Have you met one of these ladies yet?  They are baubled and bangled on every extremity, jingling as they walk, under layers of metal and stone trinkets.  They are friendly and glamorous, manicured and hair styled.  These are the soldiers on the front lines for an emerging jewelry selling modality.  Like Mary Kay or Avon, these jewelry brands are being sold among friends, at “hostess” parties, and commissions flow down in a pyramid format.

A quick internet search will show you that there are a lot of disappointments in the quality… but of course there are many fans (who usually get recruited).  These business models are beautiful for the way they empower people and create community and joy.  But what happens when gemstones and precious metals are being sold as cosmetics?  There is no emphasis on education about gemstones, there is no literature on what people are actually buying in terms of gemstone treatments, etc.

I just left a show where I got to talk to two lovely Silpada soldiers.  One was bringing me pieces of their jewelry so I could tell her what it was and how it had been treated.  She said customers had asked her questions about the gems, which she could not answer.  They didn’t train her?

Why is it acceptable to give the task of selling gemstones without also the responsibility of disclosing full information to the customer?  Some people are buying dyed howlite, assuming it is turquoise and judging the price accordingly.

Is it that brands want to be able to retain their “prestige” without backing it up with substance, and therefore, letting the end purchaser assume what they want, justify the higher price, and buy something that is less valuable than they think?

There is a persistant debate in the jewelry world over style vs substance.  Here at shopgemstones.com, we love the substance: the value of rare gems endures (fluctuates, but endures) while the trends in design do not.  However, some design houses and jewelry creators also endure: an example is Tiffany.  Tiffany was popular before tanzanite, and a vintage Tiffany design adds a definite premium to the value of a peice of jewelry.  But there’s a limit, right?

I recently spotted this lovely, beautifully designed pendant on Tiffany.com.  It is a peice of carved chrysoprase (good, but not outstanding color) on a silk cord for $975.

Compare this to another chrysoprase bead on a silk cord, made by “Heather”, not Tiffany. Hers costs $48.

Or, you can make your own with this chrysoprase bead, also carved, also a fish for 9.98.

Of course, excellent design deserves a premium, but how much?   If Tiffany’s carved chrysoprase were $10,000 would it still be acceptable?

There is a saying that the worth of a thing is what someone will pay for it.  So those that buy the Tiffany chrysoprase pendant make it worth $975.

Jewelry and precious gemstones are not commodities: we buy them and wear them for emotional and esthetic reasons.  I guess it comes down to this: for some, having bought it at Tiffany’s gives an emotional benefit that is worth the extra $950 on the price of the pendant.  For others, the joy of the chrysoprase is enough.

Those of us who have a loved one born in October may be shopping for opals right now, since opal is the birthstone for October.  As your resource for gemstone shopping guidance, we thought we’d do some shopping around for you, and give you a sense of where the best deals can be found on opal jewelry.

Remember, before buying opal jewelry, you should be well versed in the characteristics of opals and how the affect the opal’s value.

Essentially, you want to take into consideration opal size, opal play-of-color, opal colors and type of opal.

In searching for good deals on opal jewelry, here are some of the things we found:

This ring is offered by Jewelry Television.  In general, they seemed to have the best selection and value for large opals (over 2 carats).  The play of color and overall quality of the stones seem to be marginal.  But if size is what you’re after, this is a good place to check out.

This ring is offered by Fortunoff, a New York Department store.  In our search generally, the department stores had the poorest selection and value in opal jewelry.

This ring is being sold online as an antique.  The opal is a nice size (almost 1 carat), but is of marginal quality.  This ring is a good buy only if you like antiques.

We tended to find the highest quality opals and best selection among Australian vendors selling the products they have produced.  This one is from Opals Down Under.  It is one of many high quality opals with very special play-of-color.  They have jewelry and opals on their website for hundreds of dollars and thousands of dollars.

And finally, the best deal.  We were amazed to see this quality for this price.  The source is opalmine.com.  This website has very high quality opals fro very reasonable prices.  We have never bought from them, so we can’t vouch for customer service or shipping, but if they are what they say they are, this is the best deal.

Now we are off to the Intergem show in Austin, Texas!