Is Tanzanite a good investment?

[Jawahir]

hi,
I heard about the limited supply of Tanzanite and bought around 500+ carats, the seller has more in his stock, it is more or less the market rate and between 0.5 - 4 carats, shall I invest more? I will add some more pictures. By the way do any on know an average per carat for these sizes stones?

Jawahir

 

[Jawahir]

is the colour any good? can anyone judge from the pictures?

 

[Jawahir]

more pictures from the same lot...

 

[mus]

Most of the time, gemstones are not a good investment, except perhaps for premium gemstones.
Could I ask you where did you buy those tanzanites?

 

[Jawahir]

got them from a dealer in india

 

[Pandora II]

hi,
I heard about the limited supply of Tanzanite and bought around 500+ carats, the seller has more in his stock, it is more or less the market rate and between 0.5 - 4 carats, shall I invest more? I will add some more pictures. By the way do any on know an average per carat for these sizes stones?

Jawahir

This is often repeated nonsense about supplies running out - http://www.professionaljeweller.com/article-9475-tanzanite-available-for-at-least-a-hundred-years/

Tanzanite is NOT an investment UNLESS:
a) you are buying museum grade stones (and I mean real museum grade not "WOW, SUPER SATURATED MUSEUM GRADE TANZANITE!!! No Reserve - $0.99c start!!")

b) you happened to buy large quality pieces in the mid-90's

The pieces you have are I'm afraid not top colour. As to how much they are worth, each piece would need to be assessed separately - do they have good cut? Are they included? Is the colour even? Unless you have strong links into the jewellery business where you can shift the goods I doubt you will find it easy to sell. You might find eBay with an advert such as that above is the best avenue...

Please don't buy gemstones as an investment unless you know what you are doing in terms of buying decent goods, know the value of them in the market, are buying well-below wholesale for that quality and have the contacts in the trade who will buy them.

 

[lindacat]

The color of these stones is really bad - very, very pale compared to a good color tanzanite. Unfortunately, these stones are probably not worth much at all, even with 500 carats.
If you see a very saturated tanzanite, they look more like a dark sapphire. I certainly would not advise buying more of them - just my opinion.

 

[Jawahir]

thanks, i would stop buying them, but how much do you think it really worth, the whole lot?

 

[Jim Rentfrow]

thanks, i would stop buying them, but how much do you think it really worth, the whole lot?

They are worth whatever you can bring in the open market. It depends on a variety of variables such as clarity, treatment and demand.

 

[mastercutgems]

Hello Jawahir

I hope you are doing well.

I will agree with most as there has always been a lot of hype on the supply of Tanzanite like many other gemstone that the sellers want to move out huge parcels they have on hand or get a higher price for their goods.

The tanzanites you show are not terrible and we can not really tell by the photos but they are looking like your average commercial cut and color. Nothing outrageous or fancy but not bad gems either...

There are two types of investors; one that invests to resale and one that invests to hoard or to collect/keep. We do not have a clue as to what you paid per carat for the lot; but when looking to move them just do your homework and look at all the sites you can that are selling that color/cut/size of tanzanite. It would not hurt to send the finest one to an accredited laboratory to make sure they have not been coated to enhance color???

But once you feel you have a handle on the price you should be getting for the gems then you know they are natural and untreated other than heat; you can sell them and hopefully get a good return on your investment. If you paid too much for them; sell them and then lick your wounds and do not do it again as anyone in this business has made a bad deal once in their life

As for choosing a gem mineral to invest in ; I being a cutter invest in what I like and what a gem with good color range, hardness, ease of cutting and polishing, and something that is in demand and they have not synthesized in a laboratory by the kilos...

Investment in colored gems is a tricky thing and many on here think colored gems are not a good investment; but that is fine as there are thousands of people still making a good living off that "bad investment". But my humble opinion is to do all the studying you can on the mineral, the colors, the cut, the clarity, the treatments, and that way you will be an informed and educated investor/collector.

Most respectfully;

Dana

 

[LD]

PLEASE DO NOT BUY GEMSTONES FOR AN INVESTMENT. This is NEVER a good idea. If you are going to do this you need to buy top of the range gemstones (those where there are many zeros in the price) OR there is really a shortage of good material.

