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And there's nothing wrong with synthetic gems if you want a lower price. Sometimes I feel sad about all the poo poo synthetic gems get for basically no reason 
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Jun 20, 2016 04:49
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Xun posted:And there's nothing wrong with synthetic gems if you want a lower price. Sometimes I feel sad about all the poo poo synthetic gems get for basically no reason The argument is that they have low/no resale value, which, holy gently caress, like natural gems have reliable resale value 
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Jun 20, 2016 04:52
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AlbieQuirky posted:The argument is that they have low/no resale value, which, holy gently caress, like natural gems have reliable resale value It's not that they have no resale value, it's just that you'll never recover what you paid. They're like cars. People still buy cars every day knowing full-well that they cut the value in half the second they pull it off the lot because it suits their purposes.
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Jun 20, 2016 04:59
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Naerasa posted:It's not that they have no resale value, it's just that you'll never recover what you paid. They're like cars. People still buy cars every day knowing full-well that they cut the value in half the second they pull it off the lot because it suits their purposes. Depends on if you are buying as a naive customer or actually research what you are doing like this thread helps with. Many gemstones even go up in price, try finding some nice Sapo Tourmaline at a decent price for instance.  Bonus engraving shot 
goodness fucked around with this message at 07:27 on Jun 20, 2016 |
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Jun 20, 2016 06:15
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Xun posted:And there's nothing wrong with synthetic gems if you want a lower price. Sometimes I feel sad about all the poo poo synthetic gems get for basically no reason 60-90% of the cut amethyst you see in jewelry stores is an undisclosed synthetic, after all. Literally impossible to tell the exact amount -- the GIA won't even give an opinion for amethyst anymore. As far as price goes, synthetics (with the exception of Victoria Stone, since that's LOST TECHNOLOGY) have the problem that supply is essentially unlimited, while things like Parabia Tourmaline or Louisiana Sand Opal or even Charoite are more limited in source. Try getting your hands on that really good ocean jasper at anything like the price it was ten years ago. Not that I'm knocking synthetics, there's a lot of really neat synthetic stuff, but the big issues with them in terms of value is mass-production and loss of perceived uniqueness in what's ultimately an art market.
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Jun 20, 2016 06:41
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My grandfather has been going on and on about a tabletop "spectrometer" that determines the purity of gold and silver. Does anyone here have any idea what he's talking about? He sold jewelry for years, but he's retired now and Fox News has made him crazy. (He hoards gold and silver scrap, jewelry, silverware, etc. Last year, he brought five pounds of silver on a trip as his "emergency fund.")
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Jun 20, 2016 16:20
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With so little information to go on, and since it's not gonna be a real spectrometer, maybe a touchstone? Or a scam?
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Jun 20, 2016 19:23
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Yeah sounds like a scamvertisement playing on Fox, they're always playing goldbug ads and hocking prepper materials. I can only imagine "don't get scammed with diluted gold in the dystopian future apocalypse, use the GoldFingerer(tm)! Call now supplies are limited" would find a receptive audience.
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Jun 20, 2016 22:41
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goodness posted:This is great! Garnets and tanzanite are some cool stones. Unfortunately I don't! I'm about to cue up the next though and they all look pretty similar. This is the one on deck at the far left (also my heliodor, tourmalines, and shameless self plug of the collection I'm working on)  WOOFDOCTOR posted:Is there something visually similar with better durability? I really like the sort of shifty blue-purple color I have seen in tanzanite. Sapphire is your best bet, but the price will definitely be different. goodness posted:Depends on if you are buying as a naive customer or actually research what you are doing like this thread helps with. Many gemstones even go up in price, try finding some nice Sapo Tourmaline at a decent price for instance. This is both true and untrue. Paraiba is by far the best example as when it came out it was around $5 a gram and now it's insanely priced. Tomorrow someone could stumble on a Paraiba mine and bring it wayyyy down (but they probably won't). What is the crystal? The colours are awesome! EDIT: I now realize it is Sapo Tourmaline. Very cool. Claes Oldenburger fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Jun 20, 2016 |
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Jun 20, 2016 22:48
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Of course, if you really are going to be a apocalypse prepper, you should build skills necessary for scavenging the post-apocalyptic ruins of civilization while also picking up gold and silver for below spot price. Scour your local flea markets.
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Jun 20, 2016 23:25
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Claes Oldenburger posted:Unfortunately I don't! I'm about to cue up the next though and they all look pretty similar. This is the one on deck at the far left (also my heliodor, tourmalines, and shameless self plug of the collection I'm working on) That ring with the gold nugget is really cool. Are those little gold skulls as well?
