How do they get away with it!

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Sapphireblue

Registered Shopper
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
244
Hi all
I was just having a cup of tea watching the delightful VB
On came Neon Blue Apatite from Brazil in a ring with a few points of diamonds
I like blue gems so I sat forward and listen to VB saying lots of lovely things about this gem stone and how difficult it is to find big pieces.

I was intrigued, so I googled Neon Blue Apatite from Brazil and lo and behold, I found several web sites selling said gems stones in plus carat size stones.
Prices ranging from $19 to $27 for top quality shimmering neon blue apatite stones in lots of fancy cuts!
See link below

How do they get away with it!

The ring on R&C .33ct and about .13 diamonds in a flimsy 9ct gold
Price £145 Sorry missed the product code


http://shopping.chanthaboongem.com/sme/catalog.php?idp=174


Has anyone bought apatite?

Sapphireblue
 
only from rocksTV rather than rocks and co, where it is very reasonably priced! Also seems to be a lot less than the above price on any channel, actually!

N x
 
 
Good post Sapphireblue.

The interesting thing for me is that the "Neon Blue Apatite" in your link is UNHEATED. On R & C's Enhancements page it states:-
Apatite (including Neon Blue) - HEATED.

I own Apatite from TJC - both blue and green and in silver and gold. The colour is much more vibrant than the Apatite R & C sell going by the TV anyway. Although that's their Apatite from Madagascar and not the "Neon Blue" stuff as I haven't seen that.
 
Apateo.........deceiving us?

Interesting post Sapphireblue, I find personally Apatite a bit of an enigma. Firstly we've always understood that it is a more fragile stone being fairly low on the Mohs scale and therefore less suitable for rings.
I've bought some pieces from GTV as inexpensive pendants in small stone clusters.

Yet TJC are selling some beauties in 18k rings for hundreds of pounds! We've also seen Lee visiting an apatite mine where they literally hew the gemstone out of the rock face....I believe he found it
a tad hot down there! :sweat:

As the links Meesh kindly posted show, Apatite is not an expensive gemstone, yet its cost varies greatly when it is gemset! Perhaps its resemblance to the best turquoise Paraiba Tourmaline is raising its profile..
so to speak?.....:thinking2:
 
I think R&C once again overcharge for gemstones. I have a stunning 3 stone (trilogy) ring from TJC which knocks spots off any i've seen from R&C and it was under £40. Sorry R&C but to say you bring us " the best high end collectors gemstones" is rather an overstatement.
 
meeshoo, have you used ajs gems at all? I know you collect gemstones.... I am tempted by the alexandrite there but don't understand loupe clean/ almost loupe clean etc...... am only an amateur!

N xxx
 
Eye clean - no inclusions visable to the naked eye
Loupe clean - no inclusions visable under a jewellers loupe (x10/x20 magnification)
 
NikkiS said:
meeshoo, have you used ajs gems at all? I know you collect gemstones.... I am tempted by the alexandrite there but don't understand loupe clean/ almost loupe clean etc...... am only an amateur!

N xxx
Click to expand...

Yes I have. I bought a stunning Rubellite from them recently (rivalled any of the Shimoyo stuff from Rocks & Co at a fraction of the price)! Their gemstones are priced according (normally) to quality. So if something is cheap, there's a reason. Rung and Arnold are great to do business with and accept returns if something isn't right. They will sometimes take additional photos but not always - I think it depends if they have time etc.

I've just had a quick look at their website at the Alex and in all honesty there's only one I would be tempted to buy and that's the one that's over $5k and even then, I've seen better. The reason their Alex is reasonably priced is because it's ok but not great.
 
Hi, thank you all,
I have had a look at the website from Meeshoo's post and they look lovely.
I don’t think that I will be buying from R&C!

Sapphireblue
 

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