This trip report covers my recent travels to the Munich Show in Germany, followed by visits to Sri Lanka and India. The report summarizes the daily highlights from each location, notable experiences, and insights gained throughout the journey. As many of you know the Munich show just took place at the end of October. It is one of my favorite shows to attend, especially for outside the USA. Public transportation to the hotel from the airport is always so timely, and very clean. Having the train station so close to the hotel, which is one train stop away from the show, is always so convenient. I love to stay at the Novotel which is one of the few hotels nestled in with this shopping mall, which has just about everything you could need, or want. I left Saturday afternoon from Phoenix, had a short layover in Denver, so short that I almost missed my flight. After a 1-mile timed sprint with 2 weeks of luggage, I barely made my flight… boarding a plane all sweaty and out of breath is not something I recommend… However, it sure did put me to sleep. Nothing puts you to sleep faster than the comfort of finally making the flight, middle seat, and of course the timed sprint across the airport. All jokes aside, I arrived in Munich Sunday afternoon, sadly, most things are closed on Sunday. I had to settle with a burger from Five Guys, just one of the many restaurants in this large mall. After grabbing lunch/dinner, I met with my friend, and I prepared to adjust my sleeping schedule. Always one of the more difficult tasks of traveling overseas. Monday a few more friends flew in and what better thing to do than go grab some beers before we get into the show tomorrow. Luckily, I had arranged a dealer badge before the show started so I could do some hunting early Tuesday morning.
After having a nice dinner and quite a few drinks with some friends, I was ready to pass out and wake up for the treasure hunt. On Tuesday right at 8:30am I was at the entrance with a few friends, once we got in, we all went our separate ways. There weren’t many dealers set up yet, as some dealers only had access to get in the show as early as the day before. The show officially starts Thursday so there is quite a bit of time for dealers to put stuff out. The few dealers that did have stuff put out, I would go through everything quickly then set a few things aside, leave my card, and then would continue to the next booth. The show is so large with 5 halls, (3 mineral halls, and 2 gemstone/ jewelry halls). In one of the halls I found a dealer who was from the Congo, and he had a new find of Dogtooth Calcites with Dioptase. It was quite crowded at the booth which was a good sign that there were some deals. I asked for some prices since none of these items are priced, as they are straight from the mine. At first, the single piece prices were very high, however the more you buy, the lower the price you get. I picked out 2 flats of material, set them aside with my card, and continued. When you use this strategy its always best to take a picture of what you’re setting aside so you both know… and so you don’t forget to do pick-ups.
By the time the afternoon had come around, I had maybe 10 dealers holding material for me, and I was still on the hunt. I decided to go into the last hall known as A4. The nice thing about this show is that it is so organized, they put almost all the Moroccan dealers inside of this hall. I was going for some Silver specimens as the Silver from there can be rather affordable for the quality. I secured about 10 flats of this material from a few dealers, and I was just about done for the first day. Overall, there was nothing phenomenal the first day, but the things I did buy made it a worthwhile trip. I had another dinner with some friends and decided to call it a night. Wednesday morning there were more dealers set up and I continued to find a few odds and ends, sadly there were no home runs, but it’s always nice to network with industry professionals, and view impressive collections. Since the Gem halls B6/B5, are much easier to set up than the mineral side, often dealers set up later. So now that they had more time, I decided to venture over there and see what I could find. I found a nice lot of Euclase crystals. You never know what you’re going to find in the gem side, and honestly that’s my fav part.
Wednesday night I had dinner with one of my European clients near old town Munich. I didn’t get back to my room until close to midnight and that was a long day. Thursday morning the show opened, and I decided to give a tour of the show to my client and his wife. There were quite a few impressive displays to show off, and luckily, I had found a Grandiderite, and 2 nice blue Euclase gemstones the day before. Even though I knew both dealers selling, I gave one my passport to change out for the stone, and another dealer my driver’s license. A few hours later and I had sold all 3 stones, and I went back to collect my Passport and Driver’s License and pay them. I made a joke to my friend that he should go and try and buy my passport when it was used a place holder for the stone lol.
While the exchange rate was the lowest it has been in recent years compared to the Euro, dealers are starting to accept more forms of payments. Once my client had finished their quick trip to the show, I was onto the difficult job of picking up from everyone and pilling it up to pack. I found someone with a dolly, gave them $100, and my driver’s license again. Once I had everything piled up, I returned the dolly and continued to repack everything for shipping. Once all that was done, I was done with the show and ready for dinner and drinks before I left for my flight that night. Right after dinner I sadly got a message that I had to repack 2 of my boxes at the show due to them having gemstones inside, so I had to have my friend who was still at the show the next day, repack 2 of my boxes.
Once I made it to the airport, it was so smooth and I felt like a normal passenger for the first time in a long time. I hardly had any rocks on me…. Nothing significant at least. It was my first time flying to Sri Lanka and I never like to fly to a new country with rocks/gems, until I have a grasp of what it is like traveling there. I have too much trauma from Ukraine and Namibia. I left Munich late that night, had a flight to Abu Dhabi, a short layover, but long enough for breakfast and a shower at the airport, and then back on route to Colombo. When I landed in Sri Lanka I tried to go through immigration, however for the first time they asked me for a visa. At first, I was worried, as I had just spent a couple hours about a month or so ago applying for my visa for India, and thought it would be a similar process. Luckily it was just a quick line and a payment of what was supposed to be $60, why do I say what was supposed to be?? Well… I made a rookie mistake, and I was caught slipping like a seal on a beach. I paid cash… and since it was my first time I had no idea what the exchange rate was. Yes I could have checked but the last thing I am doing after a 10+ hour flight is question the immigration office on how much I paid and check with my phone. I then take my $95 paper saying I was approved, and handed it to the immigration officer with my passport, and they procced to say I don’t need to show it to them? The rest of the trip, I never used it, so now its just a good story.
My friend Nawrooz picked me up, it was pouring rain, so there was a lot of traffic that day. He picked me up in the afternoon and he proceeded to take me to the cutting factory. I’ve been using him for cutting for over 10 years now and I was looking forward to this tour of Sri Lanka. It was fun to go to the factory and see the whole process on where the things are cut, and by who. After spending a little time there, we drove back to Colombo, and we had a dinner. This was my first dinner filled with masalas, curries, naans, and that was basically the menu for the next 10 days in Sri Lanka and in India. He dropped me off at my beach hotel, and then I passed out. I had no idea what the next day had in store, but we had a great breakfast at the hotel buffet with a look of the ocean. We then proceeded to drive all the way to Ratnapura
Once we arrived in Ratnapura, I was shocked to see how many brokers there were. We found an office that Nawrooz knew, and we started to look at some inventory the dealer had. The prices at this specific office were extremely high, and after getting offered a bunch of things I started to worry that there wasn’t going to be much for me in Sri Lanka. Just about when I was ready to leave without buying something, there was a bowl of water that had some sapphires that had been recently found. Since it was a piece the broker didn’t value much, we were able to strike a deal on this 28ct Purple Sapphire rough for $100. I saw a stone in it, and I wanted to see if the factory could facet it while I was there. We left the office and went back onto the street until Nawrooz found another broker we could partner with and use their office. We ended up shopping their material and the prices were significantly lower than the last dealer. After we had bought a few things that’s when the flood gates opened and were bombarded with what seemed to be hundreds of sellers with all different kinds of material. After about 5 hours of buying everything from sapphire crystals to spinel, and sapphire gemstones we called it a day.
Once we had left the market, we spent about 30 mins discussing the day and how we did on our drive to the hotel. We finally got to the hotel after a long day and then had a great meal at the restaurant by our hotel. Shortly after I was ready for bed as nothing can mentally prepare you for seeing the number of stones I did. When waking up in the morning we noticed our hotel had a balcony overlooking a few abandoned mines, that’s how common mining is in Sri Lanka. After a 30 min drive back to the office, we went for round 2. This time we had a day under our belt, and we were able to come up with some code for us to discuss stones in front of people selling them. While not all the sellers speak English they still understand business and we needed a way to talk about if something was a good deal, or if it was something that needed to be passed on.
I was only willing to buy for a few hours the next day as it really mentally drains you having to valuate 100s of pieces an hour, and then enter a negation if you find yourself interested.. I ended up sourcing a bunch of material both days, and I was excited to get back to the hotel in Colombo. We drove back and I got to the room around 6pm. I ordered room service and decided to just sit and watch the waves crash on the beach. It was nice to just unwind after 2 hectic days. The next morning, we proceeded to go to Beruwala. This is a coastal town which is south of Colombo. This town had quite a bit of offices, and at first it was a little quiet… but that quickly changed. I was put into an office on the main street where everyone could see me, and we had hundreds of sellers attempting to sell to us that day.
Buying at the markets is very tough and like Namibia as each dealer has a different price, and quality. Some people are well priced and firm in price, and others are just crossing their fingers and saying a very high price. Those are my least favorite sellers as it takes the most energy to come up with a price… it only takes one mistake for you to buy something at too high of a price. By the end of the trip, I was pretty good at dividing almost any number with 300, as that’s what the exchange rate was to Sri Lankan Ruppes.
After a day of buying here, we got back in the car and drove back to Colombo. I had my flight later that night. After arriving in Colombo, I had a nice home cooked meal with Nawrooz’s family and then proceeded to get ready for my flight to India. Right before I left, Nawrooz managed to have the piece of rough that I bought for $100 brough to the house, and boy was it much nicer than I thought. It finished a 10ct stone, with a nice purple color. I decided not to have any gemstones on me, as I didn’t want to have any issues with customs. I made it through customs with a breeze and then went to the lounge for a drink. My flight was late that night leaving at 12am.Boy that flight was brutal…. I swear there was no AC…. And it was like a sauna on the plane.
