Dear Friends and Associates,
Second 2015 Newsletter is here with some absolutely exciting news about new gems from Ravenstein Gem Co. and Saint Claire Finest Gems.
As most of you already know, I am on constant lookout for new gem rough from all parts of the world and I keep my European master cutters busy again after many years of diminished gem sales due to the world economy crisis.
Recently I decided to offer high quality gem rough to fellow cutters and collectors. So from now on, any of you will be able to buy both, the precision hand cut gems, and highest quality gem rough and crystals.
I still guarantee all of my gems to be natural and untreated. A statement which vast majority of my competitors simply can not make. Vast majority of gems sold on the market today are treated by radiation, heat, diffusion, oiling, etc. I still buy directly from miners so I know exactly what I get while keeping prices low.
2015 TUCSON GEM SHOW
I’m happy to say that 2015 Tucson Gem Show turned out to be best ever in my 31 years in business. All of my regular customers from all corners of the world stopped by my JGM booth. My gems achieved world-wide recognition for superior quality and best value, and most customers now keep coming back.
After 6 years of struggling, the high-end jewelry business has fully recovered and my gems were sold to jewelry makers and investors as far as Japan, South Korea, Spain, Chile and Australia. This year I did especially well with my new Pink Danburite. Several wholesale buyers from Bangkok and Hong Kong virtually cleaned me out. I was told that regular street price of 2 to 5 carat Pink Danburite in Bangkok is 50 dollars per carat. No wonder these guys were so happy to buy my EU precision hand cut Danburite in 2 to 30 carat sizes at less than half of this price.
This year I also decided to sell top facet rough, and interest from cutters and collectors was overwhelming. Over 40 percent of my overall gem show sales were facet rough sales.
I’m already planning for 2016 Tucson Gem Show, if you did not have time to see me there this year, please make sure to stop by in 2016.
Super Rare DANBURITE Etched Floater Crystals
I was not even aware of the fact that there are Danburite Etched Floaters found in the La Aurora mine, Mexico. By going thru my approximately 200 kilos of gem rough I found about 12 absolutely unique floaters! They are all perfect, no surface damage, completely covered with crystal faces. I will offer most of these thru my ravenstein-germany.com web site so please stay in touch. If you are looking for something really rare and beautiful, with great investment potential, do NOT miss on this one!
NEW TYPE of MORGANITE (Rare Beryl Variety)
from Kaduna State, Nigeria
This is the most important news since beginning of 2015. There is a brand new discovery of pastel orangey-peachy colored Morganite in Kaduna state, Nigeria. First pieces of rough came out of the ground by end of February. Color of this new type of Beryl resembles Imperial Topaz. I already talked to my European gemologist Dr. Radek Hanus, and we will test this material as soon as I get more samples. I was lucky to source so far the biggest piece found. It is a 57 gram chunk in perfect transparency and good clarity. I will soon have many other, smaller pieces. Some of these will be cut by my own EU cutters, rest of this material will be offered to cutters, collectors and investors. Exact price of this material is unknown. I expect this material to be priced similarly to standard untreated pink Morganite.
NEW UNTREATED PINK MORGANITE from Nigeria
As some of you already know there were two separate finds of superb quality Morganite made last year in Nigeria. I sourced first kilo of this material right before Tucson Gem Show and I sold every single piece of this material during first few days of the show. Now many buyers keep coming back asking for more. So far I was able to source and import another 600 gram lot and I will be getting much more soon. These pieces range from 2 gram all the way to 25 gram, color is absolutely amazing, natural untreated rich pink and rich peachy. Material like this was mined in Pala, California. This new Morganite from Nigeria is some of the best ever found. There is also a quite interesting twist in all this. Morganite is now being marketed as “Pink Emerald” and prices of good cut gems reached 10,000 USD per carat. Some people speak against this new marketing “strategy”, but I do see some logic in it. Most buyers have no clue what Morganite is. But everyone is familiar with Emerald. With both of these being color variety of Beryl, term “Pink Emerald” is catching on in the same fashion as “Red Emerald” name for Bixbite. Either way Morganite is the next hot investment gem and I do expect prices to sky rocket in years to come. Stay in touch, I will do my best to supply as much of cut gems and faceting rough as I can. Kilo price of facet grade Morganite is 23,000 USD or 28 USD per gram for smaller lots. This new rough has 40% to 90% clarity on average. Cut gems will be offered in 60 to 90 USD per carat range.
NEWLY CUT PINK DANBURITE in BIG SIZES
As some of you already know, I’m currently cutting the worlds largest stock of gem grade Pink Danburite from La Aurora mine in Mexico. So far we finished about 30 large stones from 12 to 25 (plus) carat pieces and many more will follow in weeks and months to come. I offer these at absolutely unbeatable prices. Jewelry sized gems up to 5 carats cost 16/ct, up to 10 ct stones for 18/ct, up to 20 ct 20/ct. Larger than 20 carat pieces are priced individually but I beat anyone else on price-to-quality ratio.
