A Tale of Two Spinels

[T L]

Date: 5/28/2010 9:54:22 AM
Author: amethystguy
his partner travels there to buy rough

Cool, the less middlemen, the better the pricing IMO.

 

[Upgradable]

Why do you think his prices have been rising so recently? Are we doing it to ourselves? You know, the whole gemstone world revolves around Pricescope.

 

[chrono]

I’ve noticed that his prices on certain items have gone up and wondered if I was imagining things... However, for what he sells, his pricing is still very competitive.

 

[T L]

Date: 5/28/2010 11:02:34 AM
Author: Uppy
Why do you think his prices have been rising so recently? Are we doing it to ourselves? You know, the whole gemstone world revolves around Pricescope.

Well auctions have been ending much higher, and I suspect it''s due to Tan''s new found Prisecope popularity. Do you see his BIN prices rising? I don''t see it that much, but I could be wrong.

 

[VapidLapid]

I think we are pushing the auction prices up, and even so they are still good deals mostly. A few weeks ago he seemed somewhat miffed about the prices of my winning bids. Before bidding I had asked if he could combine shipping on multiple purchases from all 3 stores and he said yes. Then when I went to check out and my 5 stones came to just over one hundred dollars he wrote me saying he would not combine again: "We wish to inform you we will do this this time and we won''t allow this combine in your future purchases. These auction you''ve won is very low and I hope you understand."
I''m sure he didn''t realize how much my bidding on other items that I did not win had pushed up those final prices. Meanwhile I haven''t noticed any increase in the buy it now pricing.

 

[T L]

Vapid,
What did you win? Did you get them yet? I'd love to see.

Sorry to hijack your thread Uppy. We should probably start a new thread when 2.0 is up, "What I won from Tan." Watch the auction prices go way way up after that!! LOL!

 

[VapidLapid]

Well I did not win all those glowing pink spinels! A v small unheated sapphire, a minute alexandrite, green zircon, couple of TanZanites®, a small crysoberyl

Threadjack apologies, but this will all disappear in a day!

 

[iLander]

I wasn''t too thrilled with an ebay stone from gemburionline, is that the same as Odyssey Gems?

Their auction showed a color change garnet going from basically black to vivid red (see Pic) and even the movie seemed to confirm this. I ended up with a medium tannish stone that goes to a medium magenta. I think it''s pretty enough, but not what they advertised. I''ll have it recut some day, to try to give it some oomph. If they just hadn''t built up my expectations, and had just shown a medium toned stone, I would have been 100% okay with it.

Do they use some kind of super lighting? It''s my understanding that it is really difficult to alter video.

I could have returned it, and they offered to take it back, so any lingering dissatisfaction is my own fault. Wish the pics were more accurate, though. . .

 

[iLander]

Using Photoshop, I adjusted the ebay listing photo (long gone off ebay, bought this in October) to show what I actually got. The change is still pretty obvious, but still . . .

 

[iLander]

UGH! Another shot at the upload.

 

[T L]

Gemburionline is the same as odysseygem. One of the gems on my incredibly large "avoid list" are color changers. I don''t mind color shifters like blue to violet, but when they go from reddish to greenish, they tend to disappoint, unless you spend a forune on a top top gem. I will say Tan is great about refunds. I returned three stones and no hassles at all. It just costs a lot to return something to Thailand for me, but at least the option to return is there. I use USPS express shipping, it has a tracking number and $100 insurance. I declare the items as documents. All my refunds have been expedited once he received them, and I received email notification. I''m a bit infamous for returning gems, so 3 out of the bazillion I''ve already bought from Tan is a good track record for me.

 

[VapidLapid]

Many people have these color change garnets on their Will Never Buy list because they are more often than not drab in at least one color and impossible to gauge from online photos. In the original vendor pic you show I see a gray stone with brownish flashes followed by a cranberry brown with light cranberry grey flashes. After the change we should do a whole thread of color changes. I do give credit to Tan though that he offered to take it back.

Meanwhile I ran into the postman just now while i was out walking the dog and he had my parcel!

 

[T L]

I also am not craving how extinct those color change garnets are, as well as grey.

 

[Sagebrush]

Uppy,

That "Kashmir" like glow in spinel often shows up in E. African stones. I recall some lovely lavender stones, big ones, up to maybe twenty carats for sale in Nairobi in the early 90s, they often had the glow. I believe its submicroscopic inclusions, that is inclusions that can''t be resolved under high magnification, these are the culprits.

In the real world, I think you mentioned something about the gem-world revolving around Pricescope? Hopefully that was meant tongue-in-cheek, cuz it aint even close to being so. At any rate, in that world your glowy stone (is that a word) would sell for significantly less than the highly crystalline example.

Best,

 

[Arcadian]

Date: 5/28/2010 11:52:49 AM
Author: VapidLapid
Well I did not win all those glowing pink spinels! A v small unheated sapphire, a minute alexandrite, green zircon, couple of TanZanites®, a small crysoberyl

Threadjack apologies, but this will all disappear in a day!

I have to say I do like the green zircon I got from him. Its very pretty though its def. a sleepy stone.

