What is the average cutting prices for precious gemstones in OZ?

Since serveral years i am a gemstone faceted and in the rough enthousiastic. In the past i have bought small rough via ebay and have it cut in Thailand. They did a their job well and for reasonable prices. I found that cutting company via the internet and was quit dissapoint about the few cutters i could find at that moment.

I still have more than enough rough stones ready to be cut in my collection. The rough i have: over 100gr nice chuncky clear pieces of Turkish Diaspore (aka Csarite/Zultanite), 30gr color change garnets most under 4ct, tourmaline, demantoid garnet, green/yellow beryl and grandidierite (= my avatar).

Are the cutting wages based per finished carat or work hours?
What is the average cutting prices for precious gemstones in OZ?

edit: Until i have reached 10 posts i cant post the link to my OneDrive with pictures of the rough

Generally, the cutter's wage is determined by price per ct of a finished stone while other cutters will charge an hourly rate because they will cut fast and by cutting what is called "money cuts". Basically you will get what you pay for, in most instances, so homework is important.

I charge by the hour and i am really slow at cutting.

There are different factors that have to be considered, Sapphire is hard so takes longer to cut than members of the quartz family as an example. Also do you want a unique cut, if so there is design work to be considered and maybe a test cut if the final rough is valuable.

I normally charge by the finished weight for larger stones, small stuff by the hour, high value 10% of finished value plus the valuation cost.

Keep in mind the weight of the rough and the fact that up to 80% will be lost in cutting, ie a 10ct rough will cut a 2ct stone, maybe a bit larger if the rough conforms well to design.

The citrine in my avatar took 20hrs to cut and it's 6ct finished, do the sums

I had the stones cut by Lambert Industries in Bangkok. I requested a very symmetrical cut for a high luster. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the result to show. They really did their best and the result was there. They were all relatively small stones under 2cts. The largest cut was 4.5ct.

When my trip to Australia is final, I will make a stopover in Bangkok for a few days. This time I would like to bring the stones personally and discuss the possibilities. Last time I arranged everything by mail. I would also like to watch the process for a while. As a newbie I find it difficult to read a stone, which shape is best, how does the color look best and what about the total of carat that remains. I also have no idea how long it takes to cut a regular shape. I hope to learn this there.

@Dihusky: Nice piece, great finished result. Is it an eye shape? How many small stones can you do a hour? just to get an impression

YEAH! i have 10 posts....

To whom it may concern, OneDrive pictures of the rough: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aioj3XpOaWl3ilqibYTubila4WbE?e=Lz6zvR
Form proposals and ideas are more than welcome

Dutch said:

I had the stones cut by Lambert Industries in Bangkok. I requested a very symmetrical cut for a high luster. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the result to show. They really did their best and the result was there. They were all relatively small stones under 2cts. The largest cut was 4.5ct.

When my trip to Australia is final, I will make a stopover in Bangkok for a few days. This time I would like to bring the stones personally and discuss the possibilities. Last time I arranged everything by mail. I would also like to watch the process for a while. As a newbie I find it difficult to read a stone, which shape is best, how does the color look best and what about the total of carat that remains. I also have no idea how long it takes to cut a regular shape. I hope to learn this there.

@Dihusky: Nice piece, great finished result. Is it an eye shape? How many small stones can you do a hour? just to get an impression

Click to expand...

Thank you Dutch

The work I do is very different from Lamberts, small stones are not my market though I do them occasionally, I currently have a commission for a pair of pear cut, 1.5-2ct finished sapphires for earrings, I'll cut these so they are virtually identical in size and a unique cut which I have adapted for these pieces, specifically to suit the rough and maximise the yield, I'm also test cutting the design before I start the Sapphires, Lamberts won't do this sort of work.

I'm not interested in volume cutting, Aussies who do, may cut up to 4 stones per day depending on size and material, these are 'money cuts' simple, quick and look good, I'm also not a full time cutter.

The Thai's mainly use 'jam peg' machines so accuracy will not be a target, if you want better quality cutting look to Sri Lanka, they cut on Stirling machines where they can select accurate angles and the quality of cuts they produce are much higher than production cutting from Thailand, not discrediting the Thai cutters, they are very good with the machines they have. There are a number of Sri Lankan cutters who have been trained by Australians.

If you have large, high value stones and you want unique, high precision cutting so you can sell the finished gem for a premium, then look for the top Aussie Cutters but be prepared to pay a premium price.

The age old comment of 'you get what you pay for' sits well with the gem industry.

The Citrine's cut is 'Cleopatra's Eye'

Had a look at some of the photos and you have some interesting material.

Coincidentally, 2 days ago I watched a movie of GRS on ruby hunting on youtube. The stones were cutted by a Sri-Lankan.
The movie: https://youtu.be/GBitCUZexyI

Sri-Lanka is a gemstone mecca. I really think alexandrite is a fantastic stone. Just like some other color changing types. Alexandrite is regularly found in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately not the emerald color changing to red like from the Urals Russia and India or the beautiful blue changing to ruby red in Brazil. But these are also the top colors of Alexandrite and almost impossible to afford!

Thank you for the compliment for the stones. I bought all via ebay and the diaspore via whatsapp from a seller I know via ebay. Buying from a photo is more difficult than in real life. For example, I bought diaspore which turned out to be rock crystal after testing by NEL (Dutch gem test lab like GIA / IGI / GRS). This was quite a miss. Fortunately, I was able to sell the 5 stones total 13-14cts, cut by Lamberts, for a good price by the precious cut and high luster they had.

If I ever had the budget I would like to go to Peshawar Pakistan or Afghanistan for tourmaline and aquamarine. Besides money, I must have a reliable contact there. In the past i had mail contact with an American of Pakistani roots who make his living through gemhunting and buying from the source around the globe.

oftopic: the sapphire hunt content from Tim from Rubyvale QLD of Tim's Adventures at youtube is nice to watch https://youtu.be/1hDOWosO7Zw

Dihusky said:

The age old comment of 'you get what you pay for' sits well with the gem industry.
The Citrine's cut is 'Cleopatra's Eye'

Click to expand...

I know that the Dutch diamond cutter Asscher has studied the Excelsior or Cullinan diamond for several years before he started working on it.
Never seen that cut before. Is it your design?

Dutch said:

Dihusky said:

The age old comment of 'you get what you pay for' sits well with the gem industry.
The Citrine's cut is 'Cleopatra's Eye'

Click to expand...

I know that the Dutch diamond cutter Asscher has studied the Excelsior or Cullinan diamond for several years before he started working on it.
Never seen that cut before. Is it your design?

Click to expand...

No, the design is available on the web, not many cutters that I know have tackled it. I re-levelled all my finishing laps before I started as there is no room for error, all the radiating facet edges line up, pavilion, through the girdle to the eye star facets.



The gem is 14 x 9.5mm, sorry about the dust

I was given a parcel of zircons and garnets I thought were obviously from Harts Range/Mud Tank. By the fractured and poor quality I assumed they were possibly from a 'tag-along' tour, like the one operating out of the Gem Tree C/P. They were from an elderly man going into aged care - as it turned out he had done exactly that, been to Gem Tree and did the tag along, probably 10 years ago.

Amongst the stones I found a handwritten note "faceting $80 per ct". Thinking about it, there is nothing out there so the very few gemcutters in the fields would be in high demand by tourists, especially with the amount of easily found zircons and garnets.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the market fits the demand - in normal circumstances $40 per ct is not unreasonable for basic cuts. BTW eventually found enough to cut matching .75 ct zircon SRB ear-rings plus a .9 ct SRB garnet for the relatives.