What do you think of this tanzanite set?

[rubberducky]

Hi everyone!

My mom wants to buy these three stones to make into dangle earrings and a pendant. Neither of us know much about tanzanite or colored stones in general. Does this seem like okay quality?

The smaller ones are 15ct each, measuring 15mm a side. The large one is 21ct, 17mm.

What’s a reasonable carat price for these?

Also, do the “smaller” ones seem too big/flashy for earrings?



Thanks!

 

[chatoyancy]

They are beautiful colors(no idea about price). I think the 15 mm stones might be too heavy for her ears. They would be for mine. Are these the only photos? Usually tanzanite has more fire.

 

[rubberducky]

Hmm, I screen capped this from a short video the seller had sent, where the stones are just rocking a bit on her hand. I’m not sure how to upload that, but basically it just looks like this.

Do you mean colorful flashes by “fire”? It has none of that.

 

[chatoyancy]

Hmm, I screen capped this from a short video the seller had sent, where the stones are just rocking a bit on her hand. I’m not sure how to upload that, but basically it just looks like this.

Do you mean colorful flashes by “fire”? It has none of that.

Yes. I mean fire. You might want to try looking at what the vendors from the recommended vendors list have.

 

[chatoyancy]

I just remembered, you should contact Swala gem traders.

 

[rubberducky]

I checked their website and it looks like the “shop” page is just blank? I also looked at some tanzanite pieces from James Allen, which looked a bit sparklier but still didn’t see any (non-blue) color. Am I missing something?

Thanks for all your help on this!

 

[Bron357]

Do they come with certification? Like all coloured gems there are a ton of synthetics out there and at those sizes, genuine tanzanite would be in the thousands per gem. If they are thousands, you definitely want certification. Btw, most tanzanite is heat treated to create the violet blue colour.
I think 15ct per ear is way too large for the ear as stud earrings. They will engulf the earlobe and the weight will be too much and they will fall forward. As a “dangle” down from a stud, they will work.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with synthetic gems, they are often just as beautiful as the natural, but you want to pay the “synthethic price” ie around $10 a gem.

 

[rubberducky]

As I understand it, this seller is a bulk supplier to jewelers in China and sells odds and ends on the side when business is slow.

She’s willing to get a certification from a Chinese government agency, even though she says most people she deals with are professionals and don’t ask for one, but she will want a deposit before doing that.

It’s heat treated and natural, and she wants around $350/ct.

On one hand, it sounds sketchy. Like, the price seems way too low. On the other, I feel like the government cert might be wrong about clarity or whatnot, but it wouldn’t lie about natural vs not, right?

 

[Bron357]

Don’t.
They will be fake gemstones, they will be worth $10 a carat, if that.
You want a proper certificate from a recognised gem laboratory ie AGL or GIA. A report or certification from China or India isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Total fake. Look on eBay, it’s full of fake sapphires, rubies, emerald etc all from India or China and all with “certification”. Total scam.
A reputable seller doesn’t disparage you for asking for certification and they certainly don’t expect you to pay a deposit.
Real, big Tanzanite are very expensive - like tens of thousands of dollars in the sizes you’re talking about.
So you aren’t getting bargain genuine gems, you are getting very expensive fakes.
Buy from reputable vendors who offer a full certification on their gems and a no problem return policy if the gem doesn’t meet with your requirements.

 

[rubberducky]

There’s another seller she’s chatting with who offers CGL certificates. It looks like a Canadian lab? His prices are a little higher, but still not thousands a carat.

Could they just be fake reports?

The first seller said my mom can take it to her own appraiser, and return it if it doesn’t match what she says.

 

[Bron357]

Not necessarily thousands per carat, but for huge gems, like the 21 carat one, that’s rare so the price should be at least $1,000 a carat.
If the seller will offer a full refund after you’ve had it appraised, if it’s not as described, then that is a satisfactory arrangement. However don’t buy on the basis of a “Chinese government report”, how could you even verify if it was real! Besides Tanzanite comes from Africa only, not China. You want a gem lab report, a proper gem lab.

