Whether you are a collector or looking for that very special and highly exclusive gemstone for your beloved this holiday season, Tip Top Gem is extremely proud to present a stunning Burmese ruby with perfect medium tone and superb cutting for outstanding sparkle. This is a very clean gemstone and ranks a high VS+ in clarity. The saturation is top-rate and can easily be called vivid red. This type of top-rate ruby- truly fine quality- was far, far more common when I started in the trade eight years ago. Now it seems we see fewer and fewer truly outstanding Burmese rubies. There is word on the street that as Burma opens up to the West, Gemfields (
http://www.gemfields.co.uk/) is attempting to gain control of the major mining areas and this does not bode well for those of us dealing them but for long-term value it will be good for the consumers who already own them. This is not an investment and I am not representing it as such, and I urge you to beware of anyone selling a colored gemstone as an investment. I am not an investment advisor.
http://s10.postimage.org/qu2egl6mx/stoplight_red_119a_burma.jpgAs you might know from reading our auctions or if you know us from our eBay time years ago, my wife and I literally hand-select every gemstone that we sell. This is a lot of work for us- I would guess we looked through several million dollars worth of inventory at a Burmese ruby specialist's office before finding this dazzling, compelling stone that has an urgent presence. It literally grabs your attention with its charms.
http://s11.postimage.org/6qv6nn3z7/stoplight_red_119b_burma.jpgAs a GIA Graduate Gemologist, I understand my obligation to disclose any treatments that a stone has. As with virtually all ruby coming from the Mong Hsu mining area in Burma, this ruby has been flux-healed. This is NOT glass-filling! This treatment did not change the color of the stone and the stone is natural. A while back a highly respected gemologist Richard Hughes did an article on this treatment. It is permanent and requires no special care. Indeed, ruby is one of the hardest and toughest gemstones on the planet.
http://www.ruby-sapphire.com/flux_healing_mong_hsu_ruby.htmRuby has always been associated with love, passion, and desire. Whether you want to rekindle an old flame or throw some petrol on the current fire, this magnificent ruby will happily oblige. How many gifts have you given that have become outdated, old-fashioned, or cliche? This gift will last your lifetime and hers, and will become an heirloom for the next generations.
http://postimage.org/image/yedrqc1sb/29fdc6a3/Speaking of heirlooms, my wife Melanie and I are very experienced in making heirloom quality jewelry. If you visit our blog at
tiptopgem.com and click on the gallery you can see some of the jewelry that we have made. We are not a stocking jeweler an we don't need a huge mark-up to make your ring, pendant, or earrings. When we make a piece of heirloom quality jewelry, it is yours and yours alone.
Many of our clients see a design that they love online. A Google image search is your friend and it can open your eyes to the possibilities. Try "ruby pendant" or "sapphire halo ring" and you will see amazing possibilities. But make sure to stop by tiptopgem.com because you will get a feel for how we do things on this end. We work with some top artisans to create a dream. All you need is the dream, our job is to make it happen.
http://s7.postimage.org/a46bmwhgr/stoplight_red_119d.jpgAs a GIA Graduate Gemologist living and working exclusively in the gem trade and being surrounded by the largest wholesale gemstone markets in the world, I can offer a unique service. Generally a fine gemstone like this one is sold to a wholesaler who then sells to a wholesaler in a consuming ("wealthy") country like Switzerland or Germany or Canada or the United States (never mind that 17 trillion in debt...smoke and mirrors always fixes those things, right?).
Finally, after many stone dealers have fed their families from the mark-up it makes it's way to the end consumer. But unless you live in a very wealthy part of a large city you will never, ever see a ruby like this one in your local store. The wholesaler needs cash and the jeweler wants to buy with credit. Unless your local jeweler can demonstrate that he has the ability to sell extremely high-end goods, the wholesaler will never "memo" (loan) a stone like this to him.
You don't have to pay for everyone to eat along the way. That is why my wife and I are here- not in a consuming nation, but in a cutting center and wholesale stone center. You and I work together to short-circuit the system. We cut out everyone in the middle so you get a very fine gemstone at a fraction of the cost of walking into a Hatton Garden jewelry store in London, or a boutique jewelry store in New York City or Zurich or Beijing. There is just no need to pay for their electricity, for their rent or mortgage, or for their exclusive fancy displays and burled wooden stands and their polished, well-paid salespeople. I admire and respect all of these things and whenever my wife and I travel we enjoy visiting these places. But I can't do business with them. They want a stone on credit. In essence I am his bank- but my desire has always been stones. Since I was a very small child I would sift through the stone in our driveway looking for gems- small cavities with tiny crystals inside. Ohio has little in the way of real gemstones- look in any rock and mineral book like I did in my youth. Oh to live in Arizona!!! What a list of stones!!! Or California. Ohio has calcite, shale, stuff that just has no appeal. I was crushed.
I am blessed to be here in Bangkok- and why blather on about this? My point is that you can give me a call on the phone or you can e-mail me and I will be eager to help you. I enjoy everything about gemstones and I am thrilled to be a gemologist. This is my work, my hobby, and my passion. There isn't a question that you have that I would not be happy to field and try to answer. Give me a try.
dave@tiptopgem.com
http://postimage.org/image/qf6fj7tyf/4a5836df/The specifications or details of a stone is what everyone wants to know, but it's not what makes a stone special. I remember long ago my father was selling a business that he had built over many years. An enquiry came and the potential buyer wanted to know how he came up with the price. As is par for the course he listed the inventory, land, building, latest improvements, and then "the business". Those of you who are familiar with real estate know what this is. It is a type of good-will that you have created with your clients over the years, and what keeps them coming back. The buyer gave the retort that "you are talking about blue sky. I won't pay a dime for blue sky." My father explained in return that "you can't finance blue sky. The banks just won't do that for you. But it's the difference between a business that makes money and one that does not."
I can say that this stone has a perfect medium tone, that is has been expertly cut by a ruby specialist for outstanding brilliance, and that it weighs 1.19 carats. I can say the dimensions are 7.01 x 5.42 x 4.24mm deep. I can tell you that the hue is very precisely slightly purplish-Red to very slightly purplish-Red. I can tell you that the clarity is very high at VS, or very slightly included. But none of these things tell you what you want to know. If you have ever heard a seller's description of his automobile and then gone to see it you know what I mean. An automobile that is garage-kept, never driven in the winter, owned by non-smokers who are neat as a pin will have exactly the same description and the same pictures as a 20-year-old heavy metal band bass guitar player. The presence of the first car is different than the second. It has amazing presence. It has alluring presence. Stones are not any different. My wife Melanie and I selected this gemstone out of hundreds of them for its presence. It's what you feel when you see it. It's what draws your eyes and your heart in.
This auction will last for 14 days. This stone will be sold for the highest bid. The auction will end Friday, November 23rd at 5:00 PM GMT. Here is your time reference:
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/The opening bid is $4,990 and the bid increment is $10. Bitcoin is accepted. Bank wire is also accepted. Escrow is no problem. You can choose the laboratory to examine this stone and issue a report. The winning auction price does not include shipping via secure courier service nor insurance. Please feel free to contact me about any of these expenses or about import tax. Of course, contact me with any questions you have at all and I will do my best to answer them!
-Dave
