Andesine

So, you have seen this rare, beautiful and natural gemstone advertised for sale on the internet or on one of the TV "Auction" sites have you?, Tempted I'm sure to invest in this new and unusual gemstone?

Well, lets have a quick look shall we?

Rare, 3 or 4 years ago when it first appeared at Tucson, the word around the trade was that the buzz was similar to that when paraiba Tourmaline appeared. This has been hyped to indicate that it was as rare as this most beautiful of gemstones. (About which, more later)

By 2006, there was more Andesine and even more in 2007 and it was everywhere in 2008.

Unusually all the Andesine on show seemed identical, this is odd as there is less than clarity about it's origin. This has been touted as China, Tibet, Nepal, Congo and several of the more odd "Stans" One would expect variation given the range of mooted origins but there seems to be none.

None of my contacts have ever visited a mine, neither can they actually point me to anyone they know who has either.

Valuable, well there is a variation in what dealers are asking, this seemed to be from 65 dollars a carat to over 200 dollars a carat, no idea why such variation.

Natural, well this seems to be a bit unclear. One of the more well known TV Auction sites has recently posted a rider that all it's Andesine comes from China and it is heat treated. Is this some new definition of "natural" that I have not been informed about?

So Andesine is not rare, not really natural and it is a bit wobbly about the valuable too, the only thing that is clear is that it is beautiful.

I also note that some green and yellow varieties now seem to be cropping up.

My advice is caveat emptor, dont be persuaded this is anything other than a pretty stone.

While we are on the subject of colour, Paraiba Tourmaline , this is appearing on some fairly well known Gemstone Auction sites too. In my world it is also appearing for valuation and I am having trouble agreeing with the term Paraiba.

Paraiba is a very electric blue to green as the stunning examples above which are shown on the Pala Gems website. The word often used is "Neon" appearance.

The one above was being offered as a Paraiba and lacks just about everything that makes a Paraiba Tourmaline the beautiful gem it should be. For some reason the sellers had put an opening price of 13000 pounds on it but you can buy it for one fourteenth of this ridiculous price, and comparing the colour of this with a good example, it is not really surprising.

more Caveat Emptor here.

New Scam News

You may be attracted to adverts or contacts about a rough diamond, or posibly an emerald, still embedded in the natural rock for sale at a very attractive price.

Often a local jeweller is mentioned as being interested in buying it after it's cut and then it will be worth many thousands of pounds, figures of up to ?30,000 have ben recorded.

Avoid this scam like the plague, the gem is glass and the "natural rock" is often no more than builders rubble.

However good the story is and however convincing the person selling it and whatever jeweller is mentioned (they probably know nothing about this anyway) Don't fall for it like some already have.

Remember the Golden Rule TANSTAAFL.

There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

Did you hear about the 7000 carat diamond found in South Africa?

Well, that's twice the size of the largest rough diamond ever found before (the Cullinan see previous page) so trade speculation was rife.

You would think that diamond miners and mine owners would be able to identify a diamond quite easily wouldn't you? well guess what?  it took 3 weeks and an "expert" to notice that in fact the 7000 carat "stone" was in fact......... wait for it ................. A piece of plastic !!

Ummm, red faces all round I think, not sure who was trying to scam who but it puts "The Hustle" into the shade doesn't it?

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