a bunch of color and have the prettiest, darkest hot pink sapphires we’ve ever seen.

Sometimes things that are between the lines of common definition are the best!

Pink sapphire ring


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© Ramseygems.com, Inc., 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from John and Laura Ramsey is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to johnandlauraramsey.com with appropriate and specific links back to this original content.

The World’s Most Expensive Tourmaline: by John and Laura Ramsey

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Back in 1987 when we were all getting excited about the Nova Era alexandrite find in Brazil, there was a new find of tourmaline in Paraíba, Brazil.

Paraíba is in what Brazilians call the Nordeste (Northeast).  Looking at a map of South America Paraíba is a small Brazilian state that sticks out about as far East as any part of the continent.   The Nordeste is a generally dry area (they grow cotton in the Nordeste [does this remind anyone of Arizona and cotton]).  Apparently the Nordeste is in the rain shadow of South America.  If you also look at the shape of South America and Africa you can see that Paraíba fits nicely into the area of Africa now known as Nigeria.

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John and Laura Ramsey on Alexandrite

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Pearl is a great birthstone for June but Alexandrite is the excitement. With the advent of Chinese fresh water pearls, pearls have become almost too available. On the other hand, true, natural Alexandrite is, and will seemingly always be—rare and hard to find.

Currently the most available and yet quite nice material is from India, from the state of Andhra Pradesh. The color change can be quite nice and yet quite affordable by comparison with material from Russia or Brazil.

Be sure any Alexandrite you buy, of significant size or price, has been certified by a properly accredited appraiser or gemologist. For more information on Alexandrite, click here to read our previous blog post.


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© Ramseygems.com, Inc., 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from John and Laura Ramsey is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to johnandlauraramsey.com with appropriate and specific links back to this original content.