Loose Gemstone Show

Having watched the loose gemstone show on Wednesday I can say that the gemstones were exactly the same as the last loose gemstone show before Christmas. Why is it that the only gemstones we see are
1: Tanzanite
2: Kunzite
3: Bi-coloured Tourmaline
4: Emerald
5: Santa Maria Aquamarine
And 6: Diamonds

I know these gem stones are very nice, but with a channel selling over 100 different varieties of gemstones why do we not have variety and some slightly more affordable gems.

When I look on TJC’s American site
http://www.liquidationchannel.com/index.php?file=productlist&category_type=GemStone
And see the variety of stones and prices, it really does put our show to shame!

I saw Stacey auctioning off a lot of about 9-10 loose stones today, including sapphire, emerald, diamond, garnet, citrine, a pearl, at £40 for the lot (ie that's not £40 per loose stone, but £40 for all the stones together). Were they real? I didn't catch the carat weights, but I'm terribly confused as to how you could sell a lot like that for £40. Surely gold/silver weights plus labour costs to make, say, a solitaire ring aren't that enormous? Or am I just naive in the extreme?

Cheers, CountessK.

I think you'd be surprised how cheap not too good to average gemstones can be, particularly in relation to the overall cost of a piece of jewellery. None of these were spectacular and probably cost no more than coins. The only sort of gemstones that cost more are in some way special. xxxxxxxxxxx

CountessK said:

I saw Stacey auctioning off a lot of about 9-10 loose stones today, including sapphire, emerald, diamond, garnet, citrine, a pearl, at £40 for the lot (ie that's not £40 per loose stone, but £40 for all the stones together). Were they real? I didn't catch the carat weights, but I'm terribly confused as to how you could sell a lot like that for £40. Surely gold/silver weights plus labour costs to make, say, a solitaire ring aren't that enormous? Or am I just naive in the extreme?

Cheers, CountessK.

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I saw that auction too, I think the total was 7 carats in all.

Poor quality Emeralds and Sapphires are peanuts especially if highly treated which they must have been to have been in a parcel (just look at Ebay), Garnets, if they're the dark red almost black probably don't have any significant value, Citrine, even big ones are cheap. However, the oddity is the diamond. Even a tiny diamond (presuming it had a reasonable colour and clarity) would be more than £40 unless it was a miniscule 1 pointer.

I don't know if you're sufficiently interested to bother to look but, if you are, they are currently the first item in Liz Fuller's 8 - 9 am hour on "Missed Auctions". I tried to snatch a copy for you but either it or my computer is behaving badly. 12 pieces, including a pearl, 7 carats, so get out your microscope. xxxxxxxxxx

argeybargey said:

I don't know if you're sufficiently interested to bother to look but, if you are, they are currently the first item in Liz Fuller's 8 - 9 am hour on "Missed Auctions". I tried to snatch a copy for you but either it or my computer is behaving badly. 12 pieces, including a pearl, 7 carats, so get out your microscope. xxxxxxxxxx

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Thanks Arge. Errrr, well the diamond is rather ickle! However for £40 the set is really good value and would be great as a starter set for somebody to see if they like certain gemstones. The quality doesn't look very good but then hey, for £40 you wouldn't expect so.

I saw that lot go for auction - i clicked on item details - expecting to see a breakdown of the stones, sizes and weights etc etc etc - no such luck - it just said 7cts mixed stones. Ok, so cheap.......sorry affordable but cheeky. No specifics, no transparency just highly magnified photography on tv - aimed at misleading or giving a false impression????? How many disappointed buyers I wonder when they see in real life just how teeny some stones are....

I really wish these tv jewellery outlets would show stone sizes - and not just for web viewers but for everyone - after all the camera work is aimed at "enhancing" - they may say that .... I couldn't possibly comment.

loobi said:

I saw that lot go for auction - i clicked on item details - expecting to see a breakdown of the stones, sizes and weights etc etc etc - no such luck - it just said 7cts mixed stones. Ok, so cheap.......sorry affordable but cheeky. No specifics, no transparency just highly magnified photography on tv - aimed at misleading or giving a false impression????? How many disappointed buyers I wonder when they see in real life just how teeny some stones are....

I really wish these tv jewellery outlets would show stone sizes - and not just for web viewers but for everyone - after all the camera work is aimed at "enhancing" - they may say that .... I couldn't possibly comment.

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Got to admit I was surprised there wasn't a breakdown of sizes as well. I've never noticed if this has always been the case or whether this is a new thing. The problem is 7cts of various gemstones I would imagine will conjure up different sizes of stones for different people (if that makes sense).

The problem is 7cts of various gemstones I would imagine will conjure up different sizes of stones for different people (if that makes sense).[/QUOTE]

I agree totally Meeshoo - wow! 7cts including a diamond.................
I am feeling that less and less the specific gem sizes, metal weights and lengths are being stated - more just a wow factor carat weight. Another way to encourage sales - what we dont all realise is carat looks very different from stone to stone.

There was a time when the devil was in the detail and these shopping channels were happily trying to outdo each other in giving us facts, figures and dimensions. Now it seems minimal rules, combined with the zoom lenses, I feel more and more that I need to be cautious and if I cant read the full info on something, I wont buy - seeeemples. TV presentations give virtually no info - how the heck anyone is happy to buy is beyond me.

TJC is by no means the only offender