Some Sri Lankan gem dealers have privately caught up with the Thais in converting cheap geudas into precious corundum under high temperature, says M.A.M. Nilam, proprietor of Ishak & Co. in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

            “Sri Lanka now also has the technology. Private gem dealers have been very successful in treating the geudas. We can almost say that we have the technology of the Thais at the time the Thais first successfully treated the stones they bought from us,” said Nilam, referring to the colorless stones that once lined fish ponds and were used as tiles on walls.

            As more dealers develop burning techniques which nearly duplicate the Thais’, the Sri Lankans will become more competitive, a move which is supported by Sri Lankan President Ramasinghe Premadasa. “The president Insists that the economy should develop with foreign-investment,” said Nilam.

            With the lapse on July 30 of the three-year agreement between Thailand and Sri Lanka which assured the Thais of a monopoly in Colombo’s gem trade, other foreigners have been encouraged to take part in joint ventures with Sri Lankan gem merchants. “There is no restriction now. Anybody can come and cooperate with us.”

            The State Gem Corporation is helpful to exporters and foreigners, Nilam added. “There are ample supplies of stones in the market. The scope is very good.”

            In Bangkok, Nilam says he sells only natural blue sapphires and leaves them up to the Thais to enhance the stones’ colors. “We prefer to work with 100 percent Sri Lankan original colored gems” he said, adding he shuns color diffused sapphires.

            Nilam also says: “It’s my duty to offer the best price,” which results in return buyers.

            Good buys now include the cat’s eyes whose appeal has broadened to include the discerning Japanese, Swiss and Americans. The “cat’s eye is coming up among fashionable gems in the big markets,” said the veteran Sri Lankan gem dealer. Increasingly more women have come to like the stone despite its association with masculinity, according to Nilam. “The ladies also like them because they are unusual.” Wholesale prices for top-quality cat’s eyes of moderate size range from 2,500 to 3,000 U.S. dollars a carat, he said.

            When in Sri Lanka, go to Elahara for blue sapphires; to Kuruwita for rubies; to Deniyayay for cat’s eyes; and Getahela for star sapphires.