Your posting style is quite difficult to follow, so I thought I'd break up your reply to me to make it a bit easier. Not sure what the "use caps" was about because I didn't see any caps except for the capital C in Casey - perhaps that is what you were referring to.



Very adult response Steve, very informative and helpful to the other members of the board and to anyone wanting to learn about good sites to buy colored gemstones.

I reread my responses and I don't see where I ever threw "sticks and stones" at you. I never knocked your stones or your jewelry. My issue with you is your "throwing it out there with no backup" posting style on a board that is NOT made up of experienced colored stone collectors, and I take issue with many of your "blanket" statements. That's hardly sticks and stones. If I was insulting to you, you have my apology, as that was never my intention.

This thread initially was started to share the names of "reputable" loose gemstones sites, but instead of sharing any sites or names, you just tell everyone what great luck you've had buying on ebay and how all "6" of your appraisers agree with you and give you appraisals that state your stones are worth much much more than you paid for them.

Having 6 appraisers (whose names you never share) does not mean their appraisals are correct.

Steve, you seem to be very pleased with your purchases and subsequent appraisals of your purchases - that's great, I'm happy for you, but without some backup, they are only opinions and I was only trying to point that out, once again, I hardly call that sticks and stones.



Case in point, telling "u" (us...me....???) to learn to shop for gems, but still, no real advice, no links, no vendor's names.



Finally a name! Frank Scheafer in Pennsylvania - so I looked up Frank's website:

http://www.fgsgems.com/fgsgems/item_detail.asp?Type=Sapphire

Frank is a designer and cutter - not a certified gemologist, not even a certified appraiser, in his own words AN ARTIST, that runs a jewelry store, cuts stones and makes jewelry. He's likes your stuff, that's great Steve, I'm glad he is your friend, but that still doesn't prove anything, nor is it giving the members of this board helpful information for them to use in purchasing gemstones.

So I looked at some of his stones. Example: He has a ruby that is supposed to be a Burma ruby, under 2cts, on his site for sale for over $8,000 with an inhouse appraisal and his description of the ruby is: A super Ruby... Clean...Red...Right!

Really??????? No cert, no guarantee of no treatments other than traditional heat - only that it's clean, red and right and he wants over $8,000

I'm not going to make any more comments on his stones or jewelry, I'll let the members here check out his website and draw their own conclusions. I'm assuming Frank is not one of those who travel the world dealing in rare gems because he does not have ONE truly rare gemstone on his site for sale.

All of his gemstones appear to have "in house" certification, which means nothing...apparently there are no independent gem lab certifications or even independent appraisals by a certified gemologist....sigh......



Then by all means share THAT information - don't just tell us what a great job you have been doing for 7 yrs and how your appraisers and friends agree with you.



The title of the thread is "best loose gemsites please". You have yet to suggest ONE site or vendor, just telling the board what a great job you have done getting your gemstones on ebay is NOT helpful to anyone, and in some case is actually quite counter productive.

So ONCE again Steve, my initial request to you - keep it real.

Share some vendors names that you feel are reputable, link some sites where you have had good luck finding good deals.....

OR if you want to keep your sources to yourself, that's ok too, but then don't go on and on about all your great deals on a thread that is all about SHARING that information.

Hi Casey!

This thread has really got me thinking about a stone that I bought (my first e-ring), it was not certed and I paid a lot for it. It has crossed my mind that I might have been ripped off. How do I go about getting it certed? What lab should I send it to and what is the process? And then how do I get a proper/accurate assessment for its value?

For sentimental reasons I have wanted to do right by the stone and have it set into something nicer, but I'd be sort of embarassed to send it out to a designer thinking it's something it's not.

Thanks Casey! I think I'll have the stone removed from the setting and then send it to AGL to see where I stand.

It was sold to me as a 2.15 ct red sapphire, 100% natural, earthmined, with not treatments or heat. I thought it was an emerald cut but when I learned more about cuts recently I realized it looks more like a scissor cut. I can't remember the exact clarity, I'll check what they out on the appraisal, but it is eye clean all even up close and when you hold it up to the light and let light shine through it. I don't have a loupe though so never seen it through a loupe. I do remember on the appraisal that it said the color/saturation was intense and vivid, I can't remember exactly. I really need to dig it up so I can give you specifics and I will do so tonight.

I bought it from a local jeweler that is popular in my area for diamonds (not a mall jeweler, and they are in Newport Beach, CA) and their gemstones specialist called in some stones for me when I was looking for an emerald cut ruby. She had a bunch of different rubies for me to look at in varying carats, quality, etc. and had a spinel and red sapphire because she thought those were comparable and pretty. The red sapphire is the one that sang to me out of them all, so I bought that one. It's a deep red, but in the sun it has red orange-ish flashes. I actually liked the flashes vs. the solid red rubies and the pink spinel, it just looked so special to me at the time. Still does.

I paid $3K for it set in a $500 platinum setting and the appraisal said its worth double, so at the time I thought that was a really good deal.

The first time it was set it was chipped AND I was not happy with the quality of the workmanship on the setting! They fixed the setting and polished out the chip and promised no weight was lost and the cut wasn't affected, but I don't know how that really affected the cut, looks right to me...but the one thing that has really nagged at me is that I can't remember if it was originally an emerald cut and then became a scissor cut after they fixed the chip or if it always was a scissor cut because I couldn't tell the difference back then! I also was such a rookie buyer that I didn't even look up comps to see if I was paying the right price. I just loved the stone and paid cash. Since I've joined jewelry boards and educated myself, I've had it in the back of my head that maybe the stone wasn't as 100% natural or that it may have been sold to me as something it's not, etc. They have a very good reputation in our area, but I just want to find out for sure since ignorance is not bliss for me!!!!