The sparkle of Thailand gemstones II

Although Thailand presently boasts only two diamond-cutting factories employing some 700 cutters, their progress in recent year has been astonishing. Once De Beers reaches an agreement with a local company and provides a regular supply of raw diamonds, then Thailand will be all set to repeat the success it enjoyed with colored stones.
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The stories about the discovery of diamonds in Thailand is in various remote provinces.
In Some are credible, others totally ludicrous. For instance, it is said that a vast diamond field exists in the western region of the country, close to the Kampuchean border. But because this land is under the jurisdiction of the military authorities and conflict happen recently, excavations will never be allowed.

There is, however, reason to believe some of the yarns about diamonds being picked up by people working in the tin-dredging industry in southern Thailand, notably off the island of Phuket.The black, monolithic boats that scoop up mud from the depths of the ocean frequently discover more than just tin, and diamonds are easy to spot amid the dark mass of sludge.Butfor the time being at least, diamonds have not been discovered in any commercial quantities in Thailand.

Equally, stories of miners risking life and limb to dig out a sapphire or ruby are
normally more apocryphal than accurate, though the rewards could make some of the more outrageous exploits just conceivable.

Yet despite the obvious interest of De beers in the country's cutting industry, plus the encouragement given by the Thai government, it seems that Thailand's real pre-eminence will continue to lie in the cutting and setting of colored stones.

Local cutters are usually apprenticed at the age of 12 or 13, fathers often passing on their skills to sons. In the larger gem companies, experts from overseas have been recruited to teach Thai cutters the most up-to-date designs and methods so that they compete on the world markets. Not only are sapphires and rubies cut, but
The entire spectrum of gemstones are shaped into beautiful objects; opals, tanxanites, emeralds, citrines, agate, ametyst and spinals.

At the same time, Thai artists and designers are conjuring up some of the most exciting jewelry setting. There is a definite trend away from exporting loose stones and move towards selling complete jewelry items overseas, with few exceptions,
Thailand's jewelry still relies heavily in manual labor to produce setting. While most of the foreign companies have completely automated plants, Thai setters work largely by hand. For excample,in the United states the findings, or links, for a bracelet are machine-cut from a tube of gold: in Thailand, these will be individually created by hand, Even gold-fasteners for ear-ring are produced by hand in Thailand, whereas in other jewelry centers these will almost certainly be 'staped'from a continuous length of precious metal. The advantage of Thai manual labor over automated manufacture is in the individually of the jewelry piece and the added strength of its setting. In addition, custom-made jewelry is still possible in Thailand, at a fraction of the price charged elsewhere.

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