my name isn't Thomas and what makes you think you're entitled to know all these things when you're too stupid to even know gemstones from gravel?
i've been in this trade for nearly forty years. this year was the first year i had buying power. no pirate booty. just smart buying. how much do you think i paid for the malachite? most of them are fibrous and chatoyant. they're also completely unpolished, which is difficult to get because the Congo won't export it without a polished face. my designer cabs sell pretty well actually and i get a pretty decent price for them. i'll get at least forty dollars a pop for any of those fire agates i finish.
i sell to boutiques all the time and i'm about to open a showroom on the freeway access road when Rapa River opens full time. I'll be doing shows with them all over the country and i'm getting retail prices at facebook and sometimes eBay.
Stone sells as a commodity all the way up to to the wholesale level. the last two steps are entirely based on aesthetics of the buyer and marketing of the seller. the big red chunk is rhodonite that sells easily at a dollar per gram. next to it is a rubellite tourmaline. in the second set of pictures is ruby, blue green beryl, fire agate, orange tourmaline and himalya mine tourmaline. this is not shit stone and anybody calling it shit stone is just a hate obsessed fool. this material sells by caratweight.