Update Intergem Feb 2015

[pregcurious]

I went to Intergem with a friend Sat. Feb 21st (10-6) and Sun. Feb 22nd. (11:30-1:30). We had planned on going just the morning of the 21st, but got snowed in and stayed at a hotel. At one point on Sat., we literally could not leave the parking lot. We decided to have Mexican for dinner next door until the snow slowed down, which it did around 7:30 pm.

Thanks to PS, I went to Prima, Andrew Sarosi and FGS. Prima had some nice spess from Loliondo (great orange color), and mint garnet (with blue modifier). I will post pics below.

I ordered a half eternity diamond YG ring, which will be coming in a few weeks. My friend bought a ring from Andrew Sarosi, and a diamond band from another vendor. I was not in the market for a gemstone, but I did look for an aquamarine for Hotpozzum (I'll update in her thread.)

 

[pregcurious]

Jaimin at Prima was great. If you're in the market for a tanzanite, garnet, zircon, chrysoberyl, tourmaline, or peridot, they have an excellent selection. I also noted some spinels and sphene. I remember seeing a nice red/pink small spinel. I think it was a round or oval. Darn, I wish I had taken more pics, but I was not in the market for a gemstone this weekend, and I did not want to ask for see gems that I did not plan to buy. (As many of you know, I am almost done collecting gemstones.)

The first pic shows some great zircons. They sparkled like mad, even through the gem box. They were crazy beautiful.

 

[pregcurious]

Here is pic of chrysoberyls. The cushion in the middle of the bottom row was neon highlighter yellow. A great specimen if you are looking for a smaller stone.

 

[pregcurious]

Prima had some amazing spess from Loliondo. On the top row of the gem boxes, the 3rd (rectangular cushion) and 4th stone (oval) from the left had great color and were quite clean. They were fantastic. I wanted to see them in hand, but did not want to bother Jaimin as I did not plan to buy them.

 

[pregcurious]

Prima also had some nice blue-green (middle of picture) and pink tourmaline.

 

[pregcurious]

There were also nice peridot for sale.

 

[Marlow]

I neeeeedd a gemshow!!!!!!!!!!

Wonderful pics!!!

I like the light colored spessartine in the bottom row on the left ( EC )

 

[gayani1]

Thank you for the photos. enjoy looking at this type of threads any more photos?

 

[pregcurious]

Some more pictures are here, of light blue aquamarine:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/help-me-help-a-friend.210810/'']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/help-me-help-a-friend.210810/'[/URL]

I think I forgot to take a picture of the mint garnets. Ugh! There was a lovely blue green mint garnet in an oval shape. Pretty big (9 x 11 mm)?

 

[PattyCo]

I neeeeedd a gemshow!!!!!!!!!!

+1

And someone to go with...

 

[minousbijoux]

Thank you Preg for your great reporting. Can you say a little about FGS? Anything interesting there? How were prices if you had a chance to ask?

I so wish Prima would come to California.

 

[enbcfsobe]

I'd be interested in what FGS had as well. My past experiences in store and at shows has been that he has nice stuff but is pricey, but it has been a few years. I'm curious what's up with them lately as I've managed enough willpower to not walk into the store (its about 200 feet from my office).

ETA thanks so much for the pics -- it was very thoughtful of you to take us on a virtual tour of the Prima displays!!

 

[pregcurious]

FGS had some nice looking stones. To see the type of stones they carry, please see their website:
http://www.fgsgems.com/fgsgems/item_detail.asp?Type=Emerald

I can't comment as I haven't formed an opinion about them. They had a decent amount of traffic. Intergem has mostly lower end goods including highly treated beads, rhinestone/faux jewelry, and beaded jewelry. FGS, Prima, and Andrew Sarosi stood out as having much better colored gemstones than other vendors.

enbcfsobe, I can't believe you haven't gone when they're 200 ft from your office!

 

[T L]

Thanks for the pictures. I should go one of these days. I haven't gone in over three years!

