Facet vs. Cabochon

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hello All, Quick question about stones that are often faceted, but
are sometimes made into cabochons.

Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Tourmaline etc. If you buy some rough that
is good enough to produce a quality faceted stone, but you form it
into a cabochon, do people assume that the material is lower
quality, and does it sell for less?

Thanks!
Blaine

2 
    Hello All, Quick question about stones that are often faceted,
but are sometimes made into cabochons. Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire,
Tourmaline etc.  If you buy some rough that is good enough to
produce a quality faceted stone, but you form it into a cabochon,
do people assume that the material is lower quality, and does it
sell for less?

It shouldn’t sell for less except for cost of labor; faceting takes
longer than cabbing. People assume many incorrect things. As the
seller or presenter one of the tasks is to disabuse people of their
prejudices. One of the long lasting cliches among stone dealers is
that if the material is clean it should always be faceted. From a
purely asethetic point I much prefer cabs over faceted stones KPK

3

Blaine - “does it sell for less?” Sadly, yes. As a long-time
cutter, primarily of cabs, I’ve found that buyers have a great
resistance to paying for facet grade material made into cabs. The
presumption forever (at least back to 1960) is that there are at
least three grades of rough: facet (the best), semi-facet, and
cabbing/carving. The relatively recent renaissance of finer carvings
made with facet grade rough hasn’t had an appreciable effect on the
general buying public. Yet.

Jim Small
Small Wonders