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By Morgan Beard • Editor-in-Chief

It was a quiet year at the 2006 Tucson gem shows.

Although some promoters reported high attendance, the aisles were visibly emptier than in previous years, and many vendors said that their major clients never came.

That didn’t make it a bad show. In fact, at the end of the day, most exhibitors said they did about the same as the 2005 shows, even with fewer buyers coming by the booth. The buyers who made the effort to attend did so because they were ready to spend some money.

“I think this time we had a pretty diverse crowd, more so than usual,” said Kuntal Shah of Gems District, exhibiting at the Gem and Jewelry Exchange (GJX) downtown. “It was slow as in traffic, but the customers who came in were serious customers, long-term customers.”

Pastel pink gemstones, like this morganite, were a popular trend in Tucson. Photo courtesy Wild & Petsch GmbH.

Shah speculated that many of the high-volume buyers didn’t come because they’ve shifted their business to Asia, both in sourcing and in manufacturing. The ones who came to Tucson were looking to set themselves apart. “We have to keep getting new stuff, exotic stuff. That’s what keeps us in the market,” she concluded.

Michael Traurig of “Jayson” Traurig Brothers, across the street at the American Gem Trade Association’s (AGTA) GemFair in the Tucson Convention Center, agreed. “Dollar-wise, I think we’re even with last year, but there were fewer people. . . . It doesn’t mean business is bad; it means business is changing. People know where to find merchandise now,” so they only come to shows for things they can’t get from their normal suppliers.

“There are more serious buyers, and they are buying more high end,” said Mohsin Mansoori of Gem Lustre USA Inc., exhibiting with the Gem and Lapidary Dealers Association (GLDA) in its second year at the Starr Pass Marriott. “They don’t come just to look. There is less traffic than a show like GJX, but the people here are buying more, and in better quality.”

The key to success was for a company to position itself as a destination. The ones that had unique merchandise, or that were known for a particular product, drew in the buyers looking for those items. Companies that weren’t known, and didn’t market themselves beforehand, were left out in the cold. Buyers weren’t interested in browsing.

One show that seemed to suffer from this tendency was the Worldwide Gem and Jewelry Show (WGJ) at the Hotel Arizona, formerly the Radisson City Center. A new show this year, the WGJ was filling the space left vacant by the GLDA show when it moved to the Starr Pass Marriott, several miles outside of town. Many of the companies at WGJ were former GLDA exhibitors who wanted to keep their exhibit space, but after a year without a show in that location, pulling the buyers back in was tough going. One exception was the Idar-Oberstein Group from Germany, a collection of dealers known for their fine cutting and the excellent quality of their gems.

Quality was also the watchword at the AGTA’s GemFair. More than any other show in Tucson, dealers there reported that their finest gemstones were selling — top-of-the-line material in conservative cuts — with relatively little interest in the medium or low-end goods. The exception to that was unique or unusual offerings that were either new to this show or difficult to find elsewhere.

Aquamarine was a hit at the shows, especially high quality stones with fine color. Photo courtesy Wild & Petsch GmbH.

Gemstone sales did yield some trends. Across the board there was a strong demand for earth tones: orange, yellow, green, and even the yellow-browns and yellow-greens that don’t usually make retailers’ “to-buy” lists. At the top end, there were sales in Burmese and Pakistani peridot and also spessartite garnet, but less in yellow or orange sapphire — probably due to worries about beryllium diffusion. There were also strong sales in garnets that straddled the yellow-green or yellow-brown color line, and green tourmaline in general. Sales of the translucent orange Mexican fire opal were spotty — some dealers did well with the color, while others saw little interest.

The other standout trend was pastels of any shade, especially yellow, blue, pink, and green. The Brazilian green quartz being sold as prasiolite or as “green amethyst” was a hot seller for those who had it. Opaque blue, green, and pink opals fit the bill for many buyers; the pinks did particularly well when they were cut without any veins of matrix running through them, so that their color mimicked “angel skin” coral.

Demand for aquamarine was high for all quality levels, with several exhibitors reporting customers actively seeking out that gem specifically rather than simply the color.

A shade that garnered many requests was magenta, especially in sapphire. “It used to be years ago that [a sapphire] had to be either a purple or a pink,” said dealer Michael Couch of Michael Couch & Associates, who reported that he did well with pink-purple shades this year. Another gem that benefited from that trend was rubellite tourmaline, especially in large sizes.

Although it remains a niche item, rutilated quartz is becoming more popular and harder to get, especially with Asian companies buying in large quantities at the source. Now there may be added demand.

“There is an increase in interest in rutilated quartz, especially in Europe,” reported Roberto Aguiar of CMP do Brasil. “Cartier has a ring with rutilated quartz, so then people started using it.”

Clash of the Paraibas

Copper-bearing tourmaline from Africa raised a fresh controversy over use of the name “ Paraiba .” Photo by Mikola Kukharuk of Nomad’s Co.

Tucson has traditionally been the place for gem companies to launch their new finds. This year, as in the past few years, there was very little that was truly new to the market. Perhaps the biggest head-turner was a new find of blue tourmaline from Mozambique that contained copper and manganese, giving it a bright, electric blue color.

This is the world’s third major discovery of copper-bearing tourmaline. The first, back in the late 1980s, was in the state of Paraiba, Brazil, and it later became known as Paraiba tourmaline. The original find was mined out, and prices started to rise; today, a top-quality piece of Paraiba tourmaline can go for more than $15,000 per carat.

The second major discovery, in Nigeria in 2001, had a similar color but much less saturation. The introduction of a second cuprian tourmaline to the market led to a brief skirmish over whether or not it could also be legitimately called “ Paraiba,” given that the chemical composition was so similar to the original find. But the material was quickly mined out, and the issue faded.

This year, the skirmish threatened to become an all-out war.

The opening volley was the Gemstone Industry Laboratory Conference (GILC), held in Tucson just before the shows opened. An annual event, the GILC is a forum for representatives of the world’s major gemological laboratories to discuss issues that affect all of them. A big agenda item at this year’s conference was whether or not it was appropriate to certify any copper-bearing tourmaline, regardless of origin, as “Paraiba-type.”

“Paraiba is a copper- and manganese-colored elbaite. It may be called by the trade Paraiba tourmaline; it’s a common name,” said Thomas Lind, a gemologist and vice president of the International Colored Gemstone Association, who was at the GILC. “The question is, [can we call tourmaline from Africa] ‘ Paraiba’ tourmaline, because the name could indicate an origin. If, from the beginning, this type of tourmaline was called ‘paraibaite,’ we wouldn’t have had this debate.”

Attendees agreed at the conference to research whether or not it’s possible to consistently give a country-of-origin report on these copper-bearing tourmalines. Early results indicate that it will be.

According to Lore Kiefert, laboratory director at the AGTA Gemological Testing Center, “The Brazilian [tourmalines] have a high copper and a low bismuth content, compared to the Mozambique stones, where we have seen copper lower and bismuth high. . . . The Nigerian ones contain lead as a contaminant. Those are easy to detect.”

Nomad’s Co. of Bangkok, Thailand, sidestepped the controversy over use of the name Paraiba by selling its copper-bearing tourmaline as “Neon Blue” tourmaline. Photo by Mikola Kukharuk.

The GILC is not a governing body, which means that each member laboratory will make its own decision about how to certify these gems. But even the possibility that “ Paraiba” would become a trade name rather than an indicator of origin had many dealers up in arms.

“Paraiba is a locality. It’s not a color. I can’t take a Tanzanian ruby and say it’s from Mogok [ Myanmar], even if it’s more beautiful than a Mogok ruby,” insisted Robert Van Wagoner of Beija-Flor Gems. “ Paraiba is the state in Brazil that the mine is in, and it’s still producing. It shouldn’t be an argument. The argument shouldn’t exist.”

