I just went on-line to buy more lab-grown corundum cabs, and was shocked at current prices! It seems like only a year ago an 8x6 lab-grown ruby or sapphire cab was under a dollar. Now it looks like the same stone is upwards of $4. Does anyone know why the prices are so high now?
Shop around. Prices differ, most of the rough material is created in China and boules are shipped to cutters anywhere and everywhere. Cabochon cuts of syntho gems are less than 5% of the market, most material is faceted. A year ago I bought up the remaining inventory of 10X12 blue star sapphire cabs from a Thai cutter for less than $5 each - they just weren’t selling. I still have parcels of oddly colored Linde Stars from decades ago before Union Carbide got out of the gem biz - should have bought much more, the cutting and centering of the star was much better than what comes out of SE Asia. Good Luck…
I looked for some alternative sources but came up empty. Looking for 8x6 cabs we can cast in place. We thought about CZs, but don’t really want to go there. If it’s not against the forum rules, I’m open to suggestions for some good sources.
I get my faceted lab-grown corundum here:
Their 6 x 8 star sapphires are $4.26. I don’t know if they’ve gone up, but the prices for the faceted stones have been fairly stable the last few years.
1 Like