I bought a 5.1 carat orange oval cut tourmaline stone. It's not nearly as nice as the 7.03 carat orange-pink colour change trillion cut I bought for my wife, but I got it for a song on an auction, and couldn't resist. It is from a new seller, and the price makes me question it's authenticity, but I plan on running a few tests when I get it, and was thinking about buying a refractometer to help identify questionable transactions. However, for the price I got it, it's not too much of a risk. Probably fine as most of the reviews for this seller are positive.
I think I might have missed my calling. I love my job as a salesperson, but I can't help going over even boring type textbooks about stones and crystals, regarding chemical classifications, refractive index, densities, etc...to me it's all very fascinating. I guess I'm only 40 so maybe it's not too late, but maybe I should just do it as a hobby, I'm not sure. Sure is fun, crystals that is. I wonder if demand for gemstones is dwindling in this modern age...seems to still be lots of jewelry stores.