ROUGH GEMSTONE PRICES
Rough gemstones, including certain organic materials, but not pearls, are listed alphabetically with cross references for varieties. Each entry is preceded by appropriate statements of characteristics, sizes, qualities, sources, etc. Not all varieties are included because so many of them, espe¬cially among the numerous members of the quartz family, are no more than trivial sub-varieties of little economic importance.

All prices are retail per avoirdupois pound (lb.), avoirdupois ounce (oz.), metric gram (gm.), or metric carat (ct.). Some items are priced by the piece (ea.) or square inch (sq. in.). Most prices are given in ranges according to improving quality. The variables upon which prices depend have been described for cut gems in a previous chapter and the same considerations apply to rough.
Prices asked for exactly the same material can differ appreciably from dealer to dealer due to such factors as dealer’s volume, connections with direct sources of supply, expenses, and the amount of profit required to stay in business. The highest degree of price standardization occurs in the common, steadily-supplied gemstones and the least degree in the rare gemstones or those of extremely high quality and large size among the common jewelry-trade gemstones such as diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire. For the latter, exceptionally large and fine rough specimens may be negotiated entirely on the likelihood of getting someone with enough money to buy the rough, or to form a syndicate to cut up the rough, hoping to dispose of the cut gems at a profit. “Standard” prices for such rough gemstones are never fixed.

In this connection, the prices asked for expensive rough are not greatly below the prices asked for cut gems if it is apparent that the rough is clean and that the weight loss can be readily estimated. For example, a clean crystal of ruby of ten carats weight, well shaped, and obviously capable of being cut into an oval brilliant of five carats, will sell at a price not very far from the wholesale price of the cut gem. There is no gamble in the cutting because the clarity and color quality of the finished gem are assured while the cutting charges will be modest. For these rea¬sons, the owner of the rough would be a very poor businessman to ask a price for it far below the wholesale price of the cut gem. On the other hand, rarer gems and collectors’ gems are not disposed of as readily as the standard jewelry gems, and the element of chance becomes greater. Also, some rough is so fragile that it may break during cutting and re¬sult in serious weight losses. Dealers are therefore reluctant to pay as much for such rough, and as the reader will note when he compares rough to cut gem prices, exotic rough is generally priced lower in pro¬portion than standard rough.

While prices will change as the world economy changes, users of this catalog can approximate current values by applying an increase or de¬crease in accordance with the cost-of-living index as published by the United States Government. In the last several years this change has been upward, about 3-6 per cent per year. Users are urged to consult the data in the next chapter along with the data in the lists below; this will give a much better appreciation of the pricing structure and the relative values of rough and cut.

Many amateur cutters have been disappointed that they cannot always obtain top-quality rough and find it difficult to understand why this should be so. Some of the reasons have been touched on before, but it is worthwhile to say again that the largest and finest rough seldom passes beyond the borders of the country in which it was mined without being cut. In fact, the best specimens are bought up almost as quickly as they are mined. Thus many of the rough gemstones listed below, especially in the finest qualities, will appear on the market only rarely.