4 hours of being in the Sauna I was so excited to get off the plane. I got off the plane at 4am, I went through immigrations, luckily, I already had my visa (This one was a much better deal, 5 years for I believe $60). I made it through quickly and then had a driver pick me up. Luckily the family that I had been doing business with in India the last couple years, helped arrange everything from a driver, to my hotel. While this was very nice and greatly appreciated, I quickly figured that there had to be something on his end of the deal that was making this profitable. I found myself doing a 5-hour drive with a guy who spoke only a few words of English, and of course we got a flat tire. At least now I can say I have had a flat tire in 3 different continents… 5 more hours later, I made it to my hotel; the Golden Tulip and it was a phenomenal place. If I am being honest, I was ½ a mile away from the hotel, and while I had seen pics of the Hotel, I believed there was no way that this hotel could look anything close to the pics where I was in the world… well to my surprise there was my hotel. This was a perfect hotel, the location was perfect as well, walking distance to the gem market.
My friend arranged just about everything, and after resting the remainder of the first day, I started my hunt for gems in Jaipur. We started by going to a factory that had done all the production. I started to look at hundreds of gemstones lots of everything you can think of, and it took me a couple hours to grasp the exchange rate and get a good feel for that. There was just so much material and it wasn’t priced the way I thought it was going to be. Honestly a lot of the prices I saw were like gem show in the USA prices… I was shocked. I had set aside a small pile with this supplier and then toured their factory. It was cool to see all the workers, the conditions, and the rough getting transformed into gemstones. That night my friend and I got dropped off at the market by his driver, and I met a new seller. Once we walked into the shop I asked to see quite a bit of material, and I was just completely shocked that the prices were so low… these were the prices I was expecting to see, and that’s when I really started to wonder why the prices earlier in the day were so high. My friend didn’t want me buying anything with other sellers as he felt that he would be able to get lower prices than me… well turns out that was for his commission that he was making from me as a broker…
I ended the day and went back to the hotel for dinner. Which was really the only place I really found myself eating as I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. The next morning, I met with my other friend Mohammed, and I was offered quite a few good deals. After spending a few hours with him, I had to go with my other friend who was managing my whole trip to look at more material. It was kind of like a timeshare offering. I felt I was obligated to go because I was benefiting such great hospitality. I had my fingers crossed that the prices would be lower today, however it was the opposite… prices were still very high. Once I had finished going through hundreds of packets of overpriced gems, I finally made it back to my hotel where I then snuck away to go see my other friend Mohammeds material, along with the new seller I had met this trip. That’s when it all clicked… he had to have made a deal with all the other sellers to raise their prices significantly so that they could make a commission.. after talking with my friends in India this is a common thing that you need to watch out for.
I finished the deals I had agreed on with the person who I thought was my friend, who was managing my whole trip, and I slowly started to spend less time with him and his family as I was spending so much time looking at overpriced gems, and I really wish I had spent it with my other Mohommed who weren’t making a commission on me, and if they were it was deserved because they brought the best sellers at the best prices to see me.
The next couple days I mainly spent finishing deals with Mohammed and his friends and family, as before I came we had been doing a lot of business, also with the new seller who was across from him. However, even that seller got shady and started to become overly greedy. How? Well once I had bought what I wanted with him, he then started to have all his fellow sellers come into the shop to sell to me… why? Well at first I thought it was to make the 2% commission that he said he would take, which is a very fair rate to take, however he also negotiated on the other side, and was making what I heard later up to 20% more… and this is not his first rodeo. He will have low prices at the beginning to gain customers, and then over time raise his prices. Once I had learned that, I wanted to be done doing business with him, and also the person who was managing my trip. I don’t think that’s how business relationships should go…. I however was very grateful that all this happened so early on as I am a firm believer “you live, and you learn”.
I then started to do more business with Mohammed, as that was my main goal going into the trip, and it just turned out to be the best deals in the long run. The hospitality continued, and I was invited to a farmhouse for a tradional style dinner. It was cool to experience the culture, and spend time hearing stories about all the gems and minerals that his family have sold over the last 50 years. It really makes me wish I had the opportunity to get some of the things that they were describing, and leaves me hopeful for what could come in the future for the business. Finding things to buy now, that still have meat on the bone to speak, has become tough with a low supply of new material and a huge demand.
The next day I then crossed another thing off my bucket list and had a nice experience golfing in India. Was super cool to see a golf course in the middle of the city, you would have never expected it… I had a caddy, and while I didn’t play well at all (I blamed it on my clubs), I had a blast playing with a group. After a round of golf, I then proceeded to pack for my flight back home. Since the USA was my next and last stop, I decided to hand carry some of the gems I had bought, and left many of them behind to be boxed up, and shipped to me. I planned on leaving at midnight to leave to Delhi, however my flight got delayed, so it meant leaving in the morning. After a nights rest, I went to say good bye to the people I had met, and checked out of my hotel. I then got to the airport and checked my one suit case which had 50lbs of gems along side my clothes, and then had my backpack which had at least another 50lbs in gems. Security at the airport was a breeze, and I found myself at the lounge before my 16-hour flight. Which of course was the middle seat. Why do I always suffer with the middle seat?? Well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I landed in the USA, no problems… however I did get a bad stomach bug once I returned. I don’t wish that on anyone… I don’t know what it was either, but hopefully it was a one and done experience. I look forward to going back to India again soon, and now that I know so much more, I will be even more ready for my next trip. Now that I have got all my material back from these trips, I can finally make this post. With over 100 kilos of gems coming straight from India… lots of gems to come soon on under-100-dollar-gems.com.. and that doesn’t even include any of the sapphires in Sri Lanka, and the minerals from Munich. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.
Sainte Marie Aux Mines Trip Report 2025
As many of you know I always attend the show in France. I decided to land earlier than I normally do, that way I can see the deals I would have missed if I showed up a day or two later. To my surprise I would have missed a decent bit… I landed in Frankfurt this year and decided to rent a car. This was my second time renting a car in Europe and I was a little nervous as I always thought it would be difficult to get from Germany to the small show in France. I had another morning flight from Phoenix PHX to San Francisco SFO and SFO to Frankfurt FRA. I am not sure why there is so many morning / afternoon international flights these days. I would much rather prefer a red eye flight and just pass out and wake up in a different time zone… When you take these early flights you arrive early morning in the destination country, and if you didn’t sleep any, which is rather difficult to do if you leave at 1pm… you have to power through a whole day. I decided to drive to Strasbourg to spend the night in what I thought would be an air conditioned room… well I thought wrong. Saturday was a toasty 90 and I was so jet lagged all I wanted to do was sleep. However, with it being soooo hot, I only was able to sleep in my sauna for about 2 hours. I then decided to get a late-night dinner, I knew the longer I forced myself to stay up, the longer I would sleep. I ordered what I thought was a combination pizza… I even pointed to the picture… well I got a very slightly cooked egg put on it… the French are weird. It wasn’t bad… but that’s just odd.
I woke up Sunday morning early, and made my 1hr drive to Sainte Marie Aux Mines. The email I received from the show promoters said I couldn’t pick up my press badge until 2pm… which is far too late if I want to explore and find some good deals. I pulled into town and saw a LONG line to pick up badges. I parked, and quickly my car was trapped. I then started to wait in line and learned that it was the exhibitor line. My logic was if I waited in line for 1.5 hours It had to count for something and maybe they would give me the badge early, and well my car was trapped with a car to the side, front, and back. After waiting in line, I was then directed to where I could get the badge, and even though the email said it was in a different location as last year it was in the same place… And I was able to get my badge early. I like to think that waiting in the line at the wrong location helped me getting my badge early, but that is what I am going to keep telling myself.
I got into the show around 10:30am Sunday and went to the very few dealers that were set up, and I went to see a dealer I met last year that told me that I need to come Sunday if I want to get anything good from him. He wasn’t kidding, he had a bunch of great stuff. After a few more dealers I quickly realized that there wasn’t a lot of competition this year on Sunday. One reason for that was the decrease in badges that were issued this year for dealers, and the strictness of who was allowed into the show, and how early. Sunday was a very quiet day and it was nice for once to be able to source material without feeling rushed. However,… it was HOT. The whole day the thought of going to my hotel with AC was in the back of my mind… and well AGAIN, no AC. I checked in and my heart sank when I saw all I had was a little fan. It was brutal. I was in the sun since 8:30 that morning and didn’t get to my hotel till 5ish.
After having my hopes and dreams of AC crushed, I went to dinner with my friend who was set up in the gem side of the show. We went to a Chinese buffet, and he knew the owner as he was a collector of stones. We had an interesting dinner that night and I got to look at some cool stones. I ended up buying some nice Demantoid Garnets, Ruby, and a few other things for some clients. I then went back to the hotel to sleep and between the heat, the jet lag, and just being excited for the show, sleep was basically a pipe dream.
Monday morning started with about a 30-minute commute to the show, which is not terrible, and I ended up having the famous Gyro place for breakfast/lunch on my walk to the show. By this time, I was pretty satisfied with the few finds I did have. Some good wholesale Brazilian material from 2 dealers, and a nice Colombian Emerald from an old collection. Parking wasn’t too bad to my surpise both Sunday and Monday. There weren’t too many dealers either which made it relaxing, and the weather was also much better. By Monday night I had already acquired enough small things to have the trip be a success and anything extra would be great.
Tuesday, I started my pickups and getting my ducks in a row. I had a really good parking spot again which was nice and really difficult to secure during the show. With how small of a show it is, there just is way too many people, and far too little space for everyone’s cars. I borrowed a friend’s dolly and brought the boxes of material I had, and then continued the hunt. That led me to some more emeralds from various dealers that will be perfect for a jewelry project I am working on with my jeweler in Thailand. When I am home I am going to get all those crystals sent off and set into jewelry.
