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Which stones are investment stones?

athenaworth

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Offshoot of Zestfully's post - I started wondering, what would be an investment stone? Colored diamonds? Anything else?
 

T L

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athenaworth|1307912057|2944220 said:
Offshoot of Zestfully's post - I started wondering, what would be an investment stone? Colored diamonds? Anything else?

Extremely fine untreated Burmese rubies, Muzo Colombian emeralds, Kashmir and Burmese sapphires.
 

Pandora II

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TL|1307912733|2944224 said:
athenaworth|1307912057|2944220 said:
Offshoot of Zestfully's post - I started wondering, what would be an investment stone? Colored diamonds? Anything else?

Extremely fine untreated Burmese rubies, Muzo Colombian emeralds, Kashmir and Burmese sapphires.

:appl:

There are a couple of 3ct Kashmirs for sale that I know of if anyone has around $100k to spend on each...

The really, really rare stones aren't actually that valuable as the nutters who want to own them (ie people like me...) don't have the $ to really raise the prices. Plus they are normally pretty tedious looking and totally unwearable...
 

kenny

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One mistake I think I've made (investment-wise not pleasure-wise) is spreading my money over 11 FCDs.
I suspect the entire budget spent on one single FCD (pure red, green or blue) would have been a better long term investment. (but less fun)
I suspect the argyle pinks are already priced with the mine closing factored in so their return may not match a pure red, blue or green.

I've also heard flawless vivid and intense yellow diamonds ALAYCA are still undervalued since those rarest colors get all the press and yellow is a tad snubbed by the snobs.
I have noticed those DO fly off the shelf lately.
Somebody knows something. :Up_to_something:

ALAYCA = as large as you can afford
 

Arcadian

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I thankfully don't buy stones for investment purposes, but I do believe that some colored diamonds, large rare types of paraiba tourmaline, sapphires, rubys and emeralds (depending on cut and clarity too, they can't be ugly)

Unless I was a multi millionare I can't see spending 100K on a stone, just can't because I'm too damn cheap.

-A
 

faegrace

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"just can't because I'm too damn cheap", says she who has exquisite gems.... ;-)

Hi, Arcadian :wavey:
 

PrecisionGem

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Buy Apple stock instead. Much better investment. The appreciation on stones is nowhere near what the stock has been.
For any investment, you need to be able to buy at a low price and sell at a high price. Most people are only able to sell a stone below wholesale, so unless you are able to buy way below wholesale, any stone will be a bad investment. Now if you had a jewelry store on 5th Ave. then you could sell at a high retail price.
 

ruffysdad

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Gene's so right! It seems every time the economy goes south, investing in gemstones always pops up. Buy them for their beauty or buy them because you like the color. Just don't expect to make any kind of short term killing on them. Although I've really never lost money on good gem rough it's not an investment. It's a biz with me and unless you're used to looking at, and know what you're looking for, there are too many dangers and swindles to play with it.

Pete
 

Arcadian

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Hi faegrace and thank you for the lovely compliment. I've bought from some great people over the years, so I can't take all the credit for what I have :bigsmile: . But still, I think its best to buy for enjoyment first and foremost.

As far as investment, there's lots of other vehicles out there that can have a much better return, and there's only a few gems that you could buy (provided they're not ugly) that really are good investment wise. It just requires the type of money that the average person dosen't have. I would need to win the lottery for that. :lol:

-A
 

Arkteia

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Alexandrites are also investment stones, demantoids, probably... But from my own experience, it is probably better to start buying cheap stones unless you go to many expos and train your eye because it is very hard to buy a good investment stone.
 

TonyMontana

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As already mentioned, Fine Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, Alexandrites, FCD, Demantoids and Spinels in world class sizes are investment grade stones. Location does matter aswell, but the primary focus should be on the quality and uniquness (size) of the stones!! Besides you should only buy on a wholesale level or under. Never retail! I personally would avoid treatments as much as possible (maybe with the exception for oiled emeralds). In my opinion, compared to the current prices, if you have the money I would go for Demantoid and especially red Spinel.
 

chrono

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I think an original mine untreated Paraiba tourmaline might fall into the investment gemstone group as well.
 

mastercutgems

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Well I have never bought into a "get rich quick" theme... But I do know I have done well on natural colored gems. I have not made a killing like I did in the corporate life or on land, gold, silver, etc. but I do know if I had put my money into stock that did not go belly-up a few years ago; I would have made well more than the gem rough investment. But I also know I made more on the gems than I would have in a basic savings account that pays .05 or less percent... I guess it all depends on how you buy and sell ???

But I do know that if all the stock became worthless paper; I still have something that may be of interest with someone that had something to trade with; as we all know that is how currency started; trade for value and then we had the gold or silver based currencies...

I will not come on here and say you can buy a gem for 50 dollars and in 6 months sell it for 100 dollars; but I do know many people have made a good living off buying natural stones on ebay in the last 10 years and re-sold them... I am not one of them; but I do know them... and they did well... I doubt that is happening now as everyone on here knows that prices of those goods have gone up. I am glad I bought most of my rough over 17 years ago and that has helped a lot with treatments now done and also just the cost of rough.

