Glass Gems

[oxinabox]

Repost from Simple Q&A, obviously not so simple afterall.

Q15 Dnd 3.5/3
What is the price for glass gems?
for Con artists.
(Include NonWoTC, or alternate editions if required)
__________________

This must be in a book somewhere.
Can we workout the price of glass/pound + the prick of hireing someone with Craft Glass maker?

Or maybe the price of soda ash, + hireing a glass maker

[EnnPeeCee]

Just as a comparison:
The cheapest gems listed in the DMG are valued at 4d4g.
And from the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, a glass window of 1/8" thickness costs 10g.

Now I'm not sure what kind of work goes into making glass gems, but given the value of the glass window, I'm not sure that it'd be much cheaper than some of the cheap gems.

[EnnPeeCee]

Did a little more reading in the stronghold book.

A glass wall 10' x 10' x 6" costs 300g
So that comes down to each cubic foot of glass costing 6g.

[shadzar]

So basically, you are just wanting a price for glass beads?

If you consider gems to be related to beads, just a bit more expensive for the cutting or grinding...Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue offers these prices in the Priest section:

beads, 1 oz, 2 cp
marbles, 1/2 in, 2 cp

These in the Wizards section:

beads, 10, 1 gp
cone, 10, 5 gp
rod, 1 ft, 5 gp
sheet, 1 ft sq, 2 gp
sphere, 6 in, 5 gp

Tailor's:

beads, 10, 8 cp

Jewerly:

A bag of beads contains at least ten varieties, of differing sizes. Both native and imported. Glass beads: 25 sp per bag.

Only the ones for jewerly may seem what you are looking for since those would appear to be gems. But all types of glasswork seems to depend on what you need it for, what connections you have, and what you are going to use it for as to how refined it needs to be.

Looking at the wizard's, seems a 6 inch glass/crystal ball would only be 5gp for the sphere, so glass must be cheap where it is made in volume, but if you have little glass in your world, then there may not be such a nice price for it. All prices are from 2nd edition, so convert as you need for the game you play.

(There is much more glassware in the book, but I grabbed a sample for you to play with to work out some costs. If you need more you will need to check the book out.)

[oxinabox]

I glass cutter by the DMG, works for 3 sp/day.
ANd in a day, i have time to tell him to be carefull, so they'll come out good.
here a Crafts person, so.
Using the stronghold a foot of glass is 6 gp.
i need about 3"/3"/3",
6*(3/12)&
now for a diamond, of large , but believable size...

the smallest possible diamond is worth 2000 gp by the DMG.
maybe a white saphire instead? even using quartz i'm make a large profit. min value 20 gp.

Then again while quarts is an art object and is accepted at full value in exchange for payment, it might look odd.

\
actually for ease of uyse i might go with the glass beads from 2nd ed in the above post.

anyone care to do the maths?




Now haw many NPC's have ranks in appraise?
Few other than jewlers, and lords.
A black smith shouldn't have to many.
He'ld be just getting the synergy bonus from his Craft Blacksmithery.

Then since i'm selling them cheap, the res the circumsatance bonus to my bluff cos he wants to believe me.

[Myrmex]

I would price them at 50 gp, give them ten uses, and have them give a +2 on diplomacy checks in conjunction with a successful bluff check when trying to bribe someone.

[Sholos]

Now haw many NPC's have ranks in appraise?
Few other than jewlers, and lords.
A black smith shouldn't have to many.
He'ld be just getting the synergy bonus from his Craft Blacksmithery.

And even then, it wouldn't apply to gems. It'd only apply to the stuff he works with.

Then since i'm selling them cheap, the res the circumsatance bonus to my bluff cos he wants to believe me.

Unless, of course, he's a naturally suspicious person who wonders why the heck someone would be selling diamonds that cheaply. That would mean a circumstance penalty.

[Suropej]

Now haw many NPC's have ranks in appraise?
Few other than jewlers, and lords.
A black smith shouldn't have to many.
He'ld be just getting the synergy bonus from his Craft Blacksmithery.

Then since i'm selling them cheap, the res the circumsatance bonus to my bluff cos he wants to believe me.

A blacksmith wouldn't want the gems in the first place. He's got no use for them. If a blacksmith was buying gems from people wouldn't you also see them selling them as well? If you think he'd use gems to place into masterwork versions that's not the case, MW means exceptionally crafted, not inlain with gold and gems. He won't be crafting any magic items that have gems in their description either since he's a blacksmith not a wizard, so he can't make magic arms/armor.

Also, just because you sell them cheap wouldn't necessarily grant a positive bonus to the bluff check. Without a good reason as to why you have to sell them cheap it's going to look much more suspicious than if you tried to sell them normally (half-cost).

Finally, deceiving merchants into buying items that are not what you claim is a decidedly evil act. This includes using Nystul's magic aura and completing the sale would certainly be a problem for good and neutral characters, not to mention illegal in nearly any setting.

[bosssmiley]

Anyone who wants to buy a big ticket item like gemstones from a bunch of shady murdering hobos is going to have them appraised. "Trust me" simply does not cut it here, and the glass gemstone trick is older than dirt.

Look at the caution, suspicion and downright paranoia with which the jewellery trade acts in the modern world; multiply that by a world filled with magic.

As for using glass gems in costume jewellery; what do you think the low-price gems and jewellery in the treasure tables are? Ormolu, cloisonné, glass and paste costume jewellery, pretty rocks...