Buying Tanzanite and Gemstones in Nairobi, Kenya

Buying Tanzanite and Gemstones in Nairobi, Kenya Being a gemstone centre in East Africa, Nairobi has numerous jewelery and gem stores selling varied gemstones but dealing in Tanzanite in particular. This record explores the numerous pitfalls of buying Tanzanite in Nairobi and offers guidance on what to look for.

Fraudulent Practices are prevalent in the Nairobi market An record in the Nation Newspaper recently highlighted the unregulated nature of the gemstone and jewelry business in Nairobi and East Africa in general. Fraudulent practices are thorough with many players selling inferior goods to unwitting buyers pertaining to be the finest qualities. With no Trade Descriptions Act in Kenya, shopping for Tanzanite, Tsavorite and gemstone jewelry is very much a case of caveat emptor (buyer beware). To avoid being a victim, take into consideration the following points: What to look for : Sales talk versus fact: First of all, it is foremost to have some idea of what you should expect from reputable sellers of gemstones. There are so many "merchants" in Nairobi whose sole purpose is to peddle gemstones for outrageous prices whilst purporting to be experts or even "owners of the mines". The majority of such claims are totally unfounded and downright false. Mining in East Africa is done very informally by artisanal miners in some very remote areas. The channel of distribution ordinarily follows the usual trend of the miners selling to established cutters and dealers who export to foreign markets or sell to local jewelery stores. Jewelery stores buy from a variety of sources together with such dealers, the most base being brokers. If a jewelery store purports to own the mine and by implication, the supply, do not be taken in by this - it is pure hype and a complete misrepresentation. A reputable seeder will be highly knowledgeable about the gemology of the gems they sell and be able to sass your questions coherently and in depth. They should carry some gemological qualifications to originate themselves as knowledgeable in the field rather than being purely merchants. Gemology is an intricate field and there are a great deal of synthetics, imitations and false gemstones out there to risk buying from a seeder who is not a gemologist. The days of being able to peddle stones with tiny knowledge of them and expect not to get caught out with a artificial or imitation are long gone. Tanzanite for example, can be coated to improve its colour. It has a artificial counterpart called Tanzanique which looks exactly like it. How can you be sure you are buying a genuine gemstone when the seeder themselves have no gemological knowledge or testing facilities? The Gemstones themselves: My other Ezine article, "Tanzanite Purchasing Tips" goes much more in depth into what to look for in Tanzanite in Tsavorite to differentiate in the middle of fine stones and lower grades so I won't go into too much information here as it is beyond the scope of this article. However, in general, a layman can differentiate in the middle of fine stones and low grade ones naturally by using base sense - the more vivid and deeply saturated the color, the finer the stone. The more flawless the clarity the finer the stone and often overlooked - the finer the cut, the more great the stone, the finer the quality. Most of the stores I surveyed were selling medium to low grade goods as top grade. This is totally unscrupulous. I would propose reading my record on Tanzanite purchasing tips on Ezine to get a good overview of what to look for. Also look at the bottom of this record for a link to my site where we list any very beneficial educational tools showing you what to look for in a fine Tanzanite. It is very easy to pay way over the odds for a mediocre Tanzanite in Nairobi whilst being led to believe that you are buying the finest quality. Aaa, Aa, 4A, 5A: If you have been shopping in any of Nairobi's jewelery stores you will have come over these terms. I was dumbstruck by how many stores fed misinformation using these "grades". The first thing to understand is that none of these terms are actual gemological grades. Aa and Aaa were terms used by miners in early mining days to denote the 2 top grades of Tanzanite - triple A is an highly deeply saturated color and is less than 1% of all Tanzanite, duplicate A is a shade lighter. I was angered to find many stores in Nairobi misrepresenting very mediocre material as triple A, but even more angered to hear such sales talk as "but we also have 4A and 5A - very extra and only from our mines, nowhere else" at which point they produce some duplicate A stones at ridiculous prices. 4A and 5A are just made up hype - they have never been used by the business and are naturally terms coined by merchants to hype their stock. You should look for sellers who issue permissible gemological certificates carrying a permissible scientific grade such as the Gia (Gemological originate of America) grading system. It is all very well bandying around terms like Aaa but these are naturally subjective terms and they should be backed up with permissible grading using a recognized grading system. The store itself: Don't be fooled by location - many of the stores I surveyed are settled in upscale malls where they use their excellent sell location to peddle high volumes of mediocre goods to unsuspecting buyers. This, by itself is fine but when they record the goods as the finest qualities when they are not, and payment outrageous price, then it naturally becomes a form of fraud. I object enormously to this and by extension, the prestige it gives our industry. When you enter the store, look for an environment that appears pro - is the store an postponement of a curio store with a merchant peddling a large array of curios with gems thrown in? Do the staff know gemstones, are there any gemologists to sass your questions? Obviously you want to look for a store that offers these things and don't be persuaded to drop thousands of dollars on an impulse - do some study first. Prices: The most outrageous factor gleaned from my witness was prices, especially for Tanzanite. Some stores were selling medium grade stones (which they represented as "4A" or "5A") for over 00 per carat. This is outrageous for the local shop (in the Us shop this would be more normal). At the time of writing, even the very finest investment grade pieces (and I found zero stores indubitably selling this grade despite their sales banter promising the earth) shouldn't be more than 0 per carat. This is for excellent cutting, flawless clarity and the very finest colour found in the top 1% of Tanzanites. Don't be fooled into spending crazy money. Do some study first. All in all, the witness revealed a very high level of fraud and fraudulent practices surrounded by sellers of Tanzanite and gemstones in the Nairobi area. With no governmental body in place to regulate it, it indubitably is a case of caveat emptor (buyer beware) when you are shopping for Tanzanite. Do your research, go to any stores and do comparisons and look for pro and knowledgeable gemologists who are able to sass your questions fully before buying. Buying Tanzanite and Gemstones in Nairobi, Kenya Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo