Out now! Our April 2017 newsletter with news about new stock – labradorite and aquamarine freeforms, plus some amazing concave cuts and lovely new rose cuts pears. Also it’s double points for shopping and introducing a friend via our points scheme – plus your friend will get a 10% discount, so there couldn’t be a better month to spread the love! We’ve got 2 newsletters: the international version and the US version, depending on which shop you use.
I wrote about these in my newsletter, but I just thought I’d do a bit of an extra post on the large amount of blue topaz I have this month. The rose cut pears and ovals I’ve been offering for a while have been really popular so this month we have expanded the range to include swiss blue and sky blue topaz in a variety of sizes from 6x4mm, 7x5mm to 8x6mm. Sky blue is good value as ever, with prices starting at $2.00 for a 6x4mm pear; swiss blue still experiencing some price rises along with London Blue. Blue topaz is such a good option for adding vibrancy and brilliance without breaking the bank. It takes a superb polish, so high it can feel almost slippery to the touch. The pale sky blue makes a nice aquamarine substitute, and the swiss blue is a lovely serene colour. London blue is in a class of its own; a deep greenish-blue stone that at its best can rival blue tourmaline. It was very reasonably priced and not that well known when I first started out, but quickly became very popular indeed and supply has still not caught up with the sudden up-tick in popularity and it remains pricey. Demand is not abating and suppliers are not treating any more rough, so I think this will remain the case for the forseeable future. To shop sky blue topaz click here; for swiss blue click here and for London blue click here.
Below is the wonderful Nicole Scheetz’s yellow gold ring set with a rose cut London blue topaz pear. I love the perfect simplicity of this; the deep blue of the topaz against the gold metal. You can choose a variety of finishes for the shank.
Just the thing to brighten up a winter’s day; a treasure trove of gems. Have a look at my January 2017 newsletter for gem news and a fantastic reader offer. I have an offer every month listed in the newsletter, so why not sign up at joopygems.com to make sure you never miss out?! Or for US customers, you can read the US version here and sign up for it at www.joopygemsusa.com.
Click here to read; click here to sign up at joopygems.com
Winston Churchill famously said, ‘I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.’ An especially difficult colour for us Brits; I grew up in the 1970s and my overriding memories were of the colour brown; brown food, brown walls, brown clothes, brown bedding. Not forgetting, of course, brownouts, and everyone completely browned off. And yet it’s also the colour of, oh, chocolate, and polished wood, and my daughters’ eyes and my favourite kind of dog (a caramel coloured cocker spaniel). And, of course, smoky quartz. There’s something fascinating about this material. Like a pair of beautiful brown eyes, it can be deep and velvety, or flashing with gold lights, or sometimes the colour of an old sepia photograph. Perfect with white metal; I love the combination of silver and dark brown; it’s combusting with elegance. I now have some new lines; in addition to the 4mm and 6mm rose cuts that I have back in stock, I have added 5mm and 8mm rose cuts. I particularly love the 8mm stones, which have such depth of colour with an almost mysterious lustre. And the best part is that it is such excellent value for money! To shop all smoky quartz, click here. Prices start from $1.00 for a 4mm stone.
How exciting is that! It’s been in the pipeline for a while and it’s finally happening! My October 2016 newsletter is out – check it out for more information on the above story and gemstone news! Plus pick up your code for a free ship this month. Click here for the newsletter – or why not sign up at my website to make sure you never miss out again!
I’m really excited about this, mainly because I’ve never stocked it and in fact never see it. This is rose cut green tourmaline and it’s beautiful. Lovely clean material; really almost eye clean and therefore great lustre. The colour is a slightly bluish green but it’s a bit pleochroic, as tourmaline often is. I was just waxing lyrical a couple of days ago about tourmaline and its rainbow range and this is a perfect example. It’s also entirely the sort of thing you should snap up because I don’t think it’s going to hang around and I do think it is going to make for unique pieces. Prices are $3.50 for a 3mm and $8 for a 4mm, which is also fly-off-the-shelf pricing. Really I just want to sit here babbling ‘it’s lovely, it’s lovely’ whilst running it through my fingers. But I will restrain myself….do you get that I like this?! To shop 3mm click here; to shop 4mm click here. To shop all tourmaline cabochons, click here.
And for a bit of inspiration, how about this absolutely stunning ring from Christopher Taylor Timberlake.
I’m so pleased to have this back in stock: 4mm rose cut rainbow moonstone. Now, previously I’ve stocked AAA grade, but I just can’t get it any more. We just can’t find the rough. Obviously gemstones are a finite resource, and once they’re gone, they’re gone, unless and until, of course, a new source is found. So this is AA quality. It’s still pretty good; not completely clean, as you would expect. You’ll find some veils and small internal fractures, but in appearance it’s fairly clean, and the adularescence (flash) is good. Bear in mind that the photographs are taken with an unforgiving macro lens and blown up many times beyond their actual size, so it’s like looking at the stones through a loupe. These stones are $4.40 each, and you can find them here. To shop all rainbow moonstone click here.
I like opaque rose cuts very much indeed – the faceting adds interest and liveliness and it’s just a bit unusual. I’ve been meaning to trial turquoise rose cuts for some time; turquoise is so enduringly popular, I always struggle to keep it stock, so I really hope you all like these. I have them in a 2mm, 3mm, 4mm and 5mm rose cut, nice blue material with excellent polish. There’s the odd bit of matrix on the bottom here and there and on some of the larger stones.
Turquoise is one of the world’s most ancient gems, used in Ancient Egypt and 3000 years ago in China. It’s name derived from the French ‘pierre torques’ which means ‘Turkish stone’, and indeed for many years, the most valued turquoise came from the middle east – from Persia, now modern day Iran. Those mines are mined out now, but ‘Persian turquoise’ persists as a trade name to describe a particular strongly blue-hued colour of turquoise, without the veining and matrix that characterises the majority of commercial grade material. I never mind a bit of recessed sandy matrix, if it’s confined to the bottom of the stone; at least I know it’s real!More recently. of course, as most people will know, large deposits in the US were found and it was used as a ceremonial gem and currency by Native Americans. I can’t really do the ‘Southwestern’ style of jewellery, it’s not my thing. I prefer to see reasonably matrix-free material in a sleek, contemporary setting, but that’s just personal preference. Why not have a go and see what you can make with this? I’d love to see what people do with these. To shop turquoise, click here. These stones are stabilised, as is very common with turquoise these days (it makes for a harder and more durable stone with a better polish)
My September newsletter is now out, and if you hurry, you can grab a 15% labor day discount – valid until midnight on September 5th (EST)! Lots of info about my new 2mm rose cuts and cabochons, turquoise and black diamond rose cuts as well as a round-up of what’s new, strange and interesting in the gem world this month! Click here to read the newsletter, or why not sign up at www.joopygems.com to make sure you never miss out!
It’s a bit of a thin newsletter this month, but there’s a big, fat offer! I’ve got 100 20% discounts to give away! Grab it while you can, because there’s only 100 and the offer will run out either when they have gone, or on 15th August, whichever happens first! Go to www.joopygems.com and use code A1D1 at checkout to claim yours!
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