USA Gemstone Business - Tucson 2002

Jewelry Discussion
1

All, My numbers are in for Tucson 2002 we increase our sales 100%.
That puts us in the mid $20,000’s USD for the Tucson Show, but we
are climbing. 95% of the items we sell are manufactured by me.
Custom gemstones at realistic prices are what I sell. Tucson should
be a $50,000 - $100,000 USD show. I have heard from two dealers in
GJX that reported their show was terrible. One of these individuals
sells gemstones that are manufactured in Sri Lanka and the other
sells gemstones manufactured in Brazil. One had total sales less
than $10,000 USD. One dealer is a a foreign citizen, one is a US
citizen. The foreign citizen is now traveling the US trying to sell
his stones to anyone he can. The US citizen is banking his stones
and has moved his money into real estate. For both these dealers
this is the second year in a row of terrible sales. They both sell
better quality Has anyone heard actual dollar figures from
any of the AGTA or GLDA dealers? As a side note Thaigem had a large
booth in GLDA this year. An American promoter gladly took Thaigem
money knowing that they openly sell to the public at the same prices
they sell to retailers. I expect shortly to see Thaigem have an
outlet in the USA for their stones and custom jewelry.

Gerry Galarneau

2

Gerry, I can see a time where those who don’t live in the US won’t
be able to justify coming to the Tucson show because internet sales
have taken that market. That will be a sad season. I love the
diversity that the show brings to Tucson but the market rules. I
would rather go booth to booth talking and interacting than sit at my
desk and surf. Sam Patania, Tucson

3

While not getting actual dollar figures from any of my sources I
have heard from the AGTA dealers I work with that while there was
less traffic, the people who came were buying. All of them said that
they, and most of the dealers they talked to, had a great show, many
of them as saying as good as last year. Since some AGTA booths run
almost $20,000 I have to assume they were doing significant amounts
of business. One of the few people I deal with who isn’t an AGTA
dealer said he had the worst show in 5 years but A) he’s pretty flaky
and B) he seemed extremely optimistic because he said he worked with
a lot of new people which translates to more business in the future
as he is on the road all the time. My boulder opal dealer was happy
with the show but not thrilled.

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