Oregon Sunstone Price Per Carat: Chart and Dig Costs

Faceted Oregon sunstones were listed at roughly $100 to $750 per carat in a July 2026 retail price guide. Pale champagne stones sit at the bottom of that range and teal and tricolor stones at the top. Another guide puts the whole faceted market at about $20 to $500 per carat (updated June 2025). Rough costs far less: one mine store lists facet-grade red rough at $2 to $10 per carat (October 2026). This page puts those numbers side by side, shows what a day of digging costs at each mine open to the public, and lists the claim and permit fees behind a working sunstone mine.

Terms used below. A carat is a unit of weight for gems, 0.2 gram. Rough is uncut material straight from the ground. Faceted means cut with flat polished faces. Schiller is the glittering flash that copper platelets inside the stone throw back, also called aventurescence. A cabochon is a stone polished to a smooth dome with no facets. Yield is the share of the rough weight that remains after cutting. A lode claim is a mining claim on hard rock, and a placer claim covers loose surface material. All money is in US dollars. Everything here describes seller asking prices and posted fees; it is not investment advice.

Oregon sunstone price per carat by color

Oregon sunstone is a copper-bearing variety of labradorite feldspar. Color decides most of the price. The table lists nine loose-stone examples from the Gems Lore retail guide (July 2026). The per-carat figures are the guide’s own approximations of each asking price, and the first row is a common non-Oregon sunstone shown for contrast.

Chart

Asking price per carat of Oregon sunstones by color

US$ per carat, approximate figures stated for eight retail examples

Two other retailers show the same pattern at the lower end. A 2.3 ct round Oregon stone described as pink-champagne in color was listed at $196, about $85 per carat. A 2.18 ct reddish-orange and green bicolor oval with schiller was listed at $315, about $145 per carat; that listing is marked sold. Both pages were read on 16 October 2026. Note what the numbers do not show: the 3.48 ct green and the 1.29 ct red are priced per carat at $300 and $400, so a bigger stone is not automatically dearer per carat. Color and clarity move the price more than weight does in these examples.

How we checked these prices

Unlike gold or copper, Oregon sunstone has no exchange price and no benchmark index, so every number in this article is a seller’s asking price or a posted fee, read on the page named next to it. We used each page’s own wording and dates, converted prices to a per-carat figure only where the weight was stated, and rounded to the nearest dollar. The International Gem Society warns that online price research is limited because most listings do not grade cut quality, and that dealers often price a stone by its beauty. Treat the figures as ranges to compare against several recent listings of similar stones, not as a rate card.

What sets the price: color, schiller, size and cut

The International Gem Society says intense red, transparent stones with schiller are in strong demand, and that Oregon sunstone is the only feldspar sunstone with copper inclusions. Five factors do most of the work:

• Color. The stones run from water-clear and champagne through pink, orange, red, green and teal. The guide sorts them from entry colors near $100 per carat to red, green, teal and tricolor stones at several hundred dollars.
• Schiller. A dealer guide from Ravenstein Gem Co says the most prized type is slight to medium schiller that flashes at some angles, and that heavy schiller which covers the whole surface lowers value in all but large stones.
• Clarity. Fractures and cloudiness cut the price of a stone that has good color.
• Cut. Oregon rough often has color in patches, so a cutter may give up weight to center the best color in the finished gem. That can make a smaller stone worth more per carat than a heavier one.
• Size. Large clean stones are scarce. The International Gem Society says the stone is rated 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, which is why it suits pendants and earrings better than daily-wear rings.

Cabochons and rough follow different price tracks. Gem Rock Auctions puts cabochons at a few dollars for low grades up to about $50 for higher-quality ones, and rough specimens from a few dollars to several hundred dollars or more for large, high-grade pieces.

We cover a connected topic in Drone Mapping Cost per Acre: Mine Survey Prices.

For a closer look at a related question, see our guide: Dysprosium Mines Worldwide: List and Price Chart.

How different sources compare on sunstone price

Published ranges differ because they cover different stones and different sellers. The chart sets four sources against each other. The first bar is facet-grade rough; the other three are finished faceted stones.

