Did you know that back in the 1970's when people all over the world started collecting precious metals, the Japanese were starting to hoard DIAMONDS. I suppose that is OK but I personally wouldn't do it. I've been a rock and Mineral collector since my early 20's and have a really nice collection of cut and uncut stones. Some that I self collected and some that I bought or traded for. Unless you have some really expensive testing equipment, you can can get screwed real quick fooling with precious stones. Especially with cut stones. Its much easier to identify an uncut stone than it is to identify a cut stone. Uncut stones have distinct shapes, colors, and hardness and the clarity makes a ton of difference in the value. Unless you are well versed in Minerals, don't trade in those items.
