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myriads of stores and night markets in
Bangkok . Jewelry stores are located mainly in the big shopping malls at
Sukhumvit, Siam Square and at the intersection between Sukhumvit and Ratchadamri road plus around the west end of Silom Road in Bangkok.
All are very easy to be accessed by
BTS Bangkok Skytrain.
Thailand jewelry
wholesale
is done at internet stores and several jewelry
exhibitions per year at Bangkok actually the gem and jewelry
center at Chanthaburi
is only open at the weekend and they have real great items but one must be very
careful since most rubies and
ruby jewelry on sale are heat treated,
more.
Beautiful jewels made in
Thailand are usually made with imported gems since there are almost no precious stones digged out from the earth in Thailand. Precious and semi precious stones
are imported from Myanmar, Cambodia, Brazil and Colombia -mainly emeralds - and Madagascar. Beside of the usual
diamond jewelry,
ruby
jewelry and countless of other beautiful items the country is well known for
great designs This kind of rather cheap silver items is
also know as Karen hill tribe silver but its not only made by the Karen also Akha and Lisu make their beautiful
designer jewelry. At the night markets in Bangkok, Samui, Phuket etc. dozens of
shops sell sterling silver chains, earrings and countless other
handmade body decoration, there is plenty of ethnic jewelry around.
Thai Jewelry
has a dark side, there are scams to lure foreign tourists into buying
worthless gems and jewels for high prices with the promise they can sell this
items with multiple profit at home. This scam effects mainly Chinese tourists
and naturally others. It is necessary to
mention that this is not a unique Thai
case, similar things happen also in other countries like
Brazil etc. To put this into
proportion, when you intend to buy some items - in particular expensive ones - take a
expert from your side with you, for hire one, ask
the hotel, or check with the Bangkok gem exchange.
Almost all rubies have
inclusions, although most are not visible to the naked eye, it
needs the stone to be examine with a magnifying glass. The less
inclusions and the better the color into the direction "of pigeons
blood" the higher the quality of the precious stone is.
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Also the cut of the ruby is important,
inspect the stone under good lighting to ensure there are no
scratches.
This inclusions are leading to a
certain scams
to turn almost worthless
rubies into inclusion free gemstone with a great color. It is necessary to indicate this is
nothing illegal, this process of enhancing rubies is known and
implemented since ancient times. It just should be told to the gem
and jewelry buyer that that is a heat
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treated ruby, which is not done many times. Probably the
best gem and jewelry market in this region is the bi annual
Yangon Myanmar Emporium. |
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Thai jewelry
Ruby Diamond |
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Almost all heat treated rubies
for jewelry come from
Chanthaburi. The problem is you
cant recognize this heat treated ruby, but a specialist with the right tools can.
Since a lot of money is usually used on excellent
Thailand jewelry it can turn into a nightmare if one is not careful.
Many people buy gemstones and jewelry to have something
to sell when times are maybe not so good.
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Jewellery in Thailand continues
to make inroads into fine art venues such as
galleries, high-end shows and expos, and it is
creating quite a presence in the marketplace,
more
Thailand fashion jewelry
is big business, there are very creative
items as pendants, earrings, bracelets and other,
many are silver jewelry sold mostly at night
markets. As indicated more
early a
ruby gemstone, jade, sapphire, spinel
and other are smuggled into Thailand from Myanmar Burma. A major
jade-jadeite
smuggle route is also from Myanmar to China, you can
almost be sure when you see a jade item in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan the
raw jade comes from Myanmar - Burma and is carved,
drilled and whatever into
jade jewelry in China,
Taiwan or Hong Kong. |
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Thai silver jewelry
is very popular among Thai and tourists is , and among the
silver items the bestsellers are the Hill Tribe
Silver items as shown at the picture right. Those somehow
fashion jewelry looks good and is relatively low priced and
after some bargaining the price will be even lower. This
bracelets, necklaces, earrings and pendants are real
attractive and some are made in a very artistic way but that
gets more expensive naturally,
more.
There are also items made from
gold, steel, titanium, crystal and most of them are handmade
jewelry, probably the most popular is fashion jewelry. Thai
producers have a good feeling what design looks good and the
workmanship is also quite ok.
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