2008 Tucson gem shows report: Cactus juice

At this year's Tucson gem shows, gem dealer Philip Zahm offered this 18-karat yellow gold and 950 platinum ring featuring a 13.3-carat Paraiba tourmaline from Mozambique, with 0.56 carats tsavorite garnets and 0.87 carats diamonds; suggested retail price is $187,950. Philipzahm.com.

Concerns about gemstone treatments, the looming Burmese ruby ban, rough-supply shortages and the struggling U.S. economy brought a prickly sense of sobriety to this year's Tucson gem shows, usually known for their relaxed sunglasses-and-sandals vibe.

But there were some new finds this year—including a deposit of Tanzanian spinel and rubies from Greenland—and although traffic seemed lighter, some dealers were pleasantly surprised to find serious buyers instead of dallying browsers.

"People are intense in looking and comparing," said René Arnoldi of Carl Friedrich Arnoldi in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. "Higher-quality material is doing well, but the medium-to-lower quality is harder to sell."

Red and pink spinel from Tanzania were attracting interest, but stones in sizes above six carats were scarce, he said. In fact, top-shelf stones of any kind from gemstone centers such as Brazil and Africa remained elusive this year, Arnoldi said, echoing the sentiments of many of the other gem dealers at the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) GemFair.

Prices on color's traditional troika—sapphire, emerald and ruby—rose in the 20 percent range, hoisted high by the weak U.S. dollar, tighter supplies and competing customers from the European and Asian markets.

Retail buyers, fresh off a holiday season that was disappointing for many, were shopping Tucson carefully.

"It's going to be another tough year," said jeweler Carla Ann Yeager, owner of Diamond Works in Chillicothe, Ohio, who said she picked up "funky pearls that you can't get from the suppliers," smoky quartz and brown quartz, all designed to appeal to her young female clients who accessorize clothing with jewels.

Despite the slowing economy, she is opting to ramp up her colored-stone marketing.

"I've started doing more full-color ads in the newspaper for jewelry with stones like pink tourmaline or (gemstones in) rainbow colors," Yeager said.

At the AGTA GemFair, Gems of Naples was offering some rare, blockbuster-size gems, including this 7.07-carat natural unheated Padparadscha sapphire, which it was selling for $9,500 per carat. (800) 477-2716 or info@gemsofnaples.com

Red alert for rubies Challenges in the U.S. ruby market have multiplied over the past year, with higher prices, a looming ban on Burmese stones and an influx of cheap, lead-glass-filled rubies among them.

"Prices on rubies have gone up 25 percent in the past six to eight months alone," said Sam Rahmanan of Sara Gems Corp. in New York, adding that prices increased 100 percent over the past two years. "The dollar is weak and the same money just doesn't buy as much anymore."

Depending on quality and origin, ruby prices throughout the shows ranged from as low as $400 or $500 per carat to as high as $100,000 per carat for natural, pigeon-blood-red Burmese rubies.

For fine stones, average prices ranged from $1,500 per carat for Thai rubies to about $2,500 for Burmese rubies from Myanmar's Mong Hsu region to about $4,000 per carat for stones from Myanmar's storied Mogok mines, said Richard Drucker, publisher of The Guide, at his popular "Best Buys in Tucson" seminar at the AGTA GemFair. While prices were up about 20 percent on natural stones, treated-ruby prices were flat, he said.

Creating positive buzz this year was Canada-based True North Gems, which was selling rubies mined in Greenland in smaller and melee sizes.

Glass half full for treated stones But there was negative reaction to lead-glass-filled rubies, which some of the exhibitors at the Tucson shows were selling for telltale low prices of $10 to $50 per carat for polished goods. Since hitting the U.S. market in 2005, the stones have circulated to the point that the American Gemological Laboratories (AGL) started calling the stones "composite rubies" on grading reports. The treatment, which involves heating and injecting glass into the stones, is easily detectable by labs, but the level of lead glass used to seal major flaws and fractures has set off alarms.

"Do you want to call it a ruby or do you want to call it ruby pieces in glass?" asked Dr. Lore Kiefert, laboratory director of the AGTA Gemological Testing Center, during a seminar where she displayed a slide of a lead-glass-filled ruby, splintered by cracks after it was exposed to heat during the resetting process. "It's not only cavity filling any more. It's more than that."