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Jun 20, 2016 23:42
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goodness posted:That ring with the gold nugget is really cool. Are those little gold skulls as well? Thanks! They are  Since I make engagement rings as a day job it's nice to have my own work be a more sculptural departure from that. The whole collection is a west coast themed memento mori revival so it's a lot of bear skulls and bark textures. I'm really dragging my feet getting it finished, but the last two pieces are mostly designed and I'm just making sure they look nice in metal before I release the website etc. etc.This is my ~pro photo~ 
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Jun 21, 2016 01:13
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Tunicate posted:With so little information to go on, and since it's not gonna be a real spectrometer, maybe a touchstone? Or a scam? Huh. He said it was faster and more accurate than fire or acid for assay, but that's all I got to go on. Googling around, maybe he got confused and thought there were tabletop ICPs or AAs? I'm just glad to know I was confused for a reason. Also, how do you get rid of gold and silver scrap? He's got an entire room of his house filled with it.
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Jun 21, 2016 04:46
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Brennanite posted:Huh. He said it was faster and more accurate than fire or acid for assay, but that's all I got to go on. Googling around, maybe he got confused and thought there were tabletop ICPs or AAs? I'm just glad to know I was confused for a reason. Also, how do you get rid of gold and silver scrap? He's got an entire room of his house filled with it. Faster than fire maybe but more accurate? I don't know much about gold refining but you would think everyone would be doing it if it was faster and more accurate than what everyone else uses. You can send it to a refinery! Lots of the time you can get paid out a percentage of the total or have it returned in stamped bars.
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Jun 21, 2016 06:40
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From my searching, it looks like there is a desktop and even a handheld XRF unit for assessing metal purity. No doubt it is very, very expensive.
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Jun 21, 2016 07:31
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Wow, I had no idea that existedquote:What is currently available as a used analyzer? yeah sounds expensive as gently caress. Gotta be a few k if that's the discount for a used one. EDIT: checked ebay, seem to be running a bare minimum of 10k to 12k if you want one that actually works, or you can get a nonfunctional paperweight for 3k. You could get a pretty big chunk of gold for that price. Tunicate fucked around with this message at 07:37 on Jun 21, 2016 |
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Jun 21, 2016 07:33
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Claes Oldenburger posted:Thanks! They are Dibs on one of these! That looks amazing .
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Jun 21, 2016 07:57
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Would just tell you surface purity pretty sure
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Jun 21, 2016 08:00
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Scarodactyl posted:From my searching, it looks like there is a desktop and even a handheld XRF unit for assessing metal purity. No doubt it is very, very expensive. I bet that was it. He said they were very expensive--that's why he brought it up, he wanted to know if my husband (analytical chemist) could get him a deal on one. Claes Oldeburger posted:Faster than fire maybe but more accurate? I don't know much about gold refining but you would think everyone would be doing it if it was faster and more accurate than what everyone else uses. You have no idea now how tempted I am to send it all to you with instructions for an Egyptian-style coffin.
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Jun 21, 2016 16:31
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Brennanite posted:You have no idea now how tempted I am to send it all to you with instructions for an Egyptian-style coffin. Let's do it 
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Jun 21, 2016 22:33
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I've got a couple questions, both pertaining to some vintage/heirloom pieces that I own. I like jewelry, but my skin doesn't. I have both nickel and cobalt allergies- the only stuff I've successfully worn long term is made out of platinum (my wedding band) and titanium/niobium (pretty much everything else I purchase, and most of the stuff out there in these materials that I've seen is godawful). I have a nice little gold signet ring from my grandmother that I would like to wear. It has two engraved Siamese cat heads on either side of the face. With very cheap costume jewelry, I just slather clear nail polish on it and call it a day. Is there something that a jeweler could apply to the inside surface of a piece that might be a better coating? The other piece I have is a platinum engagement ring setting that doesn't have a stone in it (that's in my mom's band now, which she's leaving me in her will). It's a pronged setting, meant to hold a 1ct round diamond. I'm looking for something to go into it- I'd really like something that's sort of a warm or cool grey or a smoky or pale blue. A lot of these are less expensive gemstones and it's basically impossible to find a reference as to whether they work okay in this sort of ring because nobody spends their money on, say, a smoky quartz in a nice platinum setting. Does anyone have any suggestions on what types of gems would work well for this material/setting? Additionally, any suggestions on where I might be able to find either a normal or nontraditional cut stone that might be appropriate? I'm in the Boston area, if there are any local jeweler suggestions I would really appreciate it.
