Chinese Pearls

Chinese Oysters
Has anybody paid too much for Fresh or Saltwater Pearls lately? Very possibly you have. The Chinese Pearl market was devastated this fall by two tropical storms. For the freshwater Pearls, that means pesticide and herbacide run-off. For the saltwater variety, decreased salinity kills off the oyster crop. 100 million oysters were killed in those two instances. What does that mean to you? It means that the Pearl necklace hanging around your neck is in the short run worth more than you thought. There are several Pearl jewelers in the U.S. who deal mainly in Chinese Pearls. Usually they are easy to obtain and cheap because China provides the majority of the world's farmed Pearls. Now prices have risen and a terrific opportunity to traffic in man made/artificial Pearls has come upon us. Use your smarts folks and wait patiently for the real stuff to return - in a year and a half.

Coral Me Red!

Red Coral, what beauty hanging around your neck.  CITES, the world-wide watchdog group for the ocean's plant life, will meet next March to decide whether to put coral on the endangered species list.  You visit any coastal town anywhere in the world and you'll see red coral in the jewelry shops.  Can't tell if the stuff is plastic, glass or ceramic?  Don't buy it.  If it is real, and you buy it, you're contributing to the demise of the world's coral.   Coral grows at the slow rate of 1/4 inch per year.  But what harm can one little necklace do?  Multiply your indifference by a million people and you have a problem.  Sterling Canyon won't deal in coral.  Neither should you.

Read the Ruby

There are some gemstones in the British crown jewels that are not what they seem.  The Black Prince's Ruby is not a ruby at all but a red spinel.  The stone at right certainly looks like a ruby, but smells of deceipt.  Could it be one of the fine stones from Macy's?  Perhaps. But don't get your salivary glands all up and running.  This stone is not a ruby. It turns out to be Oregon Sunstone.  I won't tell you where they dug this up.  You'll need to figure that out on your own. 

Macy's and the Red Ruby Mystery

An update to our story last week regarding fake or enhanced rubies
being sold at Macy's.  It seems that both ABC Good Morning America
and Macy's are being criticised for there tactics.  It seems that the American
Gemological Institute issued a warning to the buying public two years ago
regarding fake rubies.  Selling fake rubies isn't illegel.  What is fraudulent
is not telling the customer that they are fake.  ABC visited 3 Macy's stores
for the story.  All three sold fake rubies without notifying the customer
what they were buying.  It can be construed that many retailers, not just
Macy's attempts to deceive the customer.  Fake rubies are fairly easy
to detect with a 10x power magnifying glass.  Of course, if you're buying
rubies or emeralds at Macy's or Target, then the dunce hat is waiting for you.  All gemstones, even diamonds are enhanced or treated by heat or fillings.  But you should be told what you're buying and not outright lied to. Even Sterling Canyon nows better.  Geez. photos courtesy AGTA.

Copper, Silver and Gold (Mining) Oh My!

Bingham Canyon Copper Mine


This is the beginning of a series about the Bingham Canyon open pit copper mine outside of Salt Lake City. It is the largest mine in the world at nearly 3/4 of a mile deep. It hopes to be 500 feet deeper by next year, approaching that of the Grand Canyon. It is actually a tourist attraction. But why should we care about this mine? Why is this in the news? Fortune magazine has a spread in their recent issue. Two main reasons my friends. First is the fact that it is the poster child of clean responsible mining. It is tightly controlled and monitored by outside organizations to make sure it keeps with its promise of being as environmentally responsible, green if you will, as possible. Second reason is that Tiffany and Walmart have latched on to this earth friendly mining operation as a terrific opportunity to enhance their public relations efforts. In subsequent postings, we will explore these two facets and explain why this is important to the jewelry buying public.

Fake Gemstones Flood the Market

TOP - Hematite ribbons in natural Indian sunstone.

BOTTOM - Hematite ribbons in red treated feldspar. Photos courtesy of Robert James.