Later that day I ran into some other fun things but sadly I wasn’t able to get them. The price just didn’t make sense… and that’s sadly something that is becoming far too common. Nothing sucks more than when you find something you have multiple customers for, its nice, but the seller just wants too much money. One thing that is causing this is the internet. Sellers see what others are asking for something and instantly think theirs is worth that, and they don’t realize that some of the other sellers haven’t sold their pieces in years. or in some cases there are new buyers and sellers contributing to this issue. They are paying prices on things that us older more experienced dealers cant pay, because we know, or we think that we know that pieces aren’t worth buying at that price. However, us more experienced dealers are having to put higher prices on things since others are selling their material for these high prices, and the cost of sourcing these pieces is not getting any cheaper. Another important thing to mention this year is the exchange rate.
Sadly this year the exchange rate from Euro to Dollar was down quite a bit… what used to be 1 to 1 in the good ole days was now 1 to 1.15.. making things around 15% higher priced. This makes it even harder to buy at these shows since our dollar isn’t as strong as it used to be. On top of increased costs to fly, lodge, car, gas… the trip quickly adds up. A lot of dealers in the past used to only take cash, however thankfully we have seen an increase in people taking credit card, wire transfer, and even usd. If you are lucky… you can negotiate in dollar even with the big difference.
Tuesday night I had bought some flats to repack my boxes, I needed to consolidate them as I had bought half flats, and there was a lot of dead space. I went to the shipping department at the show and well it’s safe to say I will not be using them… they quoted 1400 to get 50 kilos from the show to the USA… Not sure how you can pay these prices on material as that’s over $28/kilo not factoring in the weight of the pallet and the weight of the wrapping material etc. To try and forget about these crazy prices and to cool myself down I then proceeded to have a liter of beer with some friends near the famous fountain near the entrance. I say famous… well its defiantly a landmark if attending this show. I saw some other US dealers at the restaurant asked them how they were doing. They said that they had gotten food poisoning… if the food could only get worse… lol. Well, I then had to ask what they ate, cause I am not joking when I say that the show is small, there is a slight chance that I could have eaten what they did. Patrick then goes to tell me it was from the Potato salad… and I am like… SHIT. Where did you get this said meal… he’s like yesterday from the shop… and all I could think was how I had the same potato salad that morning and had bought it only hours after him. He was like take some of these if you get sick… we then realized it was a different shop…. sheshh thank god. Later that night we played the age guessing game, honestly such a fun game, this time our waiter was involved.
Later that night I got back to my hotel, unloaded all my material I had rounded up from the show for the day and began to repack it. I spent a decent amount of time packing everything and then my friend texted me to say he just got into town. I drove to the neighboring town, had a night cap ( late night drink ) of course a Gin N Tonic and caught up with him. I was giving him the lay of the land and catching him up on what he missed. The fun thing about the mineral industry is a lot of the time everyone is going after their own things. So even though you are competition on some things, there is a lot of things that he would buy that I wouldn’t and vice versa.
Wednesday, I drove to the show, and I got there late. So, I missed the crazy traffic to get into the show, however I also missed every parking spot known in Sainte Marie… I think I literally walked from the nearest town with how far this parking spot was. Lol. I literally had to have walked a mile into the show… and while it wasn’t uphill both ways, it might have well been as I had walked downhill to the show, then back uphill 2x.I luckily had most of my pick ups done and new that I didn’t want to buy much more unless it was a good deal, and I luckily only had found a few small things to buy. I was shocked with the amount of people at this show.. they were EVERYWHERE… and it was HOT again. I then made my trek back to my hotel and then had another nice dinner with the same group of people from the night before. This was my first good meal I had this trip, and the Gin N Tonic was the most refreshing thing I could have ever imagined.
Thursday morning, I had to finish packing everything up from the show and pack my bags to leave. I headed to the show early thinking that it would beat the traffic and help me find a somewhat close parking spot. Well, I was wrong on both counts, took me about 45 mins from the roundabout at the town base to get parked, and let me tell you the parking spot wasn’t ideal, although more ideal than the day before. Thankfully my press badge got me a reserved spot. I then started my journey to get the job done… drop off my 4 boxes, and do my final final pick-ups. I went to pick up my friends dolly again, loaded her up after a far walk to the car, dopped off everything, picked up some moldavite, and some rare gems, and headed back to my car. I was meeting my friend Mark for lunch at a nice Michelin star restaurant. I had an amazing time with him, the food was almost as good as the conversation.
Friday afternoon I headed to Frankfurt to get a hotel near the airport for my flight early Friday morning. My main request was… you guessed it. AC. I found a decent hotel, picked up a late-night meal, and passed out in a cold room for the first time in close to a week. I proceeded to return my rental car, and I then realized why the gas cost me so much, well I was putting premium racing fuel in… You live and learn, I was going quick on the Autoban. I returned the car and then saw the longest line of my life to go through passport control. I was sure I was missing my flight. Thankfully after about 1.5 hours I made It to the gate as my group was boarding. Customs / security almost caused some issues.. but ended up making it through with my 30lb backpack and 15+lb suitcase. I hope you guys enjoyed this trip report, and I will do another in October for Munich, and who knows, maybe another misc. trip in there as well.
Tokyo May 2025 Trip Report
I decided to attend the Tokyo Shinjuku show this year that is held in May. It was the 35th year, and while it was much smaller than the Ikemburo show in December it was a really great time! My flight there left on Wednesday at 10am out of LAX, and in order to get to LAX I had to leave Phx at 6am, which called for an early morning. This was my first time flying internationally during the day, and I quickly realized why I love red eye flights… Atleast on a red eye flight you can sleep a couple hours, at least I can normally.
Leaving at 10am, mean landing in Tokyo at 10pm AZ time… and that was just the start of it. I still had to clear customs and then figure out how the hell to get to my hotel… while Google maps is a very helpful too, it’s also rather confusing with so many options to get to one location. And the options are changing by the minute as some trains leave, new trains get closer… it’s a wild time. Then of course you have about a 1.5 hour train ride to your nearest train station.
This trip I flew ZIPAIR, an airline I had never heard of before… and well it was like the Spirit / Frontier of international flights! We took off and there was no screens on the seats… and of course I hadn’t downloaded any movies… and well drink / food service was all by order which has its pros and cons. You can get drinks at the touch of a finger tip.. and prices honestly were great.. 2-3 bucks for some noodles, 1-2 bucks for a drink… it was a little odd not being able to check into my flight tho… unless you were at the gate or check in counter at the airport.
Right when I landed it was 2pm Tokyo time… 10pm Az time and it was HUMID.. I was worried that the whole trip was going to be like this as it was my first time in Japan in May. It was very different than December’s weather for sure. After the clothes quickly stuck to me and a 1.5 hour train ride.. I made it to my destination… a sushi restaurant which had high ratings on Google (they don’t really use yelp there… ) I had some incredible sushi… and then proceeded to walk 15 mins to my hotel.
When making it to the hotel I was pleasantly shocked with my accommodation. A room slightly bigger than last trip, maybe 10 x 10… a microwave, fridge, safe, Air Conditioner, washing / drying machine, (we are totally living in the past… a machine you can throw your laundry in and when you take it out, it’s washed and dried) .. highly recommend. The location of the hotel was pretty good as well, approximately 8 min walk from the show, and not far from tons of great restaurants and convenience stores, so all of your needs are met. I did somehow fly in on the wrong day… I landed Thursday which was dealers/buying day… I got to the show Friday morning and it was BUSY…
Friday morning before the show officially opened I ran around and got the lay of the land. I saw a few friends that were set up. Some I knew from the December show and some from other shows.. a handful of dealers only sell in Japan and those suppliers usually have good stuff! I’ve noticed the quality at these shows are very good, and they definitely specialize in smaller items! Friday I found a few great surprises.. a nice Dogtooth Rhodochrosite, a couple Rhodochrosite gemstones, an Emerald gemstone, and some Blue Diamond Okorusu Fluorite! By the time the day had ended I was very pleased with my scores and the trip was worth coming.
The exchange rate was a little lower than last year at 1usd to about 142 yen, compared to 1usd to 152yen, but things are still so cheap comparatively. The yen used to be so much stronger than now which made things a lot more expensive, now Americans can visit and really get a lot of bang for their buck. It was interesting because I ordered some food from a to go kebab shop near my hotel, and I sat down to eat in a near by business park, and then a police officer came to yell at me saying I couldn’t eat in public… I had to use a translator to ask where I was allowed to eat my food… it’s crazy how clean this city is…. Although this trip I did see my first homeless population of Tokyo.. and even that was clean… well MUCH MUCH cleaner than then how they are in USA…
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday consisted of more of the same.. shopping around the show… while this show was much smaller, maybe 1/2 the size as the December show, I was still finding some good deals. It felt great to continue the relationship with some dealers from the previous December show and I’m excited to go back in December and see what they have then! At the end of the show my friends and I at the show were playing a fun game, we would pick someone, guess their age, then go up to them and have them guess our age, and then ask them how old they were. Once we got the answers we then included that random person to play the game with us and pick other random people’s ages. By the end of it we had a team of 5 people guessing the ages of a bunch of people… it was crazy because I kept getting absurd ages… anywhere from 35… which I guess isn’t terrible since that’s only 6 years away… but all the way up to 50… I told him that he needed glasses. At the end of the show I had a few people calling me “Mr.45” haha what a good laugh I had. Of course this was while I had a few drinks in the system… I was drinking some very yummy vodka with mixed fruit… very tasty drink.
The trip was filled with lots of amazing food… you can’t find a bad place to eat in Japan.. my main suggestions are Wagyu… and of course sushi! The prices for food is much lower than you’d expect… you can have a great meal at most restaurants for less than $15usd, and if you are really going out you can have a great meal for around $40-$60/person which in the USA would be a few hundred dollars!
I ventured off very little this trip as between the Jet lag, it being only a 5 day trip, and being there by myself I did almost all business activities. Monday on the last day of the show I went out to a jewelry district which was about 30 mins from the show via train. It was really cool to see lots of dealers I had done business with have shops on this street. I didn’t end up buying anything on this venture out, but it was nice to know it existed. I will definitely come back on my next trip there in December.
If you haven’t made it to Japan, I highly recommend it, the culture, food, and just experience is unmatched. I hope you guys enjoy this little write up about my trip, and the next one is Sainte Marie Aux Mines in France, less than a month away!
