GET EDUCATED BEFORE YOU BUY YOUR NEXT GEM!
By Ales Patrick Krivanek, Ravenstein Gem Co. and SAINT CLAIRE Finest Gems, May 2014
This guide was created for everyone interested in purchasing natural genuine Danburite for Jewelry, Collection or Investment purposes. Thank you for reading!
HISTORY and BASIC INFORMATION
Danburite was first discovered in Danbury, Connecticut in 1839 and was named after its location. This locality no longer exists because the entire region was taken over by the expanding city. Danburite originally found in Danbury, CT is now highly valued by collectors.
Danburite is currently mined in Russia, Madagascar, Mexico, Japan, Switzerland and Burma. Overall volume of worlds’ combined production is very low compared to all popular gems like Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby and even Diamond. This fact makes Danburite a very rare gemstone sought after by collectors, investors and jewelry makers of unique and high-end jewelry.
Danburite is also sought after by healers and people who are interested in metaphysical properties of this unique gemstone. Danburite belongs to the group of “Angel Crystals”. It opens the crown chakra which links to the heart chakra. Danburite is used widely to heal stress, anxiety and brings uplifting feelings and energy while bringing inner harmony to the owner.
ENVIRONMENT and PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Danburite is typically found in contact metamorphosed limestones and low temperature hydrothermal veins. This mineral is usually found in smaller, milky and heavily included crystals. Gemmy, terminated crystals over 5 grams of weight are rare. Eye clean to flawless crystals over 20 grams are very rare and many are cut into very impressive gemstones. Crystals over 50 grams belong to museums and are considered excellent investment in its natural form, especially if they are terminated, gemmy clean and without any sign of damage.
Properly faceted Danburite exhibits strong, beautiful brilliancy, much stronger compared to gemstones like Aquamarine, Emerald, Amethyst or Citrine. Excellent brilliancy is caused by Danburite’s high Refractive Index (RI) of 1.630 to 1.636. Danburite is fairly hard gem with 7.0 to 7.5 Mohs, directional. Natural pink variety from the world’s single source reaches 7.5 Mohs while yellow greenish variety from Malkhan, Russia and Danburite in other colors and from other sources typically reaches a 7.0 hardness on Mohs scale. Poor cleavage makes Danburite a very tough gemstone not prone to accidental breakage. Danburite is therefore very suitable for jewelry wear.
RADIOACTIVITY
In contrary to some believes, natural Danburite is not radioactive. But some of these gems are artificially enhanced by radiation and such gems CAN have increased levels of residual radioactivity. Typical example is irradiated Topaz in popular colors like London Blue, Swiss Blue, Royal Blue and Sky Blue. Gemstones treated with radiation can pose a health risk. Wearing still radioactive Danburite might irritate your skin or in extreme cases it can cause a radiation burns. There have been several recorded cases of radioactive gem imports including Danburite. Always make sure to buy your gems from a well known, reputable source and always ask seller about type of treatment applied to your new gemstone. Personally, I sell natural, untreated gemstone only, as created by Mother Nature.
COLORS of DANBURITE
Natural and untreated Danburite is found in several beautiful colors. From a “diamond-like” Colorless to Pastel Gold, Medium Yellow and medium Yellow-Brown to Greenish-Brown and Pink. Some Danburite coming out of Russia and Africa are irradiated to enhance the natural pale straw or brownish color into vivid Yellow-Honey, Yellow-Orangey or stronger Pinks. If you see richly saturated Danburite in pure Yellow, vivid Pink or strong Peachy, or showing bright Orangey overtones, it is most likely treated with radiation. It is safe to say that light pastel Gold, light Pink, Yellowish or Brownish stones are natural and untreated. The most valued of all natural colors is the light Pink Danburite from Mexico. Colorless and Pink Danburite is one of the top choices as an alternative to colorless and pink Diamond.
RARITY and VALUE
Danburite is still fairly unknown and severely undervalued gemstone, but it is slowly finding its way to the wider precious gem family. Danburite has all attributes of a precious stone just like well known and more popular gems like: Sapphire, Tanzanite, Topaz and others.
