am I fool?

[gemNewbie101]

Hello PS world! I posted this question in other forum, and they advised me to post it here.

Long story short, I bought a 2.98ct ruby years ago. it had an AGL cert stating that the stone "Natural Ruby, Classic Burma TM"

Recently, I wanted to sell this stone. Since people in HK is not familiar with AGL, I was advised to send the stone to Gubelin or GIA. Long story short, I sent it to Gubelin, and their cert commented: This colour variety of ruby may also be called "pigeon blood red" in the trade

Unfortunately, things get complicated when I tried to sell this stone.

The first jeweler:
He luminate the stone with UV, and the stone glow pretty red. Then, he said: this glow indicates that this ruby is glass filled. He offered $1000 for this stone.

The second jeweler:
He look the stone through a tiny magnifier. He said: this stone has too many feather crack. Usually, it indicates that this stone has been heated. He offered $5000 minus some taxes

I felt something is off with these jeweler. I tried several other jeweler, none of them offer me more than the 2nd jeweler. Now, I felt ripped off. I paid $20000 for that stone in 2006. Do you have any recommended jeweler?

 

[Dioptase]

Do the Gubelin and AGL reports say it's heated or not?

 

[eastjavaman]

Do the Gubelin and AGL reports say it's heated or not?

Furthermore, retail price is not the same as wholesale price anyway.
You can also show us the pictures of the stone and the lab report if you are willing.

 

[chrono]

Do the Gubelin and AGL reports say it's heated or not?

This is also important and affects pricing.

 

[Marlow]

Hello PS world! I posted this question in other forum, and they advised me to post it here.

Long story short, I bought a 2.98ct ruby years ago. it had an AGL cert stating that the stone "Natural Ruby, Classic Burma TM"

Recently, I wanted to sell this stone. Since people in HK is not familiar with AGL, I was advised to send the stone to Gubelin or GIA. Long story short, I sent it to Gubelin, and their cert commented: This colour variety of ruby may also be called "pigeon blood red" in the trade

Unfortunately, things get complicated when I tried to sell this stone.

The first jeweler:
He luminate the stone with UV, and the stone glow pretty red. Then, he said: this glow indicates that this ruby is glass filled. He offered $1000 for this stone.

The second jeweler:
He look the stone through a tiny magnifier. He said: this stone has too many feather crack. Usually, it indicates that this stone has been heated. He offered $5000 minus some taxes

I felt something is off with these jeweler. I tried several other jeweler, none of them offer me more than the 2nd jeweler. Now, I felt ripped off. I paid $20000 for that stone in 2006. Do you have any recommended jeweler?

Sorry to say but this is why gems are no investment!!!

If you buy the stone is wonderful - if you sell the stone is terrible!!, Always the same!!!!

 

[pregcurious]

Hello PS world! I posted this question in other forum, and they advised me to post it here.

Long story short, I bought a 2.98ct ruby years ago. it had an AGL cert stating that the stone "Natural Ruby, Classic Burma TM"

Recently, I wanted to sell this stone. Since people in HK is not familiar with AGL, I was advised to send the stone to Gubelin or GIA. Long story short, I sent it to Gubelin, and their cert commented: This colour variety of ruby may also be called "pigeon blood red" in the trade

Unfortunately, things get complicated when I tried to sell this stone.

The first jeweler:
He luminate the stone with UV, and the stone glow pretty red. Then, he said: this glow indicates that this ruby is glass filled. He offered $1000 for this stone.

The second jeweler:
He look the stone through a tiny magnifier. He said: this stone has too many feather crack. Usually, it indicates that this stone has been heated. He offered $5000 minus some taxes

I felt something is off with these jeweler. I tried several other jeweler, none of them offer me more than the 2nd jeweler. Now, I felt ripped off. I paid $20000 for that stone in 2006. Do you have any recommended jeweler?

Hi gemnewbie10. As the other posters have stated, your gem report will state if it is heated and if it has further treatments. When selling you should present these.

Good rubies fluoresce red in UV light. However, they may have additional colors of fluoresce under UV light if is treated. Please see this article from Richard Hughes who is a well known sapphire/ruby expert.
http://www.ruby-sapphire.com/heat_seeker_uv_fluorescence.htm

Colored stones are not a good investment. You also need to sell it to the correct market.

 

[T L]

Hello PS world! I posted this question in other forum, and they advised me to post it here.

Long story short, I bought a 2.98ct ruby years ago. it had an AGL cert stating that the stone "Natural Ruby, Classic Burma TM"

Recently, I wanted to sell this stone. Since people in HK is not familiar with AGL, I was advised to send the stone to Gubelin or GIA. Long story short, I sent it to Gubelin, and their cert commented: This colour variety of ruby may also be called "pigeon blood red" in the trade

Unfortunately, things get complicated when I tried to sell this stone.

The first jeweler:
He luminate the stone with UV, and the stone glow pretty red. Then, he said: this glow indicates that this ruby is glass filled. He offered $1000 for this stone.

