By Jennifer Heebner, Editor in Chief
In less than two weeks, many of us will touch down in Sin City, ready to ogle and shop new inventory additions and mix and mingle with industry friends. AGTA GemFair opens on Thursday, May 30, a day ahead of JCK Las Vegas, in the GEMS Pavilion at the Venetian Expo. Show hours are 9:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m. through Sunday and 9:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. on Monday.
AGTA reached out to many who are exhibiting to find out what they’re bringing to the fair. Not surprisingly, there’s a lot of good merch coming! This is a perfect opportunity to supplement GemFair Tucson purchases to prepare for gangbuster 4th quarter sales.
There’s nothing like heirloom-quality bling to gift and distract from world circumstances; stay positive and focused on the beauty and rarity of our business and perhaps your clients will, too.
Treasures that are coming to the show include rare and large sizes of gems. Returning exhibitor Mittal Brothers can be found at its massive quad booth-island—a 20 by 22 four-corner setup that’s two feet wider than its GemFair Tucson footprint—at A32079, carrying a host of impressive items. Among them are a heated 14.87 ct. Imperial Topaz from Brazil, a Peridot from Burma that’s between 40–50 carats in size, and some massive Tourmalines.
“We have a huge stock of those—including a watermelon that’s almost 20 carats,” observes Anamika Arora of the firm. “We bought the Peridot earlier this year, and we have several golden-peachy Imperial Topaz from Brazil, starting at 5 carats.”
But large and rare isn’t the only inventory Mittal offers. The company is known for a wide array of materials and fancy cuts like trillions. One client, a designer whose signature style includes trillions, discovered Mittal years ago in Tucson and spent an entire day there sourcing trillion cuts in myriad varieties.
“He picked out trillions in 20 different stones—from Morganite to Sapphire,” recalls Arora.
John Bradshaw of John J. Bradshaw specializes in rare gems, so he’ll have his own exotics to sell. A trio he is most excited about includes Benitoite, Eudialyte, and Jeremejevite, while more-familiar stones will be Zircon, Beryl, and “Sapphires in every flavor,” he says. Find Bradshaw at A28069.
Alexandrite is another rare gem that Kambiz Sabouri of Gem 2000 will have in abundance, as well as fancy-color Sapphires. “People are interested in color,” he says. “We’re getting calls every day for more unusual gems and different colors of Spinel.”
Included in his fancy Sapphire mix is a 29.02 ct. blue-green number. “The shape is in between a long and short emerald cut that is 18.8 mm by 16.1 mm,” he explains. “It’s from Madagascar and is heated.”
Find Gem 2000 at A32051.
Larger sizes of gems are also in demand for Kimberly Collins of Kimberly Collins Colored Gemstones. Collins now routinely fields calls for 1–5 ct. teal Sapphires and bicolor Tourmalines. New to her inventory are some Paraíba Tourmalines, a no-heat rubellite Tourmaline and a round 5.04 ct. heated color-shift Sapphire from Sri Lanka that ranges from hot pink to purple. “The cutting is exquisite, and it has a report from C. Dunaigre,” she says. Find Collins at A29059.
Finally, the United States Pearl Company is also returning. James Lee Peach Sr. founded the company in Tennessee in the 1970s and died nearly one year ago. Son Vincent Peach and his siblings James Jr. and Angela have taken up the reins of the business and intend to get back to its loose Pearl and strand roots. Vincent spoke with AGTA, explaining that the family is moving into the high end of cultured and natural Pearls, a departure from the lower-priced offerings his father sold.
“We have some big changes in the works,” he says. “We’ll be exhibiting at all the major shows with higher-end product and smaller booths—showcases over tables. We’re bringing white and golden South Sea and Tahitian Pearls and some amazing high-quality pink Edison cultured freshwater Pearls. I’ve been buying heavily so we’ll have high-quality Pearls to show, including some with larger 2 mm drill holes to accommodate leather cord, which is a unique option.”
Angela adds that the firm will also have some natural American freshwater Pearls from the Mississippi River. Find them at A34056 at GemFair.
For ease of sourcing, click here to view the visual directory of gems by show vendor, organized by the AGTA marketing team, and see “Rat Pack Glamour,” several pages worth of new items coming to the show in the just-released Prism Volume II.
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