Gemstone sales are dead right now in Teófilo Otoni

hmm, I don't like to be the harbinger of bad news, but word on the street in Teófilo Otoni is that sales are dead. In Portuguese they say "parada" (stopped). Let me explain a bit. When things are not going well, no one admits it. They might say something like "sales are fine," "sales are ok," "sales are not bad," but no one tells you that they are absolutely terrible.

Except that now they are saying this.

You know what they say -- that in bad economic times the big juicy stones still move, the best still sells.

Except that now they are not selling.

Owners of mines were already laying off workers and production had declined dramatically a few months ago. It was nearly impossible to come across any good stones. Well, aquamarine is always available, the stuff grows like mushrooms.

In-house cutters were already at a minimum (one?).

A Japanese buyer (but was he buying? hmm, I will check) told a friend that things would not get better for 5 years. Personally, I think that is an exaggeration, but who knows? Certainly, no one is expecting things to go back to the way they were during 2004-2007 any time soon.

Faceted Green Amber for sale in Teófilo Otoni -- Who knew?

Readers, I am very sorry that I did not get a photo of the absolutely gorgeous clear, faceted green amber that I was shown last month in Teófilo Otoni.

For one thing, I almost never buy something the first time I see it. I have to wait and investigate. Today, I finally found an article about this beautiful stone.

OK, of course, it is not from Brazil -- I am pretty sure of that.

This is what happened. I was sitting in the office of a dealer I like and trust, and he's telling me stories about this stone and that, when he mentions this guy who left a couple of bags of stones for him to sell if he finds any buyers.

The first bag was of those now notorious "andesine" labradorites from Mexico (or China, if you drink the cool aid). They were a very light golden color, not red. But they were easily recognizable. I'm like... uh, no thanks.

Then, he gets out a bag of these gorgeous dreamy green ambers. They reminded me of the color and clarity of the best sweet white wine I have ever had in my life, a golden nectar of the gods from Hungary that I drank back in 1979 -- you know, the kind of wine you never forget.

These faceted green amber gems were the type of stone that makes your eyes light up involuntarily as soon as you see them, and you lean forward, and everything about you tells the seller that you want them, and you want them bad!

Then, he tells me the per carat price.

Fortunately for me, or unfortunately, as the case may be, I was so damned cash poor that they were completely out of my league, especially as I didn't even really know what they were.

The dealer told me that a Japanese buyer had taken some away to be tested to see if they were really amber or not, and that he had come back and said that, yes, it was real amber, but he also didn't much like the price.

It was already late in the day, so I couldn't take a photo. However, today, while I was trying to find articles about the process for stabilizing amber, I ran across one on the treatment for green amber, so below, I am posting three photos taken by the author, Dr. Lore Kiefert, of the AGTA. I don't have permission, so eventually I may have to take these photos down. None of these stones was faceted, and only the really nice ones come anywhere near the stones I saw in Teófilo Otoni, but I think they will give you a pretty good idea.

All three photos were taken by Dr. Lore Keifert, who owns the copyright to their reproduction.

Below is the link to Dr. Lore Keifert's original article on the treatment process; UPDATE, October 14, 2009 -- the link is broken, and I have read on a forum that going to the AGTA site could involve receiving a Trojan virus, so please be careful there: http://www.agta-gtc.org/amber-green.htm

Climate change comes to Teófilo Otoni -- How to make donations for flood victims

Here is my translation of the news story in the post below this one:

"Yesterday afternoon, a storm with extremely strong winds and hail caused damage in the city of Teófilo Otoni, in the Muruci Valley, Minas Gerais state. According to the Minas State Civil Defense Coordinating Office (Cedec), a daycare center and six houses had tiles ripped off their roofs. A tree fell on some wires and caused damage to the electrical system. The southern zone of the municipality had no electricity for a few hours. There were no reports of injuries.

Persons who had to leave their homes were put up by friends and family. Cedec is still adding up the damage caused by the storm. It is not yet known if additional support in the form of food packets will be necessary for the families affected.

Since the rainy season began in September 2008, approximately 113,300 people have been displaced and 1,540 have been made homeless in Minas Gerais state."

OK, so what is the big deal about a storm with strong winds and hail?

A single bad storm cannot be attributed to global warming. But according the the Brazilian weather service, the number of lightning strikes per year has doubled in the last 4 years.

I can attest to that. When I first moved here, 12 years ago, from my home in tornado alley, I was amazed at how quiet the storms were. The rain came, lots of it fell, but there was no thunder and lightning. I actually missed it. In the last two years especially, we see lightning here with almost every storm that comes through. It is a very noticeable change.

