PAID ADVERTISEMENT PAID ADVERTISEMENT JEFF HESS Owner & WHAT’S IT Appraiser WORTH? ALL-AMERICAN GEMS The Times wanted me to come up with something clever some 14 mm wide! A natural pearl! A fellow who was under for Thanksgiving week, but this is all I could come up with. contract with Mikimoto to harvest clams from the Illinois River (for Mikimoto to use as nuclei in their cultured pearl business) Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. Did you know was allowed to keep the clam meat as well as any pearls he that many rare gemstones are uniquely American as well? (See found. He found plenty, most between .5 and 2 mm in size, what I did there? O.K., not that clever, I get it.) Our national and badly misshapen. I gave the pearl to Katrina (of course). colors of red, white and blue are also found in the ground itself Its value is only about $2,000 (without the added stones), as it – in the soil and rivers all over the U.S. was described by GIA as a “button” pearl, meaning not quite First up is the blue triangular round. If perfectly round, it could stone, pictured. When a local have been worth $15,000. gentleman came into our office The little tiny red stones are asking almost $10,000 for it, I was bixbite. We have been offered skeptical. I thought we had owned $4,000 for these. They are tiny, just about every gemstone God about the size of a couple of grains ever created. This tiny blue stone, of rice, and about half carat each. (If smaller than your pinky fingernail you do the math, that comes to $7 and with an unpronounceable million per pound!) This saturated name – benitoite – could not red gem is called red beryl or red possibly be worth more than a few emerald (beryl is called aquamarine when greenish blue and dollars! (Quit looking at your pinky and pay attention.) But the emerald when green). Red beryl is very rare and typically mined very learned gent insisted, so I brought in Katrina, who has an in Utah and New Mexico. encyclopedic memory (and not just women’s stuff either, like when she said the other day, “You remember in 2003 when you The blue horseshoe is also made of a rather scarce American raised your voice to me at Jimmy and Grace’s 15th anniversary gemstone – the Yogo-Gulch sapphire from Montana. Yogo party in their backyard after you had that third glass of wine?). Gulch sapphires are prized for their clarity and brilliant color. We Anyway, she immediately schooled me on the rarity of this gem. paid $2,500 for this pin; a bit much, as we still have it. It is only found in one place – the San Benito River in California. Just about every state has some kind of gemstone. Alaska has She even knew how to pronounce it – buhNEET-tow-ite. We jade, North Carolina has ruby, Arkansas has diamond, Arizona negotiated a figure close to the gent’s asking price and it is now has turquoise, Oregon has sunstone and tourmaline; opal and in the hands of a Philadelphia jeweler. garnet too! Florida has some, as well: agatized coral, calcite The center photo is an amazing gem I have had for 25 years. and conch pearls (conch pearls are not really pearls; they are a It is an extremely rare (because of its size) Illinois River pearl, concretion – in the manner of a kidney stone, some say). If you are a jeweler, dealer, collector or private citizen, we buy fine natural gemstones from $1,000 to $1 million. Comments, questions or suggestions for this column, please send to [email protected]. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OLD NORTHEAST JEWELERS FINE JEWELRY & WATCHES | BUYING & SELLING SINCE 1984 St. Petersburg~1131 4th St. N~727-896-6656 | Tampa~International Plaza~813-875-3935 | OldNortheast Jewelers.com 544190-1.