In addition to heat, the treatments are also susceptible to solvents, including everyday household cleaners.

Adding to the ruby challenges this year is a looming U.S. ban on gemstones from Myanmar, producer of 90 percent of the world's rubies. At press time, the act had not yet been signed into law, but most dealers were opposed to it, saying it will hurt small Burmese ruby miners and Thai cutters more than its real target—the ruling military junta responsible for human rights atrocities in Myanmar. It is also expected to drive up ruby prices.

Some retailers, including Tiffany and Co., have stopped selling Burmese rubies because of the Myanmar conflict, and Stuller has begun offering rubies from Madagascar.

Designer Diana Widman, a regular at the Tucson shows, created a new collection featuring homegrown gems from Montana. Hand-fabricated in 18-karat gold with several hinged joints for flexibility, this necklace features 20 carats of natural Montana sapphire crystals and a 4-carat unheated purple spinel; suggested retail price is $11,000. Widmandesign.com

Sapphires, particularly blue, remain a favorite among jewelers and consumers, dealers said. For fine-quality goods, average prices ranged from about $1,000 for Malagasy stones to $3,500 per carat and above for Burmese.

Although the stone remains one of the least controversial, a new treatment has emerged. During the Accredited Gemologist Association (AGA) conference, Christopher Smith, vice president and chief gemologist of the AGL, said he examined a batch of sapphires that were neon blue in color, similar to Paraiba tourmaline or Malagasy apatite. The stones were purchased by New York gem dealers, who bought them in Thailand, where they were described as beryllium-diffused. Analysis showed they were treated with cobalt in a new heat-treatment process detectable with a microscope or Chelsea filter, Smith said.

For the last few years, emerald has seen a resurgence in popularity, and prices have been steady, at about $1,800 per carat for a 1-carat Zambian stone and $2,500 per carat for a 1-carat Colombian emerald, but this year, the figures are steadily moving upward, Drucker said.

"There's a lot of good production coming out of the La Pita [mine in Colombia], but other forces like the weak dollar are likely to keep prices firm," he said.

But one issue that may impact emeralds this year is trade-press reports of poor-quality emeralds treated in their rough and pre-cut forms with polymers that are essentially gluing them together.

"People are concerned and that's what we're here for. That's what we tried to eliminate," said Bryan Alderhold, Eternity Natural Emerald's executive vice president. The company treats its emeralds with ExCel, a polymer-based treatment that, unlike others, can be removed and also carries a lifetime guarantee.

The company carries a 50-50 mix of Colombian and Afghani emeralds, with goods ranging from $500 per carat on the lower end to $12,000 and $40,000 per carat on the high end, though the average is about $3,500 to $4,500.

Rock stars of the show Prices for tanzanite, always a crowd-pleaser in Tucson, were holding steady at about $400 to $550 per carat for stones that are two to three carats in size. The Tanzanite Foundation has created its own grading scale, and has partnered with labs to produce reports that give grades for clarity, cut and color.

"This could be the first [grading system for color] that actually becomes universal, because it's not one lab imposing it on all the other labs," Kiefert said.

Dealers who specialize in fine and unusual stones cited strong demand, though they were surprised at who was buying.

"We hoped with the exchange rate to see more foreign buyers, but there were very few Europeans," said Laurie Watt of Mayer and Watt in Maysville, Ky. "And our American clients bought more than we expected. We've been selling finer, higher-end stones. Not necessarily bigger, but finer."

In addition to unheated corundum, Mayer and Watt favorites included mint Afghani tourmaline, selling for $250 to $450 per carat, and purple cuprian tourmaline, for $350 per carat.

Last year, an influx of blue-green Mozambique tourmaline that resembled Paraiba tourmaline from Brazil prompted the world's top gemological labs, via the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee, to expand the term Paraiba to other copper-bearing tourmaline.

An assortment of gemstones from Stuller are part of what the company dubbed the "Blue Music" trend, colors that appeal to consumers who value virtues like trust, clarity and balance. Stuller.com

Some opposed the looser terminology, but this year the debate seems to have cooled.

"Some really want the Brazilian material; some only care for the beauty of the piece," said Edelito Oliveira of Hubert in Los Angeles, whose African Paraiba tourmaline was about $3,000 per carat.

