Having had such a good experience with them when I bought a red garnet, I would go immediately to the Mastercutgems weekly sale page. Lots of lovely trinkets for $100 and below: http://www.mastercutgems.com/index.php?page=view&cat=302
For me I would want a Citrine because it's my and my sons birthstone. I already know the one I want, I just need to ask to have it cut.
Setting a strict (and rather low) budget actually seems like a fun challenge. I think I may need to set one of my own. I get an allowance of $200, so not much more than your budget. It would actually be fun to see what I could make with just that, from start to finish. Sorry to thread jack but you got the wheels in my head spinning.
I bought a 9mm amethyst from Jeff Davies for $90 that I totally dig. I also second boerumbiddy's suggestion about master cut gems. I bought a garnet from him too and although it was more than your budget at $240 (I think), it's totally gorgeous and he even threw in two sidetones as a bonus. For $240 I got more enjoyment than I've gotten with much more expensive stones. Definitely good bang for the buck!
Thanks for all the suggestions! I had selected a beautiful, one-of-a-kind ring from ebay, but after I had bid, the seller canceled the transaction, saying that someone had accidentally stepped on it and crushed it. i would really like to have something that I could actually wear, and I'm a tough customer because my fingers are very small, and I don't want to spend $50 resizing a $100 ring. This item was perfect, so I'm left disappointed for now.
but with $100, I'd probably do a small designer fashion jewelry. Not so colored gem focused. I LOVE Bario Neal and OBSESSED with these earrings: http://bario-neal.com/jewelry/earrings/dalmation-sheild-earrings
Those particular earring are $238, but they have lots of other stuff in your price range, but not much that really blows me away... But that's just one line out of many.
There are a lot of cool, less common gems and minerals--- lapis, turquoise, carnelian and on and on-- that would make an awesome >$100 pendant. Play around with ASC as at least a place to start, if that is to your taste.
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