Gemstone Buying in Africa

As a direct source for African gemstones, Marc travels to Africa frequently to purchase the raw gem materials. When Marc was living in Zambia, not only was Marc fortunate to be mining gemstones, but also buying and even bartering for them in remote villages. The experiences Marc had of being in remote villages and the bush bartering and negotiating for a fine parcel of gemstones is something he will always treasure. Enjoy the following pictures of some of Marc's unusual experiences.

Kabelubelu Village, Lundazi District, Zambia
September 1985
Up until the late 1980's, Marc could still barter commodities such as salt, sugar, and food for gemstones. In remote villages these commodities were highly valued, much more so than cash. The villagers had no concept of gemstones and didn't know the names nor the uses of the gems. Aquamarine was called "blue sky" and thought that it was used as paint after being ground up! They also did not understand the concept of a price per gram or by weight. All trading was done by the handful or by parcel. This is not the case these days and the villagers, even in remote areas are surprisingly knowledgeable about gemstones, and barter has been replaced by cash. Here I am bartering some green tourmalines for commodities. I would come to this village and others every few weeks to trade. This man seems to be upset at my offer for his gems! It was often difficult for villagers to understand why I would offer more for one parcel then another. Negotiations were always friendly, and ended with all parties being happy.

Lundazi, Zambia
April 1987
Marc with local dealers who would collect aquamarine and pink tourmalines from the various mines in the region. Marc would meet them every two to three weeks to buy their stones. He was called the "vacuum" as he would buy everything from them. He bought more than 50 kilograms of rough at this sitting! As the buying and selling of gemstones was illegal in Zambia (Tanzania too), Marc would pick up the dealers in town and drive them out to the bush. One by one, Marc would view their parcels. It was always a carnival like atmosphere and as you can see everyone is very happy at the conclusion of business.

Lusaka, Zambia
August 1986
In Africa, the gemstone business is strictly cash. This means having lots of cash available immediately. As the local Zambian money, the kwacha was not convertible, a black market existed for changing dollars into kwacha. This was almost a full time job finding enough local cash to keep Marc's gemstone buying active. As the highest denomination note was only worth about twenty cents, it was very cumbersome to change, count and carry money around. Here Marc is packing Zambian kwacha to go and buy a parcel of raspberry tourmalines. Although this looks like millions of dollars, it was only a few thousand dollars, but it was millions of kwacha!

Lusaka, Zambia
November 1997
Marc is buying and paying for a parcel of parti-colored tourmalines from a local dealer. The negotiations over a fine parcel of gems can sometimes last for days. The local dealer will often ask for millions and Marc's job is to convince him to sell the parcel for a reasonable price. It is always an exhausting process but lots of fun!