Hello to you all,

The July list is now up!

A very happy 'Fourth of July' to all our American clients - have a great day!!

Our specialty this month is a selection of Imperial Topaz stones from Ouro Preto in Brazil. Now, I confess I have scant knowledge in Brazilian Topaz, having never handled this material before but we have been asked by one of the leading mines in Brazil to test the market with their material. Up to now, they have been cutting everything they find. So, they have graded the stones according to the color, clarity etc and priced them accordingly. I would like to get any positive feedback from you regarding their pricing, grading etc. If these stones prove to be popular, we will include them in our range. Please view these individual stones on our 'What's New' Plate

Aquamarine still proves to be very scarce but we have some really nice, smaller preformed stones on offer. These stones have a good color and many are paired for earrings. I am expecting new material in again in August.

Some more of the superb Pink/Red Spinel has also arrived! And, some are over 5 cts in size. These stones are from the famous deposit at Mahenga, north of Morogoro, Tanzania. These are stones NOT to be missed. Tanzania has rapidly become the world leader in Spinels and these pink/red stones are fetching extremely high prices when cut. May I suggest you browse the internet on these stones to get some background knowledge.

Some new, larger Tanzanites also arrived. Not many, as the rough appears to be scarce again, maybe everything produced is being cut.

As always, a great selection of Tourmalines (still our biggest seller) and some more of the Glass-filled Ruby rough from Madagascar.
Post -Once again we have had to change our postal service as Postnet now are having some problems handling parcels.
So, now all orders under $500 will be sent by registared airmail, insured Orders over $500.00 will be sent by Fedex.

Has anyone looked at the"Archives" column, shown at the end of most of the lists? These are prices from our lists dating around ten years ago. It is to show you the rate gem rough has increased, or, in the case of Tanzanite, decreased in value.
Remember, prices of rough depends on the current market conditions of the day. I can guarantee you that prices will be going up very shortly, especially with the medium sized stones.

Please note - If you are viewing the website using a laptop computer, (apart from the Apple laptop), the colors portrayed are very poor. I have found this to be the norm after checking numerous lap tops. The older desktop screens still seem to give the most accurate colors, so, when ordering, please read the descriptions of the stones. It will help you somewhat with the colors.

We are on Skype, should you wish to call us.

Shipping and handling
All orders UNDER $500 will be shipped by registered airmail, insured
This is the cheapest method but takes up to 16 working days
depending where you are. You can also request your parcel to be sent by Fedex
$25.00 (minimum order) to $99.00.........$ 18.00
$100.00 to $199.00.................................$ 21.00
$200.00 to $500.00.................................$ 26.00
All orders OVER $500.00 shipped by Fedex, insured.
The safest and quickest method to send your parcel usually takes just a few days,
depending where you are and well worth the small extra cost
USA, Canada - $51.00
Europe including Britain - $57.00
Australia, New Zealand - $71.00
Japan, Thailand - $56.00
Fedex charges depend on the oil price and the Dollar and may vary slightly
The above charges relate to JULY 2010

This list can also be found on www.africangemstones.biz, www.africangemstones.org, www.africangemstones.info, africangemstones.us
www.africangemstones.asia

All of the plates have at least two photos and the lists are long - please be patient when downloading.

For a quick survey, click on any of the Plate Buttons above, and a brief description of what is on that particular plate will be shown.
ROUGH GEMSTONES 0N THE JULY LIST
Single stones available in -
Citrine - Brazilian
Rhodolite - Tanzania, Brazil
Amethyst -Brazilian, Uruguayan,
Tourmaline - Mozambique, Congo, Nigeria, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya
Chrome Tourmaline - Tanzania
Green Garnet - Tanzania
Spessartite Garnet - Tanzania, Nigeria
Demantoid Garnet - Namibia
Color-Change Garnet - Kenya
Chrome Tourmaline - Tanzania
Fire Opal - Brazil, Tanzania
Spinel - Tanzania
Sapphire - Tanzania, Nigeria, Madagascar
Iolite - India
Danburite - Madagascar
Aquamarine - Mozambique, Nigeria
Peridot - Pakistan, China
Ruby - Madagascar
Zircon - Tanzania
Tanzanite - Tanzania
Imperial Topaz

Parcels in
Citrine, Amethyst, Tourmaline, Aquamarine, Scapolite, Peridot

Semi-facet/cab material in
Zambian Amethyst
Aquamarine
Red Garnet
Kunzite
Blue Topaz
Pink Tourmaline
Heliodor
Rutilated Quartz
Black Tourmaline in Quartz
Ametrine
Moonstone


Happy cutting!!
Hilmar and Tamzin Bosch

A word about us.....

For many of you, this will be the first time you have dealt with a company from Africa and you will be wondering whether this has been a wise move. Africa, unfortunately, is NOT known for its efficiency nor for total honesty! However, African Gemstones LLC is a registered American company but we are now operating out of South Africa.
And, to put your minds at rest, a little history about us!
I am of Dutch nationality and have been in the gemstone field since 1961. I was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and, as a youngster, traveled extensively throughout Africa. I completed my education in Harare, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). After two years at university studying geology, I decided my future was with gemstones and left in 1963 to obtain my Fellowship Diploma in Gemmology from the Gemmological Association of Great Britain. I started the Gemmology and Gemstone Cutting courses at the Harare Polytechnic and was head lecturer for a number of years, as well as operating our jewelry manufacturing and gemstone cutting factory.
During this time, our company dealt exclusively with numerous gemstone firms in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, supplying them with rough gemstone material from Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In 1982, together with my wife, Karen, and daughters Morwenna and Tamzin, we emigrated to South Africa.
Since 1982, we have been selling fine rough facet-grade materials exclusively by Mail Order to all parts of the world.
Africa is still the major source of fine rough gems and new deposits are being discovered continuously. Today we obtain fine rough from countries such as Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi, Tanzania Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Madagascar, Brazil, Bolivia, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Zimbabwe. Our rough is very carefully selected, much is preformed to some extent to ensure top clarity and the rough has been well selected for shape.
Please note, that for photographic purposes, some stones have a light artists varnish applied to the surface. This helps you in determining the clarity of the stone where it has not been tumbled-polished and shows the true color in the photos. It can be easily removed with any solvent.