when buying rough gems...

[rparker1998]

what does one look for to see what it''s beauty is...ie: diamond in the rough...how do you know if its gem quality and if it''s something worth picking up? patience? Practice? education? etc....

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 1/8/2009 9:48:10 PM
Author:rparker1998
what does one look for to see what it''s beauty is...ie: diamond in the rough...how do you know if its gem quality and if it''s something worth picking up? patience? Practice? education? etc....

My advice is don''t do it - I''m halfway through my FGA and worked in the jewellery industry for quite a while and I wouldn''t do it.

I thought I might try in Sri Lanka when I was there in October, but I took a look at one packet and knew that I didn''t know enough.

IMHO in order to buy rough you would need a good grounding in crystallography and the relevant applications to each individual type of gemstone, plus a good knowledge of cutting techniques - for example which axis the table should be parallel with. And that is just for starters.

And that is all that I know that one should know - there are probably a lot of other points to consider that I haven''t even thought of.

Hopefully one of the cutters who does buy rough will chime in with more advice.

My guess is that it''s education, practice, spending $$ on crap, more practice, spending less $$ on crap, a bit more practice and finally buying the motherlode!

 

[T L]

I would only purchase a mineral crystal in it's natural form to enjoy the aesthetic beauty of it, and I have a few of these specimens. Like Pandora said, I wouldn't know enough about cutting and the crystal to buy rough in order to have it cut.

 

[arjunajane]

I agree with the other ladies - the little I do know, is enough to tell me to leave it to the pros.
Plus, I doubt there''s any profit in it anyway without any industry connections etc, and a whole lot more risk than just buying the finished product.

Why do you ask R? (if I may ask)..

 

[oldmancoyote]

As above. Plus, consider that once you have the rough, you still need someone to cut it, and finding someone willing to cut your rough (as opposed to something they bought) may not be the easiest thing.

 

[rparker1998]

Date: 1/9/2009 9:23:20 AM
Author: arjunajane
I agree with the other ladies - the little I do know, is enough to tell me to leave it to the pros.
Plus, I doubt there''s any profit in it anyway without any industry connections etc, and a whole lot more risk than just buying the finished product.

Why do you ask R? (if I may ask)..

Thanks Ladies!

in looking at some of the colored diamond sites i''ve seen some rough pieces and i''ve been interested in the whole process. I''d like to have a piece that i could say that I chose from rough and had cut and polished...a piece to make it mine from start to finish...ya know?

 

[T L]

Date: 1/9/2009 9:50:43 PM
Author: rparker1998

Date: 1/9/2009 9:23:20 AM
Author: arjunajane
I agree with the other ladies - the little I do know, is enough to tell me to leave it to the pros.
Plus, I doubt there's any profit in it anyway without any industry connections etc, and a whole lot more risk than just buying the finished product.

Why do you ask R? (if I may ask)..

Thanks Ladies!

in looking at some of the colored diamond sites i've seen some rough pieces and i've been interested in the whole process. I'd like to have a piece that i could say that I chose from rough and had cut and polished...a piece to make it mine from start to finish...ya know?

Cutting a diamond is expensive, and you'll lose a significant portion of the rough.

 

[Harriet]

I''d leave it to the cutter too.

 

[rparker1998]

so another words if I were going to buy rough it would be to leave it as such...is your recommendations?

 

[T L]

You could buy a rough diamond and have a setting custom made for it, although I don't know how pleasing that would be to the eye. Maybe if it was a vivid color. Here's the famous Hillary Clinton inaugural diamond ring. I find that people either love or hate this ring, but it's unique.

http://famousdiamonds.tripod.com/kahncanarydiamond.html

Some people also put rough stones in jewelry. Tourmaline and beryls, because of the elongated clean crystal structure, are typically good candidates for this.

http://www.coloradogem.com/images/2329_big.jpg

 

[rparker1998]

Date: 1/9/2009 10:02:24 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
You could buy a rough diamond and have a setting custom made for it, although I don''t know how pleasing that would be to the eye. Maybe if it was a vivid color. Here''s the famous Hillary Clinton inaugural diamond ring. I find that people either love or hate this ring, but it''s unique.

http://famousdiamonds.tripod.com/kahncanarydiamond.html

Some people also put rough stones in jewelry. Tourmaline and beryls, because of the elongated clean crystal structure, are typically good candidates for this.

http://www.coloradogem.com/images/2329_big.jpg

not a fan of either Mrs. Clinton, her husband nor that ring...but that''s all i''ll say about that...

now the coloradogem.com image i do like.

 

[Harriet]

Date: 1/9/2009 10:02:07 PM
Author: rparker1998
so another words if I were going to buy rough it would be to leave it as such...is your recommendations?

Yes, as a piece for your collection.

 

[chrono]

If I buy any rough, it''ll probably be in an interesting matrix form for my collection. For a diamond rough, I''d get one with an interesting SB fluoro and a weird inclusion or something like that just for fun. It''s just not worth the hassle of buying rough for cutting. Even experienced cutters sometimes misjudge the rough and end up with something not quite right - unexpected inclusion which affects the final size and shape, colour didn''t quite turn out right, etc.

 

[Harriet]

Hello, ong la char bor!

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 1/9/2009 10:02:24 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
You could buy a rough diamond and have a setting custom made for it, although I don''t know how pleasing that would be to the eye. Maybe if it was a vivid color. Here''s the famous Hillary Clinton inaugural diamond ring. I find that people either love or hate this ring, but it''s unique.

http://famousdiamonds.tripod.com/kahncanarydiamond.html

Whoa, put me in the hate camp for that ring, lol! Good for Hillary if she can pull it off though..

I agree with Chrono - if at some point in the future I''m lucky enough to have a collection, I would love to have a VSB fluoro or some other different diamond rough..
But I don''t personally appreciate the look of rough diamonds in jewellery.

