RUBIES ! price per carat, in rough form ??

[dvldvl]

Do any of you guys know an approximate price per carat for rough form uncut alluvial rubies? mixed package of 1,000 carats, 0.5-0.75, with about 100 carats of 1-5 carat stones

cant find out much, but a few people have said about $35 a carat wholesale for the whole bag ?? so $35,000 ??

a few of the larger carats once cut and polished would sell at retail for $1000-2000 a carat i think. although im no expert hence the question here

 

[colorchange]

Hum,
No one sells rubies worth $35/Ct that way !
$35/Ct rough is around $100/Ct cut and such sell individually or in small lot, anyway after close inspection.
Bad quality small size ruby go as low as $50/kg.

Are you willing to buy or sell ? For what purpose ?

 

[colorchange]

I forgot to mention : 0.5-0.75 Ct is very small for a rough, except if it has fine transparency, it's not worth much.
To give you a price quote, I regularly buy lots of 0.1 to 0.2 Ct VVS brillant cur sapphire and rubies, pink sapphires will be worth a few dollar each, 0.15 Ct round brillant cut ruby will be worth around $20 in finest qualities.

If the rubies are standard quality Madgascar alluvial rubies (ie medium to fine red, translucent or very included) they are worth very very little.

 

[strmrdr]

colorchange sounds like he knows more about it than I do but it sounds like a run of the mine lot to me.
Whats left after all the best/valuable goods are removed and sold by themselves.
Unless your an absolute expert dont do it.
From my readings these lots will be picked up by the mass cutting houses under contract if they are worth cutting.
So the question becomes why is it being offered to you?
My guess would be its fish tank gravel quality at best.

 

[colorchange]

Hi,

I do not know what you are willing to do with those rubies, but $35/CT uncut wholesale for such size is yet serious quality.
As you you seem not in the business, let me tell that to you : absolute bargain do not exist, each item has it's value and you can't expect to buy much below.
You should not be impressed by the size even of one single item, aquarium gravel will remain aquarium gravel for long (your only hope may be new treatment but even that wouldn't put gravel up very much considering the tons that are mined everywhere).
If you want another price quote, I recently bought a very fine pair of oddly cut unheated Mogok slightly pinkish red rubies weigh 1.3 Ct together for $200, once recut for a standard shape they'll be around 0.95 Ct so see what very fine hightly fluorescent VVS small rubies are worth : not more than $50/Ct rough (there is a lot of loss in such size).
Now just compare... are your's included ? Transparent ? What will they weigh in standard cut ? Is the color nice ?
On that size just one problem is enough for the stone be worthless : the same with a bad color would be 20 the pair, the same with a bad color and incuded would be $2 : about the price of the cut.

If you are buying for speculation or investment, just consider these rules :
- No stone below $1000 .
- bargains exist but no ones offer systematic bargain or easy to sell ones. For instance I'm on the French market. f I come to buy some sapphire unsuited for my market it is only because it is a bargain and I may pass it to the customer. But bagain is usually 20% off, not 1% of the price.

 

[dvldvl]

thanks for replies, - the stones are quite clear, transparent, some nice reds and pinks,

they are from africa, straight from the mine. i just bought the package as a small goodwill gesture. the guys i was with said it was a good deal (they have been in the african diamond/gem business since the early 1970's)

they said these quality of stones after cut and polished in a ring would retail around $1,000 a carat. no reason not to trust them as i have known them for a while. they were buying a large diamond parcel at the time and i just walked in on the deal.

 

[colorchange]

Then just have one of the bigger stones cut and certified to check the value...
If you want a "gem market" appraisal I can give you so. I''m dealing with a lot of rubies in the 1-5 Ct range once cut.

 

[Amandas_Jewels]

I thought this was funny!

"Like beautiful women, rubies do come in many shades, the preference for which is a matter of personal taste. Ah, but isn''t that what makes life worth living?"