We had started our Opal business on the Gold Coast Australia in 1992. In this business we would travel all over Australia and do trade shows in Tucson USA, Hong Kong and Japan. On of these trips we met many gemstone sellers from all over the world and made many lasting friendships.
We were based in Perth Western Australia from 1980 to 1992 and had a good connection with wholesalers for Argyle pink diamonds and sold these “pinks” until 2000 when our supplier could not buy pinks as the cost had already exploded.The last pink diamond we sold was 0.80 carats to a Japanese buyer for $80,000 and today that same diamond would now cost me over $300,000 to buy.
I started our Gem business because our overseas buyers asked us to supply Chrysoprase which was mined in our state of Queensland and in Western Australia. My husband, Wayne, concentrated on our opal business and I enjoyed the gemstone side of business from pearls to rubies and other precious gemstones. In 2003 we had started our online opal site www.opalauctions.com and decided in late 2005 to start this site to specialise in gemstones.
After all our travels and connections, we realised that sellers should be verified with their own product knowledge and must be members of their trade organisation. We had met Brazilian, Moroccan and Peruvian sellers at the Tucson Gem Shows and was easy to buy gems direct from the source. On trips to Thailand we would visit the gem centre of Asia- Chanthaburi where there are many public markets where everyone can buy. Inside there are professional dealers to buy quality gems.
We would travel up to the northern area known as the golden triangle next door to Myanmar and Vietnam. We also met many local gemstone dealers at Trade Shows and it seems as if you like gemstones everyone is bonded by pleasures of what mother earth creates. So one connection would introduce us to another connection.
One of our Opal seller’s partner was from China and was bought up in China’s most famous pearl town at Zhuji. We had direct connection to a source out for fresh water pearls.
Another Brazilian friend hit a pocket of super seven crystals while mining. We bought a lot from him as a direct source of these unique gemstones. The area now doesn’t produce many of these gemstones.
Clearly, each year we find our gemstones’ suppliers informing us that precious and semi precious gemstones are getting harder to find. Supply of such beautiful gemstones are now obviously in decline.
Estella Sedawie
Pokrenuli smo posao s Opalima na Gold Coast Australiji 1992. godine. U tom poslu putovali bismo po cijeloj Australiji i održavali sajmove u Tucsonu u SAD-u, Hong Kongu i Japanu. Na tim smo putovanjima upoznali mnogo prodavača dragog kamenja iz cijelog svijeta i stekli dugotrajna prijateljstva.
Sa sjedištem u Perthu, zapadna Australija od 1980. do 1992. godine, imali smo dobru vezu s veletrgovcima ružičastih dijamanata Argyle i prodavali ove "pinke" sve do 2000. godine, kada naš dobavljač nije mogao kupiti pinke jer su troškovi već eksplodirali. Posljednji ružičasti dijamant koji smo prodali bio je 0,80 karata za japanskog kupca za 80.000 američkih dolara, a danas bi me taj isti dijamant sada koštao preko 300.000 američkih dolara.
Pokrenuo sam naš posao s draguljima jer su nas inozemni kupci tražili da isporučujemo krizopraz koji se kopao u našoj državi Queensland i zapadnoj Australiji. Moj suprug Wayne koncentrirao se na naš opal posao i uživao sam u poslu s draguljima od bisera do rubina i drugih dragocjenih dragulja. 2003. pokrenuli smo našu internetsku stranicu opala www.opalauctions.com i krajem 2005. odlučili pokrenuti ovu stranicu kako bismo se specijalizirali za drago kamenje.
Nakon svih naših putovanja i veza, shvatili smo da prodavači trebaju biti provjereni vlastitim znanjem o proizvodima i moraju biti članovi njihove trgovačke organizacije. Susreli smo brazilske, marokanske i peruanske prodavače na izložbama dragulja u Tucsonu i bilo je lako kupiti dragulje izravno od izvora. Na putovanjima Tajlandom posjetili bismo draguljarski centar Azije - Chanthaburi gdje postoje mnoga javna tržišta na kojima svatko može kupiti. Unutra se nalaze profesionalni trgovci koji kupuju kvalitetne dragulje.
Putovali bismo do sjevernog područja poznatog kao zlatni trokut pored Mjanmara i Vijetnama. Također smo upoznali mnoge lokalne trgovce dragim kamenjem na sajmovima i čini se kao da volite drago kamenje, svi su povezani užicima onoga što stvara majka zemlja. Tako bi nas jedna veza uvela u drugu vezu.
Jedan od partnera našeg prodavača Opal bio je iz Kine i otkupljen je u najpoznatijem kineskom gradu bisera Zhuji. Imali smo izravnu vezu s izvorom slatkovodnih bisera.
Još jedan brazilski prijatelj pogodio je džep super sedam kristala dok je rudao. Mnogo smo toga kupovali od njega kao izravni izvor ovih jedinstvenih dragulja. Područje sada ne proizvodi mnoge od ovih dragulja.
Jasno je da svake godine dobavljače naših dragog kamenja obavještavamo da je drago i poludrago kamenje sve teže pronaći. Ponuda ovako lijepih dragulja očito je u padu.
Estella Sedawie
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