I am now back from Kabul. It was an interesting trip to say the least.  I kept a daily journal which reached 124 pages from my trip.  I had a great time, met some amazing people, and learned a lot by teaching gem cutting.  I have brought back several spinel, sphene, emeralds, peridot and clinohumite gemstones.  I will be adding them in the next few days so please stop back frequently.

Its been a while since I posted.  Internet service in Afghanistan gets a little bit tricky to say the least.  You will be online one second and off the next.  I have seen some amazing gems so far and have had some great experiances.  Some of the highlights of the gems are shown at the link below for you to view.  Afghanistan is a beautiful land, filled with charming people and great food.  The reality on the ground, and the reality that the news stations show to you are very different.  The students I have are great men who are thirsty for more knowledge to better their gem and jewelry careers.  The history of gem cutting and jewelry production in this regions stretches back thousands of years.  I am happy I came and each day is a new adventure.

I will be traveling to Afghanistan in the next few days to help train gemstone faceting to a few Afghani students.  I am excited to help develop the internal infrastructure in Afghanistan and help the people of the country harness their vast gemstone resources.  Afghanistan has a rich history of gemstone mining with gemstones such as: emerald, ruby, spinel, tourmaline, kunzite, morganite and lapis lazuli.  Until recently the country has had to send almost all of the rough gemstones to other cutting centers around the world.

By developing cutting houses in-country the Afghan government is hoping to develop jobs and a stable income for its people.  Many of the country’s population live on less than $1000 a year so providing any sort of long term job growth will assist the population greatly.

I have wanted to travel to Afghanistan since I was very young.  The country has many natural
wonders, but at the same time, 30 years of warfare have taken a devastating toll on its people.

While in Afghanistan I will be looking for a few things to bring back for myself and anyone who wants me to locate rough or cut gemstones.  I will also be researching projects that could benefit the gemstone industry in Afghanistan to implement with Green Gem Foundation.  For anyone who is not familiar with Green Gem Foundation please read my previous post here.  If you have not already done so, please sign up for my newsletter on the right hand side, to receive updates during the trip.

To contact me to reserve a piece of rough or a cut gemstone, please contact me here.

I will have access to email, skype, cell phone and paypal during my trip so feel free to contact me anytime.

Sincerely,

Jim Rentfrow

“The Green Gem Foundation is a new non-profit organization established to promote the development of ethical gemstones. Green Gem promotes community and economic development in gem producing regions with the primary goal of keeping as much wealth as possible in the source country. The communities are built by establishing direct connections between the purchaser and retailer to the miner and gem brokers in the country of origin. Green Gem Foundation does not directly carry or promote gems or gem rough that have been processed in intermediate countries. This represents an actual break from traditional supply lines.

In our rapidly shrinking world and developing global economies, and especially with the advent of social media, personal connections enhance the romance the stone. Each stone has a story, a tale to tell, and that story – the romance is the direct connection to social responsibility. It is important to be able to tell that story. A gem without a story, well, it’s just a gemstone.

The commercial outsourcing of gems to cutting houses in China, Thailand, and Sri Lanka is the industry standard. These lower cost gems, with increasing quality of cut and design permit sorely needed profit, to the jewelry industry in the US. This industry standard will be slow to change, but as our world shrinks, and more consumers insist on ethically sourced gems, Green Gem Foundation will help to provide that link and alternative to this rapidly growing segment of the consumer market.

Our current focus: We are a non-profit, soon to be tax-deductible organization. 85% of all donations support projects on the ground in gem producing countries. Only 15% goes towards overhead. We are already funding two women’s groups in Tanzania and a fresh water well project through MSABI. We will soon be funding a cutting school in Madagascar. To prove success, it is important to focus on specific projects. We are currently concentrating on Kenya and Tanzania. Gemstone market education and supporting local industry wherever we can is the main goal – and where possible always keeping the cash in country.

