Postcards from 'Gem Island'

What a wonderful trip to what is nicknamed ‘Gem Island’, the heart of Asia and where legand has it Sinbad sailed down rivers scattered with gemstones.Part buying trip part yoga and sightseeing, I was lucky enough to go to a couple of gem markets with a trusted gemstone trader/cutter friend and get a private tour of a gem lab where they test the stones and give them certificates of authenticity.

My mode of transport

Making friends on route

On the treasure hunt

In the gem lab

We got to see some state of the art new equipment, not just detecting the origin of the stone but also how much heat treatment if any did a stone have. Most machines would just say yes or no to heat, now we can detect how much.

We saw some beautiful sapphires, Sri Lanka is famous for its sapphires. I bought some great new pieces and some really special star sapphires.

We saw some beautiful padparadschas – the rarest of all sapphires and such an incredible colour. The name "padparadscha" comes from the Sinhalese word for "lotus blossom" as the gemstone's colour closely resembles that of a lotus flower.

We can’t wait to show you what we have – do book in and see us to be the first to see.

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