If you’re still shopping the gem shows in Arizona, make a beeline to these booths at the American Gem Trade Association GemFair at the Tucson Convention Center.
Mini agate geodes and meteorite at Gangi Gems, AGTA booth No. 122 . Bill Gangi of Gangi Gems has been selling “mini geodes by the hundreds” this week to designers who’re dusting them with diamonds and setting them into earrings and pendants. Gangi is also seeing huge demand for dinosaur bone. “I’ve been selling pieces to designers who’re making $10,000 pieces out of it,” he told JCK this week. Also selling but not shown: gem-silica chrysocolla and chatoyant azurite.
Material: mini agate geodes
Origin: Mined in Chihuahua, Mexico, and cut by Gangi in the U.S.
Treatment: none
Retail Price: about $15 a pair
Material: dinosaur bone cabochons
Origin: Mined in Moab, Utah, and cut by Gangi in the U.S.
Treatment: none
Retail Price: $20 to $100 a piece, and there’s a premium for pieces with red and blue colors
The Chinese freshwater pearl version of the Kasumiga pearl at Sea Hunt Pearls, AGTA booth No. 422. Jack Lynch, company owner, told JCK on the second day of the show that just three of the 20 strands he received that morning were left by afternoon. “This pearl is bead nucleated and has a textured skin that’s metallic,” he said. Strands were selling for $300 apiece, but sold out by the time JCK left the booth. Also of interest, loose Fireball pearls that about 15 mm. in size, have metallic green-gold overtones, and sell for $300 apiece triple key.
Material: Chinese freshwater pearl version of the Kasumiga pearl
Origin: Harvested in China
Treatment: none
Retail Price: $900 triple key strands sold out by the second day of the show)
Material: Loose Fireball pearls that about 15 mm. in size with metallic green-gold overtones
Origin: Harvested in China
Treatment: none
Retail Price: $300 apiece triple key
Moss agate and rock crystal briolettes at Oberon & Caswell, AGTA booth No. 310. Company owner Paul-Otto Caesar took thin slices of moss agate and sandwiched them between colorless rock crystal for an amplified appreciation of the agate. It’s a labor-intense process completed in Germany and in Asia that results in starting retail prices of $1,100 for a pair.
Material: Moss agate and colorless rock crystal briolettes held together by an optical epoxy
Origin: The rock crystal and moss agate are mined in Brazil, and cut and assembled in China and Germany
Treatment: Moss agate is color-treated, rock crystal is not
Retail Price: Suggested retail prices start at $1,100 for a pair
Stacking rings in 18k gold and colored stones at Trésor, AGTA booth No. 1714. Company owner and designer Puja Bordia debuted a line of colored stone stacking rings in 18k gold with retail prices ranging from $495 to $1,150. Styles include round, oval, cushion, and baguette stone shapes that are cut as cabochons, slices, and rose cuts in three different sizes (5–6 mm, 5 by 7 mm, and 8 by 10 mm) in solid and multi-color combinations. To date, there are about 16 different options, but Bordia will be adding more, including marquise shapes. Stone options include spinel, mandarin garnet, and more. One forthcoming adjustment: more gold in the rings. “Right now, there’s just 1 gram each of gold in the rings, but I will be fortifying future versions of them,” she says.
New stack rings in 18k gold with colored stones range in retail price from $495 to $1,150; Trésor
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