Being a gemstone centre in East Africa, Nairobi has numerous jewelery and gem stores selling discrete gemstones but dealing in Tanzanite in particular. This description explores the numerous pitfalls of buying Tanzanite in Nairobi and offers guidance on what to look for.
Fraudulent Practices are prevalent in the Nairobi market
An description in the Nation Newspaper recently highlighted the unregulated nature of the gemstone and jewelry industry in Nairobi and East Africa in general. Fraudulent practices are widespread with many players selling inferior goods to unwitting buyers pertaining to be the finest qualities. With no Trade Descriptions Act in Kenya, shopping for Tanzanite, Tsavorite and gemstone jewelry is very much a case of caveat emptor (buyer beware). To avoid being a victim, take into observation the following points:
Buying Tanzanite and Gemstones in Nairobi, Kenya
What to look for :
Sales talk versus fact: First of all, it is prominent to have some idea of what you should expect from reputable sellers of gemstones. There are so many "merchants" in Nairobi whose sole purpose is to peddle gemstones for outrageous prices whilst purporting to be experts or even "owners of the mines". The majority of such claims are totally unfounded and downright false. Mining in East Africa is done very informally by artisanal miners in some very remote areas. The channel of distribution commonly follows the usual trend of the miners selling to established cutters and dealers who export to foreign markets or sell to local jewelery stores. Jewelery stores buy from a variety of sources including such dealers, the most tasteless being brokers. If a jewelery store purports to own the mine and by implication, the supply, do not be taken in by this - it is pure hype and a complete misrepresentation. A reputable jobber will be very knowledgeable about the gemology of the gems they sell and be able to respond your questions coherently and in depth. They should carry some gemological qualifications to form themselves as knowledgeable in the field rather than being purely merchants.
Gemology is an intricate field and there are a great deal of synthetics, imitations and false gemstones out there to risk buying from a jobber who is not a gemologist. The days of being able to peddle stones with little knowledge of them and expect not to get caught out with a artificial or imitation are long gone. Tanzanite for example, can be coated to enhance its colour. It has a artificial counterpart called Tanzanique which looks exactly like it. How can you be sure you are buying a genuine gemstone when the jobber themselves have no gemological knowledge or testing facilities?
The Gemstones themselves: My other Ezine article, "Tanzanite Purchasing Tips" goes much more in depth into what to look for in Tanzanite in Tsavorite to differentiate in the middle of fine stones and lower grades so I won't go into too much detail here as it is beyond the scope of this article. However, in general, a layman can differentiate in the middle of fine stones and low grade ones simply by using tasteless sense - the more vivid and deeply saturated the color, the finer the stone. The more flawless the clarity the finer the stone and often overlooked - the finer the cut, the more brilliant the stone, the finer the quality. Most of the stores I surveyed were selling medium to low grade goods as top grade. This is totally unscrupulous. I would recommend reading my description on Tanzanite purchasing tips on Ezine to get a good summary of what to look for. Also look at the bottom of this description for a link to my site where we list any very beneficial educational tools showing you what to look for in a fine Tanzanite. It is very easy to pay way over the odds for a mediocre Tanzanite in Nairobi whilst being led to believe that you are buying the finest quality.
Aaa, Aa, 4A, 5A: If you have been shopping in any of Nairobi's jewelery stores you will have come across these terms. I was dumbstruck by how many stores fed misinformation using these "grades". The first thing to understand is that none of these terms are actual gemological grades. Aa and Aaa were terms used by miners in early mining days to denote the 2 top grades of Tanzanite - triple A is an very deeply saturated color and is less than 1% of all Tanzanite, double A is a shade lighter. I was angered to find many stores in Nairobi misrepresenting very mediocre material as triple A, but even more angered to hear such sales talk as "but we also have 4A and 5A - very extra and only from our mines, nowhere else" at which point they furnish some double A stones at ridiculous prices. 4A and 5A are just made up hype - they have never been used by the industry and are simply terms coined by merchants to hype their stock.
You should look for sellers who issue permissible gemological certificates carrying a permissible scientific grade such as the Gia (Gemological form of America) grading system. It is all very well bandying nearby terms like Aaa but these are simply subjective terms and they should be backed up with permissible grading using a recognized grading system.
The store itself: Don't be fooled by location - many of the stores I surveyed are located in upscale malls where they use their perfect retail location to peddle high volumes of mediocre goods to unsuspecting buyers. This, by itself is fine but when they describe the goods as the finest qualities when they are not, and charge outrageous price, then it simply becomes a form of fraud. I object enormously to this and by extension, the credit it gives our industry. When you enter the store, look for an environment that appears expert - is the store an extension of a curio store with a merchant peddling a large array of curios with gems thrown in? Do the staff know gemstones, are there any gemologists to respond your questions? Obviously you want to look for a store that offers these things and don't be persuaded to drop thousands of dollars on an impulse - do some study first.
Prices: The most outrageous factor gleaned from my seek was prices, especially for Tanzanite. Some stores were selling medium grade stones (which they represented as "4A" or "5A") for over 00 per carat. This is outrageous for the local store (in the Us store this would be more normal). At the time of writing, even the very finest venture grade pieces (and I found zero stores as a matter of fact selling this grade despite their sales banter promising the earth) shouldn't be more than 0 per carat. This is for perfect cutting, flawless clarity and the very finest colour found in the top 1% of Tanzanites. Don't be fooled into spending crazy money. Do some study first.
All in all, the seek revealed a very high level of fraud and fraudulent practices surrounded by sellers of Tanzanite and gemstones in the Nairobi area. With no governmental body in place to regulate it, it as a matter of fact is a case of caveat emptor (buyer beware) when you are shopping for Tanzanite. Do your research, go to any stores and do comparisons and look for expert and knowledgeable gemologists who are able to respond your questions fully before buying.
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