P.S my trip home was insane… I flew back into LAX again using ZIPAIR, this time I was smart enough to download 2 movies… well movies just aren’t the same as they used to be… luckily it was only a 10 hour flight home… compared to a 12 hour flight there. If your wondering how there is a 2 hour difference on the too and from flight… well it has to do with how the earth is spinning… and the direction of the wind. When I arrived in LAX it was approximately midnight in Tokyo and 8am in Los Angeles… you probably think I am tired right? Well I rented a car and drove to Carlsbad California to pick up some stones and jewelry I had submitted earlier in the month at the Costa Mesa / Santa Ana show… and then I proceeded to drive home all the way to Phoenix from there. By the time I got home I had been on the road for about 24 hours. The crazy thing we do for gems…
Thailand and Japan December 2024
As most of you know I just got back from my first trip in Asia. Wow was it amazing. This was also the first time my Dad and Uncle joined me on a business trip. Our first stop was Bangkok and we spent a week there. I had asked a friend where to stay who spends quite a bit of time in Thailand, and he suggested the Holiday Inn in Silom. This hotel is amazing… and centrally located. This is the perfect hotel to stay at if you are looking for gems and lots of great tourist activities. We arrived on Wednesday and at first the gps said our hotel was 1 hour away…. Well that 1 hour turned into about 2.5 hours after the road turned to a parking lot. I have been a lot of places in the world… but never have I ever seen traffic this bad. Once we got off the freeway we quickly saw thousands of mini scooters weaving in and around traffic. We got settled in our hotel, and surprisingly even though it took about 24hrs to get there, and we were 15+ hours time difference I felt pretty good. We went to sleep, and the next day we went out to explore.
I always recommend doing the hop on hop off bus in the city you are staying in as you can really learn a lot about the city and the history. Also you can see places that you are interested in going back to and spending more time. Since it was our first day, and our first time in Asia it was only fitting that’s how we got familiarized with the city. The first full day in Bangkok was a holiday (kings birthday) so there was very little business to do. However since it was the kings birthday that meant there was going to be fireworks on the river. We decided to go for some drinks at the top of the Lebua Hotel.. which is where they filmed scenes of Hangover 2. A short walk from the Holiday inn and Great view… but EXPENSIVE drinks. It was around $35usd a drink… and after being in the humidity waiting out the sunset, the fireworks started to go off…. They were short lived however we had a fun time with great views.
The next day we went to the street market on the hunt to find some food… so far we had just eaten at the hotel as they had a wide variety of food options, and it was very convenient being a buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I had been dying to try the authentic street food as I had done my research ( watched a YouTube video or two ) on the street markets. After a quick scooter ride on the taxi… really the only way to get around Bangkok, we met with my Gold jeweler who I am working with directly on making a line of Benitoite jewelry. It was great to see the factory in person, and put a face to the name. We went and shopped a few other designs, went back over to the JTC building and then back to the hotel. Overall I had made a few great contacts and had already found a few good deals.
The fourth official day I went back to JTC to finish up some more business. There is so much to see and do here, and if you like colored stones it’s literally like a candy shop… highly recommend however you will need to allocate days to see everything in this building. The first few floors are sellers booths, they usually get there later in the morning around 10-11am, and then after a few floors is all private offices. If you buy enough with a dealer he will take you up to his office to show you trays upon trays of other material. Not to mention the streets lined with mom and pop shops selling both colored stones and jewelry!
After another successful day of buying and exploring Bangkok the 3 of us decided to celebrate with some cold Thai beers on the top of the recommended restaurant rooftop. Which btw… it can be warm and humid… and it was winter… I’m talking 90s and humidity levels in the 80%. You have to drink lots of water. I can’t imagine what summer is like.. but im sure one day I will experience it. We got lucky tho and it didn’t rain this trip.. that would have just made it even more sticky.
Another thing interesting about Bangkok is the amount of 711s. Who would have thought that there could be so many, and the water is so cheap?? About 10 Baht which is 29cents for a bottle of water. The exchange rate is about 1usd to 34 Thai baht. At the street markets you can go to dozens of street vendors for anywhere from 20 baht to 100 baht each… you will be stuffed after maybe $5usd… it’s hard to turn down the variety, you can really find so much in the street markets.
We explored a lot of the temples… there is a ton… literally thousands spread through out the city, all filled with great history. Some dating back as far as the first king, and some more recent. One of my fav stories I was told was how a long time ago when there was many wars going on the people of Thailand would put cement ontop of their gold to hide it… if no one could see it then no one would steal it. For hundreds of years these large blocks of cement statues had sat, however around 100 years ago they were planned to be moved. When they moved them there was a crack that happened to the cement figure and that’s when there was a glimpse of gold… after cleaning the piece and removing all the cement that had been placed on it hundreds of years ago, they discovered what is now the largest known gold statute in the world… it weighs 5,500 kilo grams… or 5.5 tons… of solid gold.. honestly one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in person. Remarkable to see how they amassed so much gold… and the craziest thing is that Thailand doesn’t really produce the gold, they got it all from trade! The Solid gold Buddha is worth around ~468 million dollars in just scrap gold.
After taking care of a lot of the business we decided to go golfing. We told the hotel and they arranged just about everything. A driver for the day, the tee time, and it was a really great time. This was the second time ever that I got a caddy. We had a great time and played on a beautiful course. It was a little difficult to understand the caddy since she didn’t speak any English however we all had a blast cracking jokes and bumping fists after a good shot. It only took about the 8th hole for us to be about 3 beers each in, and that’s when the caddy’s started to drink with us.
Later that night the driver dropped us off at the night train market which was a little ways from our hotel however such a large covered market. We walked and ate around the market for a couple hours trying a large variety of dishes. Some better than others… One fascinating thing about Thailand is there is almost no flys… with all the food out you’d think flys would be everywhere, however the humidity must have deterred them. I found myself trying the cooked bugs..you only live once.. and honestly they didn’t taste too bad, kinda like a seed. That night we got a different driver back to the hotel and it was a rogue taxi driver.. one of the funniest rides I’ve ever taken. The guy barely spoke any English but was shouting broken English Donald Trump, how he loves USA. He would ramble on talking as loud as he could and we would take a second to try and convert his broken English. If I had to guess the guy was on some kind of drugs.. I wish I took a video cause he was too funny. Swerving through traffic like Paul walker in fast and furious he was shouting he was a good driver as he weaved in and out of traffic. For the laughs… and getting us back safely we paid him and then tipped him in USD since he loved America so much.
The last day in bangkok we went to the Grand Palace and saw lots of monks. We made a donation and got blessed by the monks and a bracelet I am still wearing today. At night we went on a boat tour down the river and it was really cool with a light show, drone show, and even fireworks. The dinner on the boat wasn’t the best, but the views definitely made up for it. Highly recommend checking out this palace and going down the river, especially at night where it’s cooled down.
The last day of the trip we had quite a bit of time to kill since our flight wasn’t till 10pm and checkout was 2pm… so we met with my silver jewelry contact. There is a whole district of jewelers all over Bangkok and I’m excited to work with them in the future. We ended up purchasing even more stuff hours before our departure, which made me a little un easy with how much we had… but everything turned out alright when we made it to the airport and cleared security.
The next day we landed in Japan early in the morning and we took the train to the hotel which was about 10 mins walking distance from the show. We got there and asked for an early check in however sadly it wasn’t possible until 12, and even then you had to pay about $10/usd per hour. We decided to just explore the city after dropping off our bags, and ended up in this sushi place. Apparently the place was open from 5am to 3am so gives you an idea for the quality of the food.. but there weren’t too many options with it being so early.
When checking into the hotel… it was small… small may be an understatement. We went from having a massive room in Thailand that connected to my uncles room, meanwhile this room was maybe the size of the bathroom at the other place… and that was the “deluxe” room… I was scared to see my dads and I room…. Since it wasn’t a deluxe… well it was about the same size which definitely took some getting used to.
Later that day we did some exploring and ofcourse had to get some wagyu… and let me tell you.. that didn’t disappoint. It was everywhere…. We took a quick walk to the highest rated place in walking distance and had an amazing meal. However the walk to the restaurant was COLD!!! The high for the trip was about 50…. And a lot of the time it felt like 35-40…. Going to that from the 90s took a bit to get used to. We crawled back to our hotel after what felt like having a whole cow for dinner along with some Sake and passed out in our little room… or tried to. The bed….. not quite that comfy… rock hard and the pillows… TERRIBLE.
Tossing and turning the sun quickly rose and we walked to the show to get our badge. I wasn’t really planning on buying much at this show since I sell to a lot of Japanese customers and didn’t think I would find much to buy, however there were some deals to be had. The dollar is very strong in Japan right now around 1usd to 150 yen… compared to years ago when it was 1usd to 75yen. The buying power had doubled. This makes the rocks… and the wagyu cheaper… a lot cheaper. First day I only found a handful of pieces, the second day though I found a bunch of things. I had heard the show was busy… however that’s an understatement by 5x.
We shopped around the show and then went to a place for dinner a few train stops away and had a great dinner… and then a second dinner because I don’t have self control to turn down Wagyu. The next morning we went back to the show and shopped for a few hours and then did the hop on hop off bus. We got to see lots of Japan… however FREEZING…. The best thing to warm up the body is a hot coal grill infront of you with a pile of uncooked Wagyu and some sake!
I ended up picking up quite a few faceted gemstones that were very reasonably priced, and ended up selling some of the stash that I had brought. Since I am the Benitoite Kid, it’s only right that I bring some to Japan. Benitoite is one of the most popular minerals in Japan and honestly I was shocked with how much was out for sale. There was more benitoite in Japan than at any local show in the USA I have been too. Was very cool to see a large market so interested in the mineral as much as me. I made up some cool shirts with a benitoite on matrix for my uncle and dad and walking around the show we had a few people say something about the shirt.
