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New Article by Jim Rentfrow: Gems of Afghanistan

coati

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Jim Rentfrow has been teaching faceting and gemology in Kabul since July of 2011, and he has kindly written this new article on Afghani gemstones for our colored stone community. We appreciate his contribution, and we look forward to the next installment!

Gems of Afghanistan

Thanks Jim!
 

kelpie

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Fabulous read! Thanks, Jim.
 

Jeffrey Hunt

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Hey! Jim Rentfrow is back several weeks now. I hope we see a new article from him here soon! :D
 

movie zombie

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i recently bought a rhodie cut by one of his students so i too would love to see an update.
 

PatriaGems

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Thanks, Jim! This was a fantastic article that I will be posting a link to on my blog, Gem Enthusiast. After returning from a year in Afghanistan in 2008, I started my blog to help educate the soldiers and civilians shopping for gemstones in the Kabul bazaars. I want to make sure all my readers see your article as I think it is a incredible compilation of Afghanistan gemstones. One thing I always tell readers is to stay away for gemstones not mined in the country! I learned this the hard way. My successful purchases were a Tajik spinel, a huge kunzite, a watermelon tourmaline rough, and a handful of cut tourmalines all colors and shapes. I also ended up with plenty of synthetics and simulants, which prompted the writing of my blog and eventually led me to pursue my G.G. and enter the gem trade.
 

chrono

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Hello Emily,
Welcome to PS and I hope you'll hang around for a long time. It's great to have gem lovers and lapidaries share their experiences and expertise with us. :wavey:
 

Jim Rentfrow

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Hi Emily,

Thanks for your comments! I will send you over an email through your site as well. I am missing Kabul lately and wishing to go back sometime soon. I heard last night that KIA was hit by a small bombing but that all was well. Its a land of great gemstones and great adventures. It was never a dull moment!
 

meredeth11

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I read it carefully. Thanks Jim for introducing us gems of Afghanistan. :tongue:
 

Lebs27

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I'm a late addition to this discussion. I read the informative article. I appreciate the insight as I am currently in Afghanistan in Kandahar. Yes, lots of gem dealers at the bazaar. It's hard to know what is real & what's not, even with the electronic gem testing available there at some tables.

What might I expect to pay per carat for a nice spinel or peridot?
 

chrono

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Electronic testing isn't accurate and is usually unable to differentiate a natural stone from a synthetic stone. Pricing of spinel and peridot will depend on colour, clarity and carat weight, but colour is what mostly sets the price. Not knowing any details, it could range anywhere from $10 to $10K.
 

Jim Rentfrow

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Hi Silverback,

The prices may have changed quite a bit but here is a table of the prices for Afghans and foreigners from a market survey we did in Chicken Street across about 40 vendors. It is hard to read in this form but should provide some useful guidelines.

Name of the Stone (F)=(Foreigner), (A)=(Afghan)

Price of high quality per carat P of Medium Quality per Carat P of Low Quality per Carat


Lapis `
per gram 150-200 Afs (F) 80-120 Afs (A) 100-150 Afs (F) 70-80 Afs (A) 70-80 (F) 50 Afs (A)

Saphire
Per Carat 800-1000 (F) 500 (A) 300-600 (F) 250-350 (A) 100-150 (F) 100-150 (A)

Star Saphire
Per Carat

Emerald
Per Carat 800-1000 (F) 600-800 (A) 500-600 (F) 250-500 (A) 300-400 (F) 200-300 (A)

Ruby
Per Carat 1000 (F) 600-700(A) 500-700 (F) 200-300 (A) 100-400 (F) 50-150 (A)

Star Ruby NA
Per Carat

Aquamarines
Per Carat $40-60(F) $10-25(A) $30-40(F) $6-15(A) $5-20 (F) $3-10 (A)

Garnet
Per Carat $10-15(F) $2-8(A) $3-10(F) $2-5 (A) $1-7(F) $1-3(A)

Tormaline
Per Carat $150-(F) $120(A) $60-70(F) $20-30(A) $25-30(F) $10(A)

Tourm-Bi colored
Per Carat $160-180 (F) $60-70 (A) $70-80(F) $35-40 (A) $30-40 (F) $10-20 (A)

Spinal
Per Carat $80-130(F) $20-60(A) $50-70(F) $8-30 (A) $30-40(F) $5-15(A)
 

Silverbackmp

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Jim,

My experience is from 2011-2012 and reflects relationships with certain dealers; I only bought from four on a regular basis and only trusted one [almost] completely (Amad for those that have been to the Eggers Bazzar). My post below if more geared toward those that are deployed in Kabul as you obviously are much more familiar with the workings of Chicken Street and Gemology than I am.

I'm going off of memory here as my records are in storage:

Lapis `
I really didn't pay much attention this. Got a pair of cufflinks at the last minute with supposedly non-dyed material. Thought about shipping enough back to serve as a border and center piece in a tiling job on floor/walls in an entry way or bathroom.

