Shopping / Gemstones
Gemstones
are Thailand's second biggest export line, after garments and
before rice. In 1990, the country exported gemstones for approximately
1.5 billion US Dollars. More than half of the worlds quality
rubies come from Thailand, mainly from the region bordering
Cambodia (rubies from Cambodia also find in substantial numbers
their way to Thailand). In the Thai provinces of Chanthaburi,
Kanchanaburi and Phrae, blue sapphires are mined. Zircon
and garnet are other gemstones found in Thailand.
Thailand is
a good place to buy gemstones. However, one should only buy in
proper shops. One should not buy from persons who approach tourists
and offer "special deals" as such persons often are con artists.
They make friends with foreign visitors and after a while come
up with a story that they have some relative in the gems
trade, and accidentally, an "extremely good chance" is just existing
to make a small fortune. As the con artists word it, it always
seems to be a chance tailored for foreign visitors - but of course
the only one who will finally make a small fortune is the con
artist and his cohorts.
A story presented
by a con artist could sound like this: "Because the Thai government
has put under state control the export of gems, ordinary Thais
cannot export stones by themselves. However, foreign visitors
can buy gems and take them home. Because the gem trade is under
state control and the government fixes the price for exports
through the normal commercial channels, prices for gemstones are
much higher abroad than in Thailand. A tourist who buys a few
gemstones directly from a good source (the con artist may even
indicate that his relative's gems are black-market stones) can
easily finance his Thailand trip just by taking a few stones out
of the country, walking into any jewelry store back at home and
sell the stones for triple the price." There are endless varieties
of con artists' stories. For example, a con artist may claim that
his brother has to sell some stones which are old family inheritance
because his baby will need a heart operation, and the brother
therefore is allegedly willing to sell the stones for far beneath
their value. It is reported that some extra stupid tourists have
then offered to pay the "real", of course higher price for the
stones - and others have, because of the alleged serenity of the
circumstances, at least refrained from haggling over the price.
One just has
to read the letters to the editors of the English newspapers
in Bangkok to find regularly some more varieties of the same old
theme.
Of course,
all curious claims of con artists are just nonsense. The Thai
government doesn't control the gems trade and imposes inflated
prices for stones to be exported. And gemstones are not some exotic
novelty or fashion item for which a price is set quite arbitrarily
but rather an international commodity for which prices
at any time do not differ much from one country to another (though
retail shoppers probably pay at home a few percent duty and most
probably the full Value Added Tax of maybe 10 to 30 percent -
plus the mark-up of the retailer).
This is no
longer the age of spice traders who made a few thousand percent
profit on a sack of pepper brought from the Far East to Europe.
Price fluctuations of just some 10 percent between Asia
and Europe are a difference on which commodity traders can easily
live - in the case of rubbers just as in the case of rubies.
Nevertheless,
there may be cases when a foreigner buys gemstones at a retail
outlet in Bangkok at lower prices than he would at a jewelry shop
back home. But even then, the price difference will not
make it worthwhile to buy a few gems in Bangkok and to try to
sell them back home. The price difference certainly is not due
to a very substantial difference in wholesale prices but to different
retailer mark-ups. In the case of a knowledgeable retail shopper,
a gems retailer in Bangkok may settle for a mark-up smaller than
his counterpart in a Western country. But bluffs will not work.
The retail shopper has indeed to be knowledgeable.
The Asian
Institute of Gemological Science (Tel 513-2112, 513-7044 to
5) offers a one week course on gemstone identification at a price
of 4,850 Baht (no gems included, but a text book). The course
does not turn an amateur into a specialist and gems trader.
Those contemplating
converting money into gemstones should be aware that gemstones
are only to a limit suited as commodity investment. Unlike
in the case of gold and silver, the value of a gemstone cannot
simply be determined by weighting it. To many other factors play
a role, size, shape and even how healthy Western economies are
at a given time. For gemstones except diamonds are marketed almost
exclusively as jewelry.
Even the Asian
Institute for Gemological Science from which certificates attesting
to the genuineness and quality of any particular
gemstone are available at 599 Baht if one can wait a week for
the report or at 999 Baht if one wants it faster, refrains from
putting a value tag on stones.
The ordinary
visitor should buy gemstones if he or she fancies them for his
or her own adornment or as a gift. He or she should not buy them
with the intention to resell them at a profit because that
profit will most probably not materialize.
Visit Gems
Gallery in Bangkok and Chiangmai.
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Directly from Thai growers in North Thailand,
We sell Pueraria mirifica root stems, root stem chips, and root stem powder.
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http://www.asiatour.com/thailand/e-02trav/et-tr231.htm
Jan Garanoz
869/116 Thanon Pemavipat,
Chiang Rai, 57000 Thailand
Created: September 1, 1995
Last updated: September 14, 2009