Hello all, a story and a picture!

[rj_gems]

Hello all!

I decided to join this forum for the interesting conversation and to see the ‘other’ side of the coin. I am a hobby faceter, I have a ‘normal’ day job but faceting is incredibly stress relieving to me and provides endless gifts (I don’t sell). But I would also really like some advice on some things as well.

So I will start off with my tale of woe. So wife buys me a really nice (1800$!!) cabinet specimen of Benitoite. So we are moving and I drop it on the hard kitchen floor….Yea you guessed it, broken, not just broken but many small shattered pieces, too small to do much with, except wait, the center piece has nearly come off perfectly, (almost it left a chunk on the matrix) it looks cloudy and dark, but let me facet it…..six grueling hours later…….1.04 ct, eye clean (I can’t find a flaw at 10x) medium blue (lighter than in the picture, the pictures does the stone no justice, it looks like a medium blue spinel with more fire) …..Jeepers, did I dodge a bullet? Wife now wants a custom mount, and talk of my butter fingers has disappeared!

I know Benitioite in cut stones is pricey, but did I in anyway recover the loss?

-RJ

 

[Haywood74]

Hi RJ,

I''m sorry to hear about your accident. I don''t know a whole lot about Benitoite, but the pieces I have seen in person were awesome looking, and pricey. All things considered, theoretically, it would be nice if you could get $1800+ out of your finished gem if you tried to sell it and make a complete recovery. I would be more apt to be thankful that you have a nice finished gem on your hands and not everything in small chips or worse, in the trashcan. That is WAY better luck than what I would have had. Nice save!

 

[cellentani]

Looks like a very nice finished stone! A trusted faceter (from whom many of us have bought) has a benitoite ring for sale - it''s a .94ct round. Thought you might be interested in seeing the price!

 

[VRBeauty]

If you setting that stone in a nice ring or pendant will make your wife forget that you dropped her gift to you... then yes, you''ve more than recovered the loss!

Steve Perry carries quite an inventory of benitoite, and ATG gems has a few pieces from time to time (both websites are on the "sites selling colored gemstones" list.) As you know, faceted benitoite in that size is hard to come by, and that''s reflected in the prices on these sites.

As a long-time Californian who grew up in the Bay Area, not to mention a gemstone lover... I''d say your wife would be very lucky to have a piece of jewelry with such a large, beautiful benitoite stone (lovingly cut by her husband, no less!)

You don''t suppose she was thinking about your butter finger tendencies when she gave you that specimen?

 

[rj_gems]

Great Jeebus! (I had no idea) Since I don¡¦t really buy or sell gemstones (except the one ring that mattered ƒº) I am a little out of touch with pricing (except the ridiculous price of rough!) ¡KI wonder if this gem is like diamond, significant price bump over 1 ct. Also I realize trillions aren¡¦t that popular, but that is what the shape of the rough was.

-RJ
p.s. the rough really looked junky.

 

[Nomsdeplume]

I really like the finished result! Your wife is a lucky woman!

 

[chrono]

What a lucky save to be able to make something out of the pieces that broke. I guess any wife will forgive the butter fingers once you set it and gift it to her. As for the value, your picture looks pretty good but I can’t tell for sure due to the angle of the stone. I’ll just chalk it up as even since you are now forgiven, which is really the important part of the story.

 

[Kismet]

Well the value has increased a lot but you'll be out actual cash since you're setting it for your wife and not selling it. Bonus points with the wife are priceless though.

Now the big question is, how are you going to set it?

 

[Lovinggems]

It''s gorgeous, it''s a fortunate mistake for your wife.

 

[D&T]

very pretty! yes, what a lucky save.

 

[rj_gems]

You should have seen her eyes when the stone was finished and cleaned….”Honey…(gasp)….that is the nicest stone you have ever cut” (I only have about 200 stones to my name)

So I said to her, well the pricescope forum indicated a potentially high value, I could see if it would sell for most if not all of the cost of the specimen and buy a replacement……

Wife: NO WAY, I will get you a new specimen for Christmas, I WANT THAT SET!

Lisa Krikawa of Krikawa did our wending/engagement rings; we were thinking of having her do something nice with it...

-RJ

P.S. Is this something I should be sending off to the GIA to get Certified? Their basic identification is 85$ and the full up report with spectrum analysis is something like 175$.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

It seems lovely! I can see why your wife wants to keep it

 

[Kismet]

Date: 8/18/2009 9:28:32 AM
Author: rj_gems

Lisa Krikawa of Krikawa did our wending/engagement rings; we were thinking of having her do something nice with it...

Just make sure that whatever jeweler you pick is comfortable working with stones that are more delicate than diamonds; not all jewelers are.

 

[chrono]

I would not be overly concerned with certification at this point. You know what it is and you aren’t selling it. However, for insurance purposes, you may want to consider the AGL $25 basic ID report.

 

[Gailey]

Welcome to Pricescope RJ

Your Benitoite is lovely, you have done a marvellous job. Now we want to see what else you have cut!

I don''t know much about Benitoite, but I am sure that I have read that it is rarely found in sizes over 1.0ct. It''s sought after because it sparkles like crazy. The techies will explain that better than I.

Africa Gems has a 1.67ct listed for an incredible sum. I''m guessing that there is some value to yours too. So be careful what you do with it and who you send it to for setting.