Dear Friends and Associates,
First of all, please accept my apology for being so late with my latest Newsletter update. Things has been crazy busy this year and there are many new developments in works, some with absolutely amazing potential for you, my regular, and my new customers. So make sure to stay in touch and check back regularly. I will make it worth your while!
2016 Tucson Gem Show
Last year’s gem show was a big success and this year’s show ended up being even better! Overall Tucson Gem Show sales increased by 28% compared to 2015 and first 10 days of the show were incredibly busy. Over 90% of all sales were generated by my regular, repeat customers. Even customers who did not buy from me for over 3 or 4 years showed up at my booth this year. This really means a lot to me, especially because most of my direct competitors were complaining about very low sales, and overall bad year.
The biggest seller was Oregon Sunstone from PANA mine, especially colored rough in newly discovered colors like “indicolite” blue-green, dichroic green to red, chrome green to pink-orange, “padparadscha” orange-pink, and many others. Interest from fellow gem cutters and gem dealers was overwhelming and I sold every last piece of this rare material.
I also experienced increased sales in untreated Topaz in natural colors, all Beryl types, especially Aquamarine, Morganite, Heliodor.
Sales of Pink Danburite were very strong and I sold over 50% of my stock during first 7 days. Danburite is becoming popular in unique and high-end jewelry and jewelry makers create a majority of my Pink Danburite customers now.
Sales of rough increased again compared to previous years and the biggest seller by far were all these new Garnet types recently discovered in Malawi. The most popular type by far was orange-pink to orange-honey-peachy Malaya type. Read more details below. I also did very good with untreated Morganite, Pink Danburite, untreated Topaz in several colors, Tourmaline crystals and Moldavite.
Overall Im very happy with 2016 Tucson Gem Show and Im looking forward to the 2017 event for which I will have many more new, exciting gems.
Investment Grade Heliodor Crystals and Clean Gem Rough from Volodarsk-Volynskii, Ukraine
There is absolutely no question that Heliodor (highly valued variety of Beryl, just like Emerald, or Aquamarine) from Khoroshiv (previously Volodarks Volynskii) in Ukraine is of the finest quality in the world. Some of the largest and cleanest etched Heliodor crystals in rarest crystal shapes, and most valued green color were discovered at this locality in the past, with some very promising new finds being made just recently.
Most historically important finds were made under the Soviet era, and shortly after Ukraine regained its independence in 1991. Before, the rich pegmatite deposits were mined mainly for optical quartz, which was considered a strategic raw material for its physical and optical properties. Gems including Heliodor, Golden Beryl, Aquamarine and Topaz were of little interest to the communist party, at first. At around 1980s, the governments of Russia and Ukraine finally realized the actual value and business potential of these gemstones, followed by spike in both legal and illegal mining activities. Active mining continued for a short while longer after collapse of the Soviet empire.
In 2004 the entire mining area was closed off to public, and all mining activities have ceased. Nevertheless, due to recent political and economical developments in Ukraine, the mining activities were fully restored, and substantial amounts of top gemmy crystals are now being mined practically all year round! Please believe me if I tell you that this new spike in mining activities will not last for ever… I urge you to purchase some of these amazing gems while they are still available. Most of the worlds renown museums and wealthy collectors/investors are now on waiting list for next big, top quality Heliodor crystal.
The most recent mining run was just completed, and all individual crystals are now being cleaned, categorized and photographed. These are some examples of what is now becoming available from Ukraine. Heliodor is once again being mined in all colors (including the super rare and super expensive rich green, which is value-wise approaching good quality Emerald), clarity grades and crystal sizes, and each crystal is “hand delivered” over the Ukraine border into the European Union. Im sure you get the
picture….Personally I do not expect to see continuous mining far into the future. Once the political stability of the region is regained I expect the government of Ukraine to step in, and halt all mining activities, exactly the same way they did some 12 years ago. All this means that now is the time to buy the best Heliodor obtainable! Prices of these gems can only go up… a LOT!
Current prices largely depend on crystal shapes, quality of etching, clarity and color. From 20 USD per gram all the way to 80 US dollars per gram, and even much higher for one of a kind pieces.
Before you buy, take in careful consideration these facts:
- Heliodor from Ukraine represents the rarest and most valued variety in its class
- Heliodor from Ukraine is still fairly undervalued, and this gem has a great value increase/ investment potential
- Etched crystals from Volodarsk-Volynskii region are the most beautiful and most valued in the world!
- Just like Emerald, Aquamarine, Morganite and many other rare gemstones, Heliodor is a colored variety of BERYL. The rare green Heliodor only found in Ukraine will eventually reach market value of good quality Emerald.
