Input on an idea....

[RevolutionGems]

Hi all,

I have been thinking about a unique idea for the last few days and I would like your input.

It is pretty rare that people have the opportunity to purchase a piece of gem rough and then see the resulting stone.

So the question is, as a buyer, would you be comfortable selecting a piece of rough from a pre-screened selection, choose a shape from recommendations and then get the resulting stone?

If not, what would make you the most uncomfortable? What would you want to see regarding information on the stones?

I am hoping this doesn''t violate the forum rules. I am not trying to sell anything, I just want to get a feel for how stone lovers would feel about such a service.

 

[Indylady]

Dan Stair posts pictures of his before and after with his rough, and it is pretty neat to see what a faceted gem looked like before faceting.

That being said, I think that I would not like the idea of picking out rough and commissioning a faceted stone unless it would be from a fairly inexpensive piece of rough. There is just too much that could go wrong; its hard enough to judge a facted stone through a computer monitor. To judge a piece of rough? Seems harder if you haven''t dealt with rough beforehand. Once the project is commissioned, I would imagine it to be a binding deal...so if I didn''t like the gem, I wouldn''t be able to return it in a traditional 7-10 day viewing window.

It might be successful, however, if this would enable you to list larger amounts of inventory over the time and effort it takes to cut each stone before posting it.

 

[RevolutionGems]

Hi Indy,

Those are exactly the type of comments I was looking for. I realize that judging everything on a monitor can be a guessing game at best. But I was thinking that, once commissioned, I would still allow returns since it will still be a saleable stone.

I was just thinking that it would be kind of fun and certainly unique to see the surprise of the rough you picked.

I have not yet convinced myself that it would be a workable idea. It might be one of those things where I just try it out and see what happens.

 

[ma re]

It would be interesting and I''m sure you could find your market for this. But I would advise you (and I''m no facetor, btw) that you keep it at low cost. I''m sure it would be fun for people who like buying inexpensive jewellery and somewhat similar to "get your own pearl out of an oyster" idea, but if you price it too high, very few people will be willing to risk the cost. If you offer fair return policies that might help, but I wouldn''t count on many comissions from PS''ers, cause most of us know exactly what we''re after and are not much into surprises(

). It could be fun for things like affordable gifts, especially if you want to introduce someone to gemstones (like kids). Maybe it would be better to start off with opaque materials that you would tumble or cut into cabs, as the outcome can be imagined more easily and there''s less of an element of surpirse. That stuff is also generally much more affordable so it''s a safer bet for you as well as for potential clients.

Good luck

 

[Largosmom]

I was thinking about the oysters too...and that element of surprise is attractive. In this case, the pearls are tucked into the oyster by people, they did not grow in the oyster if information I have read on the internet is correct. Don''t they normally set them on-site too, in a simple setting?

The cost would be definitely an issue...if popular, you might end up cutting only lower cost stones and not have time for the lovelies that people here wish for.

Many of the vendors here offer a "currently cutting" or a recently cut/blog type of feature on their sites and I am fascinated by the results of the shown rough and end product...that is a different angle than what you are considering and a good idea...not sure if more cutters do this or not. I also wonder if the rough stones attract interest before the cutting is completed.

You could try it a few times with willing participants (a focus group!), and see if the results are worth the extra time involved.

My personal worries in the transaction in no particular order would be 1) getting my money''s worth, 2) get a pretty stone to enjoy or set, getting a stone large enough for a ring or pendant (earrings being unlikely in such an arrangement), 3) What happens if the stone breaks or is damaged in cutting (some sort of guarantee), 4) return policy.

 

[chrono]

Jeff,
The idea sounds like something fun and novel, but the market is definitely not for the collector as there is still a good bit of risk and surprise involved. I did something similar where the precision cutter selected the “rough” (stone to be recut) and the end result was something we both did not expect. Thank goodness he stood by his full refund policy but I’m sure it’s not a good feeling for him either. It happened to me on the two occasions where I took that risk; once where gray undertone became more prominent, and a second where a fracture grew and the stone lost 50% of its expected final carat weight. Cutting from rough is less complicated than a recut so perhaps your risk might be less so. I doubt my experience is the norm but it’s enough to put me off accepting such a risky proposition, even if a full refund is guaranteed on something expensive and collectable. I can see this working for the more common and inexpensive pieces like quartz though.

 

[RevolutionGems]

Hi guys-,

Excellent comments! I knew this was the place to go with the idea.

Mentally, I can raise reasonable rebuttals and answers to the concerns you posted but I think they are all very valid concerns. I really like the idea of doing this with inexpensive stones like amethyst and citrine, crystal quartz and maybe some garnets.

I agree that the idea is full of possible issues for large scale or more expensive projects.

Ok. I think I am going to bag that idea for now. Maybe something for later on.

THanks again to all of you who commented. I really appreciate the input.

 

[LD]

Jeff

Even though I've been collecting for years, I don't think I have the experience to evaluate rough - so on that basis would need guidance. I believe that the inclusions etc etc in rough determine what cuts may/may not be possible (very generic terminology but hope you get my meaning) so offering a range of cuts when the rough may not support that could be problematic.

I guess if a lapidarist said to me, okay, tell me:-

1. The end colour/saturation you're looking for (including undesirable tones/hues)
2. An estimate of size you'd like to see i.e. over 1ct, over 2ct, under 1ct or roughly XXmm etc
3. Preferred cuts

Then went and sourced some rough for me and gave me a returns policy I'd be very happy to run the risk!

Hope that helps.

Edit: A further thought .... I buy with my eyes not stats, certs etc and over the years I've become incredibly fussy about colour so this could prove problematic as I've seen rough be cut and then sensational but I've also seen dramatic coloured rough then fade to insignificance in the final gem.