Let's put this into perspective. They've been saying that Tanzanite is going to run out but they've been saying that for the past 15 years. Has it? No. Will it? It's doubtful. The market is awash with Tanzanite and the price has dropped considerably in the past 5-8 years. It's now at the same price as about 4 or 5 years ago.

The colour and cut of the stones in your photos, whilst not the worst I've seen, definitely don't show top or even good quality. They are fairly average (apologies, I don't want to be offensive but you have asked for honest critique). How much are they worth? Well, have a look on Ebay because the quality is fairly typical of what you can find there. As an aside coated Tanzanite and other gems are being sold as Tanzanite so there is always a risk when buying parcels such as these. Also please bear in mind that Tanzanite One only sell to 7 or 8 specific sight holders - that means that they only sell on what they don't want and sell to third/fourth/fifth/sixth parties. Your parcel therefore has almost definitely not come direct from the mine and so will have gone through several hands before being sold to you. That has it's risks.

Tanzanite is a hyped gemstone and sales have slumped over the years which gives an indication that the hype and market desirability of this gemstone has dipped quite considerably.

 

[Pandora II]

As for choosing a gem mineral to invest in ; I being a cutter invest in what I like and what a gem with good color range, hardness, ease of cutting and polishing, and something that is in demand and they have not synthesized in a laboratory by the kilos...

Investment in colored gems is a tricky thing and many on here think colored gems are not a good investment; but that is fine as there are thousands of people still making a good living off that "bad investment". But my humble opinion is to do all the studying you can on the mineral, the colors, the cut, the clarity, the treatments, and that way you will be an informed and educated investor/collector.
Most respectfully;

Dana

I totally agree with you Dana - but, and it is a fairly sizeable but - most of those who do make a living off them have invested considerable time and probably money in learning enough to be competent at recognising what they are buying without being ripped off, having capital to invest in stock, buying at source at the right prices and having the contacts and ability to sell on at a profit.

Buying 'goods from the mines' without knowing what the price should be and without an understanding of what the market wants and how to tell straight off if you are being offered a kilo of bottle glass is a great way to lose money.

 

[T L]

If you have a retail store, than some gems are a good investment, but you need to have a reputation and know how to sell gems. Those people that bought paraibas back in the 1980's for next to nothing are smiling at the bank today. I think some people with very fine mahenges in large sizes are also smiling too if they bought them way back when.

I think tanzanite is one of the worst stones to buy because

1) Everyone has one these days
2) They're all over the place and on the shopping networks 24/7
3) They're very soft and not durable, and as many people have found, prone to chipping, which decreases value.

While they're pretty stones, tanzanites can be one of the worst gems to buy unless you own a retail television shopping network.

 

[jstarfireb]

Just typed a reply and it seems that PS ate it! Let's try this again...

Maybe it's my monitor or something, but those stones look pretty nicely saturated to me, and not pale at all. They look nicer than any of the tanzanite I have. But I'm on a laptop, so maybe the colors are off?

Either way, as others have said, they're not an investment. But they certainly are beautiful, and I wouldn't mind having a couple of those for myself!

 

[PrecisionGem]

The color doesn't look bad to me for smaller stones that they are.

About an investment, they could be a fantastic investment if they were purchased at a very very low price. The problem with stones, and really anything you go to sell, is you need to be in a position to sell the goods at a higher price than the person you bought them from was. In most instances, this isn't the case. Typically an established jeweler with a store front can sell a stone at a much higher price than the average person can. It's just like a car. Try to sell your car yourself, and you will get less than a dealer will for it.

Even very expensive rare stones, the same is true. Can you go sell the stone for more than you paid? Most likely you bought it from a dealer or auction, so why would you be in a better position to sell it for a higher price?

 

[TristanC]

I imagine not all auctions have the same level of awareness, and sometimes reserve prices allow people to pick up items that could be valued significantly higher in just a few months. We have seen it happening with art collections, antiques and exotics. I assume really precious stones would be possible too.

However it would have to be a really amazing museum quality gem of the highest order I guess, before these things trigger the real collectors to come out with their cheque books.

 

[Jawahir]

hi,
I heard about the limited supply of Tanzanite and bought around 500+ carats, the seller has more in his stock, it is more or less the market rate and between 0.5 - 4 carats, shall I invest more? I will add some more pictures. By the way do any on know an average per carat for these sizes stones?

