I think it would depend on how strong the color was. It is my understanding that rough was pretty available and not too expensive when it first came out, but I don't know if that was all rough or only paler material or what. I haven't seen much of it for sale myself since I missed the boat when it first came out.
On a related note, I wonder where blue-green traditional moonstones fall in this. I just got some nice chunks with decent clarity (in between the bands of inclusions ofc) and nice sheen which I'm hoping to have faceted. The color is really quite nice, but it doesn't look much like Pb-colored feldspar in terms of tone. More blue and grey in tone.
I've tried to take a few pictures with my cell phone but the color isn't coming out right--it looks murky or grey on camera. I'll try and get some better ones when I get the chance.
About 8 years ago, I saw some pretty big parcels of this material in the rough. It was pretty inexpensive, I don't remember exactly, but I would say somewhere around $1 per ct in the rough. The pieces were all pretty good size, maybe 10 to 50 ct rough. I bought a few, and may have a few left sitting around.
You are right but I haven't seen it since. I bought a few larger pieces a for about $1 per carat and had them cut.
Mozambique Paraiba tourmaline were relatively inexpensive also eight years ago and mandarin spessertite was plentiful 10 years ago but are rare and expensive now. I was wondering if more of the clean Tanzanian feldspar has been found or if it is now rare in the market.
I thought it would have gotten some interest since Oregon Sunstone has become a little more popular. I have always loved Oregon Sunstone in clean faceted colored stones. To bad the Andesine fiasco set the feldspar gemstones back a decade.
Prices are much higher for quality goods than even last year. I don't know about Quartz, topaz etc prices as I really don't buy these.
The most interesting thing I have seen so far is some new garnet from Mahange Tanzania. It's a light pink in various shades, very clean and bright. But also very expensive. I did buy several thousand dollars worth, so we will see how it goes.
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