There are several levels of funding support for jewelry stores, jewelry designers, gemstone faceters, miners and rough dealers – plus the general public. Jewelry stores, for example, we provide in-store display materials, arrange for promotional presentations, and may provide showcase gemstones for short periods of time. The support donations go directly to one of the projects we are funding and the store can then sell their own inventory – while being able to show first hand the direct support of specific grass roots projects in gem producing countries. The store will be featured with a page on our Green Gem website, if desired. This frees up the store inventory while doing a whole lot of good in the process. Gorgeous photos by Jeffrey Hunt will also be available for in-store display or promotion – or online too. Our hope is to identify miners, faceters, and brokers at point of sale when the Green Gem stones are sold. It tells the story and completely answers questions customers may have who are concerned about ethical practices – and what the store is doing about it. The specific projects may even be targeted.

We currently have 30-40 gems that are branded specifically as Green Gem Stones, that number will grow slowly. All the stones have been directly sourced by Lisa Elser or Jeffrey Hunt or by prior arrangement with a known ethical miner – Doug Menadue of Australia for instance. All these gems have been faceted by donation. 100% of the eventual sale will go to the foundation. They are quite valuable as show case pieces right now though, and although for sale we are not currently concentrating on that aspect. The donation of faceting time from faceters has been humbling.

What will Green Gem look like on the ground in Africa? We hope the Foundation will become a readily approachable organization where a miner, or broker can be provided the best option to sell stones – or at least an important additional option. Many times the miners have only one choice – export to China or Thailand at low sale costs. Stepping back and looking at the whole project it’s easy to see that what we are really doing is building community. Highlighting that direct connection between the buyer and the source will strengthen and expand this community – simply by insisting to tell the story.

Jeffrey Hunt
Lisa Elser

End Quote”

You can make donations to the organization by using the button below.  I have donated some time to cut gems for the foundation.  In the future I will be taking a more active role in the foundation as well, because of my belief in what GGF is trying to accomplish.

I recently found a lot of contact forms stuck in my spam folder.  If you have been trying to get in touch with me recently and have not heard from me I apologize for the delay. I have responded to all emails and will check my spam folder daily from now on just in case any other email goes there.   Thanks for visiting and sending me questions on rough and cut gems!

Sincerely,

Jim Rentfrow

Sapphire
Cut/Shape:cushion Cut
Weight:4.12cts
Measurements:8.5×7.6mm
Enhancement:Heated AGL cert
Price: $3100

4 carat heated blue sapphire

Tanzanites

Weight:9.35 carats
Size:11.2×11.2mm
Shape:Square Cushion cut
Heated only
Price: $3350.00

9 carat tanzanite

Weight:8.23 carats
Size:14x10mm
Shape:Oval cut
Heated only
Price: $2750.00

8 carat tanzanite

Contact me asap to reserve your piece

This lot represents some of the best garnet I have seen in the last 5 years in terms of medium color saturation combined with cutting eye clean stones.

All of these pieces of garnet represent garnets that are as good if not better than the two One World Gemstone pieces from early last year.

One of the best examples of extreme rhodalite color. Should cut to 5 carats and take 4 hours.

Should cut a 5 carat marquis, or custom oval. Total cutting time 4 hours

Should cut a 4 carat shield or trillion. Cutting time 4 hours

SOLD

3.1 grams. Should cut 5 carat emerald cut. Total time 4 hours

Great color stone. Should cut to 5 carats. Pear or trillion shape. 5 hours cutting

3.7 grams. Could cut any shape. 4 hour cutting time.

4.2 grams of rose colored garnet goodness! Lots of choices on cut. 4 hours cutting estimate

The biggest piece at 4.5 grams. Should cut 7 carats at 6 hours cutting time.

This is one of the better purple umba sapphires I have seen.  The stone has a nice medium purple color like amethyst.  Not too dark and not too light either.  The needles in the gemstone helps to prove the untreated nature of the gem.  The sapphire weights 1.54 carats and measures 8.5 x 5.5mm.  The price is $400 a carat or $600 plus shipping.  The stone is cut in a rectangular cushion design.  Contact me to reserve the sapphire.  The clarity of the stone is SI and looks much better to the naked eye than these pictures which are taken at 10-30x magnification.

1.54 carat purple sapphire

With both incandescent and daylight shining into the stone