René Arnoldi of Carl Friedrich Arnoldi turned the origin argument around: “If Brazil was producing tanzanite, what name would you give it?” he asked, referring to the fact that the blue zoisite was named for the country where it was discovered. “We should not be afraid of using this name [ Paraiba] for all tourmaline that is of that composition. There’s nothing wrong to call a stone by that name. It helps us to promote a stone at a time when less and less material is being found.”

Predictably, the dealers’ opinions depended on which side of the argument they were on: The “old guard” that had invested heavily in the original Paraiba tourmaline wanted to protect the mystique of that deposit, while those with stocks of the new material wanted to push prices as high as possible. Companies that sold both took a more conciliatory approach.

“I don’t mind if you mention the name Paraiba, as long as you say Africa,” said Paulo Zonari of RC Gemas Ltda. “I think the fashion is to say African Paraiba, but not just Paraiba. Unfortunately, I’m sure some companies are doing that.”

Paraiba tourmaline was at the center of a controversy over copper-bearing tourmalines; the gem pictured is from the original deposit in Brazil. Photo by Robert Weldon. (Also pictured at top)

Visually, the tourmaline from Mozambique can be more saturated than the cuprian tourmaline from Nigeria, but still not as much as the Brazilian. For experienced gem buyers, it’s usually possible to tell the difference between the Mozambique tourmaline and the Brazilian by sight.

Supply is uncertain at this point; the consensus seems to be that there is plenty of lighter material available, but very few large or highly-saturated stones, and that supply will get tighter as time goes on.

Prices for the Mozambique material at the show reflected the difference in color from Paraiba, and also those expectations of rarity: Lighter goods ranged from $500 to $900 per carat, while top-end stones were fetching $3,000 to $4,000 per carat. Some dealers were asking more for exceptional pieces, but buyers were cautious, perhaps waiting to see where prices end up.

“I don’t expect to see African material top $3,000 unless it has saturation similar to the original,” said Zonari. “But it should never be confused with the real thing, because our [Brazilian] material is unique, and everybody in the trade should know that.”

Other new gem finds at the show were of a much smaller scope. Adding to the general confusion over Paraiba terminology was “ Paraiba quartz,” a clear quartz with bright blue inclusions of a mineral called gilalite scattered throughout the crystal like confetti. Although the name is primarily a reference to the color of the inclusions, the material is actually from the state of Paraiba in Brazil.

Andrew Gulij of Gemfix introduced his Gem-Intrusion™ cut at the show. A hole is drilled into the pavilion of the gemstone, and a colored stone rod is inserted into the tubes, as in the pictured ametrine. Photo courtesy Gemfix.

Another interesting find was a collection of chrysocolla, a blue gem silica, from Indonesia. The material, a translucent blue with a hint of green, is not coming out in large quantities, but an Indonesian company called Paradise Stone has stockpiled the rough and is hoping to create a niche market.

Likewise, the famous Candelaria Hills in Nevada have yielded a new pocket of variscite, a striking gem similar in appearance to turquoise. Richard Shull of Out of Our Mines, who mined the material with his partner, Helen Constantine-Shull, and Chris Rose of High Desert Gems and Minerals, said that they hit a vein, dug it out, and now have rough and cut gems for sale — the first time in many years rough has been available.

Sabbagh Brothers of Brazil had a parcel of ambligonite in a very rare color: pastel green. “It’s the first time in 25 years of business I’ve seen this color,” Clement Sabbagh said of the gems, which come from the northern part of the state of Minas Gerais. “They usually have a yellowish color. This is very unusual.”

At the end of the day, this year’s Tucson shows may not set any records, but most of the people who came went home satisfied. How exhibitors there will adapt to the changing realities of the marketplace — or whether they need to — remains to be seen.

Cara Woudenberg, online editor, contributed to this article.

SEE MORE: Walking the Aisles: A personal perspective on Tucson.

March/April 2006 • Style: A 24-Hour Muse - Barcelona Designers • Selling: Quiet on the Western Front - A Review of the Tucson Shows • Online Bonus: More on Barcelona • Online Bonus: More on Tucson • In This Issue