The Latest On Paraiba Tourmaline

[minousbijoux]

Good article:

http://www.nationaljeweler.com/colored-stones/market-developments/Rocks-On-Paraiba-tourmaline-11013.shtml

"Adam Gil of Jerry Gil & Co. said that when the [Brazilian] material first started hitting the market, it was priced somewhere around $100 to $200 per carat on average, and now he sees the highest quality material go for $50,000 per carat or more."

"The Mozambique supply has dwindled slightly, though there remains plenty out there. Rosenblatt said prices remains strong, even for the included material. The top material can cost $5,000 and $6,000 per carat at wholesale and continues to go up as demand increases."

 

[lilmosun]

Good read and thanks for posting!

I had heard awhile ago a rumor that more paraibas were coming out of Brazil but never found anything definitive until this. Which has me wondering as to whether the lack of new supply coming out of Brazil temporary as it seems like while it still might be rare, there mines are not dry?

"In addition to the mines running out of material, Brazilian Paraiba tourmaline also hit a supply snag this summer, when federal police in Brazil shut down two mines in Paraíba and arrested six people as part of the investigation into an alleged scheme to illegally mine and export Paraiba tourmalines, according to WWD.

Though federal prosecutors in Brazil did not respond to National Jeweler’s request for an update on the case by press time, João Raphael Lima, the federal prosecutor leading the case in the state of Paraíba, told WWD that “The police apprehended a lot of material, from rough, uncut stones to lapidated tourmalines, so we know there was a lot of production coming from those mines. The operation has definitely disrupted business.”"

 

[minousbijoux]

I think the crackdown might account for the drying up of the Paraiba melee we were seeing being sold by etsy vendors; it seems pretty clear that the days of large stone Paraibas are over, unless we are talking about highly, highly included stones.