Eye candy from the HK gem and jewelry show (Nov)

[mochiko42]

I took a break from my frantic Thanksgiving cooking marathon this afternoon to spend an hour at the November gem and jewelry show. It's not as big as the September show and I recognized many of the vendors from September.

Overall, I found the quality and prices to be not what I was looking for within my meagre budget. I asked one booth about some Paraiba with average color, glow and clarity. Cheapest price I was told was $5,000 per carat but as you can see from some of the photos of the finished jewelry pieces, overall the prices for Paraiba and cuprians were definitely Tokyo prices. Same for most other gems...the best deal I saw was US$25 for round freshwater pearl stud earrings and $100 for round freshwater pearl necklace - was seriously tempted to stock up on Xmas gifts there but I don't like white gold so changed my mind,

I wore my cuprian and pink sapphire ring and it got complimented for its color by several Paraiba vendors including a guy at the Peter Valicek booth which had some nice Paraibas.. I was really chuffed that they took the time to appreciate my humble cuprian when they were selling stones at $5k ~$20k+ per carat...

Most of the hall was taken up by diamond vendors, the most exciting drama was I saw a woman stopped at a booth for trying to steal some diamonds, there was a huge crowd all trying to take photos with their phones.

Anyway, I still got the same feeling as I did when I went to the September show: it hit home the sense of "luxury as commodity" (umm dozens of pearls and diamonds in ziploc bags, anyone?), and that in Asia there are few good deals to be had, but some of the Japanese, Chinese and Korean jewelry designers are creative and doing interesting things. I ended up not getting anything since I've already spent my jewelry budget for this year (and next year!!), but it was fun to check out the gems and jewelry.

***

Here's the part of the post that you're really here for! Sorry for the quality of the pics, my phone really picks up the yellow lighting

Emeralds:



Japanese pearl vendor:



Paraiba:



Others:





Jewelry:

 

[Acinom]

Thank you for sharing your experience and photo's.
Ah! Those Paraibas....
I am not surprised at all that your cuprian in the RG setting with pink sapphires gets so many compliments: it's stunning!!

 

[CirrusClouds]

Thanks for sharing! Looks like it was fun!

 

[T L]

Wow, nice pics, and thanks for them and sharing your story.

Drool at the moonstones.

 

[dawnxcui]

Wow, nice pics, and thanks for them and sharing your story.

Drool at the moonstones.

ditto that! look at all those moonstonesssssssssssssssssss

 

[JewelPhenom]

Thank you for sharing your visit to the gem show with us.
The "Love of Butterflies" necklace is truly amazing!

 

[LoversKites]

The moonstones made my eyes widen. Do you remember any specs about them? Sizes, prices, etc? I'm curious. The pearl ring in the last photo is beautiful. Thanks for all the pics.

 

[mochiko42]

Haha guys, that's exactly what my reaction was! I was walking around past the booths full of calibrated stones and beads, most of them made me go 'meh' , was so unimpressed, then suddenly I saw this blue flash from several metres away and zeroed in on that tray! sorry I don't remember the vendor name. The stones were a good size, from a guess I would say at least 9 or 10mm.. It was one of the dozens of Indian vendors selling cabs and calibrated faceted gems. I thought about asking more but I was preoccupied with thinking about Thanksgiving cooking prep I wasn't in the right mood. Maybe in March I'll try again at the next show. But anyone want to split a parcel of moonstones with me next time then? Or else I could just make a moonstone suite with the whole parcel [emoji14] [emoji14] [emoji14]

 

[wordie89]

He he he. Finished Turkey dinner. .. on to colored stones! Mochiko this so makes me want a paraiba except for that whole $5000/carat thing. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[mochiko42]

Wordie, $5k was probably the cheap end! Can you see those Paraiba earrings in the middle photo? They cost $268,000 and those marquises cuts were likely no more than 2ct each.... Say you subtract $20k for the settings, that's still $248k for 4tcw of Paraiba.... That's Japanese prices for you! It mystifies me because obvious it's the price the market here will bear, I mean somebody is buying at that price, right?? Someone maybe who has much more money to burn than I have! I'd rather go to Paraiba Intl or other online vendors for better value if I were to buy. Although majority of stones at the show were eyeclean, the color and glow varied.

 

[mochiko42]

PS Happy Thanksgiving!! I'm not American but my husband is, we are going to a party held by a fellow expat American tonight to stuff our faces with turkey. I'm bringing bacon cornbread stuffing, pumpkin cheesecake imperial stout brownies, and beer bacon mac and cheese balls for the pot luck.

 

[MJO]

Wow that much now. I remember selling Richard Wise a pair of Brazilian Windex Blue stones 4ctw for $20,000. Thank goodness I kept my best stones.

 

[thecat]

Wow I love the moonstones! I was looking for one for a pendant the other day. All had not much blue in them. But those in your photos are amazing. They are so transparent and blue.

 

[GearGirly]

I would love to just be able to look through a big lot of moonstones, beautiful!

 

[Rosebloom]

I agree with everyone else - those moonstones are mesmorizing! I also love the tray of ame cabs. Looks like fancy grape jello!

