Tips for buying gems in Colombia?

[imatlas]

My uncle is going to Colombia in a few weeks, and he's interested in buying a good quality emerald at a reasonable price. I know, you're first thought is "good luck with that", but if it can be done without getting ripped off he's the one to do it. Anybody have any suggestions, tips or jeweler recommendations that they'd be willing to share? Thanks!

 

[Don Carlos]

I trust he speaks Spanish? If not, he just bought one nonstop ticket to Ripped Off Gringoville.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by imatlas

My uncle is going to Colombia in a few weeks, and he's interested in buying a good quality emerald at a reasonable price. I know, you're first thought is "good luck with that", but if it can be done without getting ripped off he's the one to do it. Anybody have any suggestions, tips or jeweler recommendations that they'd be willing to share? Thanks!

if it's too good to be true, it is. I suggest he familiarize himself with emerald prices before he goes down. Globe probably knows more.

 

[Douglas]

yeah, have him hire a GIA specialist and take him with him.

seriously, appraising the quality and authenticicy of gemstones and judging whether or not they've been treated, and in what way, is something that even experienced jewelers can't necessarily tell. Short of a recommendation of a specific jeweler who is a known quantity, trying to do this alone in a foreign country really is a recipe for disaster.

 

[globetrotter]

in colombia, when you want to refer to a real shark, or a dishonest businessman, you refer to him as an emrald dealer. honestly, if is not easy not to get ripped off as a foreigner. the only thing that I could suggest would be to try the duty free stores in the airport, for honesty's sake. what he really doens't want is to be on the street in bogota alone with peopel knowing that he has a lot of cash with him, that will get him killed.

 

[West24]

really bad idea. i studied gemmology and have spoken to people about it and its really hard to go to a foreign country and be able to do on spot identifications. ofcourse certain tests can easily be done, but then it gets tricky and you have to be really experienced. thats the kind of thing you do when you really know your ****. if you dont know what youre looking for the prices will not be worth going down there for it. not to mention how shady it can be. if hes only going to colombia for the deal, bad idea, if hes going anyway and maybe wants to look while hes there, thats ok.

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by West24

really bad idea. i studied gemmology and have spoken to people about it and its really hard to go to a foreign country and be able to do on spot identifications. ofcourse certain tests can easily be done, but then it gets tricky and you have to be really experienced. thats the kind of thing you do when you really know your ****. if you dont know what youre looking for the prices will not be worth going down there for it. not to mention how shady it can be. if hes only going to columbia for the deal, bad idea, if hes going anyway and maybe wants to look while hes there, thats ok.
Let's not kid ourselves: he's really down there for other deals, if you know what I mean. Emeralds are the least of his desires.

 

[West24]

Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard

Let's not kid ourselves: he's really down there for other deals, if you know what I mean. Emeralds are the least of his desires.

lady boys!

 

[Gibonius]

I think emeralds are particularly tricky, from what little I know of them. The pricing is quite dependent on color, which is hard to judge, and the clarity. Many emeralds have small fissures in them, and they are commonly pressure-injected with coconut oil (of all things) to fill in the gaps. This drastically lowers their value but isn't easy to notice.

I wouldn't for delving in deep waters like that, just too much risk. And in Columbia, not just financial risk either...

 

[Steve Smith]

Originally Posted by West24

really bad idea. i studied gemmology and have spoken to people about it and its really hard to go to a foreign country and be able to do on spot identifications.
........

Gemology, you studied it but you can't spell it?

 

[Reggs]

Tell him to buy the heaviest one's he can find. That way he can throw them at people when they try to kidnap him.

 

[TGPlastic]

Totally hilarious proposition. I've seen numerous fools separated from their $ doing stupid **** like the OP describes. The really funny part is that when you tell them they are heading into a scam they will not believe you. They really believe they can go into a foreign country and buy valuable gems at below world market prices. And then -here's the kicker- that they have some means of selling what they've bought at full retail when they get home. I saw a lot of this when I lived in Thailand. Poor drunk fools. If it's not colored glass then it's just some really low quality stone that will be yours forever. Good luck, dude.

 

[imatlas]

Let's see: yes, he speaks Spanish. His accent is atrocious, but very understandable. He's successfully bought gems on other trips, including a ruby that he bought in Burma and got a pretty phenomenal deal on (like $500 for a stone that was appraised at $6,000 in the US). That may have made him overconfident that he can repeat the trick in Colombia. He's familiar with H. Stern, but doesn't think he'll pay any less there than he'd pay in New York.

Really the only way this could work is he got a referral to a reliable dealer, but if there aren't any, that's useful information too.

 

[West24]

Originally Posted by Steve Smith

Gemology, you studied it but you can't spell it?

i didnt take english.