Let's follow-up on the report earlier this week regarding Macy's cheating customers with fake rubies. Most fairly informed people understand that there are fake gemstones in the marketplace. How else can Walmart sell a diamond ring for $195.00. The amount of artificial stones in the market is now staggering. Sterling Canyon knows there are artificial gems to be had and also unscrupulous dealers out there trying to make a buck from uninformed buyers. Sterling Canyon does all it can to verify that the stones it sells are indeed true and first quality. Now it seems that buyers of Labradorite are suing dealers including Jewelry Television over suspect Labradorite. If you recently bought red or green "new-find" Labradorite on screen or on line as a natural-color gemstone, you may be in for a rude awakening. These feldspars may owe their beauty to the gemological equivalent of color implants - or, more crudely, dyeing. Take a look at these pictures above. It doesn't take much magnification to notice the bottom stone is dyed.

July Birthstone-Ruby

 Shame on you, Macy's!  Macy's was reported last week to be selling fake Rubies and not informing the customers. Macy's has been selling composite Rubies, which is essentially red glass with Ruby dust blended in.  The best are found in Burma (Myanmar) which has trade sanctions against in by the West. Otherwise, Rubies you buy at your local jewelers are from Brazil and India. Sterling Canyon chooses not to deal in Rubies because the quality in the world Ruby market is questionable at best. Here is an excerpt from the American Gem Society describing the quintessential Ruby. There’s no better way to demonstrate your love than by giving a ruby in celebration of a July birthday. Rubies arouse the senses, stir the imagination, and are said to guarantee health, wisdom, wealth and success in love. Ruby is a variety of the gems species corundum. It is harder than any natural gemstone except diamond, which means a ruby is durable enough for everyday wear. Fine-quality ruby is extremely rare, and the color of the gem is most important to its value. The most prized color is a medium or medium dark vivid red or slightly purplish red. If the gem is too light or has too much purple or orange, it will be called a fancy-color sapphire.

Vale part 2

Well, here we go with the green story of Vale do Rio Doce. As an environmentally friendly megacorporation with operations throughout the world, Vale has decided that it is in their best interest to be green - at least in home base Brazil. According to the Vale website, they are active in the Vale Florestar program which involves the reclamation or re-forestation of part of the Amazon forest. They advertise the planting of 165 million trees within a 3,000 sq.km. area. That is terrific. However the program is forced on them by the Brazilian government which has adopted the policy of preserving what's left of the rain forests. The photos below demonstrate what Vale is doing to the rain forest. They operate the world's largest iron ore mine. How to reclaim that hole and make it whole again is a mystery - most likely impossible. So they are making amends with the government to tidy up other places not directly affected by Vale. Pieces of rain forest that have been decimated by farmers and ranchers will now be reclaimed by Vale. That sure is nice of them.  Their pink diamonds are nice too. However, how does their stewardship of the land in other countries compare? Depends on the environmental policies of that particular country. I'll examine next how far Vale's volunteer environmental conscience extends.

Pink Diamonds Come and Go.

Pink diamonds from the Argyle mine in Australia are simply spectacular to look at.  The owners of the Argyle, Rio Tinto say the mine will play itself out by 2018.  Meanwhile, the 43 Argyle pink diamonds have been put up for sale and buyers from China and India have been snatching them up with the idea that hard assets are the best investment.  The top stone pictured right is 1.25 carats, the middle oval stone is 1.10 carats and the heart shaped stone is 2.61 carats pictured at the bottom.  The diamonds are pink because of the contaminant, most likely iron.  Unfortunately, this years' lot has been sold.  Better luck next time.

A Vale over Carajas

Just when we thought companies were following the lead of jewelers like Sterling Canyon, along comes a mining operation like Vale do Rio Doce that has good intentions toward the environment they work in, yet screw it up somehow. Take for instance the Amazon Rain forest near Carajas, Brazil. Near there is a Vale iron ore mine. Devastating in most cases to the environment, yet Vale has brought the area back to life.

Not much life but just the same. This picture is the area that used to be a rain forest.  Most likely a good contributor to global warming or cooling.  According to the Vale Environmental Institute, recovery is going well. Their stewardship of the land is incomparable to other concerns. You be the judge. Looks green to me!