this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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Faceting
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Is this something you would still sell or is it just to low quality for you to do that?
I would definitely not sell this one. Between the tiny size and the terrible cut, it's not even worth a few dollars. I cut for fun though, I'm really not good enough to sell since I just began faceting a few months ago, so I'm not upset at its worthlessness. My goal was to learn what cutting fire opal was like and I certainly did learn a lot with this one!
From someone who knows Jack shit about gems or anything, I'm sure you could sell this with several other gems to someone who would be happy with them.
I'm afraid I couldn't, not without sacrificing my ethics at least. Gemstones are valued based on the material itself, the weight, and the quality of the cut. If I were to sell this as a quality stone I would honestly be lying, and the buyer would be left with something that has no actual value and would get them laughed at in every jewelry shop for trying to appraise a damaged, poorly cut stone.
I know it looks pretty to a layperson, but objectively there's no value to it. Unfortunately, many sellers take advantage of a layperson's inability to tell the difference between a good and bad cut and will lie to you about quality to inflate their price - it's really important you buy from reputable jewelers who only sell genuine good stones, or bring someone who knows a thing or two about gemstones, to try to prevent being scammed like this. GIA certifications can help with making sure you are getting a correctly valued stone as well.
You'd be horrified at the prevalence of bad stones on the market taking advantage of people who don't know better.
If the deal seems too good to be true for a stone, it likely is. There are many many many tricks used to hide quality issues such as:
I have sold stones to friends and co-workers and always price them lower than market as I am not a professional. I will also refund them if they take it to a gemologist who disagrees with my price. But as the poster has indicated the stone that was cut had numerous flaws in the cutting process and is pretty but not worth much.
Still great to look at!!!!!