3 More Gems Factors
The first 3 factors to understand and consider before you begin to assess the value of the gems are:
- Beauty
- Rarity
- Durability
Read about the first 3 factors here!
Value of Gems
Demand
Because of the beauty and rarity of gemstones, there is a demand. In different cultures, there is a demand for different variety of gems.
For example, in the Asian culture, we value the imperial green jadeite-jade. 98% of jadeite-jade is produced in one mine in Myanmar, Pharkant. As the imperial green quality is very rare, the supply is hard to meet the demand. Hence, this material is highly sought after.
Another example is diamond. “Diamonds are a girls’ best friend.” This slogan by the marketing agency of De Beers has popularized the use of diamond in an engagement ring so much that it created an in-flux of demand for diamonds.
High quality diamonds like a 5 carat, D colour, Internally Flawless and excellent cut piece is rare and hard to come by.
Tradition
The royal crown jewels are an important set of jewellery because it tells the history of a nation. The royalties are an icon to the nation and perhaps even a role example for others around the world.
When Prince William and Prince Harry got married, the trend of using a blue sapphire and aquamarine for an engagement ring went up tremendously. During these seasons, the demand increased. Some quality-grades of the gems were very difficult to get too.
- Portability
This is an interesting factor. Portability can also be understood as “transportability”. Gemstones are small and lightweight. It is even better when set into a piece of jewellery. One can wear it and travel around the world (with insurance of course!).
One of the stories that we have heard from our Director, Mr. Tay Thye Sun, happened in 1997. It was during the Asian financial crisis. A lady from Indonesia who looked really normal and unnoticed came into his gem testing laboratory.
She look a piece of diamond for testing and evaluation and found that it was about USD5000 at that time. She then went on to test another diamond of about 1 carat in weight. This diamond was evaluated to be worth about USD15,000 at that time.
The next thing we know, she took out a small pouch and poured out all the diamonds in that pouch. All in all, the diamonds in that small little pouch was worth a few million dollars (there were 5 carat diamonds too).
So now we can see how portability can affect the value of gems! In fact, gemstones are seen to be very good commodities to “invest” in to keep value because of this factor!
In Conclusion…
Knowing these 6 factors can then help you to understand the value of gems in a practical manner. In the 3rd part of this series, we will share with you some practical things you can do to gain market experience.