 

[Austina]

Good quality tanzanite (AAAA grade) should show flashes of red. It’s a trichroic gemstones, so 3 colour. Blue/violet/red.

I agree with Bron, stones of that size usually retail at about the £1000 per carat.

 

[rubberducky]

I see. I did find some stuff online at that size for about $1k/ct, although I’m not sure how legit those sites were. The recommended vendors didn’t have things of similar size.

Given that this is wholesale and from China, maybe the $350 isn’t so crazy? I’m tempted to have her buy a small thing, get it appraised, and see how this whole process works out.

 

[ChanterelleJ]

High quality tanzanite is widely available from reputable US dealers, and pieces around 20 ct are pretty common in Tanzanite, so not difficult to find.

That's why I personally wouldn't bother with obscure Chinese sellers.

I guess when looking for big high quality Tanzanite, I'd inquire with Prima Gems. They should have what you're looking for and they are very reputable.

 

[rubberducky]

I totally get the reasoning behind going with a US dealer. At the end of the day, though, it is a lot of money, so I think if she can save over half the cost by getting it certified herself and then dealing with returns if it doesn’t work out, I think she’ll want to do that.

I just found out that one of her friends is a gem appraiser in China, and he’s the one looking at these stones for her, so that makes me feel a little better.

 

[ringo865]

No. Run away!!

 

[chrono]

Her friend appraises her stones, then she sells them to you. Isn’t that a strong and clear conflict of interest since he can claim whatever he wants to help her make the sale and she pays him some quid pro quo money?

If she’s selling to you (directly to the public), then she isn’t a wholesaler but a retailer. Wholesalers only sell to the Trade. Too many red flags to me.

 

[rubberducky]

Sorry, to be clear, my mom’s friend is the appraiser. My mom asked him to find her something, and this is one of the several he suggested (another is a guy who can provide a Canadian cert). He knows some wholesalers.

 

[prs]

Our 9 ct tanzanite pear is vivid blue when viewed face up. This is because the rough was cut perfectly along the correct axis. When the stone is viewed from the side, thru the pavilion, you can see the purple. If the seller can't send you a photo showing some purple it's NOT tanzanite.

 

[chrono]

Our 9 ct tanzanite pear is vivid blue when viewed face up. This is because the rough was cut perfectly along the correct axis. When the stone is viewed from the side, thru the pavilion, you can see the purple. If the seller can't send you a photo showing some purple it's NOT tanzanite.

This!

 

[Miki Moto]

If I did the math correctly, at $350.00 a carat, that is about $17.8K you are about to spend on a dealer in a China to get a bargain. No bargains in the Gem World is what I have concluded. You can get a good price but if it’s a steal, it’s an inferior product.

The dealer wants to sell these to you, yet she claims she is wholesale. The large stones look all the exact same tone and hue which would be amazing and worth a lot. Yet she is offering them to you at a steal.

She is saying you can return it, but then you have to deal with Chinese customs and any issues that may arise.

I would pass. Also, the 15ct for earrings are too big and worn together with the pendant will not be a good look in my opinion.

Large tanazites are not rare. Somehow a myth was created large tanzanites are rare. Now, a 15ct or 21ct ruby would be rare! I would rather take my $17.8K and purchase some nice pieces from a reputable jeweler in the U.S.

Good luck to you!

 

[chatoyancy]

I checked their website and it looks like the “shop” page is just blank? I also looked at some tanzanite pieces from James Allen, which looked a bit sparklier but still didn’t see any (non-blue) color. Am I missing something?

Thanks for all your help on this!

That’s true. It’s been a complaint from a few of us here. Swala used to post stones on their site. They had some beautiful tanzanite though. It’s worth an e-mail.

 

[rubberducky]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all the feedback, and I really appreciate the concern about the legitimacy of the pieces.

It might help if I explain the background a bit more. I believe the seller is actually a wholesaler — she’s not trying to sell these, my mom’s jewelry appraiser friend is asking to buy them from her.

My mom buys a lot of jade and pearls, and over the years she made a few friends in the jewelry industry in China since she moved there a few years ago (she and my dad have a completely unrelated business there). One friend works at some sort of appraising facility and is looking into colored stones for her, since she’s decided this is her new hobby.

