Tucson AGTA & GLDA

    All, For about the third time I have read in this forum dealers
in other shows during the Tucson AGTA & GLDA time frame trying to
tell everyone that all these dealers do is buy from the other shows
and resell at tremendous profits at the high class shows. 

I’ve looked back at the posts to the Orchid Digest for the past
several days and couldn’t find any specific post that could have
generated this comment. Firstly because there is a vast difference
between the AGTA and the GLDA shows.

The majority of the dealers in the AGTA show are from NYC and LA. To
be a member of the AGTA (American Gem Trade Association) the company
has to have a ‘walk in’ store or office type location in the USA that
is accessible to the trade to physically visit. To show at the AGTA
show, the company has to have been a member of the AGTA for a certain
number of years (5 years I believe).

The GLDA show, on the contrary, is made up of dealers from all over
the world, thus many of the suppliers of the AGTA businesses are also
showing at the Tucson shows at the GLDA, GJX, etc., etc. The reason
for mentioning this fact is that a ‘buyer’ can most likely find many
of the items that are found in the AGTA show, at other shows at lower
prices - if the ‘buyer’ is interested in ‘working at it’ - investing
time and effort and shoe leather.

The AGTA show is a very refined atmosphere. Wide carpeted aisles.
Many spacious booths, but easily found on a grid system. Nice food
courts. Almost all of the dealers in Suits and ties (some in
Tuxedos). Of all of the shows in Tucson, this one is probably the most
expensive, for the dealers, as far as booth space is concerned. It
also has the most stringent qualification process for registration
for permitting ‘qualified’ buyers to enter the show. The materials
being shown are probably the best quality available of each material
in all of the shows at Tucson. Does the buyer pay extra for all of
the above - definitely yes. Can many of the materials be found at
other shows - also definitely yes - though the ‘buyer’ may have to
‘work at it’ a little more.

Some of the other shows have the appearance of being more ‘chaotic’
or cramped, some have booths stuck into just about every nook and
cranny imaginable. Some are in hotel rooms. Some in Tents. As far as
comfort and ease of access, the AGTA is probably the # 1 show, with
the GJX not far behind. The GLDA show suffers from small crowded
aisles, dealers stuck in just about every imaginable area of the
hotel, and a quite confusing layout - it is best to buy something the
first time you see it, as figuring out how to get back to the booth
location can be tricky - if you can remember where it was.

Also interesting is that many of the dealers at the AGTA show also
have booths in the GLDA and/or in the GJX shows.

As far as buying at other shows and reselling at one’s show, the
orignal comment was that dealers from one show know where to get
materials and do buy at other shows. We all have done it at one time
or another. Sometimes a customer wants a specific item that you don’t
have, you tell him to come back the next day and then you go and pick
up the item for him at another show - either buying it outright or
taking it on consignment. The point that was being made its that the
materials are available at the shows, the trick is knowing where or
having the time to search them out.

..Make no doubt [about] it that dealers in the Tucson AGTA and GLDA
do buy from other dealers. If I were one of the dealers they buy
from I would keep my mouth shut, because they are probably the best
sale you will have for the show. 

I didn’t notice any one on the list mentioning the company ‘names’ of
the AGTA dealers to whom they sell. I believe the basic intention was
to inform the potential ‘buyers’ that the same materials can be had,
at lower prices, at other show venues, during the Tucson shows, if
the ‘buyer’ is willing to ‘work at it’ a little.

Like it or not Tucson AGTA and GLDA are the centerpiece shows on
Earth.  

The Basel and Hong Kong shows might beg to differ on that point,
though in terms of shear number of dealers in one city at one time,
the Tucson Shows probably do win hands down over any other set of
shows in the world. If any one is thinking of going to the February
2002 Tucson Shows, now is almost too late to be making hotel
reservations.

AGTA especially sets the tone for the color stone trade through out
the world. 

The AGTA is an invaluable organization for the promotion and
standardization of the Colored Stone Gem Trade. Its members are Gem
dealers, Jewelers, and suppliers. AGTA provides significant services
to the members and to the trade in general, and their stringent
disclosure regulations guarantee that when one buys a stone from a
AGTA dealer the treatments and enhancements will be adequately
disclosed.

To belittle them, their show at Tucson, and their members is to
show very little knowledge of the gemstone trade. 

I just searched ALL of the Orchid Digests back to December 2000 and
found no posts that could be considered to be “belittling” the
importance of the AGTA, their dealers or their show at Tucson. I
thought that this comment might have to do with the controversy over
the “certification” process that the AGTA is discussing. But that
thread took place on a different forum. ( "AGTA Unveils ‘Color Seal of
Confidence’ - National Jeweler Online Newsletter <
http://www.national-jeweler.com/ne23/news/61501a.shtml > )

Best regards Robert Lowe, Lowe Associates - Brasil, Gemstones, Rough,
Specimens Tucson February 7 - 12, 2002 - GJX # 205
e-mail <@Robert>