FEATURE ARTICLE

VALUE FACTORS, DESIGN, AND CUT QUALITY OFCOLORED GEMSTONES (NON-DIAMOND)Al Gilbertson, GG (GIA), CG (AGS)

Market demand prompted Eric Braunwart todebut 1,000 rough-cut gems, including semi-polished crystal, slice, and rose-cut amethyst,

rubies, and sapphires, in his 2017 JCK Las Vegas show in-ventory. While only a portion of buyers were thrilled withthe organic-looking options, the owner of Columbia GemHouse in Vancouver, Washington was undeterred. “I havetwo jewelry industries—one is new and one is old,” heexplains. “My new ones are ordering the rough gems forsale in boutiques and online,while the old or traditional oneslook at it and say, ‘Who would buythat?’ I don’t think many of thetraditional stores have yet figuredout how to engage with youngercustomers, because they are theones buying it.”

Millennials aren’t the only onesbuying rough rocks, but they areamong the fans of the materials’exotic effects. Rough gems in-clude natural unfaceted crystalsfresh from a mine; macles or twincrystals; partially polished speci-mens; see-through slices; andflat, shallow, rose cuts with lesssparkle due to their lack of depth.These stones can be one of a kindor calibrated, though all are gen-erally rich in roadmap-like inclu-sions and natural green, brown,yellow, and reddish hues that at-tract a decidedly tree-hugger-esque bunch seeking c losercommunion with the earth. Fig-ures 1, 2, and 3.

“People like raw gems becausethey are not in your face or toosparkly,” says Meredith Jackson,owner of Meredith A. JacksonJewelry Boutique, Charlotte,

North Carolina. “They like walking into a room whereeveryone doesn’t say, ‘Oh, she has money!’ Roughgems are a sophisticated look that is easy to pair withother things.” For jewelry designer Judi Powers, roughcuts are a boon to sales. This spring, a woman from theMiddle East left so many compliments on the Insta-gram feed of the Hudson, New York-based artist thather brother noticed—just in time for his sister’s birth-day. He bought five styles, including stud earrings and

a tourmaline necklace, all of which featuredrough gems. “No two stones are the samein the way that no two clients respond in thesame way,” Powers says.

CULTURED CLIENTSFor sure, the exoticism of rough gems is a bigdraw for worldly buyers who may eschew blingor already own collections chock full of big di-amonds and mainstream gemstone jewels.Case in point: Nicole Rimedio has customerswho already have everything and customerswho don’t like jewelry but thinks Rimedio’s lineof entirely rough gemstone jewels is cool. The

GEMGUIDE - 1 - JULY / AUGUST 2017

FIGURE 1. One-of-a-kind Dream Talismannecklace in granulated 22K yellow goldwith 18K yellow gold and a 69 ct un-heated tanzanite crystal, 1.11 ct pinkspinel, and 0.31 ct total weight dia-monds. Zaffiro, Portland, Oregon.

FIGURE 2. Ring in 18K gold with black rhodium, a 7 ct rose-cutdiamond center, 6 ct total weight emeralds, and 4 ct totalweight full-cut diamonds. Sutra, Houston, Texas.

ROUGH

GEMGUIDE - 2 - JULY / AUGUST 2017

Santa Cruz, California-based jeweler behind Variance Ob-jects cuts every stone herself “to capture the nature ofthe stone and preserve its inherent textures.” The result?“We capture the diehard jewelry fans and the people whofeel that jewelry doesn’t work for them.” Figures 4 and 5.

When jewelry designer Elena Kriegner visits a retail ac-count in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, she makes sure to bringrough gems with her because of the surrounding land-scape. “It’s all nature out there and visitors want to bringsomething wild home from the mountains. In a fancystore in Manhattan, it’s easier to sell sparkly fine cuts.”Figure 6.

As for Mary Wong of Trios Studio in Lake Oswego, Ore-gon, self-purchasers and young brides clamor for hershop’s custom-made diamond cube and rose-cut styles.“People are relieved to find that we can do that type ofwork—something not mainstream. The trend we see isthat people like things very rustic in general, like some-thing they could find on the beach.”

And no matter what retailers’ personal opinions are,Braunwart wants merchants to know that fans of rough-cut gems are growing in numbers. During the Tucsongem shows this year, Braunwart sat down with a coupleof entrepreneurial twentysomethings with a jewelrystartup, selling myriad rough-cut gemstone jewels. Thepair knew nothing about the Jewelers Board of Tradewhen asked to fill out a credit application but careddeeply about Braunwart’s ability to meet their customers’demand. “They said, ‘We are growing really fast—canyou keep up with cutting?’” Braunwart recollects.

Another telling sign: Designers who use rough gemsare no longer purchasing a few small stones at a t ime.“They’re now buying 50 to 100 at a time,” Braunwartnotes about buyers of his ethically sourced stones.

OPPORTUNITIES AND OBSERVATIONSWhile rough gems are growing in popularity, they aren’tfor everyone. In B.J. Foreman’s conservative Cincinnati,Ohio market, she struggles to sell the remainder of somediamond cube styles she bought years ago. Plus, in somevendors’ lines, the stones routinely fell out or scratchedwearers. The president of Boris Litwin Jewelers maintainsthat she “couldn’t give them away.”