The weak U.S. dollar has had an impact on the price of rough colored gemstones for dealers, including those buying from Brazil, where the currency ratio has slipped from about $3 U.S. dollars to one Brazilian real, to $1.75 to one real, he said.

Mozambique tourmaline now fetches as much as $7,000 per carat for fine goods, and from $7,000 to $16,000 for extra-fine goods. For the Brazilian Paraibas, which remain more difficult to find, prices ranged from $6,000 to $15,000 for fine stones to $15,000 to $20,000 for extra-fine.

"Mozambique tourmaline is still getting a lot of buzz," said Philip Zahm of Philip Zahm and Associates in Aptos, Calif. Other hot sellers were Tanzanian spinel in pinks and reds, which were selling for $600 to $800 per carat for 1-carat stones and $1,000 to $1,500 for those sized two to three carats.

A surprise hit at the show was jade, according to Daniel Mason of Mason-Kay in Littleton, Colo., who said the company had its best Tucson show ever. A ban on Burmese gemstones would impact jade dealers as well as ruby dealers, but that didn't seem to be the reason behind the surge in interest, he said. Instead, the color green seemed to be trendy this year, in part because of the interest in the environment.

"With jade, there's not much [consumer information] on it and jewelers can sell it for more than keystone," Mason said. Prices range from about $15 per stone for commercial quality to $50,000 to $60,000 for fine quality.

Dealing with the topaz blues Since the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) stepped in last year to address the lack of licensees for testing irradiated blue topaz, several companies have received licenses.

Only those who initially import and distribute irradiated gemstones need licenses from the NRC, so retailers need only check with their suppliers to make sure that is the case.

Still, given the red tape and expenses involved in importing and selling blue topaz, other types of treated blue topaz and coated topaz were getting a fresh look. Joe Orlando, Stuller's vice president for gemstones, said that the company is applying for a distributor license from the NRC, but in the meantime is selling diffused blue topaz from Signity, which is promoting its diffused blue topaz with the motto: "Genuine topaz—no radiation, no complication."

"We stopped selling irradiated topaz eight or nine years ago because we saw this coming," said Hubert Salvenmoser, a product manager for Swarovski, which owns the Signity brand.

Also stepping up its topaz game is Azotic Coating Technologies, which uses its patented coating process to produce coated topaz, quartz and cubic zirconia in colors such as the popular blue-green iridescent "Mystic fire."

Kevin Bennet, the company chairman and a speaker at the AGA conference, noted that though the treatment is durable and permanent, the coatings can come off if the stones are placed in acids or pickling solutions.

"Treat them like pearls or opals," he said.

Jorg-Heinz's "Diamond Cages" necklace with South Sea pearls and 18-karat gold clasp with diamonds. Joerg-heinz.de

Freshwater fever In pearl jewelry, freshwater pearl sales continued to hold steady, and there were few changes in what retailers were asking for, according to exhibitors, who said demand for baroque pearls was still going strong.

"People are always looking for baroques in the South Sea and Tahitians," said Colleen Reynolds of A and Z Pearls in Los Angeles. With the price of gold at record levels, pearl jewelry is becoming an attractive alternative, she said. Favorite pieces included Ikecho freshwater pearls.

Peter Bazar of Imperial Deltah Pearls said this year's pearl buyers were going for the lower price points and lower quality of goods. To deal with the challenging economy, his company has purchased pearl farms in Tahiti, the Cook Islands and China.

"We've been able to reduce costs by aggressively going to the source," he said. Still, some challenges lie ahead, and the weak U.S. dollar has hurt the Providence, R.I.-based company. Bazar also noted production problems with the Chinese akoyas that will probably hit the market next year.

A strand of fine-quality freshwaters, 10-to-11 millimeters in size, was going for $2,800 at Imperial Deltah.

Kamlesh Kothari of Premier Pearl said he was getting more requests for pearl drops rather than baroques this year and said that Chinese goods remain plentiful though the better material is hard to find. Still, top-quality Chinese freshwaters are almost approaching South Seas pearls in quality, he said.

"Prices are firm this year, and they were already strong because of the European and Asian markets," Kothari said.
Source: nationaljewelernetwork