Our last night in Japan we took the train for about 1 hour to the Skytree tower.. which is about 1400 feet tall… amazing view of Tokyo… very crowded tho.. just like everywhere in Tokyo. The train station is the busiest in the world and it shows every day… I’ve never seen such a busy city.. we ended up stumbling upon a hole in the wall place for sushi and we had some amazing sushi… I wish I could have it again and again.. I will definitely have to go back some day soon.
One thing that’s very interesting about Japan is there is no trash anywhere.. and the fines for littering are literally Jail… but there is almost no trash cans… which is bizzare. Finding a trash can in Japan is like finding a needle in a hay stack… good luck. Highly recommend both of these cities and I already can’t wait to go back.
Sainte Marie Aux Mines Trip Report 2024
Hey Everyone, it’s that time of the year again… I just got back from the famous show in France and I want to share my experience for those who missed out. It’s held in a beautiful tiny town called Sainte Marie Aux Mines and the show takes place in the same place each year at the same time and has for the last 50+ years. This year I decided to fly into Frankfurt Germany on Sunday afternoon and take the train to the nearest main town Colmar. However sadly there was an issue with the train service ( very unlike Europe ) and I had to go to another small town near Colmar and get picked up by my friend, or wait another hour to go a few miles. After getting picked up by my friend Willem a belgium collector and his girlfriend we went and got situated at our Airbnb. We stay in a cute town called Berghem and our place this year was neighbors to the place we stayed last year with a beautiful vineyard view. After a fair coin toss to decide who gets what room, I quickly got settled in the master after wining the coin toss. And then it was time to adjust to the time and try getting some sleep. Which if you have any experience flying internationally, jet lag is a real thing. I had some difficulty falling asleep that night as it was 9 hours ahead of my time zone back home. It also didn’t really help how late the sun stayed out… setting around 9:30 and getting dark at 10pm.
I thought Sunday would be an ideal day to fly in and get situated as the show didn’t officially start for dealers until Wednesday and to the public Thursday, but after going to the show on Monday and talking to some dealers I quickly learned that the early bird gets the worm and this year I was a late bird. Each year it gets earlier and earlier, so next year I think I may fly in Friday, kick the jet lag Friday and Saturday, and limp my way to the show Saturday afternoon and hopefully be ready to go by Sunday morning. This will give me a 1 day lead on this years trip which may secure me more material.
One thing that threw a wrench into some plans was the cell service being completely down for all American travelers. This made communicating very difficult away from the Airbnb ( on wifi ) and luckily I was always with someone who had service because their phone was on a different server, or at the very least knew how to get where I needed to be. I know that there were some dealers who weren’t as lucky as I was and had to join wifi at many different places in order to navigate their way back to their Airbnb’s and communicate with people at the show and back home.
Getting into the show this year was harder and more strict than any year in the past as they cut back on the amount of badges they were offering dealers, so to guarantee me a badge I decided to utilize the fact I write these trip reports and was issued a media badge. While the show was giving out less dealer badges, somehow there was a lot of dealers / collectors in the show on Monday. Definitely the most amount of dealers I’ve seen on a Monday at the show, and this is I believe my 4th year going. The amount of dealers / collectors hunting the show reduces the amount of things you can secure as everyone wants a deal… especially in this market. If you are going to come to the show in the future, which I highly recommend, get to the show as early as you can.. both the date and the time. You want to arrive at the show before 9am every morning otherwise parking will be near impossible.
The mineral market is really interesting right now with a lot of dealers…. I would even say the most amount of dealers there has ever been. And with that comes competition. Everyone is looking for that one deal that makes it worth while flying all the way to Europe… while Europe is beautiful, it still has to make sense financially to go to the show. And it seems year after year the prices of material continues to rise ( people having access to the internet to see what other people are asking for things hasn’t helped with this ), quality in quantity numbers has dramatically reduced (as if it’s a nice piece at a good price it’s usually gone within hours), and the demand from everyone for new and exciting finds seems like it’s an all time high. However new finds are brining the retail of the old finds, and the premiums of it being a new find. The exchange rate wasn’t as even as it was last year which made negotiating in US dollars a little difficult, but I only found 1 dealer who was adamant about taking only euros. All the dealers I did business with were fine with US Dollars, some added a percentage, otherwise were happy at an even exchange rate which allowed me to save a few extra dollars. I try and avoid going to the ATM as much as I can in Europe, 1 reason for the horrible exchange rate you get, 2, the fees being crazy high, and 3… well the horror story of what happened last year when they charged my card $800usd and never gave me my Euros. And then the bank canceling my card thinking it was fraud…
With the market being how it is, I honestly didn’t find much to buy at this show, and there wasn’t 1 piece that I got for my collection. This is very sad as I’m always trying to add something special for each and every trip I go on to remind me of the trip. While buying wasn’t ideal, the weather was actually much nicer than years prior. It was a little warm but nothing that couldn’t be handled… although on Wednesday it did rain which made it difficult to pack up the things I had bought and also humid. This year unlike others I was lucky and before going to the show I had pre arranged how I was getting all the material I bought at the show home, which took a lot of stress out of buying. Last year I brought all the material I had bought to Namibia which I don’t recommend doing…
This year we didn’t venture too far off the beaten path to get food after the show, 3/4 nights we stayed in Berghem which calling it a tiny town is an understatement. And just like any tiny town, the food options are very limited. The first night I got to try Beef Tar Tar, while I don’t think I had a good version of it, it was underwhelming and people should stick with tuna tar tar in my opinion which is much better. The next night we ventured off to colmar and were met with a large amount of options for food. Tuesday was the opposite… we went to 3 restaurants and they were all booked and not taking new reservations… after striking out everywhere we found this restaurant that was closed and they were having a little family party, after a few mins of explaining to them everywhere else is not taking new people they decided to open up their restaurant for us. There was no menu… just this very thin crust French style pizza, what Americans call flat bread. The 4 of us would eat the pizza and then they would come back and bring another one, and another one, and another… who knows how many pizzas we ate that night, my guess would be 10. They didn’t want to charge us which was crazy… so we left a very generous tip and called it a night walking back to our place with the sun setting.
My last day at the show was Wednesday and I really wish I had booked it to stay longer as I felt I hadn’t had enough time to get everything I had wanted to done. I spent most of the day showing a friend / client around the show with his 2 friends, and then packing up my material which didn’t leave much time for shopping. Monday I was just too jet lagged to get as much as I wanted done, Tuesday I did as much shopping as I could, concluding the last minute purchases on Wednesday. I only left with 14 flats of material. While 14 flats may seem like a lot of material it’s really not much material for flying all the way to Europe.
Thursday I packed up the Airbnb and Elke and I hit the rode back to Frankfurt. We went out for a nice little lunch on the way and then I got dropped off at the airport which I then spent 5 hours at the lounge. A really nice and comfortable lounge in Frankfurt was much needed before my red eye flight to Namibia. My flight left at 9pm and arrived at 6am.
Namibia Trip Report 2024
I arrived into Namibia on Friday morning after taking a red eye flight from Frankfurt Thursday night. A 10 hour flight is easy to do when you’re leaving late at night and arriving in the morning. Luckily I got a few hours of shut eye and that allowed me to be somewhat rested up for the day. It was nice this trip because I didn’t have any rocks with me, which made the customs clearance a lot less stressful.
I was met with a deal for material in the Capital of Namibia which is Windhoek. The seller had some Okorusu Fluorite and it was a good representation of how the market was going to be this year… the price was extremely high and the seller and I couldn’t come to a deal. The quality was low, and the price was higher than what I could buy it for already in the USA cleaned, prepped, and already in the USA. Which is rather costly these days with just the cost of shipping on my last shipment at $8/kilo.
Like always I decided to make big brother guesthouse my headquarters. This place is located in Usakos and it’s a beautiful little place with lots of helping hands.. this year sadly the room I usually stay in didn’t have running hot water which meant staying in a new room. I was the only guest this whole trip which meant the service was even better than the normal service I receive. The room I stayed in was very close to the place where I meet the sellers that come to see me. On a given day I will meet with 20-60 sellers who have a wide range of material to offer me. The first couple days were slow, much slower than usual and that’s when I found out that there were other buyers actively staying in the town I was in. The demand for material around the world is up quite a bit, and the supply is also down with a lot of the miners taking a guaranteed paycheck by mining for the large scale mines for things like lithium.
This year definitely had the least amount of material I had seen on the market and quickly the tripped turned to a focus of Demantoid Garnet, Orange Garnet, and Fluorite from Erongo. It was funny because along with having more buyers in town, there was more sellers as well. The sellers are people who are buying from the small scale miners and reselling to the buyers who are visiting. Sometimes this can lead to relationships being built and business continuing over time, even when the person is back in the states or Europe. I bought rocks from the old mayor of the town I stayed in, and even a police offer. These are people who have extra income and wanted to invest in a local market. I found their prices to be the highest around as they didn’t have much experience in the business, but after a lesson or two I was able to get the price down.
It’s starting to be a tradition to celebrate Karl’s birthday with him, as last year i helped throw a surprise bday party for him, this year we had a family gathering and they got a goat. I was thinking the ribs would be the safest bet… well after a few hours of cooking, and the food getting ready around 10pm I quickly found the stew which looked the least appetizing at the beginning of cooking was the yummiest…
Karl and I even decided to go golfing this trip which was a nice break from getting swarmed with rocks each and every day. We even got a caddy and that was the first for me… I could really get used to golfing in Namibia… springbok running around the course, fresh gin n tonics from the caddy who grabbed them from the bar, and some really good golf help… quite a few pars, couple birdies, and almost a couple eagles… almost is the key word. A great time was had and now it is time to go back to usakos and face the massive pile of rocks to wrap for shipping and maybe find some more treasures.