- At this moment I have a mine-direct source for this gemstone and I can supply any quantity and quality. I will be more than happy to provide you with more information and detailed pricing.
At this moment, Im one of only two gem dealers/cutters in the entire United States having a full and unlimited access to these very recently mined gems. I guarantee the best price-to-quality ratio on all Heliodors in stock. Feel free to compare with anyone, and make sure to secure your order today! To purchase a genuine Volodarsk-Volynskii Heliodor at these prices is one of a kind opportunity!
More detailed info and many more gems are coming soon. From small, relatively inexpensive etched crystals, thru top quality eye clean rough in all sizes, all the way to super large top gemmy crystals. Im able to source and deliver even the best, largest and most valued pieces (multiple kilo crystals, top unique crystals in perfect clarity, etc)… Simply contact me for details and detailed pricing.
Special Offer on PERIDOT Mine Run/Facet Rough from Arizona
After many years of gradual mining decline, the Peridot Mesa in Arizona is once again becoming the major player on the international gem market. Pakistani peridot mining has already seen its best days, prices of their material is outrageously high and quality is spotty at best. China is producing relatively inexpensive Peridot similar in appearance to gems found at the Apache reservation. Nevertheless, now with substantially larger mining output coming out of Arizona, Im able to offer clean facet grade for substantially less than 3 dollars per gram. This is by far the best deal you can find on the entire market. Sellers of Peridot rough from other countries don’t come even close. So now, for a limited time, you can buy kilo lots of mine run, with guaranteed 11%-15% clean facet grade material, for only 400 dollars per kilo!
5Kg, 10Kg and 25 kilo lots are priced even more favorably. Contact me for a custom quote.
Remember that Peridot from Arizona remains to be the most popular Peridot in the world, and most jewelry makers prefer the Apache Indian gems compared to the Chinese, African or Pakistani material. Arizona Peridot is found in many shades of green, from bright apple green, beautiful lime green all to way to typical olive green (which originally gave its name to Olivine / Peridot).
I have over 50 kilos of rough in stock with more being mined weekly. For more information and order please call me 619-452-9820 or write ales@ravenstein-germany.com.
Super Rare Moravian MOLDAVITES in Huge Sizes
As many of you already know, Moravian Moldavite represents a completely separate, and most valued category of all Moldavite. Moravian Moldavite is found in a separate strewn field, delimited by towns of Trebic, Moravske Budejovice and Brno. Moravian Moldavite has a very different, unique appearance to it, and these stones are more than 25x rarer and more valuable compared to much more common Bohemian Moldavite (those you normally see on the market). This is the reason why Moravian Moldavite remains to be practically unknown to most collectors and investors alike.
At this time, Im the only dealer offering guaranteed natural Moravian Moldavite in sizes and quality any serious collector or museum would kill for!
Currently there is a limited number of largest and best pieces up for sale by one of the local collectors. He spent past 15 years collecting these rare space-origin gems, one by one, walking the freshly plowed fields after heavy rains.
Any Moldavite over 200ct (40g) is extremely rare and this amazing collection consists of 10 pieces of substantially larger sizes, some are actually over 500t (100g)!. Quality of these pieces is best you can get, considering the fact that all Moravian Moldavite is field picked (not mined), some some surface wear is pretty much expected.
Moravian Moldavite is an extremely rare, low yielding gemstone. Most typical localities like Stepanovice, Slavice, Kojetce or Dukovany produce only about 3g of material per cubic meter of earth. So any commercial mining would be way too expensive, and economically unviable.
Regardless of super high rarity and very low availability, I was able to negotiate a very special price for my customers, ranging from 45 USD to 65 USD per gram. Each one of these pieces represents a very unique buying opportunity for those who know the difference, and those who realize its true investment potential and sheer rarity.
Now is a good time to place your order. I will be traveling to Czech Republic by last week of May and I will stay until middle of July 2016.
I would bring your new Moravian Moldavite back into United States in person. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments, I will be more than happy to respond.
Best and Biggest OREGON SUNSTONE Lot from PANA Mine
Newly discovered Oregon Sunstone from PANA mine (first introduced in 2012) is fast becoming the most valued American gem in history. I closely followed these important gem market developments ever since its discovery in 2010 and many of your have already read some of my on-line articles about this exciting gemstone.
I realized its amazing potential back in 2012 and I did everything I could to locate and purchase all the rough which I could afford.
Part of what is now known as “Butte Basin” Oregon Sunstone region is under a special contract, and all material produced by Sunstone Butte mine is exported to Asia. For more information please read here: http://www.stclaire-gems.com/newsletter-004-nov-2015.html
It took me nearly 2 years to develop a new relationship with Eagle Butte (“Butte Basin”) mine owners, and by September 2015 I purchased the biggest lot of rare colored Oregon Sunstone ever! Many of the finest pieces faceted by my cutters found its way to collectors and fine jewelry around the globe, with more pieces being cut weekly.
