Known vendor

[GLbluegreen]

Hi everybody. I've been doing a lot of surfing lately and ran across a rather interesting website that had some nice offerings at what seemed like decent prices. So since I had never heard of them I was wondering if anyone here on the forum has. It is called Pioneer Gem Corporation out of Auburn, Washington. Anyone ?

 

[Rfisher]

Yeah- 18-20 years ago I bought learner stones- curiosities -mineral specimens. Under 500.00 total I'm sure. They were all better than what I was getting from eBay Nuntiya Chanthaburi at that time. It was interesting.
But less than I year ago- I purchased again. Much more money this time. I can tell you that you may not be told an item is bi-color. Or that red red stop sign ruby would actually be very purple. Or paraiba stones with fine saturated color will be very overly dark or very overly dilute. Or star cab will only be seen in bazillion focused lumens. He doesn't have any 4 Peaks amethyst, as listed, and doesn't want to talk about the color flash. He won't provide more photos, nor wants to discuss saturation/hues. Won't sell a heyune if you state you have a project for it.
No certifications.
Forget precision cutting as it is known on PS.
If you look at his testimonials you will see many customers call him and ask for his best of whatever they are in market for. They seem to be happy with what he picks out and sends. His idea of what fits to what you are looking for is not to be questioned.
He does have a 100% satisfaction refund. But getting him to issue it.....may take time. And he may be terse. And offended. And claims you stated he has poor photography skills when you only said you knew monitor color perception varies.
I'd love to be local to him to see what he has in person. I still wonder what his cornflower blue sapphires, rainbow faceted moonstones, and pink sapphire cabs look like in real life.........
So for whatever it's worth- I hope this helps.
What specifically caught your eye?

 

[GLbluegreen]

Thanks for answering Rfisher. It really helps to hear about other people's experiences. I didn't have anything particular in mind. I was somewhat intrigued that he carried Hauynite as not too many vendor's do. I thought there were some other nice looking stones, but as you say, color monitors can be deceiving and it sounds as though this shop owner is a little cantankerous. I'll stick to the PS preferred vendor list.