What would make you buy from Gemporia again?

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historymystery said:
I remember when Glenn Lehrer was on Gem Collector with Alex once, and Glenn made rather a disparaging remark about a stone they were selling - a loose aquamarine (can't remember the location it came from). Glenn drew attention to the stone's colour, virtually saying it was washed-out and rather lifeless and not one he'd want to use. Alex hastily tried to cover it up by lyrical descriptions of the stone in question, talking of individual taste when it came to buying gemstones, etc., but I bet he could have wished Glenn back in USA at that point. I actually felt a bit sorry for Alex.
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I can't stand Glenn Lehrer - but one thing I like about him (and Yianni) is that he'll say it as it is.

He's 100% spot on about Gemporia's Aquamarine - even their so-called 'Double Blue' Aquamarine is 'barely there' in colour. Glenn also dismisses Fluorite on Gem Collector once too, saying that it was not suitable for jewellery due to how fragile it is, and he won't work with it.

However, he's a bit hypocritical too because he'll dismiss Fluorite for being fragile - yet he'll gladly put his name to various coated Topaz stones that have made its way into 'his' range on Gemporia.
 
I notice that Hattie is continually touching her nose these days.Yes, she looks ridiculous in that silly hat. It reminds me of dreadfully chavtastic hen nights.She’s talking about the lighter and she’s already said Literally three times. She seems to bullet point each word and nod her head also. Very manic.
 
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Ostrichkeeper said:
I notice that Hattie is continually touching her nose these days.Yes, she looks ridiculous in that silly hat. It reminds me of dreadfully chavtastic hen nights.She’s talking about the lighter and she’s already said Literally three times. She seems to bullet point each word and nod her head also. Very manic.
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Hattie is always touching her nose in her shows. Has done for years.

Which might go some way to explaining her manic behaviour on screen. Possibly
 
Apart from the odd cheap & cheerful item, bought very rarely from their website, nowt would encourage me to buy from Gemporia again sadly.

They've lost my trust with their, in my opinion, manic, patronising & embarassing sales pitches.

Even before they were this bad I bought a few bits & was very disappointed when they arrived. One being a colour change sapphire ring. The stones are so small, if they do colour change I'll never see it without a magnifying glass.

The other 2 were opal rings. One was, you've guessed it dyed. The other "rare blue opal" one turned out to be tiny bits of opal stuck in blue resin. Both times the presenters failed to mention these details. Both were sent straight back.

& don't get me started on their gemstone presentations/ lectures that go on & on & on... What started off years ago as being informative with yeah a bit of sales patter, has turned into, in my opinion, a pointless, verbal diarrhoea rugby scrum money grab.
 
Ant7t said:
Was that the Mosaic Opal? aka bits of opal in resin. Never had any, but it wasn't too bad: because you knew it was a bitsa coz of it's name.
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Oh no Ant it wasn't sold as mosaic opal. I saw some of that a while before I bought the "blue opal" I sent back. To be honest the mossic opal looked nice. If I remember correctly, some of it was in ancient Egyptian/ Cleopatra style? I thought expensive for what it was, but it did look attractive.

When I bought the "blue opal" silver ring I was cough, "treated" to a video of Steve B saying how he was so lucky to have found it & bought what he could to be sold on the channel. I think there was also a boulder with it inside shown on that video too.

I watched the entire sales pitch & not once was it mentioned that it was simply opal slithers set in blue resin.
 
Pebbles said:
Oh no Ant it wasn't sold as mosaic opal. I saw some of that a while before I bought the "blue opal" I sent back. To be honest the mossic opal looked nice. If I remember correctly, some of it was in ancient Egyptian/ Cleopatra style? I thought expensive for what it was, but it did look attractive.

When I bought the "blue opal" silver ring I was cough, "treated" to a video of Steve B saying how he was so lucky to have found it & bought what he could to be sold on the channel. I think there was also a boulder with it inside shown on that video too.

I watched the entire sales pitch & not once was it mentioned that it was simply opal slithers set in blue resin.
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Amhara Opal?
 
Pebbles said:
When I bought the "blue opal" silver ring I was cough, "treated" to a video of Steve B saying how he was so lucky to have found it & bought what he could to be sold on the channel. I think there was also a boulder with it inside shown on that video too.

I watched the entire sales pitch & not once was it mentioned that it was simply opal slithers set in blue resin.
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I know they did / do a thing called Crystal Opal on Ironstone. The rock it came from as a base with a slice of Opal atop it, with resin atop that. Think it's called a 'triplet'? I have a couple of those.
 
The only opal I'm aware of that has resin in it is the Amhara Opal. It was basically crushed and reconstituted Ethiopian Opal set into hardened resin. They claimed that it was a rare blue find of Ethiopian Opal - whereas in reality, it was poor quality Ethiopian Opal that needed to be crushed and set into resin to make it suitable for jewellery - hence why it had a 'blue' hue to it.

The Mosaic Opals are Crystal Opal on Ironstone (which they used to call 'Boulder Opal' before they actually got proper Boulder Opals in stock), are thin slithers of opal on a backing, and they both have a Quartz cap on the top to protect the slither of opal. Because these are not 'proper' opals, they should be sold by size rather than carat weight.
 

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