Gemscentric

Written by Julian Robov


Fifty Five


At seven o’clock in the morning, Bill, Gary and Toni arrived at the conference room of Pailin Shelter. Rudy and James joined them after a light breakfast.
“Only good news,” Toni said. “If we can supply Malaysia and Singapore blue sapphires above three carats—natural, untreated, lightly included and well cut—then we are treated special. The new economy has brought in new kind of collectors who are well informed of quality and locality. They will pay our price, if we can deliver the kind of quality they are looking for in blue sapphires. They know the difference between a fair, good, and very good stone.” Rudy nodded.
“London was great,” Bill added. “It’s a new London with a new set of rules and a generation, which appears very trendy and appreciative. They are a bit more hard working and will pay for quality and provenance. They love blue sapphires. In fact, they asked me if we can get them Kashmir blue sapphires. But with some education, we should be able to persuade the old generation that there are blue sapphires from other localities, which are as good and beautiful as Kashmir blue sapphires. And they are willing to pay our price, if we can deliver untreated blue sapphires, good color, less included, and well cut stones. And also someone asked me, if we can sell included stones for collectors.”
James looked up at Rudy. “I think we should go parallel. I believe the idea is good, but at this stage we are interested in the concept of mass customization of good quality blue sapphires. We will do our best to deliver what our customers need, if they pay our price. But inclusion business needs more preparation, right tools, access to sources, and the right people, who knows inclusions better than us. It’s not that easy.”
Toni interrupted. “I think we are overlooking the situation. We should think of specializing in ‘included blue sapphires’. Maybe we should add other gem species gradually as we understand, learn, and adapt to make someone happy. Collectors want to enjoy in their privacy beauty and history or in some cases want to share the joy with someone they love. You never know. Perceive it as piece of art, science and genesis. Inclusions are nature’s creation, and we are selling gods gift. They are unique expressive wonders of nature. We are opening a new market. Since no two inclusions are alike, we are selling rarity.”
“Maybe we should incorporate this idea into the Blue Color City concept,” Rudy opined. “I think with the help of Peter, we should be able to do something about it. They are more qualified to make judgments when it comes to inclusions. I will have to talk to Potch.”
“How was New York?” James asked.
“Only a massive downpour of Martian rocks can stop the growth of the American economy, and New York is the capital of the world, at least for now. They have money, and more money is germinating by the second. The economy is fertile with knowledge and high-tech brains. Investors are pouring in with cash from God-knows-where and it’s everywhere. They are buying up corporations, banks, women, jewelry, gemstones—anything where they can put their hand on. Luxury items have picked up high demand and suppliers have problems keeping up the demand, which in effect is good news for us. We have something others don’t have. Blue sapphires of top quality three carats and above with a report stating identity and quality. That’s what they want. We have a lot of catch up work to do to, if we are to survive the next millennium,” Gary answered.
“Are they aware of treatments and imitations?” Rudy asked.
“Not everyone, but they will know, once they have made a mistake. And in a country like the United States bad news travels at the speed of light. Then every Tom, Moshe and Patel knows the situation,” Bill said.
It didn’t take much time for them to evaluate the situation. Good quality stones brought in good money. More than ever it had become clear that they had to work closely with Prapan.
Rudy paused. “I have an important announcement to make. We have bought a new mine in Pailin (Cambodia) and Queensland (Australia) with some local and international help. The supply should keep us busy for the next fifty years or so. The crystals are superb, and we will be using the state-of-the-art mining technology so that we don’t destroy the crystals and the environment. We will be working closely with the local government making sure the economy, people, and us benefit from this joint venture. The whole thing should be operational in a year.”

There was a quick applause followed by high five and body slam. The discussion moved forward regarding description of quality stones, the cut (commission), and term of payments depending on the kind of relationship one had with their customers. New York had always been a credit savvy place. London, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore were no different unless the stones were too big with good referral. As always the most preferred arrangement was cash and carry, but at times they had to exercise flexibility, as was the case with Toni. After studying the customers history and referral, Rudy decided to yield. He had brought in two million dollars business. Gary’s case was different. His customers had requested him to cut blue sapphires different. They were not interested in oval and cushion shapes. They wanted round brilliant and rectangular step cut blue sapphires to match their jewelry. That meant bigger rough crystals to facet. He had brought in orders for five million dollars, and the stones were in the above ten carat range. Bill had orders for big stones worth four million dollars, but it was a catch-22 situation. One of his special customer had requested stones with characteristic inclusions in them. She wanted five Sri Lankan sapphires with three-phase inclusions—solid, liquid and gas. It was a sure proof that the stones were natural and untreated. Another rich client had requested seven Pailin blue sapphires with uranium pyrochlore inclusions in them, a definite locality characteristic of Pailin and some Australian localities. If he was to find the stones for the two exclusive rich clients, they were willing to spend another ten million, as part of their collection spree. The only institution that could help them identify those inclusions were the rocket scientists working for Peter. They had the tools, knowledge and patience. Now their task was to make available hundreds, perhaps thousands of stones searching for the three-phase and uranium pyrochlore inclusions.

Rudy began to think of Toni’s suggestion. One could be losing a lot because of inclusions. It was like looking for a needle in a hay stack situation for the sake of making someone happy. After a delicious buffet lunch at the Amari Boulevard hotel, James and Rudy drove to Paratip Court.