Once I had packed a lot of my material which took 2 days and 13 barrels that’s when my trip took a turn for the worst… how you might ask? Well I was playing some pool and drinking some beer, and that’s when I was alerted by the workers at big brother that someone may have stole some stones from me at 9pm… we rush back to my room and saw that there weren’t any rocks stolen, that we could tell… but definitely my bag… which included my passport, phone, computer, and cash along with some gems being stolen. They came through the window… and cut a hole into the fence. So what happens when stuff gets stolen out of your room in Namibia? Well you go on a Namibian police chase… luckily I had another phone with me… yes I always travel with 2 phones. I called Karl and he was on the phone with the detective within a few mins… sadly no one had a vechile at big brother. After a few mins we finally got ahold of the owner of big brother and he allowed us to take a truck which apparently had a little bit of gas. We all piled into this truck and we went after them…. I was yelling right right right, and the guy made a left and said we needed gas… I was in disbelief. We pull up to the pump and the manager of big brother says put in $400 which is equivalent to like $20, which clearly will take some time, so I am yelling at the guy put in $60, it will be faster. After a quick match at the pump and quickly putting $60 the equivalent to maybe a gallon of gas, we then continued on the chase and that’s where I was met with the police truck and I then moved vehicles.
After moving vehicles the police chase started. I was using my other phone to track where the phone was, that’s when the police said it was best we continued on foot to not scare them away. That’s when we parked the truck in the direction of where the phone was going.. we then continued to walk maybe 2 miles under the moonlight with the police carrying ak47s. It was quite a sight to see. We then walk up this large hill and were met with some street lights and once the dogs saw us… well that blew our cover. We then spent a few mins assembling a new plan… which involved walking back to the police truck… and back to big brother. And it was at that moment I realized I had at some point misplaced my wallet as well ….all the panic that was happening certainly didn’t help… it wasn’t until I got to the truck that I found it on the ground inside the truck…. Whew what a relief. How shitty would it be to have lost my wallet too…
We end up getting back to big brother and that’s when I start tracking the devices again… this time the phone is showing up in Karibib which is about a 20 min drive… however the bag which is where my passport, cash, and some gems I bought that day were, was showing up at a different location. How ? Well… I have an AirTag in my bags that way if something like this happens I can find the bag. So at now 1am we are back on the hunt looking for the bag. The bag is showing at this person house… and it hasn’t moved… it’s updating while we are there saying I am with the bag. So we found the suspects right?? Well the police make some calls, and they make some calls, and at 1am the homeowner comes out and asks what’s going on. That’s when after a few mins of explaining we enter the property and I start to try and find the bag with the AirTag on my find my iPhone. After a few mins of having no luck I decided to take the L, and go back to big brother to get some sleep. Which if you can imagine is harder said than done. That morning I wake up and I try and play around with the other AirTags in my bag to see how they work. After becoming an AirTag expert Karl and I head back to the house and start the search again as the bag updated again being at their house. We go back and I get a hit on the app, however it’s showing 60 ft away and the direction, so I start walking closer and the number is going down and it’s pointing straight… that’s when I could see the bag was thrown in someone’s yard. We found the bag… but is the passport in there? Why wouldn’t it be? We call the police and tell them we found the bag before we enter the persons yard, and sure enough my passport and the AirTag was the only damn thing in the bag. Bye bye to the cash… and some gems…
Now that we have the passport in hand, I can call the embassy and cancel my passport appointment. Which for those of you who were wondering it sounded like a really easy process… a few hours of your time… $160 bucks, and you can get a passport in 4 hours same day. And the $160 you spend on the temporary passport can be used as a 10yr renewal passport once back in the states..
The phone…. Well that’s the only thing I could track and it showed up in Otjiwarongo the next morning… which is the nearest town to the mine Okorusu. That’s when we knew the phone had to been stolen by a group who came from Okorusu… a really shitty situation and very off putting. That’s when I didn’t buy any more rocks for the trip. So we decided to go to Swakopmund and try and have some down time. I went to my favorite restaurant and tried to relax, something about the beach helps with calming down, but nothing like having your phone stolen to create stress and a lot of it.
Now it’s time to leave Namibia… with less than I came with, but with as many rocks as I can put in my 2 checked bags. I’m allowed 2 checked bags with 23 kilos in each bag, and that’s exactly what I planned on doing. I filled both suitcases up and headed for Windhoek to get my permit.. which accordingly to Karl it wasn’t ready as of 3pm on Friday. It didn’t look good.. but someone was on my side and the permit was signed by the time we got to the ministry and I was on my way to the airport. No issues this time … and no drinks were bought for any officials… maybe a couple for myself… I was flying into Frankfurt this time, not South Africa so it was much easier at the airport… I almost didn’t make it out of South Africa last trip… and after 2 very quick 10 hour flights, ha ha.. quick… I was back in the USA. One last layover before getting home and again no issues… I wasn’t randomly selected this time. Wow my luck may have come back.
I arrive home with my 4 bags, and from Big Brother on Friday afternoon to my house… It was 37 hours. Tired is an understatement… but home sweet home… my shipment is on the way to me and with luck it should be here without any hiccups. So while this trip definitely wasn’t the best, at least I have my health, you live and you learn.
Munich Show & Namibia Round Two 2023
I’ve wanted to post my trip report for both Namibia and Munich for a while now, however I was waiting for my material to come in. Since Munich started first, we will start with that. Munich, the largest Gem and Mineral show in Europe was another great show. Just like last year it starts earlier and earlier every year. I landed on Sunday night and did what ever traveler should do when arriving in Germany, I went to the local pub, had a schnitzel and a liter of Weis Beer. After finishing my yearly ritual it was then the difficult task of sleeping with excitement of the show, and jet lag. You would think by now I would have that part down, but this trip it took its toll. First real day in Munich I went on a little adventure with Alan and Elise Benson of Alan’s Quality Minerals. The Bensons rented a car and we went to Mount Zugspitze, which while there, I learned is the tallest mountain in Germany (3,000 meters). I highly recommend visiting as it was only about an hour and half trip! After a very casual walk around the lake, Alan scared me by saying it was a hike, we then took the cable car to the very top… very cool view, highly recommended unless you are scared of heights… well then I don’t recommend.
Tuesday then consisted of getting ready for the show that opened for dealers at 3:00. After getting into the show, there wasn’t too much to see as there really were only dealers who had paid extra for an early opening pass so they got in Monday morning. A few things were scored on Tuesday, my best score being some Okorusu Fluorite. One dealer was un packing his material and putting it into the case and as he let go I would then grab the piece, examine, and put it in my pile. After about 30 mins of looking over my shoulder the unpacking was done and a swarm of people went to go look at the leftovers, but of course not before they all looked at my 2 flats with my business card, sighed and asked if I’m getting all these, and then walking away discouraged. This is one of the best feelings in the world, being first to see everything, but also on the other end it can be one of the worst feelings. Wednesday I found myself back at the show all day shopping, finding a decent amount of wholesale deals, but nothing extraordinary which was somewhat a disappointment. I slowly had a small pile with everyone… Wednesday was a fun night, after going out to dinner we then went to the local hotel bar. After having a few gin n tonics and finding fascination in the glass straws at the bar, our waiter kindly wrapped some glass straws up in a napkin and secretly handed them us.
Thursday was a stressful day of trying to find a trolly to push around to collect all my paid items… of course they were out of pay to rent push carts, so I had to go to some friends that are dealers. Finally found a dealer and I went around the show collecting everting I had bought. As I pushed the cart around I realized I was a little more crazy than I originally thought… rock crazy that is. On this journey of collecting all my rocks I did happen to lose 2 small gem boxes with some loose diamond crystals. Hopefully a kid found those… that’s really the only way I can get over a loss like that. Luckily they weren’t too expensive, but still sucks! Luckily Elise helped me pack up all this material… and then I dropped it off with a friend. Will keep the friend private so he doesn’t have a million people trying to do this next year. I then went to my room and packed up the loot I was going to bring with me to Namibia and then back home. Thursday was a fun night with the YMC Young Mineral Collectors group. After the the dinner we then went back to the glass straw bar, and of course were given some more glass straws. Friday was bitter sweet as I finished shopping and I got Karl, my Namibian friend settled in Munich. He was taking over my Airbnb booking and I was flying to Namibia. I was surprised to see that he brought a pretty large selection of stuff to the show, and was only there for 1 day. I picked through the material and he then went off to the show and sold everything.. quite crazy the market right now. Later in the day I headed to the airport for my long 16 hour journey from Munich to Namibia due to having a layover in Frankfurt and also in Ethiopia. I do have to say that those Airport lounges are worth every penny for long flights like this.
After landing in Namibia I quickly realized that Lufthansa always has to make my trip fun… so they lost my bag again. This time the bag with all my checked gems and minerals from the show that I decided to carry back. Luckily I have learned from the past experiences and I got an AirTag for my luggage… thanks Paul Cory for that suggestion 😂. This was my first trip landing in Namibia without Karl there to arrange everything for me, since he was still in Europe on vacation for a couple more days. I had Karl’s son, Fapi and some family pick me up at the airport. Karl’s cousin was the driver… for the police stops, and Fapi was the driver for non police stops 😅 nothing like being about 1/4 mile away from a police stop and switching drivers to get the adrenaline running. In the USA I feel like this would only get a more extensive search but in Namibia it’s just another day. After getting about 1/4 mile away from the road stop we switch drivers and continue our journey to Usakos about 3 hours from WDH. It didn’t take long for people to find out I was in town… had people visiting me that day.. nothing crazy was coming out Erongo that week, but word got out quickly I was looking for Okorusu, and numerous guys would meet with me sometimes as much as 2 times a day.. now it’s day 2 and still no missing baggage but it shows it has arrived in Namibia around 3pm. I thought to myself there was no way I would get the bag today, but at 9pm that night the workers at big brother said I had some customers… as I tell them guys you gotta stop coming so late, just come in the morning, I see that they aren’t selling rocks, but they do have rocks… my rocks! I pick up the bag, and realize instantly my rocks are still in there… First thing I do when I get back to the room is throw the bag on the bed and see if there is any damage and luckily everything looked good.
