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The Hooker Emerald, Colombia

The Hooker Emerald, Colombia
Photograph courtesty of
The Smithsonian Institution

Buyer Beware

Inexperienced buyers must take whatever steps are needed to ensure that gems they intend to purchase are exactly what the seller purports them to be and that they are being offered at a fair market price.

More and more synthetic gems--and inferior grades and cuts of natural gems--are being sold to unwary buyers by unscrupulous sellers.

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Last modified 06-18-97 (jmw)