shape
carat
color
clarity

How to sell Natural North Carolina Emerald

Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.

Sauerc

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
5
I am a new poster on this forum, but because of the great advice I received from the diamond section (I recently purchased a great engagement ring from James Allen), I was hoping that I could get some help here too.

I have a natural emerald from North Carolina, I haven''t had it appraised yet, I will, but I was wondering if "A" someone here could help me sell it, or "B" someone could point me in the right direction to sell it?

Here are two pictures of my 7.55ct Natural North Carolina Emerald:

100_4857.JPG
 
And one more....

100_4867.JPG
 
Hi, I would think the first step might be to send it to an appraiser with expertise in colored stones such as Rich Sherwood in FL. I am in NC, but I really don''t know the channels for selling such a gem, although I expect that it might command some interest from NC gem collectors. I''m sure Rich could give you some advice. he should be listed under appraisers under resources on this site. Please let us know what happens!
 
Thanks, that was fast. He looks good.

Can I get anyone to venture a guess on value? Just to give me a ballpark....I don''t care how wide the guess is, I really don''t have any idea.
 
There are just too many variables for anyone to even give you a ballpark figure.
1. Hard to judge colour via monitor
2. Don't know about treatments on that stone
3. Can't judge the clarity and cut well from a picture

I would guess the value would not be high because there are a lot of inclusions that make the stone look opaque. The more transparent the emerald, the higher the value. Also, the colour doesn't appear a pure green.
 
There are also transparent emeralds that are very low in value because they lack barely any saturation of green color as well. The finest emeralds in the world are a deep rich green with a secondary blue modifier (see below picture), and they have few distracting inclusions. An olive colored emerald, or one with black spots, detracts significantly from the value. 99% of all emeralds on the market are also treated to improve their clarity as well. The type of treatment and to what degree it has on the transparency also has a large impact on value.

hooker_emerald_broach.jpg
 
There are definitely a lot of variables to consider. Does it matter that this one hasn''t had any treatments? I found this one myself in NC last weekend. It was a good weekend.
 
Date: 2/19/2009 10:47:15 PM
Author: Sauerc
There are definitely a lot of variables to consider. Does it matter that this one hasn''t had any treatments? I found this one myself in NC last weekend. It was a good weekend.
It''s hard to judge from a picture of course, but the clarity is really lacking on your stone it seems. That is a major impact on value, even if there is no treatment. You need to take it to a reputable gemologist who specializes in colored stones to be sure.
 
@ tourmaline_lover

Thanks for everything. I will get it checked it out. It did look like it was going to be more transparent before it was cut. Oh well.

I do think that you would like the watermelon tourmeline that I found there. Rough it is about the size and for that matter look of a piece of Hubba Bubba bubble gum. Very cool.
 
Sauerc,

N. C. emerald is an interesting case. The company that controls the mines is asking about twice the international price for the stones because, they argue, it is a rare domestic American gemstone.

This pricing by rarity strategy works to the degree that the company can control supply. It worked well for De Beers for over a 100 years.

Best,
 
Come to think of it, just call Mr. Wise and ask him if he''d take a look at it since he is one of the foremost experts on colored stones. Here is his site:

http://www.rwwise.com/index.html
 
Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP

Featured Topics

Top