Optimism was in the air at the Tucson gem shows this year after a quiet 2024. Dealers at several shows revealed mixed sentiments about business, though most said buyers foresaw a favorable 2025.
“Clients seem to feel upbeat,” Josh Saltzman of Nomad’s told Rapaport Magazine at one of the fairs. “People are serious about buying for stock, so that says they have a positive outlook.”
Val Ferreira De Souza of Brazilian Gem Center had a similar experience with his clients. “Customers are in a good mood and think they’re going to have good sales this year,” he said.
Still, there are roadblocks to success, mostly mirroring market activity from 2024. These include ongoing sourcing difficulties and looming US tariffs, according to dealers.
Short supply
“Good material is still hard to get,” explains Eric Yen of Yen’s Jewelry & Accessories. Yen is known for high-quality, natural-color cultured freshwater pearls in metallic purple, as well as natural-color blue cultured Akoya pearls, both in large sizes with clean surfaces. Buyers also shop his wide inventory of ombré strands that shade from white to black to golden cultured South Sea pearls.
Dealer Ankeet Shah of Continental Pearl agrees that top-end goods remain difficult to acquire, though an upside is emerging: Prices for cultured Akoya pearls are stabilizing.
Jeremy Hakimi of Colorline sells rubies and sapphires, and knows there is a lot of competition in the market for the best inventory. “Replacing stones is always a challenge,” he says. “We move a lot of merchandise at tight margins, and we can’t replace items at the prices they’re selling for. Sticker shock — for us and clients — is at an all-time high, especially when customers are asking for unheated gems.”
The cost of Mandarin garnet has gone through the roof, according to Saltzman. “Prices have doubled in two years. After Covid-19, supply dropped, and we’re seeing less Nigerian material in the market. It’s popular in China, and it’s hard to find nice material to replace what we sold at prices that work.”
Gaby Pauly acknowledges the challenges of the supply chain as well. The roller coaster of prices for raw materials even has clients questioning the future, says the co-owner of Pauly — The Art of Carving, a maker of carved-gemstone sculptures and small collectibles. “Everyone is saying, ‘Omigosh, where are we going and what is happening?’”
Tariff troubles
For some dealers, impending tariffs by reelected US President Donald Trump threaten business profitability. That’s the reality for Larry Rodgers of Lavish Jewelry Cleaner, who is hearing this from Canadian clients despite their interest in his products.
“There’s demand for private-label jewelry cleaner, but Canadians are telling me, ‘I can’t buy your line because it’s made in America,’” he says. “Trump tariffs are affecting my orders.”
On February 1, Trump unveiled plans for an extra 25% tariff on Canadian imports over the country’s handling of illegal aliens and drugs that were allegedly finding their way into the US. Then, in mid-February, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on all nations, which means the US will charge an import tax on countries’ goods to match each one’s tariffs on American goods.
For Lori Gadola of Joyla Jewelry, sales are returning to pre-pandemic levels, but the uncertainty surrounding tariffs remains troubling. She makes her beaded and vermeil designs in India, which now means that whatever tariff India charges the US will be the sum she must pay on her imports.
“It’s an unfortunate feeling, and there’s no clarity on what’s happening,” she says. “Nothing feels stable or predictable.”
The best sellers
Not surprisingly, fine qualities of Big Three gems still sell well, as do pinks and greens — perfect for Wicked aficionados. Moonstones are seeing good demand thanks to a new deposit out of Madagascar, and so are top qualities of other materials across the board.
James Carpenter of Unconventional Lapidarist moves many cabochon cuts of wavellite — a green mineral found in Arkansas — as well as Andamooka opal.
Clients of gemstone dealer Gemorex International are less fixated on price and type of material, according to sales and marketing director Sourabh Lashkery. “People [haven’t been] looking for a particular stone but for high-quality gems in general, including rubellite tourmaline.”
The AGTA x RapNet solution
Sourcing those quality goods got a touch easier on the opening day of the AGTA GemFair show, when a year-and-a-half-long collaborative effort came to fruition. The new RapNet Gemstones trading network debuted, giving colored-gemstone vendors a new virtual platform for selling their wares.
Like its diamond counterpart, the network mandates that sellers adhere to the sourcing and disclosure guidelines that the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) outlines in its Code of Ethics and Principles of Fair Business Practices,
Though sellers needn’t be AGTA members to participate, the reception among that demographic was warm, presenting hundreds of potential new users, according to RapNet chief operating officer Saville Stern. RapNet takes no commissions from sales on the platform, but users must pay a subscription fee to join. As of press time, there were 47,000 colored stones up for sale on the network, and three sales had taken place within a week of the debut.
“One sale was in the high five figures,” reports AGTA CEO John W. Ford, Sr. “And that’s a sold stone — not memo.”
Main image: Moonstones from Boston Gems. (Boston Gems)
