Heres my pile of beautiful gemstone beads and cut stones after my solo saturday shop-a-thon mid-show.
Thinking of making the trip to buy for your jewelry business at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show? This year was my fourth year I went for purchasing wholesale jewelry supplies, mainly beads and gemstones, both rough and finished for my handmade art-jewelry line.
I use a lot of different stones in my jewelry work and enjoying designing pieces with a variety of colors and textures, so its really important for my creative process to have a big, diverse palette to choose from when I’m envisioning a piece. It always amazes me how every year is so different in rems of what stones might suddenly be available in plentitude or what stones have suddenly become scarce. Either because mines have been depleted or china(or some other folks) suddenly purchases most of the rights to a mine or resource.
A couple of stories from my personal experience: Years ago, say 5 or more years ago, this bright green stone from Australia called Gaspeite not unlike the hardness of turquoise but ranging green to yellow seemed to be in abundance. You could easily purchase it wholesale for less than $1/gram and was great quality with very little of this brown matrix that you see above. It seemed to enjoy particular popularity in the Native American and Santa Fe-tyle jewelry scene where it was set, often along with great contrasting stones such as purple sugalite (also becoming very rare).
Earlier this spring I got a vista form my Australian Gem Dealer friend who came to see me in Santa Cruz with his usual great selection of goodies to sell. On the top of the stack of trays he had a full tray of beautiful big cabochons of Gaspeite which surprised me as he usually deals in higher end gems. He preceded to inform me about how rare Gaspeite has become and that its currently pricing at $5-10/gram. In fact, he said, he really wasn’t in a hurry to seek his collection as he predicted the price would continue to rise. Apparently the mine in Australia has become completely depleted of material, and so far there has not been any more discoveries. Isn’t it incredible that such thing can even happen?! One wonders how diamonds can be more valuable when there are still pulling them out en masse?
Well soon thereafter at The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show and whilst visiting my Auntie there, She was also on the hunt to procure some more gaspeite to create a pendant and ring to match some earrings she had and loved. She had been to the @@nd strew show but hadn’t seen but a single piece and it was in the rough and very expensive.
I agreed to keep an eye out. And to my surprise after 2 days of shopping, I don’t think I saw a single piece of it! I told her about my aussie friend and about the state of the Gaspeite supplies so she didn’t get her hopes up too much. So on omg 3rd and final day, while at a booth that I had shopped with 2 years previously at The Pueblo INN Metaphysical Jewelry Show, I suddenly spied a small plate of Gaspeite cabochons! For $20 each even! Oh My! A Christmas Miracle! I text pics to my Aunt and received an enthusiastic go-ahead to make the purchase of 3. This dealer still had her pricing based on a purchasing price made a few years back, clear. And lucky for us!
My Aunt has commissioned me to create a pendant from a couple of the pieces and she has already had a simple ring made with the 3rd at a booth at the show.