This trip I decided to keep it simple and just set up at 1 place, and not venture out too much. It worked out well getting offered a large selection of Oko and Demantoid Garnet. There was a large amount of fakes on the market this trip, I saw numerous Jeremejevite that were Aquamarine cut and polished on matrix, and many other fake Fluorite. One can wish… I spent one day in Swakopmund, my favorite place in Namibia to escape from the ridiculous mosquitoes in usakos. Please watch the video to see these large swarms of mosquitos… when moving into my normal room, there was over 100 mosquitos in the room until Kyle and Fapi the exterminators got in there… we sprayed raid for killing cockroaches in the air close the door, came back to a dirty floor because of how many had fell. This trip it was hot there, I really got to remember this so I can plan better next time. Phoenix had finally got nice before I left, Munich was cold, and Namibia was hot. I sure did have a wide variety of clothes in my 2 bags. After getting tired of eating the same things over and over I decided to have the lady’s at big brother cook for me a few times this trip. It’s not a trip to Namibia if you don’t eat some Donkey with pop also known as porridge. I didn’t realize how long it took to cook this meat.. so even though they started cooking around 5:30 my food wasn’t ready till close to 8.. after getting enough food to make me a happy man I gave the rest to the chefs and big brother staff. By the time Karl was back from Europe I had compiled quite the stash of rocks… so we needed to start packing the barrels. The only goal for this trip was to have less barrels than last time… which was 18 barrels. After two days of tedious packing with a few assistants we had packed this shipment and realized I did a good job with my goal, but I still had a LOT of rocks, this shipment was just shy of 600 kilos.
To celebrate having all this hard work done I had my favorite meal prepared for me, fat cake. Went to the store and bought all the ingredients, I just wish I had watched her make them from the start to beginning so I could make them for my family. Only way to describe them is they taste like a sweet bread with a meat gravy curry stuffing. Next time I will be coming back with rocks and that recipe for sure… now time for my favorite part… exportation…. Kidding, not fun at all. The hoops you jump through change every trip.. this trip there was quite a few hoops. A lot of the hoops don’t make sense, but such is life. I then was dropped off at the airport, and on my journey home. When getting to the airport I went through Namibia security with my rocks and they were pretty tedious. I showed him my permit and he let me on my way, but not before saying he would come on the other side and come get a cold drink. I smirked and thought to myself there is no way this guy is going to come get a drink with me. Well after having a gin n tonic I sure did have a friendly visit. We chatted a few, he got something to eat, and he went on his way. I was thinking to myself wow, I’m glad that’s over. I board my flight to Johannesburg… trying to transfer there I didn’t think I was going to make my next flight with how much trouble they were giving me. The permit they didn’t care about and were even calling Namibia to verify. Mind you at this point in time it’s around 9pm, so I’m not sure who was answering. 😅 after they let me go, of course the agent couldn’t go without asking me if I have a cold drink for him, I chuckled and said dude, we just went through all my stuff, I don’t have anything for you. I did offer some Namibian candy I was bringing back for friends and family, but he said no shockingly. Now it’s time for a 5 min lounge detour for some more gin n tonics before my 16 hour flight… filled up my hydro flask, and then went to the secondary security for my USA flight. Can’t have anything liquids so may have had to chug my hydro flask, sorry mom. After landing in NJ, I reclaimed my bags thinking I made it yay… well, I made eye contact with the tsa officer before rechecking my bags, and of course had to answer a million questions and tell him my life story; and about 30 mins later I was through my 3rd security check.
How rock crazy am I, you ask? Well crazy enough to fly straight to a gem show in LA straight from Namibia. I spent the night in Costa Mesa and had a great night with all the gem show family, and then drove 6 hours back home. If you don’t let yourself rest, you complete beat Jet lag. I hope you guys enjoyed this write up, and the photos. Now that my 600 kilos has landed and cleared customs I can post this story. One last little story… for some reason I just can’t break up with my favorite airline ( Lufthansa) kidding of course so I gave them the privilege of moving my 1300lbs of rocks from Namibia to Phoenix for me. After paying close to $5,000 for export, Lufthansa was kind enough to mark my shipment as Departed Lax, Arrived in Phx, an ready for pick up in Phx… before it arrived in Phx. So there goes a day of renting a U-Haul and driving to pick up a ghost shipment, hopefully they will do something about this as I have filled a claim with them, I think it’s the least they can do. Till next time, all the best.
My adventures in Namibia 2023
After my trip to Sainte Marie Aux Mines I arrived in Namibia to a beautiful sunrise. Shortly after landing we went to the Windhoek mall and got some necessities for my trip. I checked out one of my favorite grocery stores, its called “Food Lovers Market”. I can’t think of a better name for a store. My hair was a little long so I took matters into my own hands and picked up some hair clippers and had my friend Karl give me a haircut. I was a little skeptical getting a haircut at the barber shop in Namibia, which was one reason I decided to do it myself, but it didn’t come out to bad. Shortly after it was time to hunt some gems, we started by going to see my other friend Lui. He’s a Chinese man who lives in Usakos, Namibia, which is rather strange, however there are some Chinese that live in Namibia. A lot of the Chinese here have what they call a “China Shop”. Its similar to a knock off brand store, that sells almost everything. If you ever need anything in Namibia you should check a China shop. Lui doesn’t own a China Shop, but he does still export containers to China. Currently Lui is mining a lot of large clear Quartz with Schorl Tourmaline inclusions. Of course that isn’t what I was hoping to find, but he did gift me a nice piece to display in my house. His minerals were slim pickings this trip, however he did have some nice Demantoid Garnet. Demantoid quickly came the focus this trip as the material cuts very nicely.
As I got settled in Usakos (the place I always set up as headquarters in Namibia), I had people left and right coming to visit me at the Big Brother Guest House. The first few days of my trip always shows me what’s being produced currently. Once people found out that I was back in town I had lots of familiar faces visiting to see me. Everyone and their mother were bringing me stones (literally), and let me tell you it was such a wide range of qualities and types. Everything from Erongo Material to Goboboseb Material.
One thing I did have my eyes out for this trip was old school Okorusu Fluorite. A lot of the really good material that came out in the 80s is very hot on the market, and I was hoping I may be able to find a few pieces. I knew it was unlikely as I would have to find an old school collector, which there aren’t too many of in Namibia. However I did find a couple pieces I would consider scraps, and with my surprise I did have some people offering me newer production Oko. The material was on the darker side, rather damaged, and some still coated with secondary growth of what looked to be Quartz. I decided to pass as the quality wasn’t close to the value of the pieces, especially with the work that was in store for them. The same sellers with the newer Oko took me to one of their storage rooms…. I had high hopes until I saw the room and it looked like a tornado went through the place…
The miners were hitting Fluorite from the Erongo Mountains and the material was rather aesthetic with the Fluorite crystals on Schorl needles that looked like Lolipops. Hence why they are referring to the pocket as the “Lollipop Pocket”. Lots of this material had damage, but when you found a good piece… it was GOOD! I am excited to see how these clean up and display. I will hopefully have some of these and lots of other good material available soon.
Karls daughter messaged me before I came to Namibia to help put together a birthday party for Karl. Since Karl has always been a great contact in Namibia I thought it would be a fun way to spend an evening. What I didn’t expect was how many people would show up, and how hard it is to get someone to show up to their own birthday party, and the lies you have to tell to get them there. We were holding Karls party at the youth center, and I had to tell Karl that there was a miner who wanted to meet there to show us rocks. When we pulled up and I saw the person who was playing the “miner” I thought it was going to be a difficult task to get Karl inside. Right when he saw who wanted to show me stuff, he was disappointed that we came here to see the material and Karl was saying that he should have just brought them to where I was staying. Seeing Karls reaction was priceless when there was 60 + people in that room. For a surprise bday party on a Wednesday it was rather impressive. Karl knows lots and lots of people and it felt special to do this for him. They even got me a translator so I knew what people were saying when they were doing speeches. It was even funnier when I realized that Karl and I were seated together at a table for 2, when I thought his wife should be there.
After spending close to a week in Usakos and having Karls birthday party we made a trip to Goboboseb / Brandberg. This area is known for producing some remarkable amethyst, and in my opinion some of the best Amethyst from around the world. Sadly I was very disappointed with this trip for many reasons. With the huge demand for Lithium lots of miners have switched from being an artisanal miner to a lithium miner for a large corporation. While this job takes away the uncertainty of a paycheck month to month, the pay is lower on average. This made extremely difficult to find any new production Brandberg… and that doesn’t even included the crazy demand in Goboboseb now that the pandemic is over. Supposedly there are a few people who are cornering the market for anything and literally everything. When arriving to Goboboseb we were quickly met with LOTS of flies. I have never experienced something like that, and it just made the trip un enjoyable. It would be a little bit of a different story if the minerals were better, but after going hut to hut… the pickings were slim, and it was practically all Smoky Quartz, nothing exciting. We were there for the afternoon and quickly left. I’m not sure what caused all the flies, it might be time of year, or it might be all the miners there with lots and lots of kids. When I first visited Goboboseb in 2019 there was maybe a handful of kids, this time there was 10x that this trip.
After leaving Goboboseb we stayed in my favorite place in Namibia. A beach town Swakopmund. I was able to get a beach view room, for just $60, That room in a popular city like San Diego could be in the $400+/ night range. Each and every time I go to Namibia I find myself wanting to spend more time in Swako. You can easily find good food.. and its just a nice relaxing place to spend time. I usually go there to escape the heat, but it was winter this time of year, and overall the weather was perfect.
