November 2007
In our newsletter this month:
A Day at the Chanthaburi Gems Market
New and Interesting Gemstones
Finding Your Way Around GemSelect
Gemstones Worth Knowing
Customer Questions A Day at the Chanthaburi Gems Market
Many people who visit Thailand shop for gemstones in Bangkok. But very few people have the chance to see where many of the Thai gem dealers buy their gemstones. For that you need to travel 250 kilometers south east of Bangkok to our home of Chanthaburi. This small city of about 50,000 people is the major processing and trading center for colored gemstones in southeast Asia. It is estimated that 80% of the world's supply of ruby and sapphire passes through Chanthaburi.
Chanthaburi was once famous for its ruby and sapphire mines. The mining business reached its peak in the 1960's and 70's when political events in Burma reduced the supply of Burmese ruby to a trickle. The demand for Thai gemstones was so great that by the 1980's the local mines were worked out. The gem business in Chanthaburi might have died along with mining, but the gem factories here had developed new techniques for heating gemstone to improve their color and clarity. When the local supply of ruby and sapphire started to disappear, traders began to bring colored gemstone from all over the world to be processed in Chanthaburi.
Gemstone processing in Chanthaburi is largely a cottage industry. Though there are a few large companies, most of the work is done by smaller family-owned businesses. Their expertise is in grading, cutting and polishing gemstones, not in marketing their product to the world. So a local market has developed to help the Chanthaburi factories get their gemstones into distribution. For those in the know, this market has some of the best deals in colored gemstones in the world.
The Chanthaburi gemstone market, known in Thai as the talad ploy is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from about 11 in the morning to about 6 in the evening. The main part of the market is in a narrow set of lanes at the intersection of Si Chan ("Gems Street") and Thetsaban. This neighbourhood is full of retail shops for gemstone and gemstone equipment (scales, loupes and the like). But the weekend gems market is a world unto itself. The talad ploy is a public market where anyone can come to buy and sell. But if you visit the market for the first time, you probably won't know where to begin. This is not a market where dealers display their wares and buyers browse through the goods. The commercial model here is entirely different from the local produce market a few blocks away. At the talad ploy, the buyers occupy the trading desks and the sellers circulate through the market looking for buyers.
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So let's say you wanted to buy some sapphire at the market. The first thing you need to do is find a place a sit. You'll see a number of storefronts, many of them open to the street, with desks and chairs. These are trading offices and they'll be happy to provide you with space for your trading. The trading offices make their living by earning commissions on every sale. You won't know exactly what the commission is, since it's paid by the seller. But it could be as high as 15% in the most popular spots. Just remember that the commission will be factored in to the price you will pay for any gems you buy.
The next thing you need to do is let the market know what you want to buy. This is done by posting a sign (in Thai of course) on the window of the trading office or to the front of your trading desk. Sometimes the signs are fairly general, such as "tourmaline and spinel." But very often you will see buyers looking for sapphire, for example, in a specific color and size or weight.
Sellers who have gemstones that meet your requirements will stop by and show their goods.
The sellers are fairly easy to spot in the market -- they are the people with shoulder bags worn securely across their chests. Inside those bags are gemstones that may be worth several hundred thousand dollars. You might be surprised at the unassuming appearance of these sellers, dressed in t-shirts, jeans and sandals. Are these really the wealthy gem dealers of Chanthaburi? In fact they are only brokers, acting as the legal representatives of the gem owners, who rarely make an appearance in the market.
The brokers will show you what they have to offer and can answer questions about the goods, assuming you can speak enough Thai to ask. They will state an asking price, but the final price may well be only 40% of the initial price, so you'll need very good negotiating skills to get the best price. If you make an offer on some gemstones that the broker thinks might be acceptable to the owner, the gemstones will be wrapped up and taped securely with your name and price, and the broker will disappear to consult with the owner by phone. You'll usually get your answer within the hour. If you've offered a low price for the gemstones, you may get lucky if the owner has done well on other gemstones from this lot, or he needs to raise some cash quickly.
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Eventually you'll get hungry, and this being Thailand, there are many food sellers right in the market. You'll see many of the same street stalls you see all over Thailand -- noodle soup, chicken or pork over rice, fresh local fruit and interesting sweets. You definitely won't go hungry.
The final stop on our tour is a new gems market building a few blocks away. This modern airconditioned building has an open trading floor and a number of private trading rooms. It even has a gemological lab on site where you can get identification reports within an hour or two. This clean and inviting trading environment looks to be the future of the gems market in Chanthaburi. But where are the buyers and sellers? The half empty trading floor stands in stark contrast to the crowded streets of the old market. Traditions die very slowly in Asia, and despite the heat and the dust and crowds, the market still prefers the atmosphere of the old quarter.
