3 replies to this topic

[totonose]

What is the best way to sell a privately held very high quality ruby

5+ carats.

[10X]

Many things factor into the price of Rubies. Is it natural, is it heat treated, where is from, color, clarity, etc. Do you have documention to go with the stone?

Richard Hughes is a very famous ruby and sapphire dealer. You might find some helpful information on his site.

http://www.ruby-sapphire.com/home.htm

He used to work for Pala Int'l which you may also want to check out.

http://www.palagems....oisseurship.htm

[denverappraiser]

Quality and market are nearly everything in Ruby. Prices for 5 caraters range from under $10/carat to over $10,000/carat. This difference is largely lumped into what you are summarily calling ‘very high quality’. Without WAY more information we can’t begin to answer your question. Good places to look for comps will vary depending on what you have but you’ll find a lot of material offered for sale on ebay for example. Most towns have gem shows that pass through from time to time and you’ll see quite a bit or ruby material at these. Thaigems.com sells quite a bit in the low to medium kind of ranges if you can get a better handle on what you have. Whether or not you can realize the prices being asked by competitive sellers, or even whether THEY can get those prices, is an entirely different question. Asking a lot is not the same as getting it any more than calling it very high quality makes it so. This is a classic example where a professional appraisal would be helpful.

Colored stones (In the jewelry business this term means all gemstones other than diamonds) are difficult to sell in any case. The second big component is going to be your marketing strategy. How much you can sell something for is NOT purely a gemological property and ruby is an especially extreme example of this. Buyers, sellers and markets vary dramatically. For example, on a nearly weekly basis I see people coming back from Afghanistan with rubies purchased over there as an 'investment' under the belief that they will bring a handsome profit on resale in the US because the seller showed them some chart somewhere saying that they were worth a lot here. In some sense they are but I have YET to see this plan work out. It's always in the details. The most the Afgan guy could get was the amount he sold it for and HE was a full time professional gem dealer in a market full of willing customers who are actually looking for gems. Amateurs trying to trade in a broader market usually get far less. Buying is easy, selling is hard. As with the above, professional advice would help here unless you're aiming for the bottom end.

There are a few generic questions that apply to nearly every deal like this:
Where did you get this stone? Who told you it was ‘very high quality’? Why do you believe them? For that matter, why do you even think it’s a ruby?

Edited by denverappraiser, 17 May 2012 - 06:29 AM.

[davidelevi]

I think the OP left about 6 years ago and never came back, so don't hold your breath for an answer, Neil