The following rules are critical but also necessary if you are going to be a successful collector or even to make profit from your habit:
- You have to learn and to love gems for their beauty and portability and looking as a long term investment.
- Align yourself with a knowledgeable expert. This can be a dealer, a wholesaler, or a retail jeweler. If you are going to deal with a wholesale gemstone jeweler, tell the jeweler your plan, and request that he work on a smaller mark-up than normal.
- Collecting gems is primarily suited for the sophisticated individual with a substantial portfolio. Carefully place no more than 10%-15% of your portfolio in gems. A beginning portfolio will cost you $10,000 (one or two gems). A well-diversified portfolio will normally run between the amounts of $25,000-$100,000, or higher.
- Do not buy a colored stone without an American Gemological Laboratory (AGL) Colored Stone Grading Report. As a green hand, this is critical to learn. This lab is considered the final arbitrator in "country of origin" and treatment issues. If you are paying the price for a Kashmir sapphire, Burma ruby, or Colombian emerald, make sure the stone is accompanied with an AGL certificate stating the country of origin.
- Do not buy a diamond without a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Diamond Grading Report. This is the only laboratory that is internationally recognized. If your diamond has this grading report, no one will ever argue with the lab's grading of the stone. If you are collecting colored diamonds, this grading report is vital.
- Be sure you are buying at near-wholesale prices.
- Colored Stone, to get the latest report of the global market from P.O. Box 1100, Devon, PA, 19333-9936, it cost only $18 per year.
- Lapidary Journal, to get the latest report of the global market from P.O. Box 1100, Devon, PA, 19333-9936, it cost only $24 per year
- Modern Jeweler's Gem Profile/2, to get the latest report of the global market from by David Federman, published by Modern Jeweler, P.O. Box 2939, Shawnee Mission, KS, 66201, it cost only $39.95 per year.
- View your gem portfolio as a long-term hedge, most likely two to three years at least.
- Allow time to liquidate. Gems are similar to real estate, rather than precious metals. Proper portfolio planning can alleviate this potential problem. Gems are instantly liquid, but at a discount.
- Buy the best you can afford. In up markets, "the best appreciates the fastest".
- Beware of boiler room gem scams. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Watch out for Canadian firms with fake "look-alike" certificates and bogus price lists. Never buy a stone that is sealed in plastic in a box.
- Work out a good relationship with one or trusted wholesale jewelry supplier in order to get the latest updated information and take the awareness to your market and the world economic trend. It would be helpful and more fun.