Chart

Per-carat price ranges quoted by source

US$ per carat; the first row is rough, the others are finished faceted stones

An older dealer guide shows how wide the top of the market can run. The Ravenstein Gem Co guide, written in May 2014 with some figures dated to mid-2016, puts retail values at $8 to $4,500 per carat depending on color type. It quotes $700 to $1,000 per carat for the best small reds and up to $4,500 for the top blue-green and teal stones. Those figures are one dealer’s retail positions from about ten years ago. They are not a price history and cannot be compared directly with the 2026 listings above, which come from different sellers and different stones. What the guide does show is that the spread between a pale stone and a top stone can exceed a hundredfold.

Rough sunstone price and what it becomes after cutting

High Desert Gems & Minerals, which runs the Spectrum mine, lists facet-grade red rough by shade (October 2026):

For low-grade material the price is far lower. A Canadian rock dealer lists yellow non-schiller Oregon rough, pieces of 2 to 12 grams, at 0.40 Canadian dollars per gram, or 400 Canadian dollars per kilo (listing read 16 October 2026).

A carat is 0.2 gram, so $10 per carat is $50 per gram. Rough turns into far less than its weight when cut. The International Gem Society says a clean, facetable piece of gem rough (a general figure, not sunstone-specific) usually keeps 25% to 33% of its weight with custom cutting and 15% to 25% with factory cutting. At a 25% yield, rough bought at $8 per carat costs $32 for each finished carat before any cutting labor. Set that against the finished listings above, where champagne and bicolor stones were asking about $85 to $150 per carat. The gap pays for cutting, rejects, the retailer’s overhead, certification and the time a stone sits unsold. The calculator below lets you test your own figures.

Cost to dig sunstone: public area and pay-to-dig mines

Sunstone is dug in the high desert of Lake County, south-central Oregon, near the town of Plush. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) runs the Oregon Sunstone Public Collection Area in Rabbit Basin. BLM says the boundaries are marked by orange posts, and that many private mining claims surround the area and several lie inside it. Collecting from a private claim without permission is not allowed and may lead to legal penalties. The only facilities are a pit toilet, picnic tables and a shade structure, and camping is allowed anywhere inside the area. Oregon Discovery reports that collectors typically find small to medium pale yellow stones in the public area; Oregon Discovery points visitors who want rare colored gems to the nearby pay-to-dig mines.

Chart

Posted charges at three Oregon sunstone mines

US$ as posted by each mine; excludes the 50% of wholesale that Dust Devil bills on better stones

BLM’s general rockhounding guide says you may collect gemstones for personal use with hand tools, that power equipment and explosives may not be used, and that commercial use or sale of minerals goes beyond casual use, so you must contact BLM first. Minerals on a mining claim belong to the claim holder. BLM’s page for the collection area adds that there is no fee for collecting there, but you may not collect sunstones for trade or commercial purposes.

Three private mines near the collection area let the public dig for a charge. The table gives the charges posted on each mine’s site (October 2026), with one note from Oregon Discovery.

Dust Devil Mine: how fee digging is priced

Dust Devil Mining explains that its fee-digging prices follow the wholesale rates it charges dealers. Visitors dig in the ore pile at no charge. When you finish, the mine grades and sorts your stones and bills the better-colored material and clear stones large enough to cut over 8 carats at 50% of wholesale value, with a deduction for unusable portions. A stone too small or oddly shaped to cut a faceted, cabbed or carved gem costs nothing, and the mine says most of what visitors find falls in that group. You do not have to buy a stone you do not want. Belt picking and concentrate piles are also offered: about 3.5 yards of ore make 1 yard of concentrate, and a belt run of roughly one yard takes about 1.25 to 1.5 hours. The mine says stones of 100 to 300 carats and more have come from its pit and that it is known for large red-green bicolor, watermelon, dichroic and color-change stones. The mine asks visitors to call ahead for May and September dates.

Double Eagle and Spectrum

Double Eagle Mining posts $80 per person for a one-day lease of a virgin ore pile. A yard of production ore is about 40 buckets, each half to three-quarters full, and the mine also offers a powered screening plant with a waist-high table. Its home page lists the production mine and claims for sale. At Spectrum, High Desert Gems & Minerals says the mine is open daily from May 15 to October 15, from 9 am to 5 pm, with cabin and tipi lodging and camping, and that visitors can dig, screen ore or pick stones off a conveyor belt. The company also says Spectrum holds the record for the largest faceted red Oregon sunstone, at 81.25 carats.

The chart compares the posted charges for the paid options. The 50% share of wholesale at Dust Devil, and the bucket price at Spectrum, depend on what you take away.