Another factor to consider when working with roughgems is that each is unique and many require custommountings. “You can’t just order 100 identical rings—thesettings have to be adaptable to the crystals,” explainsJon Phillips, divisional manager of Canadian Diamonds ofCorona Jewellery in Toronto, Canada. Additionally, insur-ance replacement values may be tricky to calculate be-

FIGURE 4. Drop earrings in 14K gold with blackjade and chrysoprase. Variance Objects, SantaCruz, California.

FIGURE 3. Necklace in 18K yellow gold with a 58 ct watermelon tour-maline and 1.07 ct total weight diamonds. Zaiken Jewelry, New York,New York.

ROUGH

GEMGUIDE - 3 - JULY / AUGUST 2017

cause each stone is essentially one ofa kind. “Rough is tough to match,” addsPhillips. Figure 7.

Rough also generally costs less percarat, which can be good for con-sumers but bad for a jeweler’s grosssales. “It takes a lot of rough to add upto one $10,000 sapphire sale,” saysBraunwart. Then there’s the matter ofsetting stones with flaws. These addcharacter to stones and are a big partof the appeal, but they also require fi-nesse in setting so as not to compro-mise integrity. Some 70 percent ofdesigner Meaghan Hennelly’s jewelryfeatures rough gems, so she is profi-cient in setting gems with weakspots—a.k.a. inclusions. “The biggestthing for me is what style a piece willbecome, because a ring takes more ofa beating than a pendant or earrings,”says the designer behind GoldhennJewelry in New York City.

Wong learned this lesson the hardway. Two years ago, she set a 1 ctpear-shape rustic diamond into a bezelsetting, and a third of it cleaved. Themistake cost her $250. Moving for-ward, she knows to examine the sur-face more closely for inclusions.“Rustics are diamonds but not dia-monds with integrity like round bril-liants,” she says. “I should havetreated it more like I was setting aprincess cut.”

THE FUTURE IS ROUGHWhile fans of rough material remain aniche group, retailers still might wantto give some serious thought to stock-ing some of their beloved nontradi-tional gemstone looks. For Foreman,this means rose cuts for their inherentvalue. “With rose cuts, you get twicethe footprint for half the price becausethey are priced by the carat,” she says.For Kriegner, simple designs demandrough gems—like a rugged, gumball-size black tourmaline she picked up ona recent trip to South Africa—because“the gemstone must be more interest-ing,” she explains. “People don’t buyjewelry, they buy stories.”

And for Powers, all manner of rough,from slices to partially polished crys-tals, are welcome in her portfolio.“They are not any harder to sell thanany other material,” she insists. “Whenclients see what I do, it all makessense in the scheme of my collection.”Figure 8.

Stonecutter Roger Dery of SpectralGems in Royal Oak, Michigan, recalls atime nine years ago when he scoffed atthe sight of rough gems in trade mag-azines. “My reaction—what a waste,”says Dery, whose bread-and-butter liv-ing comes from sculpting rough intobrilliantly faceted gems. However, thatwas before his own epiphany hap-pened at an in-store, west coast eventin 2009. Dery brought a piece of roughiolite that he had spent just 45 minutesfaceting, leaving a portion of it rough,instead of his normal four hours oflabor for total faceting. A flat section onthe bottom was intended for mounting,while an untamed rough-edge topserved as a focal point. The 8 ct stonesold, leaving Dery with the realizationthat partially polished stones could gar-ner great margins because they tookless time to cut. “I decided that theyweren’t so bad after all.”

John Dyer also understands the valueof rough. The stone cutter of an epony-mous firm in Edina, Minnesota, oftenbuys damaged crystals to facet as col-lectible gems. “I cut off all the damageand made the stone more beautiful,”he says. Younger clients lacking dispos-

FIGURE 7. Bracelet in 18K white gold with 6.81 ct total weight rough diamonds. Corona Jewellery Company, Toronto, Canada.

FIGURE 5. Ring in 14K gold with Montanasapphire. Variance Objects, Santa Cruz, California.

FIGURE 6. Necklace in sterling silver with aleather cord and a 23 ct rough emerald. ElenaKriegner, New York, New York.

Gemworld International, Inc., 2640 Patriot Blvd, Suite 240, Glenview, IL 60026-8075, www.gemguide.com© 2017 Gemworld International, Inc. All rights reserved.

All articles and photographs that appear are copyrighted by the author, the contributing person or company, or Gemworld International, Inc. and may not be reproduced in any printed or electronic format, posted on the internet, or distributed in any way without written permission. Address requests to the editor-in-chief.

The opinions expressed in this publication are the opinions of the individual authors only and should not necessarily be considered to be the opinions of the staff of Gemworld International, Inc.as a whole. Any website listings that appear in articles are for informational purposes only and should not be considered an endorsement of that company.

ROUGH

GEMGUIDE - 4 - JULY / AUGUST 2017

able income appreciate his efforts. “They like tomake a fashion statement,” he adds. “People don’thave to invest thousands of dollars to own a roughgem,” adds Phillips. For sure, rough-gemstone jew-els aren’t the typical imported halo-style look preva-lent in the market. Rough gems are also changingthe face of new colored-stone buyers, and theyallow retailers to capitalize on their jewelry-specificexpertise. “You won’t find rough gems on JamesAllen or Blue Nile,” observes Phillips. u

Jennifer Heebner is a jewelry industry editor andjournalist, product specialist, blogger and speaker.

FIGURE 8. Temple earrings in 18K gold with 8 ct total weightwatermelon tourmaline slices. Judi Powers, Hudson, New York.