Link This |
Email this |
Blog This |
Comments (7)
The Price War of Paraíba Africana Tourmaline
February 16, 2007
I am overloaded with gem information from my recent trip to Tucson for the world’s largest congregation of gem and mineral shows – so I have to start spilling my notes today. And I will begin by discussing some thoughts on the tourmalines from Mozambique – THE hot topic of Tucson. It was talked about for several reasons: 1.) they’re pretty! 2.) they were being called “Paraíba” but they’re not from Brazil, and 3.) the asking prices for the gems were all over the place, which then created a mini price war … “if there’s so much of this stuff, then why’s it so expensive?”
They are absolutely beautiful. Bright robin’s egg blue, deep lavender, and minty green. OK, maybe not as beautiful as the incredibly electrifying “Scope green” and “Windex blue” colors of the top quality that came from Paraíba Brazil, but still…If I am shown Mozambique stones for $5,000/carat or Brazilian stones for $30,000/carat, I do have a choice.
They are being called “Paraíba tourmaline” because they look similar to and have similar chemistry of those found in the state of Paraíba Brazil. (Chemistry = color causing trace amounts of copper, aka “copper bearing,” and some manganese… but no one really mentions manganese, except for those who work in the gem labs identifying this stuff.)
What was very interesting was to hear dealers, retailers, jewelers, and gemologists, all talking about whether or not they are as nice as the original Brazilian material, and how prices were “too high” – “It’s tourmaline for goodness sake.” “You’re going to pay how much?”
And we saw prices dropping from the opening bell of the AGTA show. I was told that gems that started out at $3,000/carat to $5,000/carat were down to $1,500/carat to $3,000/carat by the end of the show. They said prices were dropping because so many dealers had the material, and competition was fierce.
My thoughts on this year’s tourmaline pricing war stem from two memories – one, the memory of the old raspberry-color tourmaline from Nigeria. Do you remember those stones? It was a find of beautiful tourmalines several years back. I don’t remember the price. That’s not what’s important. It’s the fact that if you have some, you are the lucky one, no matter what you paid for it - because I haven’t seen any of it for years. They mined it for a few months, and then... no more stones. But at the time, everyone was saying it was too expensive, and that there was “so much of it.”
The second memory is of a time back in the mid 80s, when some guy showed me two huge parcels of Brazilian alexandrite. Great color, Carat sized stones. And get this…$1,200/carat. That’s right. $1,200/carat. Today, that same material is priced thousands of dollars higher, I should have bought everything he had. But I was younger, no budget, and most of all, thought “Wow, there’s so much of this material. I wonder how low the price is going to get so I can get a real bargain.” The bargain was in front of me.
And I think this is what’s happening with the Mozambique “Paraíba” tourmalines. Great color, plenty of material, prices… well, your guess is as good as mine as to whether it’s a good price. But if I had the budget, and if I were still in retail, I would buy up as much as I could, and sell a little now, and hold onto as much as I could for the next several years. My hunch is that the mines will dry up soon, and then you’ll end up having the only material in town. What’s the price now?
Posted by Gary Roskin on February 16, 2007 | Comments (7)
