Written by Carolyn Doyle for customers of
The Dorado Company
and other visitors to the azgem.com website who subscribe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Share this newsletter with friends and co-workers by printing or forwarding it to them in its entirety.

+++++

Sign up for a free subscription to the AZGem Gems monthly newsletter.

+++++

Back issues of the AZGem Gems newsletter can be accessed by clicking here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Usable Gems... and a little opinion.

Gem Spinel

Gem spinel is one of my very favorite gem stones.

Gem people usually get into the gem and/or jewelry business because they like gems stones. And most of us have a few favorites.

Spinel is a good "favorite gem" candidate for you as well.

You've probably heard the story of the Black Prince Ruby. That gorgeous, huge ruby that sits front and center of the British Imperial State Crown is actually a spinel.

Corundum (ruby and sapphire) and spinel are first cousins. ruby/sapphire is made up of the chemical elements aluminum and oxygen (aluminum oxide).

If a few atoms of chromium gets included in the crystal you have pink sapphire. If a little more gets in you have (red) ruby.

Blue sapphire has a few atoms of iron instead of chromium.

Spinel is made of magnesium, aluminum, and oxygen... with some stray atoms of chromium, iron, or other metallics, for color (magnesium aluminum oxide).

Gem spinel comes in rich reds, brilliant blues, pinks, purple, lavender, orange, green and other colors.

It has a number of good qualities, including...

• Beauty

• Brilliance

• Hardness

• Toughness and durability

• Lots of desirable colors

• Affordable

Gem spinel comes in rich reds, brilliant blues, pinks, purple, lavender, orange, green and other colors.

The only thing holding it back from popular commercial success is...rarity. There just isn't enough of it to make commercial jewelry.

So, if you're interested in something different in a gem stone with great jewelry qualities you might check out gem spinel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Industry News

The Tucson Shows were a success according to the exhibiting dealers we know. Attendance was up and so were sales.

This assessment supports our own observations. The gem and jewelry industry doesn't do this well in a bad economy.

The economy appears to be stronger that what we hear on TV and read in the newspaper. Are they looking at the world through a straw?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jewelry Dealers

The Patriot Act, passed by Congress after September 11th includes some anti-money laundering features that apply to the gem and jewelry industry.

The dollar amounts involved mean that you probably will not be impacted.

Colored Stone Magazine has the latest article on the proposed regulations at... http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/mar03/patriotact.cfm

+++++

Now is a great time to make up a few pieces of jewelry for sale and start showing them around.

There's always a market when you're selling jewelry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gem Special Offers

Check out the traffic building feature we're experimenting with. You can buy featured gems at or below our cost.

All you dealers... these featured gems are a great buy. You can increase your profits with these gems.

Carolyn Doyle

Back   Home

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to change the e-mail address at which you receive this newsletter?

Want to (gulp) unsubscribe?

Send an e-mail to carolyn@azgem.com and let me know what you want to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~