Danburite is:
Very Rare
Hard and Tough
Fully Transparent with Excellent Brilliancy
Found in range of attractive colors including “diamond-like” colorless and pink
Danburite is currently a very reasonably priced gemstone but this situation will change in following years. The current trend in gem price growth is mainly driven by the fast expanding and extremely powerful Chinese market. You might already know that Chinese are now leading the gem buying market, already surpassing the US gem and diamond market by a substantial margin. Chinese hunger for gems caused dramatic price increases in gemstones across the board. The most dramatic increases were seen in Tourmaline, Sapphire, Ruby, several types of Garnets, Chrysoberyl, Jade and many others. Now the Chinese, as well as Americans and Europeans are slowly discovering Danburite and a substantial increase in value is expected in 2-4 years. Danburite price increase will not be as dramatic as it was with Tourmaline or Sapphire . Predicted price increase will be in 200% to 400% during next 4 years. It is too soon to speculate about further development. I will update this guide accordingly.
Now to the actual values based on type of color and carat weight.
The most plentiful and least valued color of Danburite is White (Colorless). Even though some colorless Danburite strongly resembles a colorless diamond, the retail price for stones up to 1.9Ct is only in 65 USD/Ct range. Gems in 2 to 5ct retail in 75 to 80 USD/Ct. Gems over 15ct are increasingly rare and price can reach up to 110 per Ct. volume wholesale for standard jewelry sized colorless gems in VVS to SI is around 35per Ct.
Medium Brown or Smoky is more valued than colorless. Gems up to 1.9Ct retail for 75 USD/Ct on average. Gems between 2 and 5Ct retail for up to 105 USD per Ct and gems over 15Ct are very rare with retail value in 160 USD/Ct.
Next on the value chart is light to medium Gold and Yellow. Smaller gems up to 1.9Ct retail for up to 95 USD/Ct. Well cut stones between 2 and 5 carats can reach 170 USD/Ct and gems over 10Ct are extremely rare with high retail attacking the 240 USD/Ct.
Greenish-Yellow is very rare and even small gems up to 1.9Ct are seen in 120 USD per Carat retail. Jewelry sized gems from 2 to 5 carats have high retail price approaching 230 USD per carat and stones over 10 carats are extremely rare and retail in up to 250 US dollars per carat.
The most valued natural color is light to pale Pink. This color of Danburite is mined at worlds only locally the La Aurora mine, Charcas, San Luis Potosi in Mexico. Gems from this location are famous for their incredibly high light dispersion / fire, resembling natural Zircon or a Diamond. Beware, even some Mexican Danburite is irradiated to achieve medium to rich Pink – Peach color. Natural light to pale Pink Danburite is much more valued compared to vivid Pink irradiated stones. The color is best seen when you place your faceted Pink Danburite in upside-down position on pure white sheet of paper. Color saturation of larger natural Pink Danburite (usually above 10ct) is more prominent and gems over 25ct show a beautiful light pink even to an untrained eye. Natural pale Pink Danburite in sizes up to 1.9ct retail for up to 120 USD per carat. Typical jewelry sized gems in 2 to 5 carats reach up to 190 US dollars per carat and gems over 10 carats are very rare, retailing for 240 US dollars per carat. Larger than 20ct gems command even higher per carat prices. Volume wholesale for standard jewelry sized gems in 2 to 5 Ct ranges between 85 to 140 dollars. Larger gems in up to 19Ct of weight wholesale for up to 140USD per carat and gems faceted by MASTERPIECE COLLECTIVE members and other award winning artists command even higher per carat prices. There is a very limited amount of Pink Danburite in sizes above 25Ct.
For more information about this beautiful rare Gemstone please contact [email protected]
NOTES
High Retail Price is retail price at the very end of the sales chain and is offered as a one single solitaire. Gem at this price range is typically set into piece of high-end jewelry at well known luxury store.
Low Wholesale Price is the lowest wholesale price for a high volume purchase, for example when purchasing 100 gems of similar material in similar weight category and similar cutting style.