I was surprised to read just now that 113,300 people had been affected in Minas Gerais since last September. I knew that it had rained a lot, but I had thought that the main problem was in the north and northeast of Brazil, where there are more than 400,000 displaced and many homeless people -- many have been cut off from the basic necessities for two months. Up in the Amazon region, there is very little in the way of potable water, food, medicines, medical care, electricity, and just about anything else you might need. If you would like to make a donation, in this case I recommend the Catholic charity called Caritas because they have people on the ground in every community and the money cannot be diverted by the local politicians.

Please see my other blog for instructions:

Japanese & American donate to Caritas International for the flood victims in northern and northeastern Brazil -- Learn how!

Caritas - the charitable arm of the Catholic Church - is appealing for contributions to provide assistance to flooded areas in northeastern Brazil

If you are Brazilian and want to make a transfer to a bank account here in Brazil, this is the link to the list of accounts to make donations to the Red Cross:

Cruz Vermelha do Brasil: Como fazer doações p/ os atingidos das enchentes do Norte e Nordeste

Vendaval e chuva de granizo causam estragos em Teófilo Otoni

Um vendaval, seguido de uma chuva de granizo, atingiu o município de Teófilo Otoni, no Vale do Mucuri, na tarde dessa terça-feira, causando vários estragos. Segundo a Coordenadoria Estadual de Defesa Civil de Minas (Cedec), seis casas e uma creche tiveram os telhados arrancados. Uma árvore caiu sobre a via pública causando estragos na rede elétrica. A zona Sul do município ficou sem energia por várias horas. Não houve registro de feridos.

Os desalojados foram abrigados em casas de parentes e amigos. A Cedec ainda faz um balanço dos prejuízos causados pela chuva. Ainda não se sabe se há necessidade de apoio complementar, como cestas básicas, para as famílias afetadas.

Desde setembro de 2008, início do período chuvoso, aproximadamente 113.300 pessoas ficaram desalojadas e 1.540 desabrigadas em Minas Gerais.

(Cecília Kruel/Portal Uai) Link to this article: http://www.uai.com.br/UAI/html/sessao_2/2009/06/03/em_noticia_interna,id_sessao=2&id_noticia=112998/em_noticia_interna.shtml

GEA: Gem Exporters Association (Associação dos Exportadores e Comerciantes de Jóias e Gemas do Brasil, list of members

This is a list of the dealers and members of GEA (possibly somewhat outdated):

• AMS - IMPORTAÇÃO EXPORTAÇÃO DE PEDRAS PRECIOSAS
• APJ - APRENDER PRODUZIR JUNTOS
• AV PEDRAS PRECIOSAS
• BERYNO GEMS LTDA.
• BEZIM GEMS
• BRAZCRYSTAL LAPIDAÇÃO E COMÉRCIO LTDA.
• BRASGEMAS LTDA.
• BRASIL GEMAS
• CAIMEX - COMISSÁRIA E ACESSORIA IMPORTAÇÃO E EXPORTAÇÃO
• CIA DAS GEMAS
• CMP DO BRASIL
• COLORGEMS LTDA.
• CRISTAL GEMAS
• CRISTAIS CORINTO
• DUARTE & BASTOS LTDA.
• EMBRARAD - EMPRESA BRASILEIRA DE RADIAÇÕES LTDA.
• EMPRESA DE MINERAÇÃO BADIN LTDA.
• GEMAIA PEDRAS LTDA.
• GEMAS DA TERRA
• GEMAS MMD
• GEMS HÉRCULES PRECIOUS
• GEMS FROM BRASIL EXPORTAÇÃO E IMPORTAÇÃO LTDA.
• GMIR LTDA.
• GRP GEMAS E MINERAIS
• INDO BRÁS UNITED LTDA.
• JAA GEMAS LTDA.
• JG LTDA.
• KALINA NEUMANN
• K'ELAWAR LTDA.
• KELLES PEDRAS
• LAPIDAÇÃO KELLER
• LP GEMAS
• LUIZ MENEZES COMÉRCIO E EXPORTAÇÃO DE MINERAIS LTDA.
• LUPO MINERAÇÕES LTDA.
• MARKSTONE PEDRAS PRECIOSAS
• MINERAÇÃO TAPICURU
• NATURALE STEIN LTDA.
• OPALAS PEDRO II
• ORGANIZAÇÕES DUARTE LTDA.
• OTF GEMS - OGANIZAÇÕES TAVARES FILHO COM. EXP. IMP. DE P.PRECIOSAS
• QUARTZO ROSA COMÉRCIO E INDÚSTRIA LTDA.
• RAINBOW EXPORT SERVICES
• R. FIGUEIREDO BRASILIAN GEMS STONES LTDA.
• R & R GEMAS
• RSV GEMAS LTDA.
• SANTOS STONES
• SILVA E GUIMARÃES COMÉRCIO E INDÚSTRIA LTDA.
• STONE KELLER COMÉRCIO E INDÚSTRIA EXPORTAÇÃO LTDA.
• STONE WORLD INDÚSTRIA E COMÉRCIO LTDA.
• STONES PICTURES
• TAMIL - TAVARES MINÉRIOS E EXPORTAÇÃO LTDA.
• TEÓPHILO STONES
• TRANSPORT SERVIÇOS INTERNACIONAIS
• VALOR INDÚSTRIA E COMERCIO
• VIEIRA & SOARES GEMAS LTDA.
• VIEIRA LAPIDÁRIOS
• VIEIRA PEDRAS PRECIOSAS