I''ve been trying to find a small 6mm cushion chrystoberyl for the longest.


-A

 

[Upgradable]

Thanks Richard. And I was speaking incredibly tongue-in-cheek!!

We sometimes forget that there are other enthusiasts out there. I''m thrilled to hear your opinion on the stones.

(I''m a little embarassed to say that having you comment is a bit like having a rock star say they like your music!

)

 

[colorluvr]

Date: 5/28/2010 3:53:16 PM
Author: Uppy
Thanks Richard. And I was speaking incredibly tongue-in-cheek!!

We sometimes forget that there are other enthusiasts out there. I''m thrilled to hear your opinion on the stones.

(I''m a little embarassed to say that having you comment is a bit like having a rock star say they like your music!

)

LOL

I do have to say that I sometimes check with a couple of people I know that bid on similar stones as me sometimes to make sure we aren''t driving up each other''s bids.

 

[VapidLapid]

Date: 5/28/2010 3:51:41 PM
Author: Arcadian

Date: 5/28/2010 11:52:49 AM

Author: VapidLapid

Well I did not win all those glowing pink spinels! A v small unheated sapphire, a minute alexandrite, green zircon, couple of TanZanites®, a small crysoberyl


Threadjack apologies, but this will all disappear in a day!

I have to say I do like the green zircon I got from him. Its very pretty though its def. a sleepy stone.


I''ve been trying to find a small 6mm cushion chrystoberyl for the longest.



-A

http://www.gemcal.com/item--Lovely-Chrysoberyl-cushion-2-75-cts-1930-19--1930-19.html

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Lovely stones, Uppy!!!! As always!

 

[Upgradable]

Date: 5/27/2010 3:44:46 PM
Author: brandy_z28

Date: 5/27/2010 3:40:39 PM
Author: Uppy

Date: 5/27/2010 3:33:31 PM
Author: brandy_z28

Date: 5/27/2010 3:24:57 PM
Author: Uppy

Date: 5/27/2010 2:49:04 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 5/27/2010 2:43:26 PM
Author: Uppy
I sure will. I didn''t expect much from it because I got it for such a bargain. But it sure is purty!!!

I love that last photo. It seems to have a lavender sheen in there. I''ve seen other sleepy spinels with that. Just because it was a bargain, don''t discount it. It''s a really pretty gem.

Have you taken a look at Tan''s stores lately? I''m sure glad I purchased my stone when I did because none of the stones he''s got listed are even close as nice and the prices of the nice one are outrageous!!

Shhhhhh........ one last secret. I have two smaller ovals coming from AJS to use for earrings. They were listed in their $99 sale.

Tan''s nice stones have been going for quite a bit lately. There was a pretty pink/orange spinel that I had my heart set on but it went for +$400.

I couldn''t pay that for it since I have my JKT project going on. I was bummed the whole day.

Brandy, I was bidding on that too!! I lost it in the end.

Dang! I had to bow out around $300. I wonder who got it and hope it was a PS''er. I want to see more pictures of it!

Two smaller ovals you say...more details?

Well, I just got an offer from Tan for a Second Chance on the glowy orange pink spinel we were in a bidding war on!!

 

[Arkteia]

Well...Here is my story. I was waiting for more people to buy from Tan to see what they thought in general. And as I am waiting, the prices, yes, are going up, partially because people have discovered that he is a decent merchant who is not going to sell you 10K pink diamonds or $ 1000.00 Colombian emeralds.
So by the time I decide to buy his prices will skyrocket, I believe.

 

[T L]

Part of the reason Tan is so popular is because he is very fair priced for quality goods. I think if his prices skyrocket, people won't buy as much. While I do hope that he has a good business and is able to buy more rough, and better qualities too. I hope his profits come more from volume sales than marking up his gems a great deal. I have also noticed that he has more auctions than ever, and I think this is the result of the perk in business.

 

[Upgradable]

Here''s several screen captures of the glowy orangy pink spinel. It measures 7.6 x 6.2 x 4.5 mm. Tan is sending it to AIGS for a brief for me. I have no idea what to do with it, but I love the glowy!!

 

[T L]

It''s very easy to amass a nice Mahenge collection with Tan''s auctions. Nice gem Uppy!!

 

[chrono]

It reminds me of a flame spinel.

 

[brandy_z28]

OH YUM! That spinel is gorgeous!!

 

[Arkteia]

Date: 6/15/2010 11:37:24 AM
Author: tourmaline_lover
It''s very easy to amass a nice Mahenge collection with Tan''s auctions. Nice gem Uppy!!

Is this Mahenge? I thought he specifiend when it was Mahenge. I bought some Tanzanian spinels that do not look like Mahenge at all. Not from Tan.

 

[Upgradable]

The two half carat mahenges finally arrived from AGS. Here they are under two 1/3 carat omcs. Would they look great as dangle earrings?

 

[packrat]

oooo those would be sexy earrings!

 

[colorluvr]

Date: 6/15/2010 6:17:18 PM
Author: packrat
oooo those would be sexy earrings!

+1 Those would look great!