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| New and Interesting Gems -- updated September 30th |
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Blue Sapphire from Madagascar and Ceylon: One of the most classic of all colored gemstones, the blue sapphire is always fashionable. This brilliant and hard-wearing gemstone is perfect for any kind of jewelry. We've added many new pieces to our stock of more than 250 blue sapphires from Madagascar and Ceylon. You'll find both faceted pieces and cabochons as well as a number of matched pairs. |
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Turquoise from Afghanistan: Turquoise, the sky blue cousin to lapis lazuli, has been known and valued for thousands of years. We've bought some new pieces from Afghanistan, in an interesting variety of blue and blue-green hues. We've also added some interesting apple-green turquoise that we haven't carried before, as well as some turquoise beads. |
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Spessartite Garnet from Mozambique: We have added a large number of new pieces to our extensive inventory of this very popular gem. We now have over 220 pieces in stock, in mandarin and red-orange, in both cabochon and faceted. The range of sizes and quality grades is extensive. We've just purchased a number of high grade pieces with superb brilliance, at some of the best prices we've seen in spessartite in the past year. |
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Jasper from India: Jasper is usually considered a chalcedony, but scientists put it in a group by itself because of its grainy structure. The finely grained, dense jasper contains up to twenty percent foreign materials that determine its color, streak and appearance. Uniform jasper is rare. It usually is multicolored, striped, spotted or flamed. We've just purchased a nice parcel from India in a fascinating selection of colors and patterns. |
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Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan: Lapis Lazuli is one of the most ancient of all gemstones and northern Afghanistan has supplied the world with the finest Lapis for over 6,000 years. It is a gemstone that every collector should own. We've just purchased a very nice lot of Afghani material that exhibit the vivid royal blue for which Lapis is famous. Sizes up to about 32 carats. |
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Agate Geodes from Mexico: Agate is a form of chalcedony quartz that forms in concentric layers in a remarkable variety of colors and textures. Geodes are rock cavities or vugs with internal crystal formations or concentric banding. Cut in slices, agate geodes are popular with collectors and jewelry designers. |
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Maw-sit-sit from Burma: Maw-sit-sit is one of the more unusual gemstones in the world, from its curious name to its variable chemical composition. It was named after the village in northwestern Burma which is close to the site where it was first found. That mine is still the only source. Maw-sit-sit is considered to be a rock rather than a mineral, since it is composed of a number of different minerals. We have an excellent selection in a wide range of sizes and shapes, including some matching pairs. |
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Carnelian from India: Carnelian is a brownish red to orange variety of chalcedony quartz, colored by trace amounts of iron. Carnelian is one of the oldest known gemstones, being widely used in ancient Rome to make signet or seal rings. We've aquired a some excellent material from India, including a number of faceted pieces. You'll find sizes up to 48 carats in the cabochons, and 13 carats in the faceted stones. |
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Bloodstone from Madagascar: Bloodstone, also known as heliotrope, is a green gemstone usually dotted with bright red spots of iron oxide. A form of chalcedony quartz, bloodstone is the original birthstone for March. We've found some wonderful pieces from Madagascar. |
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Pink Tourmaline from Mozambique: Pink is the most popular color in tourmaline and we have just expanded our stock with some outstanding new pieces. The shades range all the way from rose pink to hot pink and purple pink. We have more than 350 pieces in all, in a wide range of sizes and shapes. We buy pink tourmaline whenever we can find it, but rarely find this many fine pieces. |
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Chrome Diopside from Russia: Chrome diopside is one of the few gemstones colored by chromium. Its rich green is unique in the gems world, rivalled only by the best tsavorite garnet and chrome tourmaline. We have recently purchased some very fine matched pairs for earrings, as well as a number of larger solitaires. |
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Apatite from Madagascar: Apaptite from Madagascar is famous for a vivid blue-green that is reminiscent of paraiba tourmaline. We have just acquired some excellent new pieces in the 1-2 carat size, with superb color. Apatite tends to have some minor inclusions, but many of these pieces are graded VS or beetter. We also have stock in the popular green apatite, known as the "asparagus stone." |
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Spinel from Burma: We buy fine spinel whenever we can find it, and we've recently added some very fine pieces of Burmese spinel in larger sizes. You'll find reds, violets, blues and grays in a variety of shapes, including a number of cushion cuts. Sizes range from 1.5 carats all the way up to 5 carats. |
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Cat's Eye Apatite from Africa: Cat's eye apatite can often be confused with the more expensive chrysoberyl cat's eye, but apatite is a softer stone (5 on the Mohs scale) that is best used for pendants and earrings. It does exhibit a very striking cat's eye effect, however, and is sought after by collectors. We've recently bought some first rate pieces in green, blue and honey, in sizes from 2 to 10 carats. |
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Chrysoprase from Tanzania: Chrysoprase is considered the rarest and most valuable stone in the chalcedony quartz group. That's quite a distinction considering that the chalcedony species includes agate, chalcedony, onyx, carnelian, bloodstone and jasper. But chrysoprase, it is fair to say, is also the least known of all the chalcedony varieties. Chrysoprase is a vivid apple-green to deep green gem, colored by trace amounts of nickel, and makes stunning jewelry. |
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Finding Your Way Around GemSelect
We are always looking for ways to make it easier for our customers to find what they're looking for on our website. Since we've recently added a large number of interesting gemstone pairs and lots, we made some changes so you can find them easily:
1. On our home page, you'll see 2 buttons labelled "Pairs" and "Lots." Clicking on these buttons will show you all of our Pairs (or Lots) listed by gem type.
