Arrived in Hong Kong Monday night locked, loaded and ready to expose
this Mozambique Cuprian tourmaline for the over-hyped fraud I
thought it was and got a surprise. Quick answer to the burning
question of the day; yes, there are some Mozambique stones that will
stand up to the finest from Brazil.
Recently I have seen quite a bit of the stuff and found some of the
asking prices bordered on the ridiculous. Examined one 7+ carat
green tourmaline that looked like, well a medium dark yellowish
green tourmaline, nothing special but the price. If it had been
offered to me for $100 per carat I would have sent it back but it
was Cuprian so the wholesale asking price was $3,500 per carat. (see
part I, super star stone or overripe hype)
A lot of the Mozambique material out there simply does not make the
grade. Yes you can find Caribbean aka neon-blue, aka windex-blue
that is, a visually pure light/medium toned blue that is of the same
hue as Paraiba but read the book www.secretsofthegemtrade.com; color
divides into hue, saturation and tone with Paraiba and all its
wannabes it is all about the saturation baby. Much of this material
has a subtle gray mask, so subtle that you can’t actually see the
gray; you just get the impression of cool and dull. This can be
difficult to detect because blue is, generally speaking, a cool
color. For collectors who depend upon laboratory reports rather than
their eye to make a buying decision that can be particularly vexing
but “buying the cert” has always been a snare and a delusion. So, if
you need a certificate to tell you whether the stone is beautiful I
suggest a new hobby.
How good is the best Mozambique compared to the Paraiba paradigm? On
a scale of 1-10, the best of the Mozambique achieves a solid
8.5-9.0. I saw two stones that were 9+. So, is Mozambique over
priced? The best, definately not but the common sort of pale
material with current asking prices of several thousand dollars a
carat is best avoided. Those who hope to ride on the coattails of a
legend will be disapointed. Stones of this description are destined
to fall from four figures to three.
Judging by Hong Kong, the price structure for very fine Mozambique
Cuprian tourmaline is very much in place with little variation from
dealer to dealer but overall the prices are half or less than you
would expect to pay for comparable Brazilian gems.
Coming Up:
Big Price Increases in Fine quality untreated ruby and sapphire, are
they for real?
Some experts are claiming 100% price increases in untreated fine
quality ruby and sapphire. What’s the word from the Hong Kong Show?
Stay tuned.
Richard