Richland Gemstones

[ElizabethR]

Has anyone here had any experiences with Richland Gemstones. I'm close to buying a tanzanite heart from them, but wanted to check here first, (just in case) I can't find ant reviews for them online, and that's what is causing me to be overly cautious.
Thanks in advance

 

[lovedogs]

I haven't ever heard of them, but the stuff looks pretty legitimate online from browsing the website. Make sure they have a good return policy, but if they do and you like it then go for it!

 

[ElizabethR]

Thanks Lovedogs, I've had some contact with them via emails, but they take a few days to get back to me each time and I'm concerned if I do buy the heart and don't like it I'll have trouble getting a timely respone to my return request. It is a seven day return policy. I do believe they are truly authentic, but I don't want the stress of a frustrating return process.

They do have beautiful tanzanite hearts, many of them, but they are cut in the mine in Tanzania where they are sourced. Can they really be precision cut stones? All that said, I think I'm going to go ahead and order....

 

[737liz]

I just bought a sapphire from them last night, should arrive next week. From my obsessive scrutiny of the photos, and a back and forth of a dozen emails over the past 3 weeks, they do not look precision cut, but good enough for me at the price point offered. I think that when it says great cut, or excellent cutting, they mean well proportioned and no window etc, not that each facet aligns perfectly. will let you know what I think when it arrives!

 

[chrono]

The stones look to be of average to very good cutting and the return / refund policy is very reasonable. The only thing I don't know about since I've never dealt with this company is their customer service (whether they will honour their policy) and accuracy of photography.

 

[ElizabethR]

Thanks 737Lizakg. Would appreciate your feedback. Hope your sapphire is stunning and sparkly.

 

[ElizabethR]

Yeah, that's one of the problems Chrono, it's difficult to really see how well their stones are cut. I'm looking forward to 737's report.

 

[chrono]

Yeah, that's one of the problems Chrono, it's difficult to really see how well their stones are cut. I'm looking forward to 737's report.

This is the easy part. Looking for the table size, windowing, extinction, contrast, etc in the photograph gives a fairly good idea as to the quality of the cut. It is the colour that I think will be more difficult to judge as I've no prior experience with their photography.

 

[737liz]

ok, I just received the stone, FYI it is the 2.76carat silky round bluish Green.
First off, I am on an iphone 4, from 2010, and I tried for the last 15 minutes to get a decent shot of the stone, and got 3 dozen blurry or black photos, so no photos. I do not know how you guys take suck great photos with or without your macro clips.
Looking back no my emails with them, they were honest and answered all my questions correctly. There is some banding that I am not thrilled with, but I never specifically asked. The silky haziness and darkness were answered accurately.
The website photos were NOT accurate, as they were too saturated and the strong plechroism was masked in quite as few of the listing photos. I think the iphone handshots and the video that they sent me were accurate for color, albeit with the understanding that it was all shot in a well lit room right next to a window.
Cut is fine, a standard round is hard to ruin, but it is not fantastic; there are two small nicks on the girdle ( I have very good eyesight), some of the facets on the crown aren't 100% aligned ( which I had seen in the photos already), and it is ever so slightly asymetrical (culet and not perfectly round), which I suspected from the photos, but it really is just a hair off.
Realize that without a loupe my help is useless, but as for color, if you request a handshot video, it was spot on for what I saw when standing next to my window in grey afternoon 'sun' in Switzerland. And they answered my questions accurately, even if it took me repeating them in a follow up email.
Overall for what I paid, I got the stone I was expecting; a hazy medium dark plechroic sapphire. I bought this one hoping the haziness would help it keep it's color under my horrible CFL lights, because I read it on the internet somewhere so it must be true...but I was wrong. All my medium dark sapphires look like black holes in my living room.
So my uber helpful conclusion is, this one is not precision cut but is well proportioned, color is idealized on the website, but color is true if you badger them for handshots. Sorry I can't actually give you any info to inform your decision whether to go for it or not...

 

[ElizabethR]

Thank you 737lizakg. Your feedback has been really helpful. I don't think I'm going to buy from them.
All the best,
Elizabeth

 

[737liz]

This is late, but ended up sending the stone back and got a notification the day they received it, and a refund within minutes of asking for one: (PayPal does have its advantages...)

You do have to chase them for information, but the return part was easy.

 

[ElizabethR]

That's good to know. Thanks Liz

 

[sparkleB]

We bought a stunning tanzanite pendant from Richlands at the end of last year and had a good experience. We too were hesitant, but the fact they used to own the TanzaniteOne mine made us feel confident enough to order. We also found a few good reviews on trustpilot.com about the company. The pendant came after four weeks (we had it made to order) and the 11.80 carat stone is absolutely amazing - honestly I still cant stop looking at it . We also had it appraised at considerably more than we paid for it ! We're very happy !

 

[ElizabethR]

Wow! that's beautiful. You did good Sparkle! Thanks for the sharing.