Cost to hold a sunstone claim in Oregon

Anyone planning to mine rather than dig for a day needs a legal right to the ground. On BLM land the right to mine is a mining claim. BLM’s 2027 fee schedule (claims located on or after 1 September 2026) lists the costs for a new lode claim as $274 in the first year: a $25 processing fee, a $49 location fee and a $200 maintenance fee. After that the maintenance fee is $200 a year per lode claim. A placer claim pays $200 for each 20 acres or part of 20 acres. The maintenance fee for the 2027 assessment year was due on or before September 1, 2026. Claimants who hold 10 or fewer claims and sites nationwide can file a small miner waiver instead, which carries no filing fee, if they do at least $100 of work on each claim; the affidavit of assessment work then costs $15 per claim. BLM’s notice says claimants must also file the notice of location and map with the county recording office within 90 days; that county fee is not set by BLM, so the calculator below starts it at zero for you to fill in. Our guide to mining cadastre portals shows where to check whether ground is already claimed.

Moving enough rock to run a real mine adds state rules. The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) says an operating permit is required above one acre of disturbance or 5,000 cubic yards of excavation in any 12 months, with reclamation security posted before the permit is issued and annual renewals until reclamation is complete. Security under $50,000 can be an assignment of deposit. DOGAMI’s FAQ says small-scale operations need an exclusion certificate, with an $80 application fee and a $165 annual renewal (DOGAMI FAQ dated December 2020). A certificate does not replace local land-use approval or any BLM requirement.

▶ Shows how land access can block mining even where the rock is good, which matters on ground held in private claims. · 2:05

Where Oregon sunstone comes from and why supply is limited

BLM says sunstones are feldspar crystals that formed in lava. A volcano at Steens Mountain poured out lava 13 to 14 million years ago; a lake later covered the flow, and as it dried the lava weathered and released loose sunstones. The International Gem Society says Lake and Harney counties produce Oregon sunstone, mostly from private claims worked by companies. Gem Rock Auctions says Lake County is the most productive area and that smaller amounts have come from Harney and Malheur counties. The state legislature named it Oregon’s state gemstone in 1987, according to the International Gem Society.

The geology limits supply in two ways. Sunstone crystals sit in weathered lava flows, usually under a hard basalt cap rock that can be several feet thick (High Desert Gems & Minerals), so a mine has to move and screen a lot of ground to find them. And only part of the rock is gem grade: Dust Devil’s own fee schedule says most of what visitors find is too small or too oddly shaped to cut. Our earlier article on Oregon sunstone trends covers the stone’s background, and the Idaho sunstone and Montana garnet piece looks at other American feldspar and garnet sites. Satellite images can show terrain, rock type and land status for a block of ground, but they do not resolve individual crystals, so a sunstone program still relies on ground sampling.

Farmonaut is a satellite data company. For mining license and claim owners it screens a boundary you supply for rock, alteration and structure patterns, as exploration targets ahead of any resource estimate; sunstone itself is not among the materials it lists. To ask about a project, use the mining query form or contact us, or read about satellite-based mineral detection.

▶ Explains remote sensing as measuring the ground from a distance, and what the main instrument families can and cannot show. · 2:01

How big is the market, and what limits resale value

USGS tracks gemstones as one group. It estimates that the combined value of US natural and synthetic gemstone output in 2025 was $47 million, down 30% from 2024. Natural gemstones were an estimated $9.4 million of that. In order of production value, Arizona led, followed by Oregon, California, Nevada, Montana and Maine. USGS does not break out sunstone, so Oregon’s ranking covers all of the state’s gem production. Apparent US gemstone consumption was an estimated $9,300 million in 2025, and net import reliance was 99%. Domestic natural gem output is therefore about 0.1% of US consumption (our calculation from the USGS table).

Chart

US natural gemstone production

Value in US$ million, all natural gemstones (not sunstone alone); 2025 is an estimate

A few practical limits apply to anyone who buys a sunstone to resell it:

• Retail asking prices are not sale prices, and there is no public record of what stones sell for.
• A buyer pool for a single local gem is small, and a stone needs matching color, size and cut to find one.
• Cutting loses most of the weight, as the yield figures above show.
• Copper-treated feldspar from other places can look like fine red Oregon material, which pushes buyers to demand proof of origin.