I’m having 3 cutters working on smaller sized gems. I will soon offer solitaires, pairs and jewelry sets in 1 carat to 10 carat sizes.
Color Change PETALITE from BURMA
My master cutter Ian is finishing 6 large pieces of Color Change Petalite from Mogok Valley in Burma. This is a very rare variety of Petalite and any of you interested please contact me via email or phone. These wont last long at 30 to 45 per carat (based on clarity and size). Here is the list of the individual faceted pieces: Octagon 16,0 x 9,9mm, Octagon 13,8 x 8,0mm, Octagon 16,1 x 8,6 mm, Octagon 16,5 x 8,7mm, Oval 21.0 x 13.4 mm and Oval 15.0 x 11.9 mm. These gems are still in Europe and I should have them in my US stock few weeks from now.
New PHENAKITE Etched Floater Crystals
As I promised last time, I sourced some of the best and biggest Phenakite crystals from the new Nigerian deposit. I don’t have many, but they are all top notch. From smaller approx. 3 gram crystals all the way to freakishly big approx. 65 gram pieces. All are absolutely perfect etched floaters without any major surface damage. All were personally selected by me, priced between 15 and 35 dollars per gram. Ive seen lower quality crystals being offered by Nigerian dealers at Tucson gem show for 200 dollars per gram. You come up with your own conclusion. Phenakite remains to be one of the rarest gems on face of this years, and these are the very best natural crystals obtainable!
APACHE PERIDOT
Directly from
the New Mining Claim
Not many white men are allowed to enter the world famous Peridot Mesa in the heart of Apache Nation. Just recently I was able to make a mine-direct contact there and my first purchase was over 6 Lb. of large mine run pieces. The largest single crystal was in whooping 35 gram weight, many crystals over 10 grams and vast majority between 2 and 5 grams. Much, much bigger compared to what you normally see coming out of this region. This new claim seems to be producing some of the best worlds class Peridot and I’m already offering cab and semi facet lots up for sale for a very attractive price of 600 per kilo or 1 dollar per gram. Good semi facet will be offered in 2000 USD per kilo or 3 per gram. I will have some of these pieces cut by June or July. I plan my next mining trip for middle of April. Anyone interested in Apache Peridot please contact me.
Huge Half Kilo GREENISH TOPAZ Crystal Cut into 7 Amazing Gems
Recently I sourced a single 480 gram crystal of natural Greenish-Bluish Topaz from Nigeria. This crystal was just now faceted into 7 absolutely amazing gems. My master cutter Ian just sent me this list: Cushion Brilliant 35.8 x 26.9 mm – 154.7 Ct, Trillion Brilliant 29.0 x 29.0 mm – 114.0 Ct, Octagon 24.5 x 18.4 mm – 60.8 Ct, Octagon 18.6 x 12.5 mm – 21.8 Ct, Octagon 16.6 x 9.0 mm – 11.7 Ct, Octagon 14.5 x 14.5 mm – 19.2 Ct, Triangle 13.1 x 13.1 mm – 8.8 Ct. All these have absolutely natural, untreated light pastel greenish color with bluish overtone with slight dichroic shift into very pale gold. All these gems are still in Europe but I expect to have them in my Arizonan stock by end of March.
Genuine Zircon from Sri Lanka
Because of my absolutely priceless contacts in Sri Lanka I’m still able to get any genuine Sri Lankan gem at unbeatable prices. I have just received new lot with several big Hessonites in best orange-cinnamon and neon orange-red colors, and wide variety of colored Zircons, from near colorless thru pinkish-peachy, orangey, reddish and rarest of all, natural green.
Nevertheless, I was absolutely shocked to see what others sell as “natural Zircon” thru eBay and other on-line market places. I see only fakes (cubic zirconia) and treated stones. Out of page of 200 stones I found 1 (one !) which was for sure genuine piece of Sri Lankan origin. I’m having hard time understanding what others are willing to do in order to make profit…
Well, back to my real gems. Right after I finished grading those big 8 to 11ct garnets, they sold instantly including the biggest, over 12 ct light gold-peachy Zircon. But I still have 75 natural Zircons in 2 to 5 carat range, most around 3 carats. Any of you interested in unbeatable deal on Sri Lankan Zircons in variety of colors, please write or call me.
There are many other gem-related news but I don’t want to make these newsletters too long and too difficult or too boring to read. Simply keep checking new gemstone additions on our St.Claire-Gems.com (Ravenstein-Germany.com) web site and my eBay store under Ravenstein-Investment-Gems. We add newly cut gems weekly. As you might suspect, most gems never make it to the web site and they are sold soon after we cut them. Simply contact me about any of your gemstone needs and I will do my best to get you any gem at best price possible.
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)
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.
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.
