Business was robust for colored stones at the annual gem shows in Tucson, Arizona, early last month — particularly at the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) GemFair at the Tucson Convention Center, and at the Gem & Jewelry Exchange (GJX) in the tent across the street.
Certainly, buyers attending the shows were looking for the unusual and hard-to-come-by, and every year there are vendors who report great sales and those who don’t. But this year, the energy was different, with nary a complaint.
“The show was strong for us from start to finish,” says Ruben Bindra of B&B Fine Gems in Los Angeles. “For our company, the way Tucson goes is the way [things go] for the rest of the year, and we’re positive.”
Demand for exotic and rare stones is high, he adds, citing alexandrite, imperial topaz, red beryl, Paraiba tourmalines and unheated Kashmir sapphires among his best sellers.
Spotlight on ‘-ites’
The most talked-about gems were in the garnet, tourmaline and sapphire families, reports Jason Stephenson, a gem and mineral expert for supplier Pala International in Fallbrook, California. He saw a strong push for rare, collectible stones like padparadscha, purple and color-change sapphires; tsavorites, demantoids, spessartites and grossular garnets; and bi- and tricolor tourmalines.
Moreover, the market is buzzing for nice-quality, well-priced emeralds from a new deposit in Ethiopia, and for cool “-ite” stones like benitoite, goshenite, sugilite, gaspeite and howlite.
“The gem market is benefiting from the immense variety of materials that fall under the color-stones label,” says analyst Stuart Robertson from Gemworld International, which publishes a gem-pricing guide out of Glenview, Illinois.
“It’s generally thought that gem-quality ruby and sapphire have achieved prices that exclude the majority of jewelry buyers,” he continues. “Garnets, tourmalines, zircons, spinels, aquamarine, tanzanite and a host of lesser-known but attractive exotic gems, including agates and minerals typically in the collectors’ market, are benefiting from this.”
Economic indicators suggest that 2018 will be a pretty good year for business, says Robertson, noting that 2017 saw US GDP grow 3% in both the second and third quarters. Still, he advocates caution, since consumers could tighten spending based on how contentious the midterm elections shape up to be. “Political theater distracts consumers, and discretionary purchases have historically suffered as a result.”
Young buyers
The colored-stone market is finding its strongest audience in small studio artisans, designers and custom jewelers, which have made large gains in connecting with millennials — a consumer class that traditional retail jewelers, especially large national chains, have been unable to tap, says Robertson.
“This is not surprising, as it is the intimacy of these boutique-like settings that effectively communicates the story behind the finished piece,” he explains. The fastest-growing segment of the market, Robertson adds, is e-tailers that have young professionals at the helm, focus on supply chain transparency rather than price, and maintain a strong social media presence.
Indeed, the biggest trend in Tucson this year is not what’s selling, but who’s buying, according to Tom Cushman of wholesaler Allerton Cushman in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Millennials, mostly women who have websites and are big on Instagram with interesting, fun jewelry, are buying a range of colored stones,” reports Cushman, referring to the dozens of companies he says visited his booth this year. Some, he notes, were following his posts on Instagram, which tout gems from Madagascar such as liddicoatite tourmaline slices, high-quality rose quartz cut in buff-top cabochons, yellow moonstone, and pezzottaite, a rare gem in the beryl family that ranges in color from peachy to hot pink.
“It’s fabulous to see all these new, young people coming into the business,” Cushman enthuses, adding that these buyers value his direct connection with miners and dealers in Madagascar, where he resides half the year. “This is the future of the jewelry business — a new generation, mostly women from all over the country, doing their own thing, creating jewelry that’s fun to wear, selling it online and advertising through Instagram. That’s the trend.”
Los Angeles designer Gia Bahm of
Unearthen.com is one of these non-traditional jewelers. She started her line in 2007, coming from a fashion background. A Tucson regular now, she says AGTA is a must-stop to shop because it has the biggest concentration of companies that do things ethically, which is important to her. On her list this year were opal, quartz — from rose to rutilated — kyanite, metallic stones like carrollite, and interesting cuts.
