I write for another blog on fridays! It’s been very educational for all of us, so far. I pick a subject first thing friday morning and run with it. So far we’ve touched on Pre-Columbian Jade, Iolite, and sapphire inclusions. Who knows what I’ll think of next, so stay tuned and drop by on fridays to learn something new. I always do

Ms Ndeye Codou Gueye is a young businesswoman who is 20 years old; she used to sell fruit juices, which she made herself and sold in public places and in busy garages. In order to improve her income she is asking for this loan in order to buy shoes, bags and womens’ clothing. Since she is without a father, her income will be used to support her mother with the budget and the running of the house.

Translated from French by Alison Le Bras, Kiva Volunteer

Mademoiselle Ndeye Codou Gueye est une jeune commerçante âgée de 20 ans qui vendait des jus de fruits quelle confectionne et quelle revend dans les places publiques et les garages fréquentés . Ainsi pour améliorer ses revenus elle sollicite ce prêt pour acheter des chaussures ,des sacs et des habits pour femmes .Étant orpheline ses revenus seront destinés à soutenir sa mère dans le budget et le fonctionnement de leur maison

In this post I will cover some questions you can use to weed through your local jewelers.

Any jeweler who knows his or her stock will be able to answer these questions.  If you frequent a chain store, you can use them to find the sales person who knows his or her stuff.  My questions target the most consistently treated stones on the market.

1. Are the blue sapphires heated?  90% or more of sapphires are heated to improve color, clarity, or both.  Easily 50% of blue sapphire would not be on the market without heat treatment.  Heat dissolves rutile needles commonly present within sapphire crystals.  Not only does this improve the transparency, it also releases titanium into the crystal improving the blue color.  Heat can also reduce the greenish color present in iron-bearing sapphire.  Without heat treatment marketable sapphires would be scarce, more expensive, and less attractive.
2. Are the emeralds oiled?  Emerald is often internally fractured.  The apparent clarity can be improved by filling these fractures with oil or other similar substances.  Except in the finest qualities, assume all emeralds are oiled. Your jeweler should instruct you on how best to care for your emeralds.
3. Are the white pearls bleached?  Just about every white pearl is subject to a mild hydrogen peroxide bleaching process.  This helps reduce the appearance of spots.  Most of what you see on the market are cultured pearls.  Your salesperson should refer to them, at least once, as cultured.  Natural pearls, fresh and salt-water, are extremely rare.

It’s important to be all-inclusive when asking these questions.  On occasion you will encounter an untreated specimen.  Your jeweler will probably be able to point out the differences to you and do a side by side comparison.  Fine quality goods will probably have documentation from GIA or AGS.

The answers you are looking for are:

• Yes.  This person either knows or assumes these stones have been treated in some way.  This is the safest answer for the jeweler.  It’s better to tell you something is treated and find out that it is not than the other way around.  To find out more, read the excerpts from the FTC Guide that I posted.  Find the tab at the top of the page.
• Probably.  Indicates that the person is aware of the prevalence of treatments.
• I don’t know.    This indicates that the person probably won’t make stuff up.  They may or may not be aware of the treatments and do not want to intentionally misinform you.  This should usually be followed by an offer to find the answer

Check the walls for diplomas.  Two of the biggest schools in the United States are the American Gem Society and the Gemological Institute of America.  Make a note of the school and google it when you get home to find out more about it, if you like.  Some schools even keep a searchable record of alumni.  GIA has one and, if you have a look, I’m on the list.  Wheee!  Some schools offer correspondence courses as well as in-house education.  A gemology degree earned in residence does carry more weight.  For example, I identified about 3000 gemstones while attending GIA with constant access to instructors, top notch equipment, reference materials, and a magnificent gem and mineral collection.  A distance student will see significantly fewer specimens.

Trust your instincts.  You may not know a lot about gems and jewelry, but you probably know a thing or two about people.  If you don’t like the answers or the feeling you get at one location, move on to the next.  Hopefully, you will end up with a short list of jewelers who answer acceptably and have otherwise made you feel welcome and at ease.

You are, as always, invited to ask me any questions you have about gems and jewelry.

This article was just brought to my attention.  I know jewelers are often viewed through the same lens as the average used car salesman.  Calling us all weasels is, well,  uncalled for.

I would like to take this opportunity to illustrate how I value jewelry and point out a few factors that may not be immediately apparent when calculating the payout.

You are selling your jewelry as scrap.  Remember when you collected cans to sell to the local scrap guy by weight?  Same concept.  Your jewelry is probably going to be sold off, by weight, to someone who buys scrap gold and silver or sent to a precious metals refinery like Hoover & Strong.

