Gems pass through many hands between mine and marketplace.

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Marketing of Gemstones

Gemstones are found on nearly every continent of the world. With few exceptions gem occurrences are in remote areas, and considerable effort is required to bring them to the marketplace. The various stages in 1his enterprise all add their share to the eventual cost of cut gems.

Gems pass through many hands between mine and marketplace. In many parts of the world gem crystals are found by local miners who may or may not be aware of their ultimate market value.

These rough gems may be sold to local entrepreneurs who start the stones on their way to retailer. Some of these men are well-educated professionals who have found a niche with high profit potential, but their business is loaded with pitfalls. Gem rough is extremely difficult to evaluate.

Marketing of Gemstones

The 15trained eye of a buyer must be able to spot flaws that affect gem value and decide if they can be eliminated by careful cutting. The size of gem rough determines its value, so the buyer must also be able to determine the sizes of the gems that the rough will yield. The color of the cut stones must be extrapolated from the appearance of the rough. Obviously, errors in judgment can be very costly at this stage, and some of the cost of mistakes must be added to the eventual price of the good gems that are recovered.

Gemstone deposits are sometimes profitably worked by hand sort¬ing, whereas mechanized mining would not be cost effective. Good examples. of this are the opal fields of Australia and, when active, the Burmese gravels. The slower hand methods also insure that the gem deposits will yield their treasures gradually, and thus be productive over a longer period of time.

Normally gemstones from the mines are sold either to exporters or to cutters. In recent years there has been a trend in most gem-producing countries to cut all fine gems locally.Rough or cut gems are exported from the country of origin to importers in other lands. The actual number of middlemen varies tre¬mendously. Some companies travel the world buying gem rough at the source, bring the rough back to their own shops for cutting, and then sell the cut stones at wholesale or retail.

Other companies buy rough from importers and cut it themselves or in other shops. Sometimes, where local labor costs are high (as in the United States) it is expedient to import rough, send it to another country for cutting, and then import the 16 cut gems. .


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