Watching Glenn Lehrer's evening show

[historymystery]

Wow, the prices for his loose carved stones. I know these are the ones he carves himself, but by heck, the prices are eye-watering - and for some pretty common gemstones. I cannot believe that they'll sell all of them.

At least Emily's presenting style on Gem Collector is a bit calmer than Hollering Hattie on Gems - Hattie frightens the life out of me when she suddenly fixes you with that manic glare (I think it's got something to do with the false eyelashes, she looks startled and frozen solid when looking straight into camera), then the hollering begins again...and my eardrums start to explode as I reach for the remote.

 

[Womanwithnoname]

Wow, the prices for his loose carved stones. I know these are the ones he carves himself, but by heck, the prices are eye-watering - and for some pretty common gemstones. I cannot believe that they'll sell all of them.

At least Emily's presenting style on Gem Collector is a bit calmer than Hollering Hattie on Gems - Hattie frightens the life out of me when she suddenly fixes you with that manic glare (I think it's got something to do with the false eyelashes, she looks startled and frozen solid when looking straight into camera), then the hollering begins again...and my eardrums start to explode as I reach for the remoov

I share your sentiment entirely…..

I did not see the Gem Collector, but in the main channel there was one piece that Glenn cut himself…
It was an aquamarine 9pointed star that looked very very “ anaemic” in colour even in the recording….apparently some “lucky Debbie” got it for several thousand pounds ..

I am a huge fan of Glenn and what I saw in the past couple of weeks makes me very sad

 

[Ostrichkeeper]

I was watching some of the Lehrer shows and found the offerings underwhelming.The seahorse earrings looked beautiful in the light box but dull and obviously dyed in reality.Also surprised that he didn’t use rutile quartz instead of plain white quartz because the original carving was rutile and not white but probably cheaper to do that.

 

[VapidStoat]

I was watching some of the Lehrer shows and found the offerings underwhelming.The seahorse earrings looked beautiful in the light box but dull and obviously dyed in reality.Also surprised that he didn’t use rutile quartz instead of plain white quartz because the original carving was rutile and not white but probably cheaper to do that.

That's Gemporia's current buying strategy: buy cheap stones in bulk from sellers and trade fairs (mainly in China, it seems) and hike the resulting jewellery prices astronomically.

 

[TheManWithNoName]

Glenn Lehrer is a legend in his own mind. His work is eye-wateringly expensive.

He's a good carver - but, in my opinion, he's just that - good.

I've seen some gem carvers on Instagram that are truly amazing - and their carvings make Lehrer's look fairly 'meh' in comparison. Their prices are far superior too for better carvings of better stones.

Don't get me wrong - Lehrer is very skilled - but there are many carvers that are as good, if not better, that are relatively unknown in comparison. Lehrer only seems to have 3 or 4 different 'styles' too. There are only so many times you can see a Torus Cut or Quasar Cut before it gets a bit boring.

In my opinion, Lehrer is only as well known as he is because he did that Bahia Rutile Quartz carving for the GIA.

Personally, I prefer Rudi Wobito's carvings on Gemporia over Lehrer's.

I feel for poor Mirabelle who paid him to cut a fairly bland looking Marquise shaped filled Ruby ring into a fairly bland looking Marquise shaped filled Ruby ring recut into his Torus-cut style with a diamond plonked into the middle and his signature engraved on it. I dread to think how much she paid him just to put his 'stamp' on her fairly average ring.

 

[AndyW]

I agree largely. I didn't watch the show because of the expected prices.

Just watched 3 pieces being auctioned tonight and have to agree still. £5k for a piece of opal. I know that there's labour, risk etc but they're also quite small. I also cannot shake my view that, compared with Ethiopian opal, Australian opal is dull. I know this is wrong because there are Australian opals with real colour out there but some are just silly prices and largely inflated by a pre-1980s virtual monopoly. Flecks of blue & green in Lighting Ridge or heavy milky Cooper Pedy are just not exciting enough for me but I can sit in daylight and get lost in a reasonably priced Ethiopian opal quite easily - not, sadly, from Gemporia/Gem Collector.

Happy to be told I'm talking tosh because opals are in my all time top 3.

 

[recoveringgemaholic]

I agree largely. I didn't watch the show because of the expected prices.

Just watched 3 pieces being auctioned tonight and have to agree still. £5k for a piece of opal. I know that there's labour, risk etc but they're also quite small. I also cannot shake my view that, compared with Ethiopian opal, Australian opal is dull. I know this is wrong because there are Australian opals with real colour out there but some are just silly prices and largely inflated by a pre-1980s virtual monopoly. Flecks of blue & green in Lighting Ridge or heavy milky Cooper Pedy are just not exciting enough for me but I can sit in daylight and get lost in a reasonably priced Ethiopian opal quite easily - not, sadly, from Gemporia/Gem Collector.

Happy to be told I'm talking tosh because opals are in my all time top 3.

Every Ethiopian opal I’ve ever bought from Gemporia has yellowed or in the case of the dyed varieties entirely faded to a brown muddy colour. I’ve kept them in different environments to see whether it makes a difference but it hasn’t at all and some pieces were quite pricey, almost all set into gold. I won’t buy another Ethiopian opal again from anywhere.
By contrast the Australian opals have been low maintenance and so far kept their colour.

 

[AndyW]

Every Ethiopian opal I’ve ever bought from Gemporia has yellowed or in the case of the dyed varieties entirely faded to a brown muddy colour. I’ve kept them in different environments to see whether it makes a difference but it hasn’t at all and some pieces were quite pricey, almost all set into gold. I won’t buy another Ethiopian opal again from anywhere.
By contrast the Australian opals have been low maintenance and so far kept their colour.

That's very sad to hear. I haven't experienced that problem ever and I've had some of my opals for years. None set into jewellery for wearing though and a quick Google search reveals that you're not alone. One Madagascan opal was a problem but it was soon rectified.

 

[Brighthunter]

All my Ethiopian opals have yellowed too, I love opals, but don't tend to buy them anymore because of this. I have one Australian one that hasn't changed at all.

 

[Ostrichkeeper]

I can't believe that I'm admitting to this but I was ONCE swayed into buying an Opal ring that Adina had designed but it's a nice looking ring tbf.It was set wrapped in gold overlay sterling silver with a big Ethiopian opal. Mine has gone slightly brown but I expected that but the colours are still vivid. Australian opal is much, much more stable because of the Ethiopian one being mainly hydrophane type which is transparent usually which is why I don't like it too much.