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Jun 22, 2016 15:52
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BadSamaritan posted:I've got a couple questions, both pertaining to some vintage/heirloom pieces that I own. I like jewelry, but my skin doesn't. I have both nickel and cobalt allergies- the only stuff I've successfully worn long term is made out of platinum (my wedding band) and titanium/niobium (pretty much everything else I purchase, and most of the stuff out there in these materials that I've seen is godawful). I don't know about the variable hardness for the different stones and setting them, but I do have access to several dozen gem sellers of all those less expensive gems like you mention. Can easily get you set up with something great after you decide on a stone.
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Jun 22, 2016 18:45
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Naerasa posted:I can see multiple inclusions as marked on the cert at the 20x blow-up, but that's a hell of a lot bigger than how a diamond looks when it's sitting on your hand. I highly doubt you'll be able to see the inclusions in the stone during day to day wear. Also fwiw, I can only see the inclusions easily because I've spent a lot of time looking at diamonds and notice little things like distortion in the facet pattern (like what the feather is doing in the top right corner of the video/bottom left corner of the cert). Your average person is never going to notice something like that and it doesn't detract from the diamond's visual appeal at all. Hopefully the last post from me... What about this diamond? https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.21-carat-g-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-1099280 It's *slightly* bigger, seems to have less inclusions, but I worry about the fluorescence. The online gemologist said it doesn't appear hazy and won't be blue in natural light, but I'm not sure if he's being a salesman or a gemologist. If you guys had to pick between the two, which would you go for and why? The gem guy was saying the bigger one has a much better combo between table and depth and gives it a more lively appearance so the fire would be better, for whatever that is worth. Here was the first one linked: https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.07-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-176481
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Jun 22, 2016 21:07
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Jun 23, 2016 01:43
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SMDFTB posted:Hopefully the last post from me... Well, you're getting something noticeably bigger for essentially the same price, so that's good. Re: the fluorescence, the fluorescent gem does appear to be whiter than the inert one, which is interesting because they both have the same color of G. I can't tell if that's because of the fluoro or a simple color grading discrepancy, however, and the difference is small enough that I'd say it's more or less a moot point. If I had to pick one? This is a tough call. If I were strictly buying online and couldn't see both diamonds next to each other, I'd buy the 1.07 because it's a mathematically safer bet. It's closer to the ideal square, the girdle is even, I don't give a poo poo about the inclusions, and I happen to like a small table. I also wouldn't trust a call on haziness from fluoro without seeing it myself, and I'm too drat lazy to buy a diamond I'm unsure about just so I can look at it and send it back. If I'm going to buy something, I'm not doing the whole 'consideration period' thing; I'm buying it because I want to keep it. If I could see both in person in a store, however, I would probably make the opposite call and end up buying the 1.21. The fluoro probably isnt a big deal, I doubt the rectangular shape or wavy girdle makes a visible difference, and it's larger in both carat weight and face-up size. It's not a stone I would personally buy sight-unseen, but I'm betting that if I saw it in person, I'd buy it over the 1.07. Ultimately, I guess what I'm saying is that I think the 1.07 is the 'safer' purchase, but if you're willing to get the 1.21 and look at it to see if the potential issues don't matter, then it's probably the better buy in terms of value. Either way, they're both good stones with solid grades and certs, so you can't gently caress up regardless of the choice you make.
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Jun 23, 2016 16:33
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While blue fluorescence is rated as a flaw by the strict (and artificial) guidelines of the diamond trade, I've always thought of it more as a desperately-needed bit of personality.
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Jun 23, 2016 22:07
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Scarodactyl posted:While blue fluorescence is rated as a flaw by the strict (and artificial) guidelines of the diamond trade, I've always thought of it more as a desperately-needed bit of personality. Sometimes it looks really badass, sometimes it does give the diamond a little bit of a greasy look in the wrong light. Fluoro is super weird.
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Jun 24, 2016 06:09
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Naerasa posted:Sometimes it looks really badass, sometimes it does give the diamond a little bit of a greasy look in the wrong light. Fluoro is super weird. So weird. I too agree it adds some character to stones but I have definitely seen that greasy look in certain lights. Ultimately stones are priced on how good they "look", so if two exact stones have identical stats and one has the greasy look while the other looks badass, you can for sure bet the badass one will be more expensive.
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Jun 24, 2016 19:26
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Will it be pretty easy for an untrained eye like myself to tell?