The second jeweler:
He look the stone through a tiny magnifier. He said: this stone has too many feather crack. Usually, it indicates that this stone has been heated. He offered $5000 minus some taxes

I felt something is off with these jeweler. I tried several other jeweler, none of them offer me more than the 2nd jeweler. Now, I felt ripped off. I paid $20000 for that stone in 2006. Do you have any recommended jeweler?

The first jeweler is lying to you because fine rubies will always glow with a UV light, and this does not mean they are lead glass filled.

It's unlikly you'll get back what you paid for it regardless.

 

[pregcurious]

I would take it as a good sign that the jewelers want to buy it. If it is glass-filled, I don't think someone would even offer you $1000. Now you just need to find someone who is willing to give you the highest price. It will not be a random jeweler.

 

[T L]

I would take it as a good sign that the jewelers want to buy it. If it is glass-filled, I don't think someone would even offer you $1000. Now you just need to find someone who is willing to give you the highest price. It will not be a random jeweler.

EXACTLY, no way he would offer $1K for a lead glass filled ruby. That jeweler is shady.

 

[tourma-guy]

The first jeweler is lying to you because fine rubies will always glow with a UV light, and this does not mean they are lead glass filled.

It's unlikly you'll get back what you paid for it regardless.

Just wanted to agree with this statement. All fine rubies fluoresce under UV light.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Selling a stone to a jeweler will normally yield you a pretty low price. Jewelers are able to buy at wholesale, most likely you bought at a retail price. Normal mark up is 2 to 3 times wholesale. Unless the jeweler has a current need for the stone, there is no reason they would buy it from you even at a wholesale price. Why tie up their money in a stone, unless it's a great buy, so they will offer you a below wholesale price.

A few years back I was at a jeweler who I did business with, and one of his customers came in with a diamond she purchased from him 1 year prior. She wanted to sell it back to buy a bigger stone. He offered her $700 for stone. She gasped and said that just last year she paid him $3000 for stone! Eventually she took the $700, and ended up buying a larger stone and custom setting. Everyone was happy, well sort of.

Gems have become a business of memo. Many of the stones a jeweler shows you, he doesn't own, but has them on memo.

 

[minousbijoux]

Selling a stone to a jeweler will normally yield you a pretty low price. Jewelers are able to buy at wholesale, most likely you bought at a retail price. Normal mark up is 2 to 3 times wholesale. Unless the jeweler has a current need for the stone, there is no reason they would buy it from you even at a wholesale price. Why tie up their money in a stone, unless it's a great buy, so they will offer you a below wholesale price.

A few years back I was at a jeweler who I did business with, and one of his customers came in with a diamond she purchased from him 1 year prior. She wanted to sell it back to buy a bigger stone. He offered her $700 for stone. She gasped and said that just last year she paid him $3000 for stone! Eventually she took the $700, and ended up buying a larger stone and custom setting. Everyone was happy, well sort of.

Gems have become a business of memo. Many of the stones a jeweler shows you, he doesn't own, but has them on memo.

What we need to do if we wish to sell a stone of significant value is to find the Desperate Jewelers Facebook group All kidding aside, it would be so great if there was a way for us non-trade members to know when jewelers were seeking a certain stone for a commission. Of course its not our business, but from their perspective, in addition to their regular sources, individuals selling collections or individual stones might broaden their search inventory. The only time anything like this has happened to me was once when I was in a jewelry store which specializes in colored stones. I had brought some of my stones. The store was bemoaning the fact that they were being priced out of the Paraiba/cuprian market (they had gone to the Hong Kong show specifically to buy them due to customer demand). I happened to have one of mine which they were interested in buying outright. I was not ready to let it go, but it seemed that since they had at least one client interested in a stone of that size and quality, they were in the right ballpark for price. But this occurrence is probably pretty rare.

 

[PieAreSquared]

Selling a stone to a jeweler will normally yield you a pretty low price. Jewelers are able to buy at wholesale, most likely you bought at a retail price. Normal mark up is 2 to 3 times wholesale. Unless the jeweler has a current need for the stone, there is no reason they would buy it from you even at a wholesale price. Why tie up their money in a stone, unless it's a great buy, so they will offer you a below wholesale price.

A few years back I was at a jeweler who I did business with, and one of his customers came in with a diamond she purchased from him 1 year prior. She wanted to sell it back to buy a bigger stone. He offered her $700 for stone. She gasped and said that just last year she paid him $3000 for stone! Eventually she took the $700, and ended up buying a larger stone and custom setting. Everyone was happy, well sort of.

Gems have become a business of memo. Many of the stones a jeweler shows you, he doesn't own, but has them on memo.

A jeweler is the last person on earth I would try to sell a top quality (expensive) stone to, for all the reasons above.
What you need to find is a private investor, or an auction house that could list it for you -and keep your identity safe. I am afraid you still won't get what you paid for it though. But $1,000? Come on! That's just insulting.