Garnets and tourmalines
Garnets are among the best-selling stones on the market today. “Most other gemstones don’t have the high brilliance and pop that garnets do,” declares Daniel Assaf of New York-based wholesaler Andre Assaf, The Tsavorite Factory. “What citrine sparkles like a spessartite?”
Among his Tucson crowd, Assaf cites strong demand for tsavorite from the Kuranze mine in southeast Kenya. The material, which is more blue and deep green like Colombian emerald, comes from old production Assaf acquired — about 2,000 carats, mostly in melee sizes. Grabbing the spotlight with Pantone color of the year Ultra Violet is purple garnet from a recent find in Mozambique. However, Assaf says mint-green garnets and peachy-pink Malaya garnets from Tanzania are also all the rage.
Designer Bella Campbell of Morristown, New Jersey, features a range of garnets in her designs, including tsavorite, grossular and spessartite varieties. She mixes them with different colors of tourmaline, sapphire, spinel and zircon.
“I love the way garnet sparkles,” she says. “I love the variety of colors it comes in. I love that it’s durable and not treated. I love that most garnets are reasonably priced!”
Tourmaline, another Tucson favorite, is popular in most colors, particularly teal and Swiss blue tones. The Paraiba variety, from both Brazil and Africa, is in demand at the shows. So are indicolite from Nigeria, blues and blue-greens from Namibia, and bi-color material from Mozambique.
Everyone loves Paraiba tourmaline for its neon blues in faceted material, but New York gem dealer and designer Samuel Sylvio says Paraiba tourmalines in matrix slices are popular, too (especially mixed with rubellite slices), and free-form crystals look great in bold designs.
Sapphires and emeralds
Sapphire remains the most popular gem, with blue demand constant and supply good, but there has been a lot more excitement about fancy colors. The buzz at the show was for padparadscha sapphire, a special variety of corundum in a delicate blend of red and yellow hues. Everyone selling the gem said buyers had come looking for it — particularly since Princess Eugenie of York received an engagement ring set with one.
“I’ve never talked as much as I have at this show about one of my favorite obscure stones,” remarks Los Angeles designer Niveet Nagpal of Omi Gems, adding that the celebrity connection helps to expand the conversation on all the colors sapphire comes in. Purple is selling out in sapphire, in a range of shades that rock the color of the year, he says.
Moreover, there’s increased interest in American-sourced gems like Montana sapphire. Robertson cites Sapphires of Montana and Columbia Gem House, both from Vancouver, Washington, as sources of nice material. Lisa Brooks-Pike, marketing director for Sapphires of Montana, says the stones come in almost every color of the rainbow except red. She notes availability of standard rounds from 2.5 to 6 millimeters, and single stones in different shapes up to 3 carats, but says designers went wild in Tucson for slices, rose and geo cuts.
Moreover, Robertson touts the emerald market as being on the verge of tremendous growth, noting a new deposit in Ethiopia that’s poised to be an important source. While Zambian emerald production has been good and material has been accessible, he says, the country’s gems are darker than the coveted rich green hues of Colombian.
Simon Watt of distributor Mayer & Watt in Maysville, Kentucky, says the Ethiopian emeralds are “blowing people’s minds” in colors comparable to Colombian, for almost half the price. About 30% of production requires no enhancement, he adds, compared with only 2% to 3% of Colombian. The 3,000-strong Oromo tribe owns and operates the deposit, which is near the Kenyan border, and the money goes back to the community.
“The color and prices are attractive,” says Watt. Sizes range from 0.50 carat to over 10 carats, he reports, and if managed properly, supply is likely to be steady for years to come.
Image: Omi PrivéArticle from the Rapaport Magazine - March 2018. To subscribe click here.