Notes on Quality

Pay attention to the price and the description.  I do not gouge or inflate, but I do need to sell at a small profit in order to stay in business and make it fun.  I do sell many different qualities of stones because people have different needs and while many of my customers seek top quality stones and find them here, many of my customers are looking for less expensive stones for a particular project.  One buyer purchased lesser quality stones from China at a huge price discount and were upset because the stones were not suitable for the fine jewelry they had envisioned.  If you need high quality stones, pay the price and get high quality stones, but please don't purchase lesser quality and expect gemstones.  I really love you, and am very grateful when you buy from me, but I don't want upset customers, and especially I hate doing returns.  It takes all the fun out of online selling and is very discouraging.  I really try not to over-inflate the quality of my stones in my product descriptions so please read carefully, looks at the photos, and please realize that a lower price is a great indicator of lower quality and vice-versa.  If you have any questions about a listing, please call or email.  

Notes on Sorting
The stones are sorted by a series of vibrating screens which separate the stones into sizes.  The screens allow stones of a certain width to pass through, but they also allow stones that may be too long to pass through.  In a typical 10-pound quantity of stones that pass through the screen for size “large” (for example), 2-3 pounds (20-30%) will be stones that are longer in one dimension than the size specifications of size “large”.   If more than 25 or 30% stones are too large, we may sell the package as “Large to X-Large”.  Or we may hand sort.  The “HAND SORTED” designation means that not only have the stones been screened, but a live person has sorted through the stones to remove the stones that do not meet the size criteria.  We would like to think our sorting is 100% accurate, but the reality is that we miss some.  So we can’t provide a guarantee that 100% of the stones will be within the size specifications, but most, if not all, will be.  Hand Sorted stones may cost a bit more because sorting takes significant time to do and can be quite boring.   

Our bagged stones are typically sold as “SORTED” or “UNSORTED”.   After the screening process, the larger sized stones (typically X-Small and larger) are visually inspected to remove the wrong kind of stone as well as wood or other debris from left from the polishing process.  A bag of “sorted” stones (that has not been “hand sorted) will sometimes include a stone of a different variety, but this is uncommon. 

Unsorted stones may include impurities such as matrix (the rock the desired mineral was removed from), stones from the previous polishing batch, little bits of wood from the polishing process or other impurities.   If a lot of stones has an unusually high percentage of impurities, we typically note that in the product description.  We do not attempt to hand sort X-Small. 
 

Notes on Size
Most of bagged stones we sell are sorted into one of 12 sizes using the following criteria:
SAND - 1 to 3mm or 3/64 to 1/8"
XX-Mini - 3 to 5mm or 1/8 to 13/64"
X-Mini - 4 to 6mm or 3/16 to 1/4"
Mini - 5 to 7mm or 3/16 to 1/4"
XX-Small - 6 to 10mm or 1/4 to 3/8"
X-Small - 8 to 15mm or 5/16 to 5/8
Small - 12 to 20mm or 1/2 to 3/4"
Medium - 12 to 25mm or 3/4 to 1"
Large - 20 to 30mm or 7/8 to 1-1/4"
X-Large - 30 to 50mm or 1-1/4 to 2"
XX-Large - 48-60mm or 1-7/8 to 2-1/2"
Jumbo - Larger than 2"

Note that sometimes we change the size slightly to match the stones in the lot.  So if 40% of Large stones in a 50 pound lot are just a bit over outside the designated size, it is easier to change the size than sort the stones.  Our concern is not so much the sizes breakdowns, but that you know what you are buying.

Polishing

We sell stones that are rough – meaning they are unpolished, as well as stones that are finely polished to bring out all the natural beauty of the stone.  Some of our stones may be semi-polished.  Semi-polished stones have had the rough edges removed but may not have the fine, mirror-like finish a highly polished stone would have.  Many stones simply are too soft to take a fine polish.  These stones have their own beauty and can be appreciated for what they are.  Semi-polished stones will be so designated in the product description. 

Breakage, chips and flaws
Stones may be hard, but they crack, break, chip or otherwise incur damage.  We try to be very careful with the stones and encourage you to do likewise.  Expect some stones to have flaws like naturally formed fissures or pits.   We try to avoid selling rocks with large and obvious chips and cracks but they are usually hard to detect. If you find broken or damages stones, please let us know right away and we will work something out.