Gemstones
Every stone we sell, by type
What each species is, what actually moves its price, and what it has realised in our saleroom. The catalogue rotates with each session; these pages do not.
Sapphire
Saturation before size. A vivid one carat stone outsells a pale two carat stone, and the gap widens as weight rises.
No sales recorded yet
Ruby
The red itself. A ruby that reads pink in daylight is a pink sapphire wearing a better name.
No sales recorded yet
Amethyst
Even colour through the stone. Amethyst zones badly, and a good cutter orients the rough to hide it.
No sales recorded yet
Citrine
Saturation. Pale lemon and deep madeira are the same species at very different prices.
No sales recorded yet
Topaz
Whether the blue is treated, which for practical purposes it almost always is.
No sales recorded yet
Garnet
Which garnet it actually is. Rhodolite and almandine look alike in a small photograph and do not price alike.
No sales recorded yet
Emerald
Colour first. In emerald, colour carries more of the price than clarity does.
No sales recorded yet
Peridot
How little brown is in the green, which is the whole of the colour grading here.
No sales recorded yet
Diopside
Weight against tone. Under two carats is usually where the colour still reads green.
No sales recorded yet
Fluorite
Colour banding, which is a feature of the species rather than a defect.
No sales recorded yet
Opal
Whether it is a solid stone, a doublet or a triplet.
No sales recorded yet
Diamond
Natural or lab-grown, stated on every lot. This is the single largest determinant of value.
No sales recorded yet
Quartz
Cut quality, which is what a quartz lot mostly comes down to.
No sales recorded yet
Ranges are realised hammer prices from completed sales, GST included and with no buyer’s premium. They record what buyers paid; they are not valuations.