This big purchase allowed me to keep prices at 2014 levels, something all of my customers really appreciate and most of them keep coming back for more.
Im proud to offer the largest and most complete selection of ALL types of Oregon Sunstone with clear specialization on rare colors found only in PANA mine and Sunstone Butte mine (Little Eagle Butte location, wrongly called “Butte Basin”). My green, blue, red, dichroic/pleochroic and multi-colored Oregon Sunstones is what sets me apart from all other dealers. I offer these super rare gems in all sizes, from relatively small “jewelry” sized gems in 1.5 to 3.0 carat range all the way to 10t to 30ct+ “Museum/Investment” grade pieces.
All this would not be complete without a warning…. (yes, again..). Please do some research before you spend your money on Oregon Sunstone, especially those super rare green, red and “indicolite” blue varieties. The Chinese and Thai fakes are flooding the market and there is no stopping them. It is always a good idea to have your newly purchased gem tested and certified by a GIA gem lab. Gem certificates should become part of your collection/investment with every new gemstone purchase.
Siberian CHROME DIOPSIDE (Siberian Emerald) Rough Crystals
Together with Emerald, Chrome Diopside is the most beautiful pure rich chrome green gemstone in the world. But simply because Chrome Diopside is considerably rarer, with a very limited supply coming out of Siberia, Russia, this gem has never became widely known and popular as Emerald. Also, the name itself is not exactly attractive. “Chrome Diopside” sounds more like an industrial cleaner, rather than rare, precious
gemstone. These are the main reasons why Chrome Diopside remained a very inexpensive, heavily undervalued gemstone.
Many years ago, when this material was still exported out of Russia without major difficulties, I purchased and put aside about 3 kilos of beautiful collector grade crystals in nice gemmy quality suitable for carvings, cabochons, or as top quality display specimen.
For the reasons mentioned
above in this article, I decided to offer this material at only 2,000 per kilo (or 2.50 USD per gram) to anyone interested. It is nearly impossible to find this gem material on the market right now. Please contact me for details.
More Amazing Umbalite, Malaya (Malaia) Garnet, Hot Pink Rhodolite, Cranberry Rhodolite, Raspberry Rhodolite, Rose Garnet, Crimson Garnet, etc… from Malawi
Malawi is quickly becoming the prime source for best and rarest types of Garnets. Surpassing in quality places like Umba River or Tunduru in Tanzania, Mozambique or Madagascar. I continue to work with local villagers with help of my Malawian partner Jephter. Part of the profit goes back to people of Malawi, especially those in greatest need like children and single mothers. Women in Malawi do a lot of hard labor including gem mining. All mining in Malawi is done in a very primitive way, using simple tools like picks, shovels, buckets and metal or nylon screens. We are going to supply food, tools and medicine to the increasing number of workers. This is something local population needs quite desperately. Remember that every purchase directly benefits those in needs!
So far the biggest lot of different types of garnets was hand delivered one day before Tucson gem show. This approx. 5 kilo lot consisted of many types/colors of Garnets including Fire Red, Rose Garnet, Hot Pink Rhodolite, Raspberry Rhodolite, Malaya (Malaia) Garnet, Crimson Garnet, Cranberry Rhodolite, Hot pink-purple Umbalite, Orange-Red Rhodolite and several other colors. The biggest seller at the gem show was the Malaya Garnet.
The color shades and mixes is simply amazing, from medium-rich Orange-Pink, thru Peachy-Rose-Orange, some with Honey or Rose Red overtones. I sold most of this material before the gem show was over, and last remaining 150g was sold only few days after the show to one of the show buyers from Oregon. At this moment I still offer Malaya Garnet for 18USD to 26 USD/g, or 10,500 USD per kilo. Retail value of cut gems can reach 800 USD per carat.
Second most popular color/type is the Hot Pink Rhodolite, closely followed by Rose Garnet, Cranberry Rhodolite and Raspberry Rhodolite. At this moment I sell these for 8 to 12 USD/g for clean river worn nodules in 2.5g to 8.0g sizes. Larger than 8g are priced individually.
All other types and colors are priced at 7.0 USD to 9.0 USD/g or 5,400/Kilo.
These are some of the best deals you can find anywhere! And please remember that with every purchase of these amazing new Garnets, and other gems from Malawi, you help so many people in great need including children. Let me here express my gratitude for your support!