Saphire
Pink imported no treatement, somewhat sleepy hot pink 2-3 carats; $220 per carat. Mine was checked by experienced GG on return. Inky imported blue no treatment $150 per carat 2-3 carats. BE treated blues and fancies $25 per carat--note that most dealers will try to sell this for ALOT more and NOT acknowledge treatment. Purple Afghan Sapphire (I've seen the rough) $100-150 per carat--mostly translucent--local name is corondum (go figure). Only blue Afghan material that I saw was old stock from Wardak province (Taliban land)--large pieces, flat, grey modifier, and fairly included. They may have better material still in the ground...these were obviously unsellable pieces mined before 2003.

Star Saphire
Never saw any I was convinced was not synthetic. $5 a carat for smalls and $8 a carat for larges. I did see a Jagdelek star Ruby/Pink Saphire that was not for sell.

Emerald
ALL treated.
$80-130 per carat under .90 carat for medium quality. $120-130 per carat when buying from a parcel of the same quality. Can get as low as $80 per carat when cherry picking the pieces that were "seeded" into a junk parcel. Fine quality of the same size $200 per carat. 1-1.5 carat medium to very good quality $350-600 per carat. 2 carat medium qualtiy $500-1000 per carat. Top quality 3.5 carat $1200-$2000 per carat (most dealers higher); had the chance to buy said stone from my trusted guy at $4500--again shoulda woulda coulda. FOR THOSE THAT ARE DEPLOYED--NOTE THAT SYNTHETIC MATERIAL IS COMMON.

Ruby
$1000-1200 per carat (over a carat) for fine red Jagdelek or Tajik transparent stones. 0.30 is carat sizes $80 per carat. These (to include the small sizes) rarely show up in the bazzar. Pink to Pink/Red translucent to opaque Jagdelek $30 per carat for 1-3 carat sizes. I'm convinced that the good stuff nromally never made it to the bazzar and probably went straight to Thailand or to other foreign buyers. Also Jagdelek was apparently having Taliban issues limiting the supply. I kick myself as did have the chance to buy a 3 carat red transparent "cystal" ruby for $3500 (from the one dealer I had trust in). It was the only such example I saw that was that good. FOR THOSE THAT ARE DEPLOYED--99% OF THE STONES IN THE BAZZAR ARE GLASS FILLED JUNK.

Star Ruby NA
Never saw any I was convinced not either synthetic other than the one not for sale.

Aquamarines
Afghan material--I never saw any in larger sizes that had much color. Most were bordering on Goshenite. These were $20-30 per carat with a little bit of color. $5 per carat for Goshenite sold as Aquamarine. Small sizes with good color $10-20 per carat.

Garnet
Small redish orange (imported) spess $10 per carat.
Small color change garent (imported) $15 per carat.
Tsavorite (I bleieve imported)--Not too common. Best deal on decent material was $60 per carat to include some up to 3 carats. This was from the one dealer I trusted. Again, I should have loaded up on this as it was a one time deal and the guy next to me cherry picked it. I got one piece at about carat.

Tourmaline
Darker Indicolate $70-90 per carat. Seafoam green about the same--I only saw one piece that had the "glow" and I got a heck of deal on it at $150 for a 4 ct cushion (taken from a existing ring that my dealer bought second hand). Unfortunately it was stolen in the mail (in a rose gold setting). I have a seafoam green seven carat without the "glow" I believe I paid $350.00 or so. Rubelite $80-90 per carat for darker larger pieces that could stand some heating. Tourmaline of all colors small pieces $30 per carat.

Tourm-Bi colored
Not real sure...there was some available then the supply dried up.

Spinal
PINK Afghan/Tajikistan material (Balakashan) . $30 per carat for smaller pieces. $50 carat for one carat sizes. $60-80 per carat up to 3 carats. I saw a 30+ carat example but I forget the price. These are one of the few values availabe IMO that Bazzar goers can buy without too much worry. Note that junky African material is also available.

Peridot. Aghanistan and Pakistan material (Balakashan) $5-10 for 1-3 carats. $50-100 per carat 5-10 carat examples. Again, this is one the best things going.

Tourquoise--very hard to source. 99% of the material is dyed calcite. I did get an antique ring with a good chunk of persian for $50.

Topaz. Afghan material. $5 per carat any size. FOR THOSE THAT ARE DEPLOYED--stick to the clear stuff--anythink else is either irradiated or coated.

Amethists. Afghan material $5 per carat any size. Note that Red Flash material is avaible if you hunt for it.

Tanzinite is also available it that is your thing. Much cheaper than the "gem network." I'm personally not a fan (too soft).

Afghanistan also has Iolite (seen the rough), Sphene (own some--seen the rough), Afghanite (obviously), Jade (seen the rough) and various other uncommon material.
 

Andelain

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Mar 10, 2010
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I'm over here now, and most of what you can buy on the bases is either fake, or so treated it might as well be fake.
 
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