Russian Alexandrite with DK

[Sacha]

I was watching some nice pieces of Black Opal for sale this afternoon, went out briefly to find on my return DK and JS selling some one-off Russian Alexandrite rings!

I missed any explanation of DK's source of this rare gemstone. The colour change of the first piece, a pear cut 1.45ct stone, was rather nice, a deep blood red throughout, 768709 was the item code but can see no trace of this on their website! And then more of them appeared........:smirk:....most unusual.

 

[jacqualina]

Years ago when DK was still in partnership with Steve B. at Gemstv they had a parcel of Russian Alexandrite, which towards the end was sold off at ridiculously low prices on the website. I missed out as I didn't find out until all the pieces had been snapped up. Presumably Don and Steve kept some of the best pieces for themselves and DK is now selling some of them through Rocks & Co at an enormous profit.

 

[Oops-a-daisy!]

Here's the link Sacha (if it works)!
http://www.rocksandco.com/index.php?task=eCertificate&action=display

P.S. I guess it didn't. You need to type 768709 in the box.

A few weeks ago Don sold 2 Russian Alexandrite rings for around £6,500 if memory serves me right. He said at that time he had bought the Alexandrites from a Japanese collector. (He mentioned him by name, but I didn't make a note of it - sorry). Don did say that he'd been pestering this collector for years and in the end he agreed to exchange them for some of Don's Paraiba Tourmaline. Anyway, who knows where these current ones are all coming from?

All I know if that if I had this kind of money to spend, I'd be wanting a certificate from a reputable lab.

 

[Meeshoo]

Oh FFS how low can this channel stoop!

Well, it is possible to tell with chemical analysis whether the gemstone is from Russia so I do hope the poor buyer decides to check out the stone CAREFULLY ie no less than an AGL full report. If it's from Russia then I'd be gobsmacked.

You know a friend of mine who has been dealing in gemstones for years and specialises in Alexandrite, has never seen a Russian one (with a confirmatory lab report). That just about says it all.

 

[Sacha]

Thanks for your replies ladies. I have to admit to being more than surprised at seeing 'Russian'Alexandrite on TV at the weekend. However I was fortunate to recently see, at first hand, some Alexandrite with a very good colour shift. It had been mined in Brazil and designed and sold as part of the Mark Henry range. Until then I hadn't realised that Brazil was a source for this gemstone!

http://markhenryj.com/cat/itemlist/category/6-royale

 

[Meeshoo]

Sacha - Brazil was one of the main sources along with India. It's also been found in Tanzania, Australia, Myanmar, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Some finds have been poor quality, others have only produced tiny amounts.