Did he have any spinel there (Prima)?

 

[pregcurious]

Yes, Prima had pink/red spinel. There was one small stone (4 mm?), either a round or oval, that had nice pink/red color in the case. I did not ask to look at it, and I regret it. I also regret not asking to look at the mint garnet that I liked. However, I didn't want take their time, and I had a lot of ground to cover! It took me 10 hours to go through the whole show, only stopping at about 10 booths to see something out of a case, and several more that had items on tables.

 

[lilmosun]

Sounds like you had a blast!

I find the balance between low end goods, beads and gemstone/fine jewlery vendors can vary quite a bit from show to show. While there is definitely more low-end and beads than it was when 25 years ago (CZ in 14K was then considered the low-end lol). It's a crapshoot and depends on what other shows are going on that weekend and how they've done the week before. I still like going though and try to make Chantilly once or twice a year.

 

[T L]

Yes, Prima had pink/red spinel. There was one small stone (4 mm?), either a round or oval, that had nice pink/red color in the case. I did not ask to look at it, and I regret it. I also regret not asking to look at the mint garnet that I liked. However, I didn't want take their time, and I had a lot of ground to cover! It took me 10 hours to go through the whole show, only stopping at about 10 booths to see something out of a case, and several more that had items on tables.

Now I call that willpower! I would have still looked at them.

Did you get any photos of their mint garnet or spinel set up?

I might go next time, but only for settings. I have a fair amount of stones I still want to set.

 

[pregcurious]

Did not get any pics of the spinel or mint garnets. I am very picky about red/pink spinels, and the small round was the only one I liked. As for missing a pic of the mint garnets, that was an oversight on my part because, like I said, the oval was beautiful.

 

[dk168]

Thanks for the eye candy pics!

DK

 

[chrono]

Pregcurious,
You've done your CS duties again, and wonderfully too. Thank you so much for the photographs and the write up. The Prima gems are beautiful and although I'm not in the market to purchase anything (all right, just one particular item), I would still look at them.

 

[pregcurious]

I found the pic of the tsav and mint garnets! I was still thinking this morning to myself, "how could you possibly had missed that mint garnet considering it was your favorite stone in the case?"

The oval mint garnet in the top right corner of the group had great blue-green color, and nice size. This picture is not great, but you can kind of tell that it is more saturated than most of the others. If you're in the market for a mint garnet, I would call Jaimin.

 

[T L]

I found the pic of the tsav and mint garnets! I was still thinking this morning to myself, "how could you possibly had missed that mint garnet considering it was your favorite stone in the case?"

The oval mint garnet in the top right corner of the group had great blue-green color, and nice size. This picture is not great, but you can kind of tell that it is more saturated than most of the others. If you're in the market for a mint garnet, I would call Jaimin.

Very nice pic! Thank you. My heart mint garnet is from Jaimeen and its the one ring I wear every day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that stone, and I don't even like heart shapes, but the color was amazing. He has some really nice mint material, of course some is better than others. It's great to see him at a gem show to make sure you get the color you like. When I bought mine, he also let me take it outside in the sun to evaluate it for color shifts. He had one the same color as mine but an enormous amazing Portuguese cut that I would guess was at LEAST ten carats, clean and sparkled like a disco ball. It was beyond museum. I am so jealous of whomever owns that stone today. It was breathtaking beyond belief. He had it hidden and not on display, but showed it to me. I don't know how some people can be in the trade because I would have a hard time selling that. It's not like you can get pieces like that, even if you have tons of money.

 

[LoversKites]

I like the light colored spessartine in the bottom row on the left ( EC )

I like that one too.

Thank you preg for the pics.

 

[pregcurious]

You're all very welcome. I'm already looking forward to next year.

 

[enbcfsobe]

enbcfsobe, I can't believe you haven't gone when they're 200 ft from your office!

I bought a few things from him but that was 6 or 7 years ago. I occasionally window shop, but going in to look is just too dangerous!!