 

[T L]

Here''s another rough diamond in a ring, but this stone has retained much of it''s octahedron shape.

http://www.alteredspacegallery.com/sites/__LIVE__.alteredspacegallery.com/files/images/R513.preview.jpg

Hundreds of years ago, diamonds were cut very little and the crystal retained much of it''s form as in the above photo. There are many renaissance pieces like this.

If I was going to collect a piece of diamond rough, I would love to have a perfect octahedron shape like this. I don''t like the deformed crystals.

http://www.lhconklin.com/images/publications/harvard/diamond.jpg

 

[coatimundi_org]

Date: 1/9/2009 9:59:46 PM
Author: Harriet
I''d leave it to the cutter too.

Yup.

 

[rparker1998]

Date: 1/9/2009 11:46:33 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
Here''s another rough diamond in a ring, but this stone has retained much of it''s octahedron shape.

http://www.alteredspacegallery.com/sites/__LIVE__.alteredspacegallery.com/files/images/R513.preview.jpg

Hundreds of years ago, diamonds were cut very little and the crystal retained much of it''s form as in the above photo. There are many renaissance pieces like this.

If I was going to collect a piece of diamond rough, I would love to have a perfect octahedron shape like this. I don''t like the deformed crystals.

http://www.lhconklin.com/images/publications/harvard/diamond.jpg

I love the first setting and stone. the picture of the rough is I think the same one that got me interested in this whole subject.

 

[Pandora II]

De Beers in London had a whole range of jewellery set with rough diamonds last Spring. They were all fairly vile - the poor SA tried very hard to be nice about them and then gave me the look that said ''you think they''re vile and I totally agree, but I can''t say it out loud''!

My tutor has a lovely chunk of kimberlite with a really good octohedron set in it - very nice collection piece.

 

[T L]

Date: 1/10/2009 3:57:47 PM
Author: Pandora II
De Beers in London had a whole range of jewellery set with rough diamonds last Spring. They were all fairly vile - the poor SA tried very hard to be nice about them and then gave me the look that said ''you think they''re vile and I totally agree, but I can''t say it out loud''!

My tutor has a lovely chunk of kimberlite with a really good octohedron set in it - very nice collection piece.

I''ve seen some of the new "organic looks" with rough diamonds, and they''re hideous. They look like something Wilma Flintstone would wear.

That being said, some crystal formations are very beautiful and part of nature''s work of art. I know people that love benitoite crystals (they''re very beautiful) and they collect them since they''re often times much more beautiful uncut than cut.

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 1/10/2009 5:53:09 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 1/10/2009 3:57:47 PM
Author: Pandora II
De Beers in London had a whole range of jewellery set with rough diamonds last Spring. They were all fairly vile - the poor SA tried very hard to be nice about them and then gave me the look that said 'you think they're vile and I totally agree, but I can't say it out loud'!

My tutor has a lovely chunk of kimberlite with a really good octohedron set in it - very nice collection piece.

I've seen some of the new 'organic looks' with rough diamonds, and they're hideous. They look like something Wilma Flintstone would wear.

That being said, some crystal formations are very beautiful and part of nature's work of art. I know people that love benitoite crystals (they're very beautiful) and they collect them since they're often times much more beautiful uncut than cut.

I'm very partial to nice crystal groupings myself - I started off as a mineral collector - and I like to have specimens of rough and crystals in matrix in my gem collection as well as cut stones.

I'd love a really good piece of uvarovite drusy one day...

Buying rough for those purposes is more about the aesthetics of the piece as it stands, not about judging it's potential for producing a gemstone.

 

[chrono]

Date: 1/9/2009 11:04:25 PM
Author: Harriet
Hello, ong la char bor!

Happy new year! And I didn''t get the ong lai, remember?

 

[Harriet]

But you considered it. I had to talk you out of it. Eew. happy new year!

 

[chrono]

Yeah, and I''m still thankful you talked me out of it.

 

[Harriet]

It would have made a lovely pendant with three green marquises on top!

 

[rparker1998]

Date: 1/10/2009 6:27:48 PM
Author: Pandora II

Date: 1/10/2009 5:53:09 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 1/10/2009 3:57:47 PM
Author: Pandora II
De Beers in London had a whole range of jewellery set with rough diamonds last Spring. They were all fairly vile - the poor SA tried very hard to be nice about them and then gave me the look that said ''you think they''re vile and I totally agree, but I can''t say it out loud''!

My tutor has a lovely chunk of kimberlite with a really good octohedron set in it - very nice collection piece.

I''ve seen some of the new ''organic looks'' with rough diamonds, and they''re hideous. They look like something Wilma Flintstone would wear.

That being said, some crystal formations are very beautiful and part of nature''s work of art. I know people that love benitoite crystals (they''re very beautiful) and they collect them since they''re often times much more beautiful uncut than cut.

I''m very partial to nice crystal groupings myself - I started off as a mineral collector - and I like to have specimens of rough and crystals in matrix in my gem collection as well as cut stones.

I''d love a really good piece of uvarovite drusy one day...

Buying rough for those purposes is more about the aesthetics of the piece as it stands, not about judging it''s potential for producing a gemstone.

DH and I picked this up on vacation but I don''t recall I were, and I think it''s quartz...picture of the host rock to follow in next photo

 

[Harriet]

Sorry for the mini threadjack. Here''s a crystal dealer I''ve bought from and would buy from again: http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/

 

[rparker1998]

photos of the host rock.

 

[Harriet]

Any idea what the host is?

 

[rparker1998]

afraid not harriett, all I can tell you is it''s rough but not the ssame texture of gravel, it''s reminiscent of the inside of a malted milk ball for lack of a better description...hehe