This message is to everyone but particularly to those in the UK
as it is easier for me to relate to you from a gem-buying point
of view as I have always bought gemstones locally before…
I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Sri Lanka. What a
beautiful country! I actually went for a friend’s wedding (she
is originally from Sri Lanka but came over to England before
school age) and decided that as Sri Lanka is so rich in
perhaps it would be a good idea to combine this with a
bit of gem buying. I am a commission jeweller, not a gem dealer
so was particularly looking for lots of choice and good value
high quality stones. You may remember that I posted a request
for help looking for a good and trustworthy gem dealer. Thank
you to those of you who replied suggesting and recommending Ahmed
Shareek. Several friendly e-mails later we arranged to meet up at
our hotel in Sri Lanka (sounds so glamorous doesn’t it). Ahmed
Shareek took us out for a wonderful day. We went to watch
moonstone mining which was fascinating as well as looking round
some museums near an old Dutch Fort in the south of the country
and a few other things along the way. We also decided to meet up
again as he suggested going to a gem show together in Colombo.
This was very interesting and I met a few other good jewellery
industry contacts there too. We also took the time to have a bit
of a look round Colombo together. Ahmed Shareek even drove us
all the way back to our hotel 4 hours away so that we could stay
later - so he really is a very generous host! We had a wonderful
look around the rest of the country whilst we were there doing
everything from visiting the elephant orphanage to visiting tea
plantations. The cultural sites in and around Dambulla are
fascinating. The wedding was also great by the way! I bought lots
of lovely stones from Ahmed Shareek which I am delighted with.
Sapphires, rubies, aquamarines, blue moonstones, white
moonstones, garnets, amethysts and lots of others. Great cuts,
good quality stones and a great variety to choose from. Really
great prices too which helps! So much better value and variety
than I have known before. Thank you also to this network without
which I would not have been able to be confident in finding such
a great contact. Unfortunately in Sri Lanka there are many
unscrupulous gem dealers trying to rip off the tourists - they
see a white skin and don’t take any notice of whether you know
what you are looking at or not - they just see dollar signs! Of
course I hope I would not have been fooled by false gemstones but
I think that it would have been impossible to find somebody
offering me good honest wholesale rates without Ganoksin Online.
So thank you to everyone for this. As a businessman, Ahmed
Shareek is really fighting against a lot of difficulties in his
country where he sometimes feels that his hands are tied by a
third world mentality holding up his progress. As for the
stones - they are great. He can even get stones custom cut for
you. His prices are excellent and I strongly recommend him. If
you can’t spare the time and money for a holiday in Sri Lanka (!)
why not try logging onto his site and ordering from there? I
wish I had done this long ago.
Ahmed shareek’s website is http://www.ahmeds.com/shop/ and is a
really good site - definitely worth a good look! His company is
called Crescent Gems.
If any of you are planning a holiday to Sri Lanka don’t hesitate
to e-mail me off line for more details and recommendations of
hotels etc.
Best wishes,
Harriet, Hitchin, UK
e-mail: @Harriet_Kelsall
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