Faceting Services

For over 12 years, USJ has been providing faceting services for many in the industry; from miners to jewelers and some hobbyists inbetween.

We charge the same price for faceting on most all types of stones. We charge the same price for cabochon cutting as we do for faceted stones.  We cut calibrated sizes on all shapes except round, however rounds are usually within jewelers' tolerance for setting.  If you need calibrated rounds, please tell us.  If you want free sizes, just tell us.  If you need half sizes, just ask.  All stones are cut on index machines with meet-point accuracy.  We use American Diamond brilliant for rounds, modified with Portuguese for ovals and pears, and Barion pavilion on emerald shapes.  We also cut trillions and princess in diamond patterns.  If you have a favorite pattern, send it to us, and we will quote it; unless it is very unusual or difficult, we will not charge extra.

We base our charges on the finished weight of the cut goods.  We bill you after completion of the cutting.

1.  Weigh your rough and assess a value for insurance purposes.  Material that comes in without being weighed and valued will be held until that processing can be completed.  Be sure to tell us what your material is, e.g.: sapphire, topaz, emerald, garnet, etc.  Material that is not identified will be returned to you.

2.  Package carefully and ship to:

USJ., INC.
115 W. California Blvd., #107
Pasadena, California, 91105

Make sure you send your package by some traceable means, e.g.: registered and insured US Mail, or FedEx.  Be sure to enclose your name, address, email address and phone number, together with any special instructions or patterns.

3.  All material is weighed, given a job number, and logged in.  It is then reviewed for facet quality.  We will notify you of any discrepancies or whether we feel you may not benefit from having the material faceted.

Our pricing structure:

WEIGHT OF ROUGH (You've sent) PRICE FOR FACETING
1-100 CARATS $3.40 Per finished carat
$2.40 per stone if less than one carat
101-1000 CARATS $3.00 Per finished carat
$2.25 per stone if less than one carat
1000 CARATS and up to 1 KILO $2.60 Per finished carat
$2.00 Per stone if less than one carat

IF YOU HAVE MULTIPLE KILOS FOR FACETING, CALL FOR PRICING

Overseas faceting-where it goes

We have a partnership with a Sri Lankan firm that specializes in custom and production lapidary.

Our factory employs over 60 skilled faceters who have been trained in American Style cutting.  We use index faceting machines, as opposed to the 'jam peg', or native style cutting.  The polish of our goods is done with 50,000 grit diamond powder to create the best polish.

We handle all shipping and export/customs documentation and fees, which is already including in your cutting cost.  You will be charged an additional shipping and insurance fee when we return your material to you.  This generally averages about $15 - $20

For orders less than 500 carats, we may hold the material for a time to combine your order with others to save on shipping costs

When the material is due on return from Sri Lanka, we will notify you and advise the invoice amount.  Once we have billed you, if you do not pay for your material within 30 days of the invoice date, your material will be sold at any price necessary to recoup the cutting, shipping, and insurance costs.

Since our charges are based on finished weight and pieces, there is no accurate way to estimate your cutting costs until the job is done.  We can say that on harder material such as corundum, we average about a 20% yield and on softer material such as Emerald or Tanzanite, about 10 to 15%.  These are averages based on standard cutting.

Please do not send material that is heavily surrounded by matrix.  We do not cut cracked or badly included material unless you tell us to do so.  All uncut/rejected material is returned to you.

Please allow 8 to 10 weeks turn-a-round time from when we receive your material.

September 11, 2004 3:35 PM