She trusts this friend, and I guess I mostly trust him based on that. I wasn’t that worried that they’re fake, but I was worried about quality. I’m not sure if this friend would know what really good tanzanite should look like, if Chinese labs grade everything on a curve, and plus he only specializes on jade.

Returning won’t be that much of a pain, since my mom is in China right now.

I told my mom to ask for a picture from the side, but she’s been reluctant because she feels like she’s been a bother to someone who’s technically doing her a favor She finally just messaged about it, so no response yet.

The stones being matched in tone is intentional, the seller sent over a few options, my mom picked the biggest/most expensive pendant and earring pair () and the seller said she won’t sell them like that because they weren’t the same tone, and suggested replacing either the pendant or the earrings with smaller/cheaper ones to match better. This set is the bigger earrings and smaller pendant. Another option was a 24ct pendant with 4/5ct earrings. Honestly the smaller earrings are a better size, and faces up the same, but my mom couldn’t get over the fact that they were obviously not the same depth.

 

[Miki Moto]

I think you answered your own question, so go for it.

 

[Muhammad_Ali]

Hmm, the color on the stones is very nice, but they appear to be native cut. Native cut means they're cut locally in Tanzania (there's actually regulation about this stuff now) or in Thailand using poor quality machinery and untrained staff. They could likely be stunning gems, if recut.

I'm actually going to disagree with people saying the earrings are too large. They are definitely too large to be studs, but they would make a jaw-dropping pair of drop earrings. Again, I wouldn't recommend buying the stones unless they're recut.

I also concur with a reputable lab report (GIA, GRS, AGL).

 

[rubberducky]

Hmm, the color on the stones is very nice, but they appear to be native cut. Native cut means they're cut locally in Tanzania (there's actually regulation about this stuff now) or in Thailand using poor quality machinery and untrained staff. They could likely be stunning gems, if recut.

I'm actually going to disagree with people saying the earrings are too large. They are definitely too large to be studs, but they would make a jaw-dropping pair of drop earrings. Again, I wouldn't recommend buying the stones unless they're recut.

I also concur with a reputable lab report (GIA, GRS, AGL).

Thanks, that makes sense. I think the seller gets them from Tanzania. Is recutting expensive? Does the native cut mean it doesn’t look symmetrical, etc, or is there a bigger problem?

The seller has GRS certificates on her larger emeralds, but only because those are way more expensive, I think. I’ll see if my mom can offer to pay extra for that.

 

[rubberducky]

I think you answered your own question, so go for it.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be dense.

I just wanted to know if these were good quality (I honestly didn’t know what good tanzanite is supposed to look like, the articles I found online said they should be purple, but the seller claims blue is better), and if the earrings were too big. I guess given that everyone thinks they’re fake, they are probably okay quality, but perhaps too big.

 

[theredspinel]

"Too big" is something that's subjective. Too big for me might be fine for you. Too big for you might be tiny for me.

Just have enough confidence in your own wants, please.

If you can buy them, get them checked out and return easily if it's not what it's claimed to be, then do it. Only a fool would pay 3 times more just to use a US vendor like a US vendor is automatically somehow better by being from the US.

 

[theredspinel]

"Too big" is something that's subjective. Too big for me might be fine for you. Too big for you might be tiny for me.

Just have enough confidence in your own wants, please.

If you can buy them, get them checked out and return easily if it's not what it's claimed to be, then do it. Only a fool would pay 3 times more just to use a US vendor like a US vendor is automatically somehow better by being from the US.

 

[Bron357]

Phew, with the full background information I can breathe a sigh of relief.
Many are the tales of woe regarding the purchasing of fabulous ruby, sapphire, emerald etc, with certification, from India or China that turns out badly.
It is difficult to deal with some internet Intentional vendors, their Countries laws about misrepresentation or outright fraud can make it impossible to get a refund or any form of redress.
And the 15ct gems definitely won’t work as stud earrings, too large and heavy, they’ll drop forward, however they would look fabulous as a dangle. Perhaps your Mum could get the 4 carats as well, make them the stud part and then hang down with the big 15ct ones.