You will not get the full value of the metals.

• Precious metals markets fluctuate, sometimes wildly.  Gold my be $1200 per troy ounce today and only $1000 tomorrow.  Conversely, it may be $1000 today and $1200 tomorrow.  One never knows.  A certain amount of risk is involved and the jeweler is going to try and protect him or herself from that.
• The jeweler does not receive full value for the metals.  The refinery charges a fee for their services and pays out a percentage of the metal value based on the market price.  A scrap buyer also only pays a percentage of the market value.
• Store overhead is also a factor.  The person valuing your jewelry probably gets paid by the hour.  The light bill and rent must also be paid.
• The equipment for this is expensive.  A good quality gold tester, diamond tester and scale will cost over $1000.

Diamonds under a certain size may not have value.

• If the jewelry goes to a scrap buyer, he probably does not pay extra for small diamonds.  Anything smaller than .05ct is not worth the labor cost to remove.
• Some refineries will return the diamonds, for a fee, but that is not always the case.
• If you wish to keep your diamonds, a jeweler can usually remove them for a fee.

Colored stones are usually dead weight.

• With the prevalence of treated, synthetic and imitation stones in the market, a trained gemologist is required to positively identify them.  Fees to identify stones, in most cases, will outstrip the value of the gemstones in question.
• Colored gems often show wear which makes them unsuitable for resale.
• If you wish to keep your colored gems, a jeweler can usually remove them for a fee.

The Math

Most gold jewelry sold in the US is marked in karats. To explain where some of the numbers come from: 24kt is the element Au (gold) and stamped 999.  It is never assumed to be absolutely pure, hence the 999 mark.  For durability and cost reasons it is usually combined with other metals which reduces the amount of gold on the alloy.  Think of the karat system as fractions:  18k is eighteen twenty-fourths gold (18/24), 14k is 14/24, and so on. This is dealt with on the international level as three digit numbers indicating the percentage content of gold.  For example, 14k is also indicated by the number 585, or 58.5%.  The numbers your jeweler should use to calculate for gold content are as follows:

• 24k – 999
• 18k – 750
• 14k – 585
• 10k – 417

If you look in the newspaper at the comodities section you will find gold (24k) priced per troy ounce.  This is also called the Spot price.  Follow this link to Wikipedia for more about troy ounces.  Since your jeweler is going to weigh your jewelry in grams, you should know that one troy ounce is 31.1 grams.

You now have enough information to make the calculations yourself, if you wish.  We will assume that gold is $1000 per ounce at the time of this transaction and this jeweler pays out 75% of spot.  Grab a calculator and follow along.

Determine the spot price of gold per gram:  1000 ÷ 31.1 = $32.15  Now you can calculate the value of the karated golds:

• 18k per gram:  $32.15 x .750 = $24.11
• 14k per gram:  $32.15 x .585 = $18.80
• 10k per gram:  $32.15 x .417 = $13.40

You have 15 grams of 10k, 26 grams of 14k, and 8 grams of 18k to sell

• 18k:  8 grams x $24.11 = $192.88
• 14k:  26 grams x $18.80 = $488.80
• 10k:  15 grams x $13.40 = $201.00
• Total gold spot value:  $882.68

Payout:  $882.68 x .75 = $662.01

What reduces the profit margin for the jeweler:

• Time to calculate and explain everything to your satisfaction cost in payroll
• Recouping equipment costs, say $2 per transaction if spread over 500 transactions
• Shipping and insurance to the rifinery and their fees
• The price of gold may go down

Other Factors

Yes, it is possible that some of your pieces may be refurbished and put out for sale if your jeweler sells estate jewelry.  You may be paid slightly more for these pieces.

If a gemologist is on staff, you may be paid for your colored gems if they are of acceptable quality and value for resale.

If, for any reason, the transaction feels wrong to you you can always walk away.  If you need something explained or clarified make sure they do it to your satisfaction.  Have everything written down so you can see it, just like I showed you above.  I hope this helps take some of the mystery of selling your jewelry for cash.

If I can clarify anything further, leave a comment and I will do my best to answer your questions.

So far, I have located two templates that I like for the platform I have chosen.  I continue to hunt, however.

This template here is pretty nice looking, simple to navigate and has big pictures.  I like big pictures.

This one is also pretty slick.  I am definitely digging the drag and drop shopping cart.  I have no idea why, it’s just nifty.  Great big chunks will be removed from this one if I go with it, as well as turning that fast sliding picture thing into a slow slide show.  The demo is beyond busy.

Either one can be significantly uncluttered and pared down to the essentials.

What do you think?  Do you have any Joomla/VirtueMart templates that you would suggest?