Source for Rubies

I have a student who has a commission for a jewelry piece that she
needs a ruby for. I don’t work much with stones let alone expensive
one. She said that the one in Rio is smaller that the client wants
and asked about Tie (sp) gems. I recall that there have been some
posts saying that they are not a good company to buy from. I wouldn’t
know if the stone she might buy is what it is stated to be and
neither would she. I’d welcome some suggestions for sources.

Marilyn Smith

Marilyn,

I would stay away from Thaigem; too many horror stories and
exhorbitant shipping costs.

My favorite source for precious and semiprecious gems is Dikra Gem
in NYC. Phone is 800-873-4572 (Ask for David Kramer and tell him I
sent you – he will ask how you found him.)

No connection, just a very satisfied customer.

Karen Goeller
@Karen_Goeller
Hand-crafted artisan jewelry
http://www.nolimitations.com

I would strongly discourage anyone from purchasing from Thai Gems.
Every time we get a customer in the store who has bought from them
they have had a bad experience, either not getting what they looked
at on the website, not getting what the stone was actually purported
to be, having problems returning misrepresented merchandise, etc.
There are a lot of companies recommended in the archives on Orchid.
Take a look through there.

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Spirer Somes Jewelers
1794 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-6000
www.spirersomes.com
@spirersomes

Had one of my students buy some …?rubies? off of the internetski.
he paid about $300.00 per carat two stones of 1carat each. so far
$600.00 inc taxes…I just looked at them stiraitions (sp) all
through the two stones, butt ugly! I even asked one of my stone
dealers how much they were in Toronto…$50.00+ /carat, tops! you all
know the phrase… “P.T. Barnum was right!”…Gerry!