Any tips and warnings on buying sapphires in Jaipur?

[Marciaann]

I am in India and will be gem shopping in Jaipur in a week. I normally stick to semi precious but would love to pick up some sapphires and rubies while there. I come to India a lot and know the way it can work out here! People will sell you the moon and swear it’s the sun! But I’d also hate to miss a chance to get some gorgeous stones just because I’m worried about getting cheated. Is there a way for a novice to figure out if a stone is a genuine sapphire or ruby? I’m not confident enough to buy really pricey ones and actually love cloudier more organic looking precious stones with inclusions. Are the ones with inclusions less likely to be “faked” in any way? I’m not bothered about heat treatment as I know many stones are heat treated. But are there any treatments to stones that can effect their strength and durability? Can you tell if a stone has been dyed for instance?

 

[Bron357]

What / why are you buying them? If you think there might be bargains there, I doubt it. Those miners / dealers are super experienced.
It’s all well and good to like the cloudy ones, or those with lots of rutile silk, but they aren’t considered commercial ie no one will be beating a path to your door to buy them from you.
The main thing you need is a Loupe and how to use it. Without a lot of experience you aren’t going to be able to detect heat treatment with just a Loupe (this dissolves the rutile silk to make the gem cleaner looking) and specialised testing is needed for Beryllium treated but you want to avoid glass filled. Like, do not buy glass filled or composite ruby
Will they tell you? Hardly.
If you examine the gem with bright light you need to check every facet with the Loupe. What you are looking for is any small pits, cracks or even super fine “wiggly” marks. These are the telltale signs of glass filling, it’s through those pits, cracks and fine wiggly lines that the coloured glass material is inserted into the gem. A glass filled ruby can look beautiful but it might be 10%actual ruby and the rest red coloured glass composite to fill in the empty spaces. It’s total rubbish.
And don’t buy any opaque stone ie opaque is if you hold it up to the light and no light can be seen coming through the gem. It may not even be ruby. Gem dealers will love you as a newbie buyer, they tell you anything, sell you anything. And you will be quite sad when you get back home with your gems to find out you were ripped off.
Simply, there are no cheap good quality rubies. Good quality are expensive and desirable. The best ones will have long ago been sent to premium markets in Asia where there’s lots of money. We have the same issue here in Australia. The good opals never see the light of day here in our shops, they are whisked off straight to the Asian markets.
As for sapphires, similiar issues plus dealers might pass off another beautiful blue gem called Kyanite as Sapphire. As a novice you won’t pick up on that. Kyanite is lovely but it’s very soft and brittle and cheap and no sapphire !
Certainly enjoy checking out the gem markets, buy some gems as souvenirs of your trip but don’t expect to nab some super ruby or sapphire for a bargain basement price.

 

[Marciaann]

Thanks so much! That’s really helpful. I think maybe best I stick to my trusted London dealer for precious gems then. I know kyanite quite well so think I could tell if it was that stone. I am a jeweller not gem dealer and I make engagement rings. I have some rustic rings I want to make and lower grade cloudy sapphires would be perfect for the organic look I’m going for. I want sapphires for the durability and want to offer a lower cost version of my rings with lower grade sapphires. Do you think there’s still cheating going on with these lower grade stones?

 

[Gemobsessed]

I’m Indian and I can tell you that unless you have an experience Indian with you on that trip who has the right connections and knows how to check a gem, it will be hard to get fabulous gems. Sapphires in particular tend to be quite bad in India. The best stuff doesn’t stay in the market. For religious reasons blue sapphire is supposed to be bad luck and goes by the name of Neelam.

Emeralds are a bit better but the good ones aren’t cheap. If you research and find a really high end branded chain you may get some great stuff there.

 

[Marciaann]

Thanks so much. That’s great info about the sapphires. I think I’ll just stick to semi precious! I’ve got some lovely pieces here in the past so better to stick with what I know.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

It sounds like a fun experience. If you're willing, have a look at some emeralds and sapphires while there and then come back and write a travel log about the experience--I'd love to read more about what the Jaipur gem market is like.

Happy Hunting!

 

[Marciaann]

It sounds like a fun experience. If you're willing, have a look at some emeralds and sapphires while there and then come back and write a travel log about the experience--I'd love to read more about what the Jaipur gem market is like.

Happy Hunting!

It’s lots of fun and incredibly exhausting at the same time!!! The deals don’t seem as great since the availability of so many gems on the internet. But I like to pick my stones in person and being in Rajasthan is always an amazing experience. The best thing about shopping for gems in India is all of the chai you get fed

 

[Gemobsessed]

It’s lots of fun and incredibly exhausting at the same time!!! The deals don’t seem as great since the availability of so many gems on the internet. But I like to pick my stones in person and being in Rajasthan is always an amazing experience. The best thing about shopping for gems in India is all of the chai you get fed

Jaipur is known for a fried snack called Kachori. You must try that to go with the chai!

Also try Chameli bazaar for gem shopping if you can. Someone recently told me it’s cheaper than Johari bazaar and bit less known.