Let me start with the most important news of all. This year I sold more Cuprian Oregon Sunstone from PANA Mine (Butte Basin region) than all of my previous Tucson Gem Show seasons combined!
I would like to take a moment to clearly differentiate that Oregon Sunstone from the general “Sunstone” bunch, and that gems from PANA Mine (Little Eagle Butte region) are in class of their own. PANA Mine stones, together with gems coming out of neighboring Sunstone Butte mine represent the rarest and most valued types of Oregon Sunstone ever discovered!
PANA Mine and Sunstone Butte are consistently producing rarest Oregon Sunstone since 2011
My Wife Katerina working at the booth
Wow… I did expect a dramatic increase in sales this year, but 2017 Tucson show sales exceeded my wildest expectations!One example this year, was that my regular Japanese customers who stop by each year to stock up on gems like Arizona Peridot, Aquamarine, Danburite, Tourmaline, rare African Garnets, Moldavite, etc, had historically shown very little interest in the new rare PANA / Sunstone Butte Sunstones, That is until THIS year! Practically all of my Japanese (and Asian customers in general) stopped by and their very first sentence was “Do you still have those colorful Oregon Sunstones?” Well, I was very much prepared for this (and as some of you might remember I wrote a few articles about popularity and investment value increase in Oregon Sunstone since 2011 discovery at “Butte Basin”) so my very happy answer was “YES, of course!”
The largest increase in sales came from high-end jewelry businesses and individuals learning from the “tourmaline, sapphire and spinel” market explosion who finally started thinking of high-end Oregon Sunstone as “the next big thing” in gems.
I guess my years of educating buyers about investing in certain gems is finally paying off for everyone.It was only a question of time before gems from PANA mine, Sunstone Butte and high-end pieces from Dust Devil, American Mining Co., Double Eagle, and other Oregon mines would ignite the interest of major Asian gem buying countries.
The Oregon Sunstone market was more or less limited to the United States until now. Things are now shifting fast, and I estimate a dramatic increase in popularity worldwide with China, Thailand, India, UAE and Russia leading the pack.
For those of you who are still second guessing the investment potential of natural gemstones, here is some financial news from a very recent past.
In 2008 I was purchasing 10 kilo lots of Nigerian Tourmaline for 850 dollars per kilo.
In 2017 the VERY same stuff cost 120,000 to 250,000 dollars per Kg (depending on where you ask). That is 14,100 % to 29,400 % value increase in 9 years.
One dollar invested in 2009 generated 141 to 294 dollars in 2017.
Have you or anyone around you ever seen anything close to these numbers in stock and bonds performance? I did not think so…..
Corner case with top-end gems
Let me continue, In 2010 I was offering large 5 to 20 carat pure blue cobalt spinels from Sri Lanka for 65 dollars per carat and nobody wanted the stuff! These days the very same gems are offered in 3,000 to 8,000 dollars per carat range and there is not much of it available on the world market. Everyone is holding onto what they already own. You can do the math on this one yourself.
Should I continue with Red Spinel, yellow, purple or pink Sapphire or with Imperial Topaz from Ouro Preto which was 5 Deutsche Marks per each 3” crystals back in 1995, shipped by thousands in large wooden crates directly to Idar Oberstein and other locations across Europe… All these scenarios have one thing in common. People beating themselves over their heads, saying “if I only knew back then”… As I told many of you before, history repeats itself and most people will never learn. So those of you who are willing to learn can take the very first step now, and make yourselves some good money down the road. Ok, enough about copper bearing Oregon Sunstone.
The next great seller was Tourmaline and all types of Beryl including Morganite, Heliodor, Aquamarine and even colorless Goshenite. I had people asking for Red Beryl (Bixbite) but last time I had this material at reasonable price was about 8 years ago. Even though Tourmaline remains on top of “overpriced” stones since 2012, I do have contacts in several African nations and I am able to get limited amounts of top quality Tourmaline in the most desired colors at a small fraction of the actual market value. We are currently exploring three new mining sites, each one has a potential to yield some gem grade tourmaline in the future. The sample digging is carried with help of 16 local guys and we should know more about real potential of these mines soon.
Rare and exotic “hybrid” Garnets like Pyralspite and Malaya were also up from the previous year. People were stopping by my display cases simply to look at and enjoy these rich intense magenta-pink, purple-rose pink, honey-peachy-red African Garnets. As with many other gemstones, I have a mine-direct supply, we employ local villagers, supply them with tools, food, steady well paid jobs and in return we are able to provide our customers with the very best gems from these regions.
But not all gems did great this year. There was a noticeable decline in Moldavite sales, both rough and cut. Because of a massive amounts of fakes being produced by a numerous labs across the world, I suspect that people simply buy the cheap glass imitations instead of reasonably priced 100% real gemstones.I have over 40 years experience mining and dealing with Moldavite, I found my first piece when I was 14! After what I saw around, I remain one of the very last few sellers still offering genuine Moldavite to dealers and the general public.
Gem show sales of Danburite did not grow as expected but internet sales are still going strong. Regardless of a bit slower year I do expect steady growth in untreated Danburite value in years to come.
The most valuable part of each gem shows are the actual contacts, and this year I picked up quite a few including a few highly valuable ones from the USA, China, Hong Kong, Russia and Thailand. Some buyers purchased only samples to test the local market and I expect some good business from many new customers this year.
My own “Tucson Gem Show” stays open for 365 days per year, just visit ravenstein-germany.com and pana-mine.com or visit our eBay store and etsy store.
Thank you again for staying loyal to us and please check back with us again soon!
Best Regards,
Ales P. Krivanek
Ravenstein Gem Co., owner
