Local gem-studded jewellery sector:

New marketing strategies will benefit economy

Prof. P.G.R. Dharmaratne-PhD, FGG, FGA, FIE

Gems are always associated with positive features such as beauty, wealth and prestige. There are many unique attributes to gems. The most compelling of these is the beauty of gems. The beauty of most gems is mainly due to colour and transparency, like in ruby or sapphire. On the other hand some gems are beautiful when there is absolutely no colour, like in diamonds or full of inclusions, like in stones with Chatoyancy. (i.e. an iridescent lustre as in a cat's eye) or Asterism (i.e. a star effect such as in a star sapphire). Chatoyancy is caused by the presence of a thick layer of parallel inclusions and Asterism is caused by two or three such sets of inclusions in the stone.

The next most important attribute of gems is the hardness which is important for durability and to sustain good polish and lustre. Gems with low hardness could get damaged due to day-to-day wear and mishaps.

One important aspect of gems is the rarity. If every pebble we trample on the road was a ruby or a sapphire, no one will want to set them in precious metal to adorn their body. So the most crucial aspects of gems are their beauty, durability and rarity.

Although we talk of gems in Sri Lanka from the time of the visit of the Buddha some 2,500 years ago, that many are not aware of the gems we have. A survey conducted among over 500 families of various economic levels, has revealed that only about 20 percent of people are aware of the gems found in Sri Lanka.

Moreover, only about 10 of the surveyed people seemed to have a jewellery set with gems. The reason for this appears to be the lack of awareness as to how to detect fakes from true gems, the notion that they are expensive or because jewellery is regarded as an investment and not as a fashionable item like the people of developed countries often do.

It does not seem to be commonly known that a blue sapphire of lower colour can be bought for Rs. 5,000. Blue sapphires can be almost colourless to deep blue colour. People are also generally unaware that if one prefers to have a blue coloured gemstone, there are other low priced natural gems of this same colour and quality. It is sad to see that people living in a country with such an abundance of natural gems, wear jewellery with glass or synthetic stones.

We should have attempted to convince the public of the value of naturalness and of gems of Sri Lankan origin. After many visits to Thailand, I have learnt that about 70 percent of the people there are knowledgeable about gems and more than 50 percent wear gem studded jewellery.

When you look into gem and jewellery exports of Sri Lanka and Thailand, this is clearly evident.

The ratio of jewellery exports to gem exports for Sri Lanka is 22 percent whereas it is 855 percent for Thailand. Perhaps this is not a true representation of local consumption, but I think the fact that more gem-set jewellery is exported by Thailand suggests that higher percentage of gems are converted to jewellery than in Sri Lanka.

I recall my visit to Czechoslovakia before it split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Their jewellery stores had only one kind of gem studded jewellery, low priced Almandine garnet jewellery. They did not know much about sapphires or rubies.

On further inquiry I found that this was the only variety of gems found in that country and these were mined in hard rock.

In Sri Lanka, we have an abundance of Almandine garnet in large sizes and a range of shades, easily mined in alluvial gem deposits but we hardly have any garnet in jewellery stores. They are considered low value and this may be because we have sapphire, ruby and Padmaraga. The Crechs people think of the Almandine garnet as 'their stone' and adorn themselves with jewellery made with it.

It is worth recalling that when Lady Diana and later, the current Princess Catherine wore an engagement ring with a blue sapphire, how the whole world went agog about blue sapphires and everyone was looking for blue sapphires natural or otherwise. Sri Lanka's gem industry greatly benefited from that.

Other countries promote gem studded jewellery assigned for various occasions such as birthdays, Valentine's Day, engagements, weddings or anniversaries. We do not have such promotions in Sri Lanka.

We must promote the idea that everyone should get natural Sri Lankan gem studded jewellery in gold or silver and gift to loved ones on their important occasions.

Just imagine Sri Lankans giving a yellow sapphire, when a child becomes an adult, a pink sapphire (and not a diamond) for an engagement, a blue sapphire for a wedding, a cat's eye for a 10th wedding anniversary, a ruby for a silver anniversary and a Padmaraga for golden wedding anniversary.

If one considers the cost, one can recommend stones of similar colour but of different varieties and lower prices such as: Spinels instead of blue and pink sapphire Citrine, as an alternative to yellow sapphire, Pyrope garnet instead of ruby, Kornerupine cat's eye instead of expensive Chrysoberyl cat's eye or Spessartite garnet for Padmaraga sapphire.

I have seen enormous quantities of cut and polished low priced varieties of gems stocked with traders. In the past, these gems were referred to an semi-precious, but that is not so any more. Imagine if 25 percent of Sri Lankans chose to wear one item of jewellery with a single such stone; that would mean about five million gems being sold. Such an outcome will enhance the gem mining and lapidary industry and benefit the national economy.

(The author is Senior Professor of the department of Earth Resources Engineering, University of Moratuwa. He has served the National Gem and Jewellery Authority as it Director General (1996-1998) and Chairman (1998-2002). He was the Chairman of Geological Survey and mines Bureau from 2004 to 2005.)