 

[LD]

Firstly - DO NOT PANIC.

Both the AGL and Gubelin reports trump any jeweller.

Secondly, as others have said, why would a jeweller offer to buy a stone if it was as bad as they say?

The problem is they've got an eye on a deal. They're hoping you're "stupid" and won't do your research and will jump at the chance to buy low and sell high.

You need to sell this stone privately BUT be warned, you won't get what you paid for it. Unfortunately, gemstones are like cars. The minute you drive them out of the shop they've decreased in price because you've paid retail not a trade price. Second hand gemstones will only command a third to two thirds of what you've paid (IF you've got a good stone).

There is a forum on PS where you can link to where you're selling an item. Go and have a look at that forum and see where people are selling and have a think about what you would sell it for. Remember, it's a second hand stone (crazy as that sounds) and so you won't be getting top $.

Also, please post the reports here. As others have said, if the stone is heated then the price will be less than if it isn't. If it's heated then you also need to know what (if any) other treatments have been applied to the stone.

 

[Cognition]

never ever ever sell high quality stone to jewelery! This is gubelin's definition of pigeon blood ruby:

In addition to the colour, there are further significant parameters which must be complied with if a gemstone is to qualify for a “trade colour call”: natural unheated rubies and sapphires only; both faceted and polished stones are acceptable, as are gems showing an asterism, although high transparency is required; rubies need a minimum weight of 1.00 ct, sapphires must weigh at least 3.00 ct.

Actually, a lot of collectors in Asian condemn this kind of ruby as their holy grail. Unfortunately, I rarely saw any gubelin certed rubies as pigeon blood color. I have sent ~20 unheated GRS type "pigeon's blood" rubies to gubelin, and gubelin only concluded one of them as pigeon blood! on one caveat, gubelin accept slightly silky stone on the parameter, and silky stone will lower the price of the stone.

if you want to sell your stone, you can go to Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair in June

 

[minousbijoux]

never ever ever sell high quality stone to jewelery! This is gubelin's definition of pigeon blood ruby:

In addition to the colour, there are further significant parameters which must be complied with if a gemstone is to qualify for a “trade colour call”: natural unheated rubies and sapphires only; both faceted and polished stones are acceptable, as are gems showing an asterism, although high transparency is required; rubies need a minimum weight of 1.00 ct, sapphires must weigh at least 3.00 ct.

Actually, a lot of collectors in Asian condemn this kind of ruby as their holy grail. Unfortunately, I rarely saw any gubelin certed rubies as pigeon blood color. I have sent ~20 unheated GRS type "pigeon's blood" rubies to gubelin, and gubelin only concluded one of them as pigeon blood! on one caveat, gubelin accept slightly silky stone on the parameter, and silky stone will lower the price of the stone.

if you want to sell your stone, you can go to Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair in June

But even if one were to travel there and want to sell at the Hong Kong Jewelry and Gem Fair, how would they go about it as an individual? Its one thing if you are vendor and have an exhibition space, but as an individual how would you sell? Would you walk from exhibitor to exhibitor asking if they know anyone interested in buying a pigeon blood ruby? I'm seriously interested because this seems to be the big disconnect for private party individuals interested in selling.

 

[PieAreSquared]

never ever ever sell high quality stone to jewelery! This is gubelin's definition of pigeon blood ruby:

In addition to the colour, there are further significant parameters which must be complied with if a gemstone is to qualify for a “trade colour call”: natural unheated rubies and sapphires only; both faceted and polished stones are acceptable, as are gems showing an asterism, although high transparency is required; rubies need a minimum weight of 1.00 ct, sapphires must weigh at least 3.00 ct.

Actually, a lot of collectors in Asian condemn this kind of ruby as their holy grail. Unfortunately, I rarely saw any gubelin certed rubies as pigeon blood color. I have sent ~20 unheated GRS type "pigeon's blood" rubies to gubelin, and gubelin only concluded one of them as pigeon blood! on one caveat, gubelin accept slightly silky stone on the parameter, and silky stone will lower the price of the stone.

if you want to sell your stone, you can go to Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair in June

But even if one were to travel there and want to sell at the Hong Kong Jewelry and Gem Fair, how would they go about it as an individual? Its one thing if you are vendor and have an exhibition space, but as an individual how would you sell? Would you walk from exhibitor to exhibitor asking if they know anyone interested in buying a pigeon blood ruby? I'm seriously interested because this seems to be the big disconnect for private party individuals interested in selling.

I worked in the jewelry business back in the 90's, before my life took me down a different career path. I went to many gem shows with the company. YES people come up and offer to sell stones all the time, and yes, sometimes vendors will buy them. Wholesale. As a matter of fact, there was always a "show before the show" with vendors buying and selling from each other. Wholesale.
I would not recommend this method for such a valuable stone. Unless you bring a bodyguard too. It only takes someone overhearing what you have to follow you.
Auction houses are interested in top quality gems, you agree on the offering price, and the risk to you is minimal.
But...it seems we have lost the original poster?