This is a description of the market, not advice to buy or sell. Check each stone and each seller yourself, and take advice before you commit money.

How to check an Oregon sunstone before you pay

1. Ask for the origin and the mine. In a controversy that GIA describes, stones were represented as untreated sunstone from Tibet, and laboratories found that the material might have been pale andesine from Mongolia treated by infusion with copper.
2. Ask for a written treatment statement. The International Gem Society says there are no known treatments for Oregon sunstone, but that some other feldspars are enhanced with copper diffusion to give an intense red. A gem laboratory report is the way to settle it for an expensive stone.
3. Check it is not goldstone. The International Gem Society says goldstone is glass with copper inclusions, used as a lookalike, and a gemologist can easily tell it from natural sunstone.
4. Get the weight in carats and the dimensions. You need them to compute a price per carat, and for any custom setting.
5. Compare with three or more similar stones. The International Gem Society builds its guideline prices as a middle ground from a sampling of stones. Do the same with listings of the same color, size and cut.
6. View it in more than one light. Oregon sunstone is hard to photograph because it shows two or three colors from different angles. A video or a return period helps.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Oregon sunstone cost per carat?

A July 2026 retail guide lists Oregon examples from about $100 per carat for champagne stones to $750 per carat for tricolor stones. Gem Rock Auctions gives a general faceted range of about $20 to $500 per carat. Treat both as asking prices.

Is Oregon sunstone expensive?

Pale or small stones can cost under $100 per carat. Fine red, green and teal stones cost several hundred dollars per carat, and a few cost more. The same retail guide shows a common non-Oregon sunstone at about $6 per carat, so check the origin when comparing.

Which color of Oregon sunstone is worth the most?

In the guide above, teal and tricolor stones had the highest asking prices, near $700 to $750 per carat, ahead of red at $300 to $400 and green at $300. The International Gem Society notes that intense red stones with schiller are in strong demand.

What does rough Oregon sunstone cost?

One Canadian dealer lists low-grade yellow rough at 0.40 Canadian dollars per gram. High Desert Gems & Minerals lists facet-grade red rough at $2 to $10 per carat by shade, and large reds and greens in kilo lots at $17,500 per kilo.

How much does it cost to dig for sunstone in Oregon?

BLM says there is no fee for collecting sunstones at the public collection area, and the stones are for personal use only. Of the private mines, Double Eagle charges $80 per adult for a day, Dust Devil charges nothing to dig but bills 50% of wholesale for better stones, and Spectrum has a no-charge yellow-stone area plus fee options.

Can I sell sunstones I dig at the BLM collection area?

BLM’s page for the collection area says there is no fee for collecting sunstones, but you may not collect them for trade or commercial purposes. Contact the Lakeview District Office if you are unsure.

How much does a sunstone mining claim cost?

A new lode claim costs $274 to file with BLM in the first year ($25 processing, $49 location and a $200 maintenance fee), then $200 a year, plus a county recording fee. A small miner waiver can replace the maintenance fee for holders of 10 or fewer claims who do $100 of work per claim.

Do you need a state permit to mine sunstone in Oregon?

DOGAMI requires an exclusion certificate for small surface mines and an operating permit above one acre or 5,000 cubic yards in 12 months. Check the current rules with DOGAMI and your county before you move any ground.

How can I tell real Oregon sunstone from a copy?

Ask for origin, a treatment statement and, for a costly stone, a laboratory report. Glass goldstone and copper-diffused feldspar from other sources are the two usual lookalikes.

Why does cutting make sunstone so much more valuable?

Because, by the International Gem Society’s general figures for gem rough, only a quarter to a third of the weight usually survives custom cutting, and the cutter must choose where to place the best color. The finished carat carries the cost of all the material that was cut away.

Where is the Oregon Sunstone Public Collection Area?

It is in Rabbit Basin, in the high desert of Lake County in south-central Oregon, and BLM gives its coordinates as 42.723365 north, 119.860742 west. BLM’s directions from Plush run about 24 miles, partly on gravel county road and then on BLM roads, and the only facilities at the site are a pit toilet, picnic tables and a shade structure.

What is Oregon sunstone, in short?

It is a copper-bearing labradorite feldspar found in southeastern Oregon and named the state gemstone in 1987. It can show a glittering schiller from copper inclusions, and it comes in colors from clear and champagne to red, green and teal.