Gem cutting in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil, and The One That Got Away

For a long time I have wanted to write about the gem cutters here in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, and later about the cutters in Teófilo Otoni and Governador Valadares in Minas Gerais. Finally, I found the photos I had taken, back in late 2006, of my friend, Saturno. There are really only two cutters in this city, Saturno, and his teacher, Sr. Antônio.

One thing that amazes me about Saturno is that he is roughly my age (in fact, I think he is a few years younger) and he does not need to use reading glasses.

Of course, much more amazing is how he uses equipment that would be considered relatively unsophisticated or even completely inadequate in the U.S. and Europe.


OK, so the first photo here is of his grinding wheel (proper term to be inserted later) where he forms the rough, holding the rough stone in his fingers. He really does everything he wants to do right there.

Once, I was sooooo peeved with him because he had some gorgeous pinkish amethyst rough, and I sat next to him, and he formed a large piece of it into a triangular shape just the way I wanted it. The finished stone would have been about 80 carats. When I came back on the weekend to pick it up and pay for it, it was no where to be found. How does this happen? My mistake! If I had paid for the rough first, then paid for him to cut it, he would have made much more, but I wanted to pay by the finished carat weight. Once he had finished the stone, he must have decided that it was worth a lot more to another buyer, so away it went.

I, being American, assumed that we had a done deal -- after all, had I not sat there right next to him while he formed the rough to my specifications and agreed to have it finished at the weekend when I was to come and pick it up? There was a deal made, wasn't there?

Hellooooo! This is Brazil we are talking about.

There I am, completely confused because I have known Saturno for years, and he has never pulled a stunt like this on me before, and I was also extremely disappointed because that particular amethyst rough was so unusual. It was extremely sparkly, had a silver cast to it, and showed both pink and blue. It even sparkled in the evenings when amethyst is normally a fairly dull stone. Furthermore, there was no chance of getting any more because the owner of the mine had shut it down due to so much theft.

But really, the worst was that I had trusted him. And, in his Brazilian way, he made up all sorts of excuses and fibs about how he had had to give it to Sr. Antônio to cut it for him because he had had other work to do, and it was gone or it had broken or some such nonsense, and this being Brazil, I had to get over it right there on the spot and not get mad and just accept the fact that he had found someone willing to pay a lot more money, and it was my mistake for not paying for the rough up front.

This is called "going native."

Or, "live and learn."



The first rule of business here is: don't trust anyone!

The second rule of business here is: don't trust anyone!

The third rule of business here is: well, maybe trust just a little bit, but not really.

Here are some photos of one that did not get away:

Sr. Antônio is a bit hard to get along with, but his work is better. I asked him to put twice the number of facets on the pavilion as usual -- this is called a fantasia cut, here. So, this is the best I can get, here, which is the reason that I am in search of a really confiável (someone I can trust -- LOL) cutter in Teófilo Otoni with whom I can work. I am beginning with the "french-fried" tourmalines guy, so we'll just have to see how that goes.

By the way... That big oval was cut back in 2006, and I sold it to a really nice client of mine in São Paulo. He was also studying gemology with the GIA there. After he received the stone, he phoned me all in a panic, saying that it was giving the wrong Chelsea filter reaction. I was like, please, Arnaldo, calm down. Ask your teacher. I know this is a real stone because I saw the rough. Look, you can see the growth layers. Later, he phoned back and told me his teacher, a nice guy from Spain, had checked it out, and indeed, yes, it was natural.

[Last paragraph deleted because it was an embarrassing display of gemology ignorance -- I love the fact that blog posts can be edited!]

Copyright © 2009 N. Tenney Naumer -- All rights reserved.