Bruce, to check into the $1 billion figure, I sent a note to a person called Fred Ward, who is an international gem expert and has published a book specifically on Rubies and Sapphires.
fredwardgems.com
His opinion is that the US import figures should be relatively accurate -- he says that duty only applies if the stones are set into jewellery, so if you go only by imported stones and extrapolate that the US market is a third of the world's, the figure is much less than a billion. Mind you, the billion and two billion dollar figures do not state whether they refer to their value in finished jewellery. The likely explanation for them to be accurate is that they do. When you go from stones to jewellery the price of the stones rises dramatically, especially if they are sold by branded, high end companies. Compare the prices on rings sold by Blue Nile in the link below. If you look closely, you see that a 1/4 carat ruby ring commands a premium of $700 over a similar garnet ring -- which would value the ruby at $2800 US per carat over the garnet, and size-wize, 1/4 carat is very common for rubies, with the colour on those rings not certified as being top colour (rather "medium, slightly purplish red").
bluenile.com
Fred Ward thinks that for whatever visually attractive stones are found, the market will buy all there is and grow to the supply. So, probably innovation would be required to market all of the lower quality stones (used as decoration in a very large jewellery piece or something of the like) and betting on selling these would be somewhat of a gamble, whereas higher quality stones would be easy to sell although True North could make much more for them if it succeeds in their plans of selling them as branded jewellery. |