2. When you're browsing a gem page such as sapphire or tourmaline, you can use the blue pull-down menu to view just the Pairs or Lots for that gem type.
3. On any page, you can use the search box and look for "spinel pairs" or "tourmaline lots" for example.
Gemstones Worth Knowing
Each month we focus on one of the lesser known gemstones. This month's featured stone is Peridot.
Peridot is one of very few gemstones found only in one color. That's because the green of peridot comes from the basic chemical composition of the material itself (magnesium iron silicate) rather than from minor impurities.
The bright yellow green of peridot is quite unique in the gems world, and peridot has been an historically important gem. It is mentioned in the Bible and legend has it that peridot was the favorite gemstone of Cleopatra. Fine peridot is sourced from a number of locations, including Pakistan, the USA, Burma, China and Vietnam.
To see all our stock in this intriguing gemstone click here.
Customer Questions
Every month we answer questions of general interest from our customers. Please feel free to send your questions to help@gemselect.com, with "Newsletter question" in the Subject line.
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Q: |
When gem people talk about "luster" what do are they referring to? Is it just how shiny a gemstone is? Hope this isn't a silly question! JK, Canada
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A: |
It's not a silly question at all. "Luster" is actually a technical term used to refer
the appearance of a gem as seen by reflected light. Luster is a function of both the surface and the refractive index (RI) of the mineral itself. Though it's a technical term, it is qualitative rather than quantitative.
Luster is a function of both the surface and the RI of the mineral itself.
Terms used to describe luster include metallic, adamantine (like the luster of diamond), pearly, silky, vitreous (like glass), resinous, and waxy.
The most common luster of gemstones is vitreous, but some interesting gems have non-vitreous luster, such as turquoise (waxy), amber (resinous), cat's eye (silky), and jadeite (greasy). One of the few gems with an adamantine luster (apart from diamond) is sphene.
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Q: |
Could you explain specific gravity? I know it has to do with the density of a gemstone, but what does it mean exactly and how do I measure it? Thanks, DTO, USA
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A: |
You're correct -- specific gravity is a way to express the relative density of a gemstone. It is measured as the ratio of the density of the gemstone to the density of water. It is expressed as a number which the indicates how much heavier the gemstone is compared to an equal volume of water.
Scientifically, specific gravity is defined as a ratio of the mass of a given material to the mass of an equal volume of water at 4 degrees centigrade. Most gemstone substances are two to four times denser than an equal volume of water. Specific gravities are expressed in decimal numbers, for example, 4.00 for corundum, 3.52 for diamond , and 2.72 for quartz. Zircon, the densest of all gemstones, may have a specific gravity as high as 4.73!
For exact determinations various weighing devices are used, but rough approximations of the specific gravity of lighter stones can be made by means of a series of liquids of known specific gravity. If the stone will float in a liquid having a specific gravity of 4 and sink in a liquid with a specific gravity of 3, the specific gravity of the stone must lie between these limits and be approximately 3.5.
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A final note -- If you send us email, please be assured that we answer all our email very promptly, 6 days a week. But we sometimes have problems with spam filters on the receiving end, so please adjust the settings on your mail client so you can receive mail from help@gemselect.com.
Happy gem hunting!
Your friends at GemSelect
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