It might interest you that we are testing 7 main types/colors of these new Garnets in our European Union gem lab, and I will publish test results right after I receive them. I do suspect the Malaya color Garnet to be mixture of Pyrope and Spessartine or Pyrope (rarest variety called Pastel Pyrope). If this happens to be confirmed, I wont be able to sell this material at the above mentioned prices any longer. This would totally ruin and undercut the market. I would increase prices to approx. 50 USD per gram and give a much large portion of the profit back to people of Malawi.
Special Liquidation Sale On Untreated MORGANITE Rough and Crystals
In order to free up some more cash for my new and ongoing developments in Eastern Africa, Mexico and Oregon, USA, I decided to offer a special blowout sale on all remaining Morganite rough. I have about 3Lb left in stock, most are in 20% to 40% clarity, meaning they will cut moderately included gems or some amazing carvings, special concave/bubble cuts, etc.… I will accept 5 USD/g, and 7 USD/g, respectively, for what ever material Ive left in stock. Any material in 60% and 80% clarity will be thrown into the 40% clarity batch as a “bonus”, also priced at only 7 USD/g. Try to get deal like this directly at the mines in Nigeria!! This material is becoming very rare and scarce and prices directly from miners are more than double compared to mine!
Rare Burmese Peachy-Pink Flawless Topaz Crystals
Right before the ban on all imports from Burma I sourced some absolutely amazing and very rare, natural peachy-pink terminated Topaz crystals in best clarity obtainable. I put them aside and I was trying to decide if I should have them cut, or if I should offer these as-is to collectors of rare and unusual gems/crystals. Only a handful of these mostly clean to flawless crystals is mined each year in famous Mogok valley.
These crystals are perfect with beautiful crystal faces and complete single termination, so I decided to offer these as-is to preserve its natural beauty and rarity. Priced at only 7 USD per gram! You can not buy these rare peachy-pink Topaz crystals directly in Burma at this price!
Pink Danburite Clean Facet Rough in Medium to Large Sizes
Sales of rare Pink Danburite (very pale pink occurring naturally at one single location worldwide, the La Aurora mine in Mexico) has been steadily increasing since 2005. Before this time Pink Danburite was practically unknown to most gem collectors and jewelry makers. During past few years I established excellent relationship with local people and currently I buy vast majority of top quality Danburite and perfect, undamaged Danburite crystals in all sizes and clarity grades. Im currently selling kilo quantities of clean facet grade to the largest gem cutting business in Sri Lanka and many other wholesale buyers across the globe. Faceted Danburite is becoming a very popular gem in jewelry because of its high RI (Refractive Index), good hardness and excellent toughness. Danburite is therefore extremely brilliant and fiery gemstone, greatly surpassing even popular gems like Topaz, Aquamarine, Emerald or Tourmaline. Currently in stock I have about 5 kilos of sawed clean facet grade, 10 kilos of select crystals (perfect, no surface damage, excellent termination), and about 100 kilos of unsorted material.
First pieces of Aquamarine from Mzimba district were discovered about 2 years ago. Now, with more people prospecting the surrounding land, another spot was found by end of 2015, and it appears to have some amazing potential! Im unable to reveal the exact location as of now, because my competitors would quickly move into the area and prices would sky rocket. I am not offering first etched floater crystals in sizes from 2g to about 12g. Color is absolutely natural and untreated, nice pastel blue with hint of green. Please check out my eBay store under Ravenstein-Investment-Gems, few pieces will be also listed in our ravenstein-germany.com website. Im planning on buying more of these amazing crystals soon. Stay in touch!
Best Orange, Yellow and Orange-Red Fire Opal from Oregon
Most people are familiar with Fire Opal from Mexico or Brazil, but not many buyers actually know that top quality Fire Opal is mined right here in the United States. Secondly, Fire Opal from Oregon is substantially more stable compared to any other type and origin. I purchased several kilos of high quality Fire Opal from Oregon and had it sit in a stable, dry environment for over 5 years! This material is now rock solid, absolutely stable and will cut flawless gems in 2 ct to 15 ct gems (on average). One must cut thru some cracks which developed during the stabilizing/drying period, but there is still plenty of clean to flawless material left. I have this fire opal in all popular colors including yellow, orange and red-orange. Priced at 2 dollars per gram only!
Please keep checking for new gemstone additions on st.Claire-Gems.com (Ravenstein-Germany.com) website, our eBay store under Ravenstein-Investment-Gems, and on etsy.com under Ravenstein Gem Co.
If you don’t see what you are looking for, simply contact me about any of your gemstone needs. Remember that only a small portion of my actual gem stock is listed on-line.
Best Regards,
Ales P. Krivanek
Ravenstein Gem Co., owner
(All cut gem prices are based on current cost of rough. All prices can change without notice)
