IN THIS ISSUE September Newsletter.
What are the four C's ? (part A - colour)
Editorial
Gemstone of the Month
Zodiac Gemstones
Auction Information
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Judging by the reaction, some of you have already found the NEW Bargain Basement, discreetly placed at the bottom of the menu section on the Home page. Shame on you for jumping the gun (well done!).
We are trying to keep things based on price. The first page will be mixed items under $25. Other pages to come on line will be under $50 and $100 etc. Well worth dropping in from time to time just to check out the latest bargains.
For those of you who are Frequent Buyers and registered in our FBP program, please remember there is NO EXTRA DISCOUNT for items from these pages, as they have already been heavily reduced in price. Bummer !!!!
The other item of news is our 'Weekly Specials' which will drop in your email boxes from now on instead of being tied to the website. Even this newsletter is now direct, instead of the old system of using a link to get the Newsletter. We think it will be much better as you will now have it right in front of you whenever you want to read it. The 'Weekly Specials' will start from next week so please don't treat them as Junk Mail as there will be three Bargains every week for you to fight over. Please remember that these items will NOT be at Auction or at our Website for one month. Once they are sold, that's it, as we only have one of each item, so it's strictly 'First come - First served' for these Bargains (Fastest finger first).
In the meanwhile, take care and watch the road.
regards. David and Patricia (gemmo1)
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WHAT ARE THE FOUR C's ? (PART A - Colour)
No they are not a Band, nor are they anything magical or mystical, although judging by past comments, they do remain just that little bit.... "I-know-what-they-are-but-I'm-not-all-that-sure" type of thing.
Firstly lets look at the four C's as they pertain to Diamonds, as this is where they take prominence. The four C's are NOT used for any other gemstone in quite the same way, although, as we will see, there are many similarities.
 | The four C's are:
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COLOUR
Unlike most coloured gemstones where the stronger the colour the more valuable they become, Diamonds are Valued by their LACK OF COLOUR.
The finest diamonds are graded to select the most pure colourless gemstones as the most valuable (I'll come back to this point in a minute) and are graded in an alphabetical scale around the world EXCEPT the USA where they use numbers. For our Article we will use the more widely used International Scale.
The strange thing for most people to get used to, is the fact that the scale starts from the letter D. This is to avoid the more common terms of A Grade or B grade or C Grade used elsewhere which might confuse. Confused Yet?
D is the very best grade in Diamond. It means it is the Rarest White or Exceptional White Plus on the International scale. I have been valuing Jewellery and Diamond grading for many years and have only ever seen a few stones of this quality. Your local Jeweller would have to order the stone for you. He probably wouldn't have this quality in stock. It is too expensive and to the untrained eye, you couldn't tell the difference anyway. The Grade E is basically the same but without the 'Plus'....
Grade F is Rare White Plus (notice the previous grade was 'Rarest' while this is only 'Rare'....) I like my Steak 'Rare' but I still couldn't afford this in a Diamond.
Now comes the most usual we would see in the Stores. The grades G and H.
These are classified as Rare White (without the plus) to White. Simple eh?
So if you are shopping for a Diamond engagement ring this is the colour grade we would recommend and usually see. The price is right, so to speak.
Is it all down hill from here? No not really but the grades start to go into the Tinted shades of White, not the Whiter shade of Pale.... (sorry for the pun but I was brought up with 1960's and 1970's music).
The tints they refer to are tints of yellow. The more the tint, the less valuable the gemstone (up to a point).... So we go through grades I and J (slightly tinted white) to K and L (tinted white) to M and N (slightly yellowish) and down to Z getting more yellow by the letter.
Until we get to the term 'FANCY' which basically means it is now so yellow, it's more valuable than ever.... Those diamond merchants think of everything, don't they? The colour could now be so prominent that it becomes so rare as to be really really valuable.
We all remember the Blue diamond in Titanic, don't we? Other famous coloured diamonds are the deep green 'Dresden' Diamond, all 41 carats of it, or the bright Blue 'Hope' Diamond (this is like the one in Titanic), a mere 44.5 carats which is in the Smithsonian Institute in the USA.
If ever you are in NEW YORK please pay a visit to 'Tiffany's' jewellers where anyone can see the famous Golden yellow Tiffany diamond on show in the store (Warning... Don't wear your balaclava helmet or dark glasses and a beanie). This piece of God's Own perfection is just 128.51 carats and I can personally tell you it is stunning. If you tell them I sent you, you will get no special treatment at all.
Ahhh well, back to reality.
Generally diamonds under a quarter carat (0.25pts) are NOT graded as it is really too small to get an accurate grading from. Suffice to say, most Antique Jewellery would be graded below G/H. One final point on colour. Nobody can really do a correct grading while the stone remains in the ring (or whatever item of Jewellery it is mounted in). The reason is the yellow from the gold would reflect into the stone DOWNGRADING it with a yellowish tint.
That is the reason most good quality items of Antique Jewellery would be mounted in a White Gold or Platinum setting. This then, gives us another clue to picking top quality items of Antique, Second-hand or Estate Jewellery. If it is set in White Gold or Platinum, it is a better quality, even if the rest of the brooch or pendant or ring is made in yellow gold. The old craftsmen took great pride in their work (especially as they were handmade) and would treat the Diamond with the respect it deserves. By the way, colour is best gauged under Northern Sunlight between the hours of 10am to 2pm. The Little Grader's would be exhausted be then.....
These days they use artificial light to simulate these lighting conditions. So if ever you are at an Antique dealers or Auction and ask the person in charge what colour the diamond is.... Bet you he will casually say G/H. Can't lose can they?
NEXT MONTH: Part B is on Clarity
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AUCTION INFORMATION:
With the demise of Yahoo Australian auctions (now SOLD.com) and Go Fish there are really only three Australian auction sites remaining. The biggest is still SOLD.com which is vastly improved since Yahoo has taken them over. Ebay is still a prominent force, yet their fee structure tends to put them behind SOLD.com when it comes to sellers costs. The third choice is STUFF auctions which does have an excellent site with good costings. Pity they don't get as many buyers as the other two, but my guess is they are coming up fast. Give them a go.
You can find them all with the following links....
Or use the links from our website at http://home.iprimus.com.au/gemmo1
If there is something of ours you like, you can either bid and wait for the auction to end OR you could email us direct and we can sell it to you sooner!
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GEMSTONE OF THE MONTH
The gemstone for the month of September is the Sapphire (aren't you lucky). Not only do you get the best gemstone after Diamond but you also get all those colours too. But wait. I hear you say, Sapphires are blue.... But they are also colourless, pink, orange, yellow, green and purple so there should be something there for everyone. If you wanted to cheat, you could also have ruby (if it's red, it is a ruby, if it's blue it is called a sapphire) as they are both the same gemstone.
The second gemstone for this month is the lovely Lapis Lazuli with its usual spotted or flecked surface. Most commonly seen as strings of beads, it was a favourite with Victorian Jewellers.
For Virgo clients (born between the 23rd of August to the 22nd of September) your zodiac gemstone is the yellow Citrine or yellow agate.
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Until the next time, Take care and watch the road.
All feedback is welcome.
David and Patricia (gemmo1).
We are so confident in the Value of all our items, we offer a full, no questions asked, money back 14 day warranty on any item purchased from us.
