New CIBJO Blue Book guide for Opal by Cody

[SwordfishMining]

I see they plan to have it out this year. Waiting is the hardest part. Others deadlines can get in the way of the best laid plans of mice or men, or not.
http://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article ... 2017-CIBJO

[kjsspot]

Nice! Now to wonder how accurate they'll be...

Also... this made me think of one of my pet peeves which is when someone posts an opal and asked for advice on valuation and gets the response of, "It's worth whatever you can sell it for." ARRGGGGHHHHH that drives me nuts!! I want to respond, "No DUH Sherlock!" That's true for EVERYTHING. But citing that response every time devalues an opal suggesting there is no intrinsic value there which is a bunch of BS. It also provide absolutely NO help to the original poster.

Simple economics show that everything is worth what someone will pay for it. But there IS an underlying value. You can take a gold ring with a very well established value for the gold and one person can resell it for a different price than another based upon sales skills, manufacturing skills, geographical area, and marketing prowess. However, there is STILL an underlying base value. Just like a house, just like just about EVERYTHING. Opals too have an underlying base value depending upon color, pattern, carat, etc. The problem with opal is that is not as well documented and it's a bit more variable than something like gold with more measurable qualities. BUT just because opal is a bit harder to value doesn't mean there shouldn't be some base features to help with a general valuation.

Either way, that pet peeve answer drives me nuts.

[PinkDiamond]

That article led me to another article, Common misconceptions in gem nomenclature, where they discuss the question of synthetics, treatments, and incorrect terminology, such as calling citrine topaz, as well as touching on the precious vs semi-precious issue, which you also posted a thread on, so I'm going to go edit my reply and add what they said about them in the common misconceptions in gem nomenclature article to it for you, and leave the link to the article here.

http://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article ... menclature

[SwordfishMining]

KJ I can't remember the number of times Ive had to say that in response to people who want to "know" what the value of something is off hand without scientific study. OR A SET VALUE FOR ANYTHING like you pay for by subscribing to the gem pricing guides. Not be able to shop each year like the person on the other side of the table; I cant price others goods. As a seller i actually resent people coming up and asking me to put a price on my specialty of things, wet opals, they intend on selling. You do not need a price to collect. Being around the shows I can ball park something from the asking prices I've seen for specific things, most of which are hidden to make you see the item to see how much it is and EBAY completed listings is a viable tool. Match it to what you know about what you are selling and if you can figure it out from pictures, think what you are asking us. Nothing personal. I do it too. LOL its easiest. (Getting you to hold it is half the battle of sales.) As a mine owner I see lots of rockhounds that want their finds priced by the pros to sell into the industry cost free so they can come dig more and sell more next year (at half the "value" to get the sale) taking sales I might have gotten by going dealer to dealer offering it at great discounts. They should have an idea of what it is worth from their cost and effort and by walking to the dealers and comparing what they have then pricing the matching stuff, then the price should be better ball park. You cant get the same price for the same stone out of 3 opal sellers...

[kjsspot]

IMHO if you don't want to appraise a piece then just say you charge $ for appraisals. But saying it's worth whatever you sell it for devalues the gemstone. Yes, I know it's common practice but I feel it creates a negative impact on the opal business. 1) Yes, prices do matter to collectors. People will buy more if they feel more secure in it's value. And 2) if there's some newb out there selling, NOT giving them a general value, or starting point at least, will lead them to selling way below it's true value. This inadvertent undercutting also devalues the stone. And ebay? Too many fakes makes it hard to use as a real assessment tool.

[SwordfishMining]

That being said...I help people, but when you have an item that is not out of the big box of items at x each. there is no correct price unless the market is defined too.

[PinkDiamond]

One should never appraise their own pieces because the tendency is to over inflate the value, so a disinterested 3rd party is best for the buyer; and don't get me started on sellers who advertise RRPs that are in outer space somewhere. That's exactly why we need uniform standards, and at least this is a start for opal.