Bright Blue Tourmaline

[MakingTheGrade]

Mich E just posted this recently:

$250
This stone weighs .76 carats and measures 6.25mm across. The color is a very bright medium blue which shifts a bit towards green in lower color temperature lights, (meaning more yellow light). If this were on E-bay it would be called "Paraiba", but since I have no idea where it originated we'll just call it bright blue and make the price more affordable.

Do you guys think it's a pretty blue?

 

[Linda W]

It looks really pretty to me. Are you going to get it??

 

[chrono]

It looks pleasant enough in that one picture. Any additional pictures? How about one showing the green tint?

 

[Magenta]

I like it! Looks like a swimming pool

 

[T L]

I think it''s pretty. Is it as saturated as the photo? I would ask him that.

 

[Nomsdeplume]

It looks really pretty to me.

 

[D&T]

Gorgeous color... I like it very much!

 

[Barrett]

I would call that light blue as opposed to bright blue. It''s a nice color..reminds me of water. A very beautiful stone. Don''t you think the price is a little high for a 76 pointer. The piece of rough needed to cut that would have to be around 4-5ct and at most would cost $20-25 bucks. Thats a markup of $225 just for the cutting???

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 6/4/2009 1:47:44 AM
Author: amethystguy
I would call that light blue as opposed to bright blue. It''s a nice color..reminds me of water. A very beautiful stone. Don''t you think the price is a little high for a 76 pointer. The piece of rough needed to cut that would have to be around 4-5ct and at most would cost $20-25 bucks. Thats a markup of $225 just for the cutting???

Yeah, that''s what I thought too...maybe our resident Tourmaline experts could chime in on that... I don''t see many blue tourmalines around so I really don''t know what the price is, or if it''s a rarity.

 

[Lovinggems]

That''ll be my ideal aquamarine colour, I''d imagine an aquamarine with the same colour would be very expensive if one''s available? Good thing there''re tourmalines in this world!
I am definitely a beginner in learning about gems, but the colour to me is between a light blue and a bright blue to me, but not a neon blue.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Hmm...I think I''ll pass on this one. One of these days I''d like to get a pillbox pendant with a pretty blue stone, but no rush!

 

[Stone Hunter]

It is pretty. Thanks for sharing it. But for me it seems like alot of money for the size/weight of the stone. But I''m cheap. LOL

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 6/4/2009 9:29:10 AM
Author: Stone Hunter
It is pretty. Thanks for sharing it. But for me it seems like alot of money for the size/weight of the stone. But I''m cheap. LOL

Me tooo....lol.
Anyways, I decided to get a WF pendant instead.

 

[Michael_E]

Date: 6/4/2009 1:47:44 AM
Author: The piece of rough needed to cut that would have to be around 4-5ct and at most would cost $20-25 bucks.

O.K. Amethystguy, cough it up. Where on earth can I get medium blue nodular tourmaline with virtually no dichroism at $5 par carat ? I''ve never seen this anywhere, at anything close to that price and I''d be forever indebted to you if you could point me at a source for this. I don''t normally post on threads about something I''ve done, but your post got me all worked up and salivating. A link, a hint, a name, anything will do. If you were standing in front of me I''d be begging, wailing and crying to know where to get more of this stuff !

 

[princessplease]

Lovely!!!!!

 

[hoofbeats95]

What site is this on?

 

[stepcutnut]

Hi Michael E!!!

I just wanted to say I love the stone in your avatar-can you tell me more about it please!?!?!

 

[Michael_E]

Date: 6/4/2009 11:28:32 AM
Author: stepcutnut

Hi Michael E!!!


I just wanted to say I love the stone in your avatar-can you tell me more about it please!?!?!

Hi stepcutnut,
That stone is a tourmaline which I cut for my daughter from a stone which she picked up very inexpensively. It was very ugly and had a zone of olive green on one corner of the original oval step cut. I was able to remove much of the green and cut it to the shape that you see in my avatar as a triangular barion cut. It came out better than I had thought it would and was set into a wire basket type, pendant setting which I made to fit it. Unfortunately it got dinged on one corner and is now sitting in my, (or I should say HER), "to-do" box waiting to get re-cut and new setting.

My S.O. doesn''t wear much jewelry, but that daughter of mine wants to see everything, and then hints around about what she wants for her birthday, Christmas, etc. She even has her own box in the safe, of stuff she''s picked through and wants done. Lucky for me she likes really strange stones and so I get off fairly inexpensively. I think the next stone up for her is a big, heart shaped, parti-color sapphire from Australia. I think the darn thing shows three colors all at once...attractive, but not everyone''s cup of tea.

 

[stepcutnut]

Date: 6/4/2009 1:26:40 PM
Author: Michael_E

Date: 6/4/2009 11:28:32 AM

Author: stepcutnut

Hi Michael E!!!



I just wanted to say I love the stone in your avatar-can you tell me more about it please!?!?!

Hi stepcutnut,

That stone is a tourmaline which I cut for my daughter from a stone which she picked up very inexpensively. It was very ugly and had a zone of olive green on one corner of the original oval step cut. I was able to remove much of the green and cut it to the shape that you see in my avatar as a triangular barion cut. It came out better than I had thought it would and was set into a wire basket type, pendant setting which I made to fit it. Unfortunately it got dinged on one corner and is now sitting in my, (or I should say HER), ''to-do'' box waiting to get re-cut and new setting.