 

[CirrusClouds]

There seems to be a lot of folks here looking for high-quality moonstones. I'm going to have to contact some of my mining buddies and see if any of the lapidary artists are sitting on material.

 

[LoversKites]

I had to come look at the moonstones again. Ahh.

 

[mochiko42]

Oh, alright, here's a bigger picture of the moonstones.

Now that all the turkey and pie eating is over, I'm thinking of going back to the show today for another stroll-through. (It runs until Sunday)......probably will go take another look at those moonstones.

 

[OreoRosies86]

Those moonstones, wow! WOW!

 

[lilmosun]

[quote="mochiko42|Now that all the turkey and pie eating is over, I'm thinking of going back to the show today for another stroll-through. (It runs until Sunday)......probably will go take another look at those moonstones. [/quote]

Very curious to see if you manage to still come back empty handed. Those pictures are drool worthy. I've never seen so many paraibas in one place (actually, I've never seen any IRL except for my small ones). Are the listed prices firm or do they discount substantially like most of the smaller gem shows here?

 

[arkieb1]

I am surprised you went past the moonstones, I doubt I would have had the strength to not buy something they are stunning!!!! Thanks for all the pics!!!

 

[mochiko42]

Awww, arkieb, I'm sooo in trouble with my DH.. At the show now and they already started the sales!! 70% off... May have to get some South Sea pearls...

 

[mochiko42]

Quick report back, I ended up with three smallish translucent blue sheen moonstones from Burma (not rainbow moonstones) from a friendly lady called MiMi at a Burmese company that was visiting HK for the first time. It wasn't too badly priced, so it was worth it just for the experience/education to talk to various vendors and to add to my loose gem collection. Not sure what to do with them yet, maybe a three stone ring or earrings and a pendant.. Might have to list them on LT with my other learning stones at some point, I'm running out of room to store all those little gem boxes!

They weren't as transparent as the ones (from India) in my earlier photo - I did go back and ask about pricing for those really nice transparent & adularescent ones, it was $150-250 per ct at wholesale/show pricing, but they were all at least 5ct and I couldn't justify spending $1k on an impulse purchase, especially when I don't know enough yet about blue sheen vs rainbow moonstones and pricing etc.

I also asked about pricing about Paraiba vs cuprian at a different vendor. Mozambique cuprian was about $750/ct for a heat only 4ct cab. Brazilian Paraibas started at $3-4k+ per ct for mini faceted ovals (0.25ct up) .. I will try to post a few more photos tomorrow [emoji16]

 

[missy]

Mochiko, thank you for sharing the pics with us! OMG love it all and those moonstones are .

 

[T L]

They weren't as transparent as the ones (from India) in my earlier photo - I did go back and ask about pricing for those really nice transparent & adularescent ones, it was $150-250 per ct at wholesale/show pricing, but they were all at least 5ct and I couldn't justify spending $1k on an impulse purchase, especially when I don't know enough yet about blue sheen vs rainbow moonstones and pricing etc.

Sounds way too expensive if you ask me, and for that price, I would want a lab report because they are fracture filling them these days. Were they all completely eye clean and super deep blue throughout the stone, even when tilting it? Please note that moonstones look far more blue on a black background, as depicted in the photo you took, then on a lighter background. When buying moonstone, it's really important to look at them away from a dark background in a photo or otherwise.

Barry is able to sell nice Sri Lankan material for much less per carat, so I don't get that pricing, but again, dealers can charge whatever they want. At gem shows, they can also make up pricing on the fly. For those prices, I would want a top end moonstone that looks like this with the rainbow effect, and deep blue color all throughout the stone.





ETA: Maybe the larger carat sizes justifies that expensive pricing???? It's hard to find really large clean moonstones with deep blue color, but then again, I don't think that's wholesale pricing. JMO.

 

[pregcurious]

TL, is that your moonstone from ACS? It's beautiful!

 

[T L]

TL, is that your moonstone from ACS? It's beautiful!

I actually don't know who it belongs to. I found the pic just searching.

 

[JewelFreak]

I love moonstones but the emeralds make me want to cry. Paraibas go without mentioning (sob). I often wonder if some vendors ask higher prices at shows, banking on enthusiasm & lust to justify them despite competition from other vendors.

Thanks, Mochiko, for taking photos & letting us see them! Glad your T'giving dinner was good.

 

[LoversKites]

TL, is that your moonstone from ACS? It's beautiful!

I actually don't know who it belongs to. I found the pic just searching.

It is very nice, the rainbow effect is beautiful. Would you consider it a top end moonstone?

 

[T L]

TL, is that your moonstone from ACS? It's beautiful!

I actually don't know who it belongs to. I found the pic just searching.

It is very nice, the rainbow effect is beautiful. Would you consider it a top end moonstone?

I'm not an expert on moonstones, but it's up there IMO. I haven't even seen that many nice antique pieces with top moonstones either, they usually only have a white sheen or very little blue adularescence.

Beware of stones that are in jewelry too because they often have backings or blue backings that enhance the blue color. I personally would only buy a piece with an open back. I just found out they can be coated too, so buyer beware.

Buy from a reputable dealer.