I am a Nigerian Gemstone dealer planning to travel to New York in September with some of these stones. Can someone give me some advice on how best to have them cut and faceted before selling them?
Re: How can I get my rough stones faceted and cut in New Yor
Are you sure your stones are facet grade? The spess looks pretty included. There are groups on Facebook that can help you out. In fact, most folks don't necessarily live in the same city as those lapidaries who cut their stones so they just pack them up and send them by mail. Look on Facebook for groups with names like "Facet Rough", "Select Facet Rough" and "Fine Faceted Gems and Cabs." The folks in these groups are really kind and helpful and will be able to ascertain the quality of your rough and point you in the direction of cutters.
Re: How can I get my rough stones faceted and cut in New Yor
Thanks for your response. I'll look them up. As regards the Spessartites, they are quite clean but the body is somewhat rough and thats one of the reasons I want them faceted and cut.
Do you know much a piece of rough Spessartite goes per gram?
Re: How can I get my rough stones faceted and cut in New Yor
I think you would have a quicker time selling the stones as rough rather than cut. There are several rough dealers who would take the whole parcel. Cutting them first, you will either need to sell them as a cut parcel very cheap, or wait and sell them as single stones one at a time. I think you will get more for them as rough vs cut too.
Re: How can I get my rough stones faceted and cut in New Yor
afrogems, if you do the research like we suggested, you will find your answers. Go find vendors selling rough and look at their sales prices for comps. That's the best we can offer you. This is a consumer site after all.
Re: How can I get my rough stones faceted and cut in New Yor
Are you committed to coming to NYC in a few weeks, e.g., do you have non-refundable plane tickets? I am concerned that it seems you are very new to all this & are "flying blind". (Plus, the rates for NYC hotel accommodations are almost always obscenely high in September.)
P.S. You could do a search on eBay for spessartine rough and amethyst rough; you'll see that there are comparable parcels listed at prices that I imagine are lower than you are hoping for.