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Sri Lanka: A Gemstone Buyer’s Dream
(via The Canadian Gemmologist, volume XV, Spring, 1994, number 1) Donald Coughlin writes:
It is hard to imagine a more fascinating and interesting country for a gemstone enthusiast to visit. Whether the visitor is a lapidarist, gemologist, jeweler, or hobbyist, Sri Lanka has all one can ask for. This is a photographer’s paradise.
Sri Lanka, still fondly called Ceylon by many inhabitants, is an island lying off the southern tip of India. Filled with color, excitement, friendliness, folk lore and superstition, Sri Lanka is the Pearl of Southeast Asia. Languages are primarily Tamil and Sinhala; English is often spoken and understood in all major tourist areas. In gemstone mining areas, the man on the street knows little English, but tries hard. You should be patient when they misunderstand you.
Various reports claim much of the country’s surface has gemstone minerals beneath it. These are easy to believe, because there is no apparent sign of gem shortages despite centuries of mining.
Very little in Sri Lanka compares with the Western world, and that includes customs and traditions that are often directly related to Astrology. Every lunar month there is “Poya” day, a national Buddhist holiday when most businesses are closed.
Before a visit, I would strongly recommend that you read a guidebook to learn about climate, customs, tourism, etc.
Where, And When To Shop
There are hundreds of gemstone shops sprinkled throughout Sri Lanka. Some are elegant (luxury hotels and museums), while others may be small and unassuming. Normally one’s purse dictates which sort of shop to deal with.
Generally, gem dealers are courteous, friendly, and helpful. They rarely get offended when a customer walks out without buying. Apart from the shops, and a great deal more fun, are the street gemstone hawkers of Ratnapura and other mining towns.
Once you arrive at Ratnapura (Ratna means gems; pura means area), there are many things the visitor should be aware of before stepping into the unknown. The following information will help you:
What Instruments Do I Need?
When visiting a “Pola” (a street auction where all the action is), you will want to carry only a few gem testing instruments such as:
- 10x lens or loupe
- small diffraction grating spectroscope
- dichroscope
- tweezers
- sewing machine oil in a small dispenser; ideal for checking rough stones for asterism or chatoyancy
- Chelsea filter
- pen light; as strong as possible, with spare batteries
- a portable polariscope or 49-mm polarizing lens
- pocket sized calculator
Basic Rules For Shopping
Keep your sense of humor
This is most important and therefore heads the list. Sri Lankans enjoy a good laugh, and often local men laugh at you for no apparent reason. You should not take offence, and understand that they have a completely different mentality to yours and they do not mean to offend you. Whether laughing with you, or at you, try to take it in a good natured way.
The same thing works in reverse, you can laugh at them for whatever the reason, and they enjoy the joke. Depending on how you view it, this sort of laughter can be quite refreshing when compared with our often exaggerated western sensitivities.
Guard your money
Do not flash your money around. Carry only small bills and plenty of small change, and only the amount you intend to spend.
Keep calm
Do not let yourself lose your cool. These peddlers hound you to death, about 50 of them pressing in on all sides, and you must remain calm. Agitation only makes things worse, and there is a strong likelihood that poor judgment will result on your part. Just make it clear to them that they must back off or you will no longer discuss gemstones with them. Eventually they get the hint.
Know what you want
Decide in advance whether you will purchase cut stones, or rough. It is illegal to export rough stones from Sri Lanka. However, this should not prevent you buying some (particularly if you are a lapidarist and know a good stone when you see one). You can then take it to any established shop dealer who will be pleased to cut it for you at a low cost.
Bargain
Always bargain, even if a shopkeeper insists he has fixed, or unbeatable prices. I have yet to see a dealer let me walk out of his shop reconsidering his fixed rules. Many dealers in Sri Lanka, whether in first-class hotels or gemstone shops, have as much as 30% mark up on their gemstones. Up to 20% of that is for the touring guide or agent, while 10% may be tacked on for discount purposes. Foreigners often receive advice to refuse any purchase not accompanied by a discount. If you are unaccompanied, then you should deduct 30% and even more to set a bargaining plateau.
Buyer beware
When you have agreed upon a price, you cannot, ever, change your mind. To change your mind after you have made a fixed offer is unethical, and not playing the game. If this happens (and it did to me), you will find many stern and angry faces closing in—quite frightening to uninitiated. Don’t worry, they will never hurt you and are teaching you a lesson, but your popularity has dropped considerably.
