A friend of mine is selling an uncut Ruby of 109000 carats. It has color transparency "Purplish-Red Opaque" approximately 30.3 x 19.3 x 28.0 CM.
It has SKR, POP, Laboratory report, certificate of origin, Ownership, and Insurance Appraisal.
After faceting the increase in value should be around 1500% or at least there is an appraisal which attest it.
I am not an expert in the field but it seems an interesting opportunity. What are the risks ?
Thanx
Jack
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To say that this particular ruby is an "investment opportunity" is a bit oxymoronic. There are quite a few of these large stones floating around in broker-space, and almost all are problematic. If the stone is 109,000 cts, it weighs ~ 21.8 kgs, or roughly 50 lbs. Dimensionally the size of a large shoebox.
The problem with stones like this is that they are not clean enough to be cut and polished into fine jewelry; and not sufficiently large to be a museum piece. When you see the word "Opaque" that's the clue that it is not of sufficient grade to be desirable. For example, we have access to extremely large emeralds, ten kgs in weight, and you can read a newspaper through it. That's an investment opportunity! And the miners know it.
Throughout the years, scammers have used these large stones (to start banks, hypothecate them, etc), had all the certs done, and had some hapless GIA grad extrapolate on a valuation. Unless the appraiser is a cutter, and has "court-witness" status, his opinion is, well, simply an opinion.
To have stones fully papered, someone somewhere has to give a finished valuation and work backwards. And, the way that the credit markets are in these days of de-leveraging, you need a "knocks-your-socks-off" stone or stone holding to get anyone interested. Possibly, its real value may be in bartering.
These large stones are great fun, though, but usually dead ends. I have seen stones in places like Sierra Leone where the chief has built his hut over a piece of corundum which is the size of an old VW. That's a museum piece that will never come out of the ground.
Good luck.
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It's not that you need an independent expert, you need an expert who is a cutter and who has the designation of a "Court-Witness." This status is critical. Will is quite right about the flim-flams that abound.
As a point of reference, we are in the wholesale gemstone business. We have a few mines; deal with diggers, miners, accumulators. You see and hear just about everything as to the "scamas".
To get any stone ready for acceptance as a collateral asset will cost you tens of thousands of dollars, before you even get to the bank due diligence costs. If you know what you are doing, there is an incredible spread with colored stones; but, not so much with the heavily controlled world of rough diamonds. Not only has the Internet brought the world to us, it has also brought Antwerp & London to the bush.
As a rule-of-thumb time-saver, never engage in buying stones unless you can speak with a reliable person who can actually put their hand on the goods. Gemstones are not a paper business. It's hands-on and in person.
Good luck,
Richard
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And to add a bit to his comments. The only deals that I have pushed forward are stones that have been cut and polished. The appraisal must come from an appraiser that is recognized by our bank. Uncut and unpolished stone deals never make it across our desk. None of my banks want them.
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