If aquamarine was spared the price pummelings of the 1981-85 jewelry industry recession, it is no thanks to America. There the gem’s sales have been the weakest in decades—and getting weaker.
Mass volume U.S. jewelry manufacturers have jilted this blue beryl in favor of an abundant and less expensive look-alike, irradiated blue topaz. “It’s a matter of economics,” explains Antoine Habib, Kaiser Gems Ltd., Los Angeles. “What costs manufacturers $30 to $60 per carat in bulk aqua costs them only $4 to $8 per carat in bulk blue topaz.”
Elsewhere in the world, however, near-giveaway prices for blue topaz have not shaken jewelry-maker loyalty to aqua. If anything, they have strengthened allegiance to it. “In America, manufacturers want color, they want look,” a dealer says, “But abroad they want lasting value.”
By lasting value he means long-term appreciation. That’s something irradiated blue topaz has always found it difficult to give. But now market surfeit and consequent cost-cutting threaten to make it the gem equivalent to the LCD watch, a technological marvel that once commanded hundreds of dollars and is readily available today for less than $5. In less than a decade’s time, the price of blue topaz has dropped from $40 per carat to as little as $4 per carat. That kind of remorseless depreciation of value turns off jewelry buyers big in spender countries like Japan seeking strong asset value, as well as beauty, in the gems they purchase.
Aqua, on the other hand, is a proven performer in Asia and Europe. But even in coquettish America, prices for fine aqua during the worst of the recent recession held their own at levels only 20% below highs reached in 1980-81.
What’s more, aqua has rebounded from these modest lows on the international market. That’s why dealers like Habib are selling so many fine aquas abroad. So should Americans develop a taste for fine aqua, they are in for a shock when they find out what it will cost to indulge this appetite.
The Price Point Trap
America has never been a haven for fine aqua. Even in the brief heyday of gem investment back in 1980-81, few of the breed’s best made their way into portfolios. Instead, medium-color larger stones were sold to investors who had no idea that aqua color could rival that of the deepest blue topaz. Such stones were almost always sold abroad at unflinching prices that easily compare today. Indeed, it has been aggravated by remains the same chronic weakness against other currencies such as the yen. Before the advent of irradiated blue topaz, America had to make do with low-end and commercial grades of aqua. Indeed, most of it from Brazil, a dumping ground for pale junk aqua.
America’s reputation as an aqua dump was primarily its own fault, the result of what one dealer calls “a rigid price point orientation.” He means essentially this: U.S. jewelry makers don’t buy according to quality, they buy according to price. No wonder, then, that fine aqua, which xan presently command as much as $400 per carat at wholesale in 3-to 5-carat sizes, is still considered a semi-precious stone here. For those who think $100 per carat is highway robbery, it is. But this kind of thinking has steered large numbers of superb aquas away from our shores. In their place, we have seen deep blue irradiated topaz.
Ironically, however, lack of experience here with fine aqua has discouraged consumption of that deep blue irradiated topaz, called “London Blue,” that apes deep-color aqua. Jewelers here accuse this topaz of looking phony. Instead, they want medium sky-blue colors. But anyone who has seen collector specimens of Brazilian aqua from the famous Santa Maria deposit knows this gem can possess an extraordinarily deep electric blue that invites comparison to dark irradiated blue topaz. From time to time throughout this decade, some comparably deep aqua has been mined in African countries such as Nigeria and Zambia. But very often deep blue African stones are grayish or steely blue and lack the warmth of Brazil’s best.
Unfortunately, few Brazilian aquas boast color saturation akin to even medium-tone blue topaz in small sizes. For deep colors in small sizes, the market has been increasingly reliant on Africa. Today, in fact, many smaller stones sold in Brazil are African.
Priced Out of Reach
Even if America had a change of heart with regard to expensive aqua, it is doubtful the supply situation for fine stones would improve. First of all, production of fine aqua is spotty. Secondly, the little fine aqua that is available has been priced out of reach of the American market.
Understandably, this domestic dearth of top aqua leads many to conclude it just isn’t around. Not so. “It’s just that many are gobbled up by Brazilian dealers for domestic consumption,” says John Ramsey, Ramsey Gem Import Inc., San Diego. According to Ramsey, the Japanese are also ‘big buyers of the finer qualities.'” And,” Ramsey reminds, “don’t forget the Germans,” an omnipresent force in the Brazilian gemstone market who take the complete gamut of aqua qualities. Between Japanese and German aqua consumption, there isn’t really too much of the fine stuff left to go around. What’s left can cost Americans $500 to $600 per carat if it’s super-fine quality. Such stones are eye-clean, a necessity with pastel-color gems, and have robust shades of blue that are a far cry from the anemic aqua hues one sees in so much U.S. jewelry. “With stones so pale, it’s no mystery why blue topaz has caught on so,” Ramsey says.
Nevertheless, there are some who think fine aqua is far too expensive relative to fine blue topaz. They assume that because Brazilian aqua is commonly heated, it should be easy to produce fine aqua as it is irradiated blue topaz.
That’s just not so. For while deep-color blue topaz can be produced almost at will, deep-color aqua can’t. Heating is used to permanently remove common green overtones from stones—not deepen their color. Similar green overtones in many African aquas cannot be removed by heating in ovens, a distinct advantage for the Brazilian variety. Yet even so, Brazil can’t produce enough fine aqua to meet world demand. Ramsey reports finding increasingly more African stones in lots of so-called Brazilian goods. “Don’t judge the world aqua market by the sluggish U.S. demand,” he cautions. “Once off our shores, the aqua market is ferocious.”
Please note: this profile was originally published in 1988 in Modern Jeweler’s ‘Gem Profiles: The First 60’, written by David Federman with photographs by Tino Hammid.
The 70.4-carat Brazilian aquamarine shown in the header image was cut by Joseph Crescenzi and is courtesy of R.C. International, Bellevue, Wash.