Driving off road to go to places like Goboboseb often causes damage to your vehicle.. I don’t know if I have the worst luck when in Namibia, but its really not a trip to Namibia if you don’t have car problems at least once during the trip. Our center bearing prop shaft was giving us some issues and making a knocking sound. Next few hours was spent on the side of the road waiting for back up so we could do a good ole bush fix. After a couple hours waiting, and underneath the car we were able to get it fixed…. Since we had to go back to Swako later that week we set aside some time to have it looked at by some professionals. After spending a couple hours napping in the car while they worked on the car, the mechanic said it was done. He took it for a test drive and parked the car. As we got settled up for that fix… the car just started dripping coolant. At this point in time it was close to 6:30 on a Saturday and I could think was.. we are screwed. Well luckily they work differently in Namibia than they do in the USA. The mechanic pops the hood and realizes its the coolant hose. He does a quick fix and within 30 mins this hose was fixed. Nothing some hose clamps, old parts, and elbow grease can’t fix. Now all that’s left to do is hook the trailer up to the car. What could go wrong?
As we go to hook up the trailer…the mechanic realizes the tow hitch on the car is loose… and well it won’t work. At this point I am laughing as I know whatever will go wrong, can and will go wrong. We come up with a game plan… and we were off to get dinner at my favorite place in all of Namibia… called the Tug. At dinner we talked about how long it would take to fix, and I was told repeatedly by Karl that it would be fixed by 10am the next morning. Whatever time someone tells you in Namibia, add at least 1 hour and then maybe 30 mins depending on who tells you… but by 12 it still wasn’t ready. Apparently it included taking the hitch off a similar vehicle, and swapping them.. Around 1pm we left Swako with the trailer and all…. And we were on the way to Usakos to pick up all my rocks… all 820kgs… We hadn’t even been on the road for 20 mins before Karl is saying “shit.. shit.. shit… “ which that’s when I knew I had some bad news coming my way. Karl never curses…. Well in the distance I see a police road block. I am thinking what could be wrong… we are law abiding citizens lol. Well that’s when Karl told me the lights weren’t hooked up to the trailer. We pull up to this police road block and there must have been 3 cops that are just walking around the vehicle.. and of course one of them sees the trailer lights aren’t hooked up. He comes back and says the lights aren’t working. Karl quickly says something in Damaran… the cop looks at Karl and then waves him to continue. I am shocked as we drive away and he can’t stop laughing. I ask what did he say to get us out of that mess. After he finishes laughing he says “I said in my tribes language. I am in your hands”. I couldn’t stop laughing. I was like what does that even mean. He said it was the cops decision on what was going to happen to us.. and since he was part of Karls tribe he let us go. We joked as we drove off saying only 2 more police stops.. Well joke was on us.. there was another police block not even 10 minutes from there. This time the cops wanted us to do a breathalyzer. No problem… right? Well it was too windy so we got pulled to the side and our vehicle was inspected again. This time for the front headlights.
Thankfully we made it through that police stop and he didn’t check the trailer lights.. he did notice as we drove off.. but by then it was too late. Ok now only 2 more police stops… We finally made it to where we were going and loaded up all 18 bins. That took A LOT of work wrapping. We had 4 people working non stop for 3 days. And now that I have got all the bins in… I can finally post about it. We decided to go by air this time as last time took over 5 months via boat.
Overall it was a really great trip.. I didn’t come close to dying like last trip, and I made some memories that will last a life time. I also think I may have enough rocks to last me a life time, but somehow I always end up back in Namibia searching for more. I will start flatting and cleaning that 820kgs (1800lbs) soon so I can lighten my load a little. I hope you guys enjoyed this little write up, and I look forward to the next one which may be Denver 2023 or Munich 2023. I guess only time will tell.
Sainte Marie Aux Mines Gem Show 2023
Every year I attend the Sainte Marie Aux Mine show in France, each year its a little different. This year I was scheduled to get into town on Monday, even though the show officially opened Wednesday, which was earlier than years in the past. The show was rather busy on Tuesday with a very large percentage of dealers set up and ready for business. After asking around a little, it seems some people started set up as early as Saturday. There was quite a bit of competition this year with lots of American buyers.We all have the hopes of finding that one hidden deal, for me a Benitoite or Red Beryl that has lived in Europe for a long time, or for others a great Illinois / Elmwood Fluorite (something that’s very hot on the market currently). Some collectors come to SMAM for…. You guessed it, European specimens. This show has a great selection and variety of specimens from all around Europe along with the occasional old European collection being released. Being at the SMAM show is like a treasure hunt taking place in a really beautiful country side European town. You take out your treasure map from previous years of going to the show and you visit the same dealers from previous years to see if they have anything new and exciting. While on the hunt you may come across some new dealers on the way, and mark it down on the map to circle back for years to come.
Prices at all shows seem to continue to rise to new highs, and many dealers/buyers complaining about the lack of new material, and higher prices. Things that you used to be rather accessible on a wholesale level, have now doubled or tripled in price. This makes reselling the same items harder and harder as your customers will only see the increase in price. There are a few factors for these new high prices, one being the amount of competition and the huge decline in new material on the market. Whatever is being produced is for the most part being priced at retail after just touching a few hands, and people are having to buy in order to keep their material fresh and exciting. Another factor is the prices the dealers are having to pay to set up at these shows increasing year after year, not to mention with the businesses like Airbnb capitalizing on the demand for places to stay. I had hopes of renting the same place as last year, but the owner of the home stated that Airbnb was raising prices based of search history, dates, etc, which caused the price of the Airbnb to be more than double for this year. The exchange rate didn’t help much this year either with the US dollar down on Euro compared to last year. Occasionally you can get lucky and find a dealer to take USD for the Euro price, however only getting more difficult each and every year.
While I got both my checked bags without any problems this year, unlike SMAM and Munich last year, I do have a fun little story. I was robbed….. by the ATM. There is always so much going on in SMAM that the ATMS almost always run out of money. When I had ran out of cash I went to one of the ATMS and of course it was out of money just like me, which made me go to the next one to close the deal since most dealers only take cash. After putting in a request for 700 euros, the ATM told me to take my money, but it wasn’t dispensed…. So for proof I took a quick video of the machine spinning, and not dispensing any money, and luckily a receipt popped out shortly after saying thanks for using us…. With an “Error occurred” message at the bottom. I check my phone…. And there goes the $$… I try again, and my bank declines it cause that would put me over my limit. Well….. I was quite confused so I took a lunch break to unwind… went and got the good ole daily Kebab, and came up with a game plan for what I was going to do. I ended up going back to the bank, and brought my friend in hopes that he could translate if there was any issues, but when I confronted the bank, they said they were aware of the issue and that it was going to be refunded to me. After a couple weeks I finally got my refund, but there is another story about this card to come in my Africa Blog.
Besides the HEAT….. Oh I forgot to mention.. IT WAS HOT. I don’t know why Europe is living in the 20th century regarding AC, but they need to step up their game. With SMAM being an outside show for the most part, with some inside halls, it made for a sweaty show. Going into the Halls with so many people stuffed in them really makes it feel like a sauna, and there is no escaping it. It was almost as hot as 2019, however this time it was much more HUMID. Overall I left with a few fun items out of old collections, found some good wholesale deals, and it was really nice hanging with some friends and sharing some stories over drinks. My friend and I tried something new staying right outside of Colmar. Colmar is a great place to stay as long as you are okay with a 30-45 minute drive into town. It is much more convenient as there was a surplus of restaurants, which was a nice change compared to the last couple trips to SMAM. The only downside to Colmar is you do have to leave a little early to guarantee a parking spot, otherwise you may find yourself taking the shuttle bus into the show. I hope you guys enjoyed this quick write up, and I hope to get my 2023 trip report to Namibia up soon.
My adventures in Namibia 2022
As many of you guys know, after my trip to Munich I went to Namibia. I lucked out by breaking up my trip from Arizona to Namibia with the 6-day trip in Munich. Flying there directly from the USA is a LONG process and with the 9-hour time difference it definitely takes a few days to recover.
There were lots of funny stories for this trip, the first one I can think of was at the beginning of the trip where I was exchanging some of my money into local currency. After finding the place with the best rate, we started the process and the girls behind the counter passed through the bullet proof window some Vicks Vaseline. In the years prior they needed my fingerprint, and after a long flight I wanted to get this done with so I could finish my last leg of my adventure. So after dipping my thumb in the Vaseline and waiting patiently for me to do my finger print… the girls had pointed to their lips, and that’s when I realized I was supposed to use that for my lips and not the finger print… Odd, but it was nice. After the money exchange I proceeded to the town I was staying in which is in Usakos. This is the town I call headquarters, and when I come to Namibia, I stay with a good friend of mine who does a phenomenal job as a host. I have known my buddy Karl for close to 5 years now, and even with the pandemic we have kept very close. Karl is my man on the ground at all times in Namibia and it sure is helpful when something new or exciting comes out of the ground. We have done some great deals over the past 5 years and this year he is even going to come to Tucson with me.
On the way to Usakos we pass by the town Karibib which is the town that produces some of the best indicolite (blue Tourmaline) in the world. We were offered a few bags of misc. qualities, and every now and then you’d find a decent piece in the bag. Even though this was my 4th time in Namibia it takes a while to remember how to negotiate. It’s unlike any place I have ever been to. One of these days I will do a spreadsheet analysis on prices you pay compared to the first price the seller is asking. The negotiating price can vary as much as 5-90%. And after coming straight from the Munich show, and about 15 hours of traveling it definitely took a little while to adjust.
I ended up buying this large citrine with Tourmaline going through it for just $30. Karl and I thought it weighed a couple kilos, but it turned out weighing 7 kilos… this was the realization that we would have a lot of material for this 2 and a half week trip. Shortly after buying this piece and a few Tourmaline bags I was dropped off at the Big Brother Guest house in Usakos. A lovely little place to stay in the middle of nowhere. And it was nice to see some familiar faces. I hadn’t been in Namibia for over 2.5 years as I left right when Covid started ramping up in March of 2020.
The next few days consisted of getting settled into Usakos and going to the crystal market. The crystal market is a tourist trap/destination, however you can also find great deals here, as this is where a lot of local miners bring what they have found to sell. Along with the crystal market, I had numerous people flag Karl and I down and show us some new finds out of Erongo. One thing that they were producing