We Buy Rough What we buy
Rough, above all.
Once a stone is cut the price has already been decided by whoever cut it, and there is nothing left for us to be useful about.
We accept submissions worldwide. That does not mean we can purchase in every country: title, licensing, export, payment and custody must all have an approved route before material moves. The list below is what we most often consider, not an identification guide or a promise to buy. The drawings show common crystal habits, but real rough can differ.
Sapphire in every colour it comes in, and ruby. Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Tanzania, Australia, Nigeria, Mozambique.
The reds, hot pinks, greys and cobalt blues. Tanzania, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan.
Including alexandrite and anything showing an eye. Brazil, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Madagascar.
Tsavorite, demantoid, spessartine, rhodolite. Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Nigeria, Russia.
Emerald, aquamarine, morganite, heliodor. Colombia, Zambia, Brazil, Afghanistan, Mozambique.
Rubellite, indicolite, chrome, and cuprian from any of the three sources that produce it.
With peridot, opal, moonstone and the rest of the working trade.
Taaffeite, musgravite, grandidierite, jeremejevite, benitoite, red beryl, serendibite, sinhalite, poudretteite. Most arrive as waterworn pebbles with the crystal form long gone, which is exactly why they get missed. If you have been told something is unusual and cannot place it, that is a good reason to show us rather than not — the pieces that get thrown back on the heap are the ones nobody recognised.
Single pieces and working parcels both. Size matters less than colour and clarity — a clean small piece is more use to us than a large dark one.
Explore all 49 materialsWhere from
Show us from anywhere. Move it only through an approved route.
We maintain a working reference on species, habits and reported producing localities so a reviewer can understand the seller's account. A locality is a claim to examine, not proof of origin, and none of these country names means a purchase route is presently available there.
- Sri Lanka
- Tanzania
- Madagascar
- Mozambique
- Kenya
- Nigeria
- Zambia
- Malawi
- Namibia
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Afghanistan
- Pakistan
- Vietnam
- Thailand
- Cambodia
- India
- Australia
- Ethiopia
- Russia
- United States
- not listed? ask
If your country is not there, you may still submit. We will say early whether a compliant way to inspect, purchase, pay for and take custody of the material has been approved. Until then, do not ship or hand it over.
No country route is implied by this website
A named operator will confirm any local counterparty, licence, meeting place, export responsibility and payment route in writing for the case. We do not publish an unverified partner or standing buying arrangement. A submission can be reviewed while those questions remain open, but it cannot become a final offer or handover instruction until they are closed.
How it works
Five steps. You can stop at any one.
A clear sequence from first photographs to an in-hand decision, with no pressure to keep going.
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Send photographs and weights
A phone is fine. Use daylight and a plain white surface. Show the same material dry and briefly wet only when it is safe to wet; keep opal, porous material, coatings and anything uncertain dry. Wetting can change apparent surface and internal features but cannot establish identity, treatment, quality or value. Tell us where it is from, roughly what is in the parcel, and what you are hoping for.
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We look at all of it
Every parcel gets read properly — not skimmed. We separate what you said from what can actually be observed in the media. We may describe apparent colour, shape, transparency, zoning and visible features, but photographs do not establish species, treatment, origin, title or value.
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We may come back with a conditional range, or with a straight no
If the evidence is sufficient, a buyer may record a non-binding range and explain the assumptions behind it. It is not a valuation or an offer. If we cannot proceed, we will say so plainly. A final offer can be prepared only after physical inspection and compliance approval.
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Agree a verified handover route
Do not post, export or hand material to anyone because of this website. If the case can proceed, a named operator will give written instructions for an approved person and place. Receipt, seals and every transfer of custody are recorded. You can stop before handover.
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Paid by bank transfer
Only after in-hand inspection, compliance approval, a written final offer, acceptance, verified beneficiary details and recorded custody. We do not pay in cash or cryptocurrency. Payment is authorised and reconciled by reference to the case and bank evidence.
What we will not buy
Seven things, stated up front.
- Synthetic, lab-grown or flame-fusion material of any kind.
- Composite, doublet, triplet or glass-filled stones.
- Dyed, coated, irradiated or diffusion-treated material.
- Imitations and simulants — cubic zirconia, moissanite, glass.
- Myanmar-origin material under our present sourcing policy, regardless of the stone's merits.
- Rough diamond, which carries its own export regime entirely.
- Anything where clear title cannot be established.
Heat-treated material is a different matter — we do buy it, and geuda in particular. We just need to be told, because a parcel sold as unheated that turns out not to be is a problem for whoever owns it next, and that is eventually us.
How we price
On what a cutter can get out of it.
Rough is priced on what a cutter can get out of it, so the questions are colour, clarity, shape and how a piece will orient — not weight on its own. What a piece cuts is a function of how it is oriented, and that is the cutter's judgement.
A photographic range, if one is given, records assumptions, confidence and what could move the range. It is not a valuation or offer. Physical inspection may change the view in either direction.
One thing we will not do
Understate a value, misdescribe material or create paperwork designed to avoid tax, duty, licensing or export controls. The responsible declaration and supporting evidence must be recorded for the actual route before material moves.
What we need from you
The facts needed for a responsible decision.
- Your own account of how you obtained the material and who has authority to sell it.
- The mine, gravel or locality you were told, whose land it was and any licence that applies — clearly stated as a claim if you do not know first-hand.
- A dealer or mining licence number where the route legally requires one.
We do not ask every person for identity documents or proof of address at the public-submission stage. If a later compliance step genuinely requires one, a named operator will explain why, who can see it, how to send it through a separate verified route and how long it will be kept. Never put identity or bank documents in the public upload.
Who we are
A small buyer, and we do not pretend otherwise.
We buy only what we can responsibly inspect, document, pay for and take into custody. We would rather build a standing relationship with a few people than make one large purchase and disappear. We do not claim a cutter, processing location or local economic benefit until it is documented for the particular case.
We are based in Australia. If you would rather start small to see how we deal, say so — a single piece is a perfectly good way to find out, and it is how most standing relationships in this trade actually start.