Jawahir

This is often repeated nonsense about supplies running out - http://www.professionaljeweller.com/article-9475-tanzanite-available-for-at-least-a-hundred-years/

Tanzanite is NOT an investment UNLESS:
a) you are buying museum grade stones (and I mean real museum grade not "WOW, SUPER SATURATED MUSEUM GRADE TANZANITE!!! No Reserve - $0.99c start!!")

b) you happened to buy large quality pieces in the mid-90's

The pieces you have are I'm afraid not top colour. As to how much they are worth, each piece would need to be assessed separately - do they have good cut? Are they included? Is the colour even? Unless you have strong links into the jewellery business where you can shift the goods I doubt you will find it easy to sell. You might find eBay with an advert such as that above is the best avenue...

Please don't buy gemstones as an investment unless you know what you are doing in terms of buying decent goods, know the value of them in the market, are buying well-below wholesale for that quality and have the contacts in the trade who will buy them.

thanks, I learned alot through the forum, specially not to invest on gems. I would rather think about using my connections for resell. On the article though looking at the diamond and and De Beers etc. since only one source in the world, it could be very vulnerable to many things and market supply could easily be threatened by unpredictable factors...

 

[Jawahir]

The color doesn't look bad to me for smaller stones that they are.

About an investment, they could be a fantastic investment if they were purchased at a very very low price. The problem with stones, and really anything you go to sell, is you need to be in a position to sell the goods at a higher price than the person you bought them from was. In most instances, this isn't the case. Typically an established jeweler with a store front can sell a stone at a much higher price than the average person can. It's just like a car. Try to sell your car yourself, and you will get less than a dealer will for it.

Even very expensive rare stones, the same is true. Can you go sell the stone for more than you paid? Most likely you bought it from a dealer or auction, so why would you be in a better position to sell it for a higher price?

very good question...why would I be in a better position than the dealer I bought them from... I paid for only 60 carats and plan to turn the stones into jewellery and share the total profit... the dealer has the ability and access to sell the jewellery good then.

 

[PrecisionGem]

I imagine not all auctions have the same level of awareness, and sometimes reserve prices allow people to pick up items that could be valued significantly higher in just a few months. We have seen it happening with art collections, antiques and exotics. I assume really precious stones would be possible too.

However it would have to be a really amazing museum quality gem of the highest order I guess, before these things trigger the real collectors to come out with their cheque books.

I don't think it has anything to do with being a museum quality gem. It's all a mater of what you paid for the item, and what YOU can then sell it for. If Jawahir paid just $10 per ct for these tanzanite stones, then it was a good investment as certainly her would be able to unload them and make a profit. Now if he paid $300 per ct, then it was a very bad investment.

The auction houses that could be selling very high end stones, know what these things are worth. People at Christies and Sothebys are not fools. On the flip side, no one is going to put $50,000 stone up for sale on eBay with $.99 starting price.

 

[ruffysdad]

Gene pretty much hit the nail on the head. If you can sell them for more than you paid, it's a good investment. It really doesn't matter whether you've got tanzanite, old cars or even baked beans, and the way prices are going up at the grocery store, baked beans are looking pretty good right now .

As for rarity, every time I go to Tucson I hear how the mines are running out, supply is scarce and so on. But when I look around it seems like someone drove through the shows with a truckload of tanzanite and dumped a shovel full off at just about every table.

When someone says investment to me I usually cover my wallet with both hands and run the other way

Pete

 

[kanawabi]

Hi,

I am looking for people and companies interested in knowing more about local mines, their outputs and production and the way they work. I am currently working on a database and mapping of the locally owned (as majority of mines are) here in Afghanistan through my research companies.

Please let me know, Kanishka

 

[Lee Little]

I agree with the ones that said the color was OK, looks like very usable goods.
Not many people successfully use gemstones as investments besides gemstone dealers. best regards, Lee

 

[minousbijoux]

Fwiw, this thread is almost two years old...

 

[Lee Little]

You are right minous, I didn't catch that, in that case maybe kanawabi should start a new thread to get info on Afghanistan.

 

[pajero_exceed]

I think fine quality mozambique rubies are better than tanzanite if you really want to invest on gemestones.