Popular Stones

Forwarded Message FollowsDate: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 17:10:28 -0500
To: service@ganoksin.com
From: gldrtist@netins.net
Popular Stones

Hi,

I am a designer and goldsmith (self employed) and am considering opening a
retail store. I have been isolated somewhat doing models and designs
for different companies and I am not quite sure what the market is like.
Do you have any feedback on prices most common.Also ,
maybe you could help me with what style and color of stones is most popular.

Thank you for your time.
Michael Gilger

Hi,

I am a designer and goldsmith (self employed) and am considering
opening a retail store. I have been isolated somewhat doing models
and designs for different companies and I am not quite sure what the
market is like.

Do you have any feedback on prices most common. Also , maybe you
could help me with what style and color of stones is most popular.

Thank you for your time.
Michael

I would also be interested in hearing what members here have to say
about this. I am also relatively new to this field, however I am a
faceter who is the one actually cutting the stones. Currently I
have been doing custom work on a per-order basis getting the
customer exactly what they want. I have talked to several people
about this topic, and there really dosent seem to be any common
answer. This is referring to colored stones of courseā€¦ most
jewelers I have talked to seem to prefer the diamond market to the
colored stone market, and say that deciding which stones to stock is
difficult, because you dont know what people are going to want to
buy.

Right now, I am trying to start to build an inventory of finished
stones to have for sale, and to show my work. I am in the same
situation and do not really know what stones I should invest in
without a definate sale lined up. So far, amethyst, citrine, topaz
and sapphire have been my most requested stones.

Mike

Hello,

I spend 3/4 of my year on the road for sales and find these trends.
I see less and less cash sales, but more and more memo consignment. I
sell my high end good more often to dealers who have deep pockets to
wait for memo calls.

I sell less and less loose gemstones and have begun to mount stones
in a finished product. The die hards who say everything is custom
will also buy.

I see lighter saturated stones stones selling well and what we call
bluff stones (ie deep bellies, hidden defects) Well faceted stones
and custom cut stones are doing great on the higher end.

Sapphire always does well, nice black opal, unusually large
spessartite or kunzite. In all honesty, every jewelery seems to find
their niche.

Sincerely,

Ed Cleveland