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wibblypig

wibblypig

Registered Shopper
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
225
Location
Manchester
Hiya all,

Its quite some time since I shopped with Gems TV but I found myself watching it last night. This channel has gone seriousely down hill!! they used to do fabulous up market gems now its all overpriced smokey quartz and almost everything is set in silver. Are Gems struggling?

I searched the net for other threads about this and came across a few very worrying ones that go on at length about the reports they have had from jewellers when having pieces valued.
One lady said that she had taken an aquamarine ring to be valued and the jeweller told her it was glass!!
Another said that she had bought a black diamond ring and took it to her local jewellers to be valued. He rang her at home to tell her it wasn't a diamond but it was in fact moissonite.
The third one I found was a lady who had bought what she though to be a lemon citrine pendant with a hefty carat weight only to find out it was synthetic!

Now either these are acts of possible sabotage or they are true!
I have had a lot of pieces of jewellery from Gems Tv and am wondering if I have got what I thought i'd got?

I could be totally wrong and I do take what I read on forums with a pinch of salt but it does make me wonder about this.:33:
 
I don't think it would be selling 'synthetic' gems and I believe it is Ideal World that do moissonite.

It could be just scare mongering but I am sure someone with far more experience than me will be along soon enough.
 
wibblypig said:
Hiya all,

Its quite some time since I shopped with Gems TV but I found myself watching it last night. This channel has gone seriousely down hill!! they used to do fabulous up market gems now its all overpriced smokey quartz and almost everything is set in silver. Are Gems struggling?

I searched the net for other threads about this and came across a few very worrying ones that go on at length about the reports they have had from jewellers when having pieces valued.
One lady said that she had taken an aquamarine ring to be valued and the jeweller told her it was glass!!
Another said that she had bought a black diamond ring and took it to her local jewellers to be valued. He rang her at home to tell her it wasn't a diamond but it was in fact moissonite.
The third one I found was a lady who had bought what she though to be a lemon citrine pendant with a hefty carat weight only to find out it was synthetic!

Now either these are acts of possible sabotage or they are true!
I have had a lot of pieces of jewellery from Gems Tv and am wondering if I have got what I thought i'd got?

I could be totally wrong and I do take what I read on forums with a pinch of salt but it does make me wonder about this.:33:
Click to expand...

It is well known that most high street jewellers are not happy with the unwanted competition from Gems TV and the like - it must really have hit their business. There are rogues in every trade, and I'd be prepared to believe that some jewellers would deliberately spin this sort of yarn as soon as they see the Gems TV hallmark. It seems quite unlikely, for instance, that Gems would pass off a synthetic lemon quartz as genuine, since real lemon quartz (even in stonking sizes) is very inexpensive anyway. A number of people have had good valuations from Safeguard, which is part of the Assay Office and therefore impartial; but charge quite a lot - not worth it for the lower value items.
 
wibblypig said:
...Another said that she had bought a black diamond ring and took it to her local jewellers to be valued. He rang her at home to tell her it wasn't a diamond but it was in fact moissonite.
...Now either these are acts of possible sabotage or they are true!
Click to expand...

Since moissanite is clear, not black, I would say you can discount this one :1:

HTH
 
thanks guys you have put my mind at rest on these fraudulant claims :)

The channel has still gone down hill though that is clear as day!
 
That's an open secret, Jacky.

Also Gavin Linsell of Rocks & Co used to be involved with Gems.. I think this sort of thing happens all the time in business.

Who knows what goes on behind the scenes?
 
GemsTV here in the States has gone downhill the past year also. After the RAMAN results on andesine came out, it looks as though there are serious questions about what's going on with the so called paraiba tourmaline that is being sold.GemBusters.com is a great site to educate those of us who are gemstone and jewelry lovers.
 
Don't know about andesine - what was the issue there? But I've seen reports and posts on other forums about paraiba tourmaline not coming from Paraiba in Brazil where it was first found, so people are sayig it's false description. But in the gemstones book you get with your first order from Gems, it does say that tourmaline found in Africa (Mozambique I think), was considered so like the original that it was acceptable to call it Paraiba, and it's now just a term rather than a place of origin. I've read that in other places too (sorry can't give you a link atm.) Also I saw somewhere that as Africa and S. America were apparently once joined geographically, that it's not surprising similar deposits are found in both places...

Don't know if that was the issue with paraiba that you meant, but that's what I read...
 
When I was at QVC for their gems day preview I spoke to Guy Clutterbuck (their gem specialist) he said that the Mozambique Paraiba tourmaline wasn't expected to run out soon and that there are huge deposits of gems yet to be found...it's just a drop in the ocean. When you think about the size of Africa, who knows what's yet to be discovered? I think the hype over the Mozambique Paraiba was a bit OTT to be honest, when they said how unbelievably rare it was. As is the hype over tanzanite...it seems they've been banging on now for years about how it's going to run out in 10 to 15 years time. Shouldn't that estimation be going down and shouldn't they start saying 8 to 10 years? Also I'm sick of hearing how it's a hundred times rarer than diamonds, well, diamonds aren't rare so that's not such an amazing fact. Rubies are a hundred times rarer than diamonds, too. What is rare are IF diamonds. I'm becoming a bit cynical about all the sales patter to be honest.
 
The name thing is one thing,but there's more to the story. Google search heavy metal bulk diffusion paraiba tourmaline. Educate yourselves on what is going on out there in the colored gemstone market.
 
The prices we pay for these stones, we should expect treatments to enhance them, but I totally agree that all these treatments should be fully disclosed. At least tjc has the decency to call their stones 'Mozambique Paraiba Tourmaline'.
 
I dont actually buy from gems tv anymore but i do have a huge collection of jewellery from them over the 4years i did buy from them and there was a time when gems tv sold created gem stones i think it was only in silver though.I have a few pieces myself but it was always clearly stated on your details that this is what you were buying
I'm sure with all the codes of practice they have to abide to i would'nt think these stories are true in fact i'm sure half the high street stores would'nt know what they're looking at
 
Most common everyday people like us who buy gemstones or jewelry just assume there are_ codes of practice or regulations etc. in the gemstone industry ,but after following the scamdesine fiasco, it sounds like no one can come up with a sample of rough red or green andesine or show us proof that a red or green andesine mine exist. People are fed up and want to get the truth of what really is going on with this frankenstone and why it was constantly being harped to US gemstone buyers as being "The Next Paraiba Tourmaline or Tanzanite",hint,hint,hint....The more US buyers dug for the truth, the more we found out about who's not too anxious to get to the truth about andesine. It sounds like there will be plenty of blame to go around to all who have prospered from this scam.
 
Last edited:
More interesting information out on treating of andesine and tourmaline is being released. Google search Gemwiseblogspotcom .
 

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