[Jewelry making - Article 00860] - Re: [Orchid] Vintage pink tourmaline and white sapphire ring

[The Doctor]

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>         I said something about how included the center stone is and he
>     said pink tourmaline is always highly included, because of the
>     "paragenesis" of the rock in which it forms (I use quotations
>     because it's Greek to me. Isn't it?) 

    Paragenesis refers to minerals that form in contact with one another
    (the inclusions), affecting each other's development during growth.
    Red/pink tourmaline is considered a Type III gem, meaning that it is
    likely to be included with eye-visible inclusions. I suspect he was
    trying to impress you with vocabulary. 

>          So I thought of putting it on eBay, since a friend of mine is
>     doing that now. However, the pink tourmalines I see there don't
>     look very included. And everybody seems to list carat weight for
>     their stones. I'm assuming that, to get carat weight, the (faceted,
>     but bezel-set) tourmaline, and one of the surrounding sapphires,
>     would have to be removed, and then re-set (am I right?). I'm
>     wondering if the ring is worth the cost of that (it's not something
>     I'm set up for, and I've never removed stones, only set them). 

    If you spend much time on eBay, you will find that gemstone auction
    photos are often only representative of what they are selling, and
    not the actual stone. In other words, what you see is seldom what
    you get. You mentioned that you were looking at stones on eBay, not
    necessarily finished jewelry. Those are much easier to weigh. There
    are formulae to estimate gemstone weights by measurements and
    specific gravity, but there are other factors, such as estimating
    girdle thickness which require some experience. You'll also need to
    measure the depth of the stones, too. That's the reason designers
    leave the little hole in the setting for faceted stones, not for
    light, as many seem to believe. It is perfectly ethical to advertise
    your ring by the outline measurements of the stones, i.e., 8X10 pink
    tourmaline, ten 3.5mm sapphires. Carat weight is a plus, but it
    wouldn't be worth the time to remove and re-set these particular
    stones, IMHO. 

>         However, when I asked the gemologist, a week or so after he'd
>     looked at it, he suggested I ask for $600-800 on eBay... I wonder
>     if he forgot the chip, or if he's right. 

    eBay is a strange place to buy and sell. You could put it up for
    auction at $0.99 with no reserve several times and never get a bite.
    Then you could put it up with a starting reserve of $500 and wind up
    with even more. This actually happened to me once, years ago. I only
    have 24 actions on eBay over a period of six or seven years, so I'm
    no expert. But I've always used a starting bid of the minimum amount
    I wanted to get for an item, with no reserve. The trick for me is to
    only offer things that are a bargain for buyers, but profitable for
    me. If it's worth 30 and I paid 10, I offer it for 20. 

    Whatever you decide, I hope it goes well for you. 

James in SoFl

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