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Is JTV (Jewelry Televison) a safe/reliable place to buy gemstones?

Hi, I'm in the market for an anniversary gift for my girlfriend. I happened to be up late last night, and flipping through the Comcast channels I came across a home shopping network called JTV (Jewelry Television). They were selling a parcel of about 12 "fissure-filled" rubies for about $50 bucks. Common sense would say something is not right about that since the whole lot of them they were claiming was weighing in about 20 carats, yet you can't even get a 1 carat ruby at Macy's for less than like $600 bucks. Plus I had bought an aquamarine ring for her last year that I don't even think would weighs a full carat, and I sepnt like $400 for it. But through this network I found like a 3 carat aquamarine for under $200 bucks. I went onto their website ( http://www.jewelrytelevision.com/), and they claim they are largest importer of precious and semi-precious gemstones in the world. They claim their purchasing power and bulk shipments/lack of any middle-men enable them to charge so little. I started reading up on different grades and treatment of gemstones... so I realize "fissure-filled" for example means they use glass or chemicals to "fill-in" cracks in otherwise unattractive and/or unmarketable gems. However even so I'm wondering now how I would even know whether I'd be getting the same thing anyway purchasing at a department store or a local jewlery store... (and paying like 10x's the price) Does anybody have any insight or knoweldge of this subject who could help steer me in the right direction? I'm tempted to buy some gemstones on their site and cast them myself elsewhere. Is this a wise investement, or would I be giving my girl something fake or synthetic?

Public Comments

1. Okay, I just checked out their website. The rubies they show are cloudy (full of inclusions and fractures) and, in many cases, the color is off. A quality ruby will be a deep red. Most of JTV's are kind of purple. Compare this JTV stone: http://www.jewelrytelevision.com/index.aspx?tid=21847&up=UP3060003&N=50%20255&Ns=p_priority|1&cm_sp=&cm_re=Results*7*1&cm_pos=25&bca=TST4852&ptid=7362&R=3211373 With this picture from a jewelry info site: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jewelinfo4u.com/images/Gallery/ruby.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jewelinfo4u.com/Ruby_buying_guide.aspx&usg=__t4JYGMbQAHJ-NDFrmw7_b6Svc5k=&h=306&w=392&sz=103&hl=en&start=31&um=1&tbnid=YLSaBHQyQ77MPM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Druby%2Bgem%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLD_enUS309US216%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1 Just a bit of difference. JTV is much cheaper, but keep in mind they get to sift through what they have and they choose for you. Your chances of getting "aquarium gravel" (that's what jewelers call poor quality stones like that) are really high. I'd go to a jeweler I can trust and he'll let me choose my own stone.