2011 Tucson Gem Show Report
As I have every year since 1984, I had the pleasure of attending the Tucson gemstone shows at the River Park Inn, Marriott Starr Pass, AGTA and GJX shows. Although I only spent a few days at the shows, the atmosphere and excitement of the shows really came through. After the past 3 years of disappointing results, dealers were ready to have strong shows. The size of the Tucson shows has certainly changed with noticeably fewer dealers attending.
Ethiopian Opal
The most exciting "new" thing was the extraordinary abundance of extremely fine quality Ethiopian opal. This opal is similar to Mexican jelly opal but with much better fire. If the Ethiopian material was in the hands of Australian dealers, the price of the material would have been priced 15 times higher! This is some of the most exiting opals I have ever seen. Fine large stones, in excess of 20 carats could be bought for around $50-70 per carat. Bags of lesser quality but nice gems could be bought for $10-25 per carat. Very exciting stuff!
Buying At The Shows
The dealers with the best quality material were rewarded with the best results. Buyers really came out and actually bought strong. Numerous dealers reported strong sales. The largest buyers at the show were Chinese, Indian and Russian buyers. These buyers were after well cut, larger gemstones up to 200 carats. They were buying everything they could find in better quality. Dealers who had this type of material sold everything they had.
Gemstone Prices
All fine quality material was priced very high. Dealers who had unusual fine gems of extraordinary color, cut, size and clarity were not shy about asking extremely high prices. Not that they are making obscene profits, its just that rough prices in these materials are sky high. Even fine quality Mozambique paraiba tourmaline's were sky high, in contrast to their abundance and low prices only 3 years ago. The finest stone I had the pleasure of seeing was a 1.36 carat electric cobalt blue spinel from Vietnam. I saw it sold to Andrew Sarosi for a small fortune. It was the best, most exciting gemstone at the Tucson shows.
Looking forward to next year!
As I have every year since 1984, I had the pleasure of attending the Tucson gemstone shows at the River Park Inn, Marriott Starr Pass, AGTA and GJX shows. Although I only spent a few days at the shows, the atmosphere and excitement of the shows really came through. After the past 3 years of disappointing results, dealers were ready to have strong shows. The size of the Tucson shows has certainly changed with noticeably fewer dealers attending.
Ethiopian Opal
The most exciting "new" thing was the extraordinary abundance of extremely fine quality Ethiopian opal. This opal is similar to Mexican jelly opal but with much better fire. If the Ethiopian material was in the hands of Australian dealers, the price of the material would have been priced 15 times higher! This is some of the most exiting opals I have ever seen. Fine large stones, in excess of 20 carats could be bought for around $50-70 per carat. Bags of lesser quality but nice gems could be bought for $10-25 per carat. Very exciting stuff!
Buying At The Shows
The dealers with the best quality material were rewarded with the best results. Buyers really came out and actually bought strong. Numerous dealers reported strong sales. The largest buyers at the show were Chinese, Indian and Russian buyers. These buyers were after well cut, larger gemstones up to 200 carats. They were buying everything they could find in better quality. Dealers who had this type of material sold everything they had.
Gemstone Prices
All fine quality material was priced very high. Dealers who had unusual fine gems of extraordinary color, cut, size and clarity were not shy about asking extremely high prices. Not that they are making obscene profits, its just that rough prices in these materials are sky high. Even fine quality Mozambique paraiba tourmaline's were sky high, in contrast to their abundance and low prices only 3 years ago. The finest stone I had the pleasure of seeing was a 1.36 carat electric cobalt blue spinel from Vietnam. I saw it sold to Andrew Sarosi for a small fortune. It was the best, most exciting gemstone at the Tucson shows.
Looking forward to next year!
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