Agreeing on a price
The hawker is offering his blue sapphire (cut or rough) for the bargain price of 12000 rupees. You like the stone, so you may feel you should start bargaining at 4000. Watch it. You will feel ill should the dealer immediately accept that figure. The streetwise shoppers offer under 4000. This leaves the door open, and if the seller agrees, then you start working on a lower figure.
The Sinhalese way of indicating yes
Many foreigners are confused when the seller shakes his head in a curious wobbling manner much as we indicate no in Western countries. This delightful and unusual mannerism means yes in Sri Lanka. When I first experienced this peculiarity, I raised the price under the assumption I had made too low an offer. The laughter among the hawkers was sure sign that I was not the first to make this mistake.
Synthetics and imitations
If the price seems too low for such a high quality stone, it is likely the stone is synthetic. Test it if you the necessary instruments, or refuse it. Because of greed and excitement one can become incredibly stupid. For example, you think you have spotted a rare stone and in haste to get away and admire the steal you throw commonsense to the wind. Sad to say, you forget to check the stone; and sadder still, you may even forget to bargain. I know from experience.
I sometimes buy synthetics and imitations for study purposes, but only for the price of cutting. When you spot a desirable specimen, you can offer possibly rupees 50-100 per carat. Pit glasses are attractive and worth collecting.
Bear in mind
More often than not, local gemstone dealers (as in most other countries) know little about gemology. This is a great advantage to the intrepid buyer trained in identification techniques. It is shocking to see how many honest dealers unknowingly peddle synthetic stones.
One dealer situated in a five star hotel, claimed he had to certified rare stones (ekanite and taaffeite) for sale. I checked and found the certificates did not match the stones in question—even the colors were wrong. I brought my portable refractometer and showed him that he had a diopside and a normal blue spinel. He was the victim of a switch deal.
Rare stones
When you spot a rare stone, and obviously the seller is not aware of it, but it. Do not let your conscience bother you too much in this grey area. Dealers are businessmen, and it is obvious that their consciences are at rest when they grossly inflate their prices on the unaware tourist. You can make an excellent purchase, e.g. a beautiful spessartite garnet as a hessonite for only a couple of dollars, or a very rare taaffeite represented as a blue spinel for a similar amount.
Things are not always what they appear to be: For example, local descriptions of gemstones differ from textbooks. A tourmaline parcel is a stone paper filled with a mixed variety of stones with few (if any) tourmalines in it. Many peddlers call colored stones tourmaline, and the inexperienced buyer often believes these are all different shades of that variety. Normally these parcels consist of green metamict zircon, almandine and hessonite garnets, spinel, diopside, quartz varieties, and glasses. However on occasion a sharp eye will spot the odd chrysoberyl and rare stones such as sinhalite, kornerupine, taaffeite, ekanite, etc.
Quartz varieties (smoky, citrine, and rock crystal) are called topaz (in English). The dealers are not intentionally misleading you (though such a possibility exists), but to them topaz is English for quartz.
Have your stone certified
If a gemstone is expensive and you doubt its authenticity, insist that you want the stone certified by the State Gem Corporation of Sri Lanka (free of charge without certificate, minimal charge with one), or other qualified agency, before you make full payment. The street hawkers usually work for a mine or shop owner, so are probably paid on a commission basis. Some may be pit workers who manage to find sapphires and rubies while out jogging, or perhaps the stones fell off a truck.
Insist that your man take you to his master, or bring him to you, and request the necessary certification. This applies to shop dealers and street hawkers alike, but only for expensive stones. The dealer will deliver both stone and certificate to your hotel room if he is sincere. Should the stone turn out to be synthetic, you may not see the dealer again unless he has an alternative stone of equal value on hand. (I understand the Gem Corporation will destroy the synthetic—much to the dealer’s dismay).
Cutting
Pay close attention to the cut of a stone. Sri Lanka has excellent lapidarists, but unfortunately many intentionally turn out poorly cut stones to gain maximum weight and/ or color. Star stones and cat’s eyes are usually cut with crown showing excellent asterism/chatoyancy, but with the base left rough and uneven.
Do not disregard badly cut stones, but bargain hard and have them recut. Take into account the number of carats you may lose and of course the cost per carat. You can double or triple the value of most stones by recutting.
Sri Lanka must be one of the most exciting countries in the world for gemstone enthusiasts, and the above is only an enticing morsel of the great gemstone experience. Sri Lankan tourism is priceless and must be taken advantage of. The sights, natural beauty, are unparalleled (and I have 38 years of travel behind me for comparison).
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