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Jun 24, 2016 19:53
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SMDFTB posted:Will it be pretty easy for an untrained eye like myself to tell? If you have a very clean diamond with no fluoro next to it, yes. If you're staring at a questionable diamond on its lonesome, no. The greasiness imparted by fluoro isn't so prominent that you'll notice it on it's own; it's only when you compare it to another diamond that doesn't have that quality that you can really see it.
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Jun 25, 2016 23:20
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Tunicate posted:If you're one of those dubai billionaires, color-change blue garnet Hah, I have two of them over two carats. "Nice" quality is about the same price as a sapphire and "Gem" quality prices out at about half of diamond. They're very rare in fine qualities. Brennanite posted:My grandfather has been going on and on about a tabletop "spectrometer" that determines the purity of gold and silver. Does anyone here have any idea what he's talking about? He sold jewelry for years, but he's retired now and Fox News has made him crazy. (He hoards gold and silver scrap, jewelry, silverware, etc. Last year, he brought five pounds of silver on a trip as his "emergency fund.") Brennanite posted:Huh. He said it was faster and more accurate than fire or acid for assay, but that's all I got to go on. Googling around, maybe he got confused and thought there were tabletop ICPs or AAs? There are two devices. One an XRF spectrometer and the other an experimental radio wave density analyzer. He likely means the XRF.
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Jun 27, 2016 19:36
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Inherited a bunch of jewelry from my mom. Two questions: 1. I can just take this down to any ol' Armenian dude in downtown Boston to tell me what's decent and what's crap, right? 2. One of the pieces is ivory. I know its provenance but don't have anything besides family history to back it up. The bail on one side of the pendant (it's a crescent shape) is missing; is it worth taking to get repaired, or just hang on to it as an heirloom and reminder of a more wasteful time?
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Jul 1, 2016 16:05
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1. Bostonian Jewelers is really good. Husband and wife team, both are excellent but wife is less brusque. 2. A lot of jewelers won't work on ivory these days, but ask the Bostonian Jewelers people if they know anyone who will. I don't wear ivory jewelry myself because blah blah discourage ivory trade so I have never gotten any of my old ivory stuff repaired, but I am also unwilling to dispose of it (can't sell it in Mass of course) so it sits wrapped in acid-free paper at the bottom of my jewelry box.
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Jul 1, 2016 17:54
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Cut a tourmaline over the last week and a bit, picture sucks but the stone turned out great: It's a watermelon tourmaline so I left some of the green on one edge (which the picture decided is now more yellow). Something you don't see very often! It's pretty neat being able to arrange stones to cut in things that are much less common.
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Jul 21, 2016 17:04
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Claes Oldenburger posted:Cut a tourmaline over the last week and a bit, picture sucks but the stone turned out great: That is awesome! Do you have a picture of the rough?
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Jul 21, 2016 17:20
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Nice work! The reason you're getting a yellow flash there is that, when mixing colors of light, red+green = yellow. Unintuitive but they work a bit different from mixing pigments.
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Jul 21, 2016 17:23
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goodness posted:That is awesome! Do you have a picture of the rough? I can take a photo of rough that is 99% similar tonight! Scarodactyl posted:Nice work! The reason you're getting a yellow flash there is that, when mixing colors of light, red+green = yellow. Unintuitive but they work a bit different from mixing pigments. That makes sense! Still so much to learn about gemstones while cutting and here I am forgetting how colours work.
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Jul 21, 2016 17:56
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Being generally lacking in sufficient common sense to read the whole thread, I'll ask now if this is a good place to ask about titanium. Specifically, I'm considering a titanium wedding band for reasons too boring to mention. Is titanium the kind of metal that's too difficult to engrave, assuming there is some sort of standard jewelry grade of titanium? For context, I think I'll be wanting a men's titanium band with an infinity swirl engraved on the inside. Laugh at my folly or discuss the viability as you shall. If it's viable, is there a well recommended place to look for this sort of thing?
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Jul 23, 2016 04:21
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goodness posted:That is awesome! Do you have a picture of the rough? Looks like this:  Glockamole posted:Being generally lacking in sufficient common sense to read the whole thread, I'll ask now if this is a good place to ask about titanium. Specifically, I'm considering a titanium wedding band for reasons too boring to mention. I know some people do hand engrave titanium but your best bet would be laser engraving. Are you near a large-ish city? There should be an engraver there who can point you in a direction or do it themselves.
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Jul 23, 2016 05:02
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My jeweler is unfamiliar with vitalium. How should it be polished? Is there a specific machine?
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Jul 23, 2016 15:34
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