Fancy clarity In the gemstone world, clarity generally refers to inclusions or other impurities in a stone, and inclusions are normally counted as a bad thing. Gems are supposed to be pure as snowflakes and normally the price goes down … Continued
Lost wax casting meets the computer age. A fair fraction of the jewelry you see is made by lost wax casting. An original is made of wax, that’s encased in a plasterlike material known as investment. After it sets up … Continued
Like-kind and quality. Most jewelry insurance policies are designed to make a customer whole again in the case of a loss. They’re agreeing to replace a lost or destroyed item with another of “Like-kind and quality”. What that means … Continued
Is a high insurance appraisal evidence of a bargain? This is the heart of the appraisal question for a lot of new purchase clients. They bought a diamond or piece of jewelry, they paid a lot of money for it, … Continued
Welo opals. It’s really pretty unusual for a major new gemstone to appear on the market. I only remember a couple in 40 years of this business. Tanzanite comes to mind. Cheap Chinese pearls is another. It’s easy to forget … Continued
Why Gemprint? Gemprint is a system for tracking individual diamonds. You may have seen them featured on CSI or Law&Order. Their depictions aren’t entirely accurate, as tends to be the case with TV shows, but they get the concept right. … Continued
The famed Argyle diamond mine is about to close. Famed more for the fistful of coveted pink and red gems it yields each year than being a major producer of lower-quality stones, is being shuttered by Rio Tinto Group … Continued
WHY AREN’T SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS CHEAPER? I get questions about this often and thought I would present something of an answer. I wrote this several years ago for Pricescope.com. I’ll start with a common misunderstanding. Simulants are a different thing, and … Continued
Antique synthetics. Synthetic gems have become a major talking point in the jewelry business thanks to some new production methods in the growing of diamonds, but synthetics have been around since the 1870s. Really. We’ve had antique synthetics for decades. … Continued