As for gems I would invest in; all natural of course and sought after colors, spinels, rubies, sapphires, tourmalines, grossular garnets, orange spessartites, hot pink garnets, and the unusual and rare colors of zircon, chrysoberyl; just to name a few... But I am in the business :) But in all honesty; buy intelligently and buy what you like as you are the one investing your hard earned money and I also tend to buy what I like as mineral type and color; so that way if it tanks I still will love to look at them; better looking than most stock sheets I have seen ;-)

Every investment is a gamble; have a very diverse portfolio and enjoy your investments; as those too are personal opinions just like this one ;-)

Most respectfully;

Dana
 

vinkalmann

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I've read this article a few times because I thought it was so fascinating, basically gives the history of De Beers and the diamond trade. At the end goes into how hard it is to actually sell a diamond once it's purchased:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/4575/

The article says for the most part that diamonds really aren't rare. It seems like nice colored gem stones really ARE rare based on the fact that it seems pretty hard to get what you're looking for. Does this mean that one might actually be able to sell a colored stones again?

Assuming you had a nice stone with a good cert, where would you be able to sell it aside from somewhere like eBay?
 

LD

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Which stones are investment stones?

Simple answer = none

The only investment stones (and even then it's debatable whether they will hold/increase their value) are super rare specimens AND even then you have to find a buyer that will want to pay that price for your stone in the future.

Don't EVER buy a gemstone for investment as 99/100 times it won't be. Buy a stone ONLY if you love it AND THEN buy the best. Don't settle for second best. IF, and then only IF, the stone becomes rare in the future, you may be able to recoup what you paid or a bit more.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule but almost always they are bought for love and then become rare (by accident) OR you've paid a fortune for it in the first place and it's a news worthy gemstone!
 

Richard M.

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LovingDiamonds|1308072132|2945684 said:
Which stones are investment stones?

Simple answer = none

I could not agree more! If you're a dealer with direct sources for rough and a solid understanding of the market, maybe you can do well by socking away certain colored gems from time to time. But for consumers it's a very dangerous venture. There are several good reasons:

1) Gems are not fungible like stocks, gold coins or other paper investments. Each gem is unique and different from all others. At minimum you'll need the services of an independent gem lab to grade stones for clients when it's time to sell. Remember, lab reports are subjective to some extent and if a stone is re-submitted or sent to a different lab, results might differ from the first report. They can also be quite costly.

2) Illiquidity. If you own stocks or bonds you can sell them quickly and easily on the stock exchange. Not so with gems; there's no comparable "Gem Exchange." Each stone must be marketed to an individual buyer or perhaps sold at auction. Chances are when you need to sell, economic conditions will dictate that others sell their stones too, depressing prices. Even real estate and gold and silver have much better-organized markets than gems. You can liquidate your house, Kruggerands, Pandas and silver ingots or coins quickly and pretty easily at recognized market rates.

3) The diamond market is tightly controlled. The early 1980s' wild speculation in diamonds was an aberration. Certain diamond dealers took advantage of rampant price inflation in commodities, but it didn't take long for DeBeers to punish them by withholding new supply so as to regain tight market control.

While colored gems with a couple of exceptions are subject to free market forces, supplies can be highly irregular. A "rare" colored gem can suddenly lose its value if a new supply of fine material is discovered. Think of spessartite garnet, which was considered a valuable rarity until large quantities of new African material came onto the scene some years back, depressing prices. The African material has largely been absorbed into the market now and prices are rising again, but it's a roller-coaster ride. The Earth's a big place and the gem potential of very large parts of it are still basically unknown. I hear reports of new gem discoveries weekly in Africa, China, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere. You never know when a great new source of colored gems will be discovered. In general, demand exceeds supply, especially for fine stones. But it's a gamble knowing which ones will be in demand at any given time.

Just some thoughts from my own experience.

Richard M. (Rick Martin)
 

TristanC

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I honestly think that any specimen which would be priced such that you would engage sothebys of christies to auction off, and will get buyers or collectors interested enough to send intermediaries over to inspect the gem would be considered an investment grade stone.

So truly only the ultra rare specimens which belong in private collections and institutions. Other than that, you are subject to all the issues that are mentioned above in the posts. Lack of liquidity, retail vs wholesale, rediscovery of material etc.

I would imagine even if they discovered a new paraiba source, or a new FCD mine, the supply would still be relatively finite, and exceedingly fine specimens of large ct weight would immediately be snapped up by the monied collectors.

There is a new uber rich strata of individuals, the high net worth chinese, and they have dramatically driven up the prices of ultra luxury items such as antiques, jades, paintings, rare vintage wines etc... So I think really valuable specimens would be considerably good investments. But I would never fool myself into thinking that even a 1ct argyle pink would be an excellent investment - perhaps except those from the annual 'tender' which has only resulted in sales of 600ct of stones since the mines opened in the 80s.
 
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