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Gems and other precious stones.


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Hello boys n girls.

I have a friend from Pakistan, he lives near the Afghan border (Bandit country).
He regularly gets offered rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc. from afghans coming over the border, apparently some of the best emeralds come from Afghanistan!

Does anyone here on this site know where one could sell raw uncut precious stones in the west?
Also if their are any legislation or rules about selling and transporting such stones?

He can pick these up for a very low price and i was looking into trying to sell some in europe.

Any help or info would be greatly appreciated!


Regards

ARGAR 

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I think without the correct provenance, you'd be on slippery ground given the current problems.

The Afghan-Pak border is in the Federally Administered Tribal Area... Pretty much nobody there except Taliban, Pashtun tribes (Taliban supporters) and terrorists in hiding.  Even bringing them through the Khyber Pass would require contacts that would make the CIA's mouth water!

 

I wouldn't worry about the nature of the stones, but I'd be awfully concerned at what those gem sales were funding.

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14 hours ago, ARGAR said:

Hello boys n girls.

I have a friend from Pakistan, he lives near the Afghan border (Bandit country).
He regularly gets offered rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc. from afghans coming over the border, apparently some of the best emeralds come from Afghanistan!

Does anyone here on this site know where one could sell raw uncut precious stones in the west?
Also if their are any legislation or rules about selling and transporting such stones?

He can pick these up for a very low price and i was looking into trying to sell some in europe.

Any help or info would be greatly appreciated!


Regards

ARGAR 

I have a jeweller friend who regularly buys loose stones. I could ask him if it is possible to sell such items in this country shall we say, quietly. i would guess though that it would be difficult to sell uncut stones. this is probably a specialist market. A trip to Rotterdam would probably be your best bet.

Profile picture with thanks to Carl Vernon

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I would say the best folk who would have a demand for uncut gems stones would be specialst jewellery makers. They will also probably be the people who will be able to verify/assess the stones.

Perhaps try contacting the folks on this forum and they also have a directory list there.

https://www.gemsociety.org/forums/

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Not everybody is a terrorist my friend.

Their just fortune seekers/ farmers selling to Geologists & Gemologists from Pakistan to make a few rupees on the side, often not realising the true value of the stones. 

Many of these gems are pulled out of the rivers after the winter snow and ice melts higher up the mountains.


Thanks for the forum link, i'll have a look see!

 

Cheers

ARGAR


 

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1 minute ago, ARGAR said:

Not everybody is a terrorist my friend.

That wasn't my point ARGAR, and I don't disagree with you. Try telling that to HMRC or any of the other interfering Govt. bodies if they find out they come from E. Afghanistan or the tribal zones though.

Not sure if it would be worth the headache.

Informative piece http://www.bgs.ac.uk/afghanminerals/docs/gemstones_a4.pdf

Currently stacking 1/4 oz (22ct) and Sovs.

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On 2/10/2016 at 10:49, ARGAR said:

Hello boys n girls.

I have a friend from Pakistan, he lives near the Afghan border (Bandit country).
He regularly gets offered rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc. from afghans coming over the border, apparently some of the best emeralds come from Afghanistan!

Does anyone here on this site know where one could sell raw uncut precious stones in the west?
Also if their are any legislation or rules about selling and transporting such stones?

He can pick these up for a very low price and i was looking into trying to sell some in europe.

Any help or info would be greatly appreciated!


Regards

ARGAR 

The jewellery trade in and around Hatton Garden will purchase cut and uncut stones from the public. Besides the regulation around blood diamonds there appears to be little need or desire to claim provenance. Family member returning from Oz exchanged some opals by this means.

 Like all of us, these jewellers will like a bargain, and if they can buy stones at a discount to the wholesalers that supply the trade it's a win-win for you and them. 

 

 

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I would be careful in the article it states most gems are of a low quality and are used in India and Pakistan with only a small % going to the west, if you are not an experienced buyer how will you tell if the stones are any good? 

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7 hours ago, Pipers said:

I would be careful in the article it states most gems are of a low quality and are used in India and Pakistan with only a small % going to the west, if you are not an experienced buyer how will you tell if the stones are any good? 

It also with personal reference. Some like coins that are shiny, others like them with patina, some accepts coins with handling marks other just want them in mint condition for slabbing. Same with gems (raw, cracks, scratches, unheated/heated, different cuts..).

But we all want them to be genuine.

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19 minutes ago, mr-dead said:

stay away from them unless you really know what you are doing

Exactly, this trade is as old as the hills, and any profit making angles for someone newly entering the market has to be very slim.

However, the chances of being ripped off at any point between buying the stones, and selling to a dealer, has to be very high for the novice.

Currently stacking 1/4 oz (22ct) and Sovs.

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I have spent some time faceting gemstones and have a large collection of varied rough, some of it from Afghanistan/Pakistan. There would be no problem with buying such stones and selling them rough on eBay quite easily. There is a large market for rough, particularly in Australia and the US of people that cut stones as a hobby. The market in the UK is limited. Selling to a jeweller will not be the best way to make money unless you get them cheaper than their wholesalers and they are not likely to want uncut stones. All this is the easy part.

The problem is as others have said, how you will be able to judge the quality of the rough. If you have no experience in just looking at it and knowing if the rough will cut well and is clean (no cracks or inclusions), you will have a hard time putting a value on it. This is the main problem with valuing gemstones - there are a lot of factors that go into deciding the quality. Then there is the matter of identifying what you are buying. Its not difficult to do but you will need some equipment and unless you are buying only a few stones you will not be able to test it all. With a big batch knowing what you are looking for comes back in, otherwise you might pay for a big bag of rubbish stones with a couple of good ones. 

Good luck with it, be careful, learn about what you are buying. It might be a good money spinner.

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  • 4 months later...
On 6/15/2016 at 20:28, Luriya said:

There are various sites online to 

Well that's a pretty poor attempt at SEO... But this is a UK site, for the most part; you might have difficulty persuading people to send their stones internationally.

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