My S.O. doesn''t wear much jewelry, but that daughter of mine wants to see everything, and then hints around about what she wants for her birthday, Christmas, etc. She even has her own box in the safe, of stuff she''s picked through and wants done. Lucky for me she likes really strange stones and so I get off fairly inexpensively. I think the next stone up for her is a big, heart shaped, parti-color sapphire from Australia. I think the darn thing shows three colors all at once...attractive, but not everyone''s cup of tea.

Thanks for the info! It is a really neat stone!!! Too bad about the ding-another re-cut is in order I guess.

That sapphire sounds like it would be a really fun stone!!! Do you have any photos of it?

 

[Stone Hunter]

Date: 6/4/2009 9:30:53 AM
Author: MakingTheGrade

Date: 6/4/2009 9:29:10 AM
Author: Stone Hunter
It is pretty. Thanks for sharing it. But for me it seems like alot of money for the size/weight of the stone. But I''m cheap. LOL

Me tooo....lol.
Anyways, I decided to get a WF pendant instead.

Oh my!! I look forward to photos of the pendant...

 

[Catmom]

Hi Michael!!!!!

I love the blue tourmaline. It looks like such a pretty color.

 

[Barrett]

I regularly buy parcels direct from peshewar. Stones from 1-5ct. wether they be blue, green, pink, etc. never cost more than $5 a ct...never..average price is around $2 a ct. for a 4-5ct blue(eyeclean)...if you check most of the online rough selling websites you will see there prices are much higher. Those folks are trying to make a living selling rough and there prices are extremely high. Once you break that 5ct. mark the prices go up exponentially(5ct.-8ct. prices are pretty consistant above 8cts. you are talking $12-15 a ct. or more). The same thing applies for Brazilian stones too. You must get them direct from dealers in countries where they are found or mined(except Nigeria for some reason they want an arm and a leg for there stones). never buy from an american rough dealer..the prices are to high. I just had a 4.5ct. tri-colored eyeclean tourmaline rough crystal(blue, green, and clear with optimum color split) for sale on GO.com for $12...$12 bucks for a tri-color that will cut a perfect 3 color stone! Same color blue as that stone is. It sold within 5 minutes of me putting it up(the ads cycle on there buy, sell, trade section so it was removed last week automatically or I would send you there to look at it). I got the stone with a large parcel I bought of blues and bi-colors up to 5cts. and I ended up paying less than $1 a ct. for the stones. I am not going to mark up the price 10 times even though most other rough sellers would. It works, I have so many repeat customers who come back time and time again. I bet you are right that stone if sold on ebay would be labeled "neon" or "paraiba"...LOL

 

[T L]

I know a lot of people that stopped buying rough from over there due to the political climate and the funding of unscrupulous activities. It is difficult to buy directly from the country of origin for a lot of cutters. So hard, that some cutters are actually taking a trip to Africa to find some decent rough, or they sell the cut stones themselves to make a better profit. The political escapades, the nightmare postal deliveries that are robbed, and otherwise, make it very difficult to buy good rough from the country of origin. The Thais seem to have an easier go of it, but it's even getting harder for them from what I hear.

However, I do agree that the best rough is bought direct from the country of origin, if you can get it.

 

[hoofbeats95]

What is the site for Micheal E? I guess I don''t know this site

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 6/4/2009 7:57:09 PM
Author: hoofbeats95
What is the site for Micheal E? I guess I don''t know this site

Is the classified part of another forum, so I can''t post the link.

 

[hoofbeats95]

Huh? Well how am I suppose to find it???

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 6/4/2009 9:29:39 PM
Author: hoofbeats95
Huh? Well how am I suppose to find it???

[email protected]

There''s his email address

here''s his website (gems aren''t posted here though)
http://www.gemshoppe.com/html/jewelry.html

 

[Barrett]

You are exactly right tourmaline lover. Sometimes it''s difficult to find a good guy overseas to sell you stuff. The dealers that go to africa get spectacular prices on there stones. You wouldn''t beleive what the price of a mozambique paraiba-like tourmaline cost..over there. it''s a fraction of the price that it is if you buy it here. The folks who go to those places with 10 grand come home with 100 grand worth of stones. It''s a little disheartning when you send $2000 to a dealer in pakistan or brazil..you have no idea if the guy will even send you your stones and there is nothing you can do about it if he doesn''t. Luckily I have guys I trust with any amount of money to come through for me but with any new person I deal with I start out slow and maybe purchase $200 or $300 to make sure. So far I have not gotten ripped off(glad I don''t get anything from Nigeria). The problem with Thai dealers is they are an extra middle man in the whole chain(you have to worry more about treatments also). An extra middle man means an increase in price. you want to try and get as close to the mines as possible. there are many dealers who sell via the net in those areas wether it be peshewar or Teófilo Otoni. With those guys it goes from the mines to there shops with few middle men in between and fewer middle men means less markup in price. The key thing here is do you want to take that chance of sending money or recieving stones from a "thrid world country"

 

[Michael_E]

Date: 6/4/2009 1:42:05 PM
Author: stepcutnut
That sapphire sounds like it would be a really fun stone!!! Do you have any photos of it?

Here''s that weird sapphire that my daughter decided was hers. This was cut in SE Asia and shows blue, green and yellow in varying amounts however you turn it. Not a museum piece by any means, but it still beats those inky black sapphires by a mile.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Date: 6/5/2009 1:36:11 AM
Author: Michael_E

Date: 6/4/2009 1:42:05 PM

Author: stepcutnut

That sapphire sounds like it would be a really fun stone!!! Do you have any photos of it?

Here''s that weird sapphire that my daughter decided was hers. This was cut in SE Asia and shows blue, green and yellow in varying amounts however you turn it. Not a museum piece by any means, but it still beats those inky black sapphires by a mile.

Super cool looking!