GEM BUYING IN CHANTABURI

About 30 years ago I found that to get a good price on cut gemstones I needed to go to the place where most of them get cut. That place in Thailand is the town of Chantaburi. About a 5-6 hr drive south east out of Bangkok heading past Pattaya and Satahip but before you get to Trat you hit Chantaburi. A great ride it is too, back 30 years ago it was all farm country and a wonderful assortment of homegrown fruits and veggies on the way down. The first time down I bought a 2 kg Papaya from a guy for $0.50 and as I turned and walked away I heard him snikker and mumble something about being a dumb farong (foriegner). I had in his eyes way overpaid for his ripe fruit. But to us in the car it was ambrosia and eaten totally. Just one of the perks on our way to Chan.

Got to Chan (that is what the Thais call it) late after noon and found a room in a Thai hotel for $6 a night and it was Air conditioned! Non airconditioned rooms were $4. No TV of course because at that time there were no stations available there anyway. Had a hearty bowl of noodles and some pork satee for dinner and then to bed. Slept very well and got up at my usual time around 5:30 – 6 AM. I was the only one up so I went out for a morning walk, down to the river I thought would be nice. On my way I stopped in a little corner tea house and had fresh bananas (8), tea and some type of Chinese cookie for breakfast next to the river, for all of about $0.25 USD. I was in heaven I thought and the people of the morning in Chantaburi hardly gave me a second glance.

By midmorning we all walked down to the trading area of town, tightly packed row houses with small stark offices on the first level. We wandered over to an office that belonged to a friend of ours and got us a table. You see having a table is like saying “I’m ready to buy, bring on the goods”. We took our positions and got ready for the onslaught. I really didn’t know what to expect the first time but I found out quick enough. We got there on Friday the beginning of the trading weekend, all the cutters send out their brokers to try and sell thousands of different items, mostly gemstones. 30 years ago most of the material for sale was corundum (ruby and sapphire) and as you sit at the table different brokers come by and thrust packets of gems in front of you and expect you to look and make an offer. After the first purchase the floods begin. When they know there is a buyer in the area everyone starts jockeying for position trying to get their packets in your hands. I had to take control and force them to wait their turn (very difficult) there would be 20 brokers surrounding you all throwing these packs of gems at you. As the day progressed I got to see more gems than I had ever seen in my life, all in such a short time. What fun we had. I was totally enthralled in the business of making offers.

When a packet catches my fancy I would write an offer on the outside of the packet and tape it up so nothing could be added or removed and I put my initials on it. Then back to the broker who runs off to the seller and gets an O K or a counter offer. Very seldom a “no answer”. And on it went for the rest of the day, taking a lunch break but staying at the table. Until about 4:30 when the sun starts to set and the natural light starts to fade then we retire for the day. Saturday is next and it is the big day, a good 10 hours of trading.

That weekend saw more than just the everyday gem material. I got to view stones not seen in the states or Europe. Jade is one of the big sellers. The big money stones were the rubies and sapphires but nothing like these are even sent to the U.S., most of them stayed in Thailand. I was ready for Saturday and was not disappointed. The volume of material in the small village in south east Thailand rivals that of New York City. We were all exhausted and were glad to call it a day late Saturday afternoon. We settled up with the owners of the tables and had them bring the stones we bought to Bangkok where we would pay them and take delivery.

On another occasion I was able to see a new gem material called Blue Zoisite, new from Tanzania in east Africa. Of course this new gem find was later called “Tanzanite”. I saw rough and cut stones that later became very popular in the West but were first cut here. Chantaburi also became a hotbed of many different gem treatments. Diffusion treated sapphires in all colors came out of there by the kilo. Glass filled rubies were made here and diffusion treated “Padparasha” colored sapphires to. The future of gemstones and treatment is in Chantaburi. My magical first visit to Chan is no more. Of course I still go there but it is a lot different now. Not as many farms anymore, can’t buy those huge papayas anymore and most of the road is a highway now and heavily industrialized. And Chantaburi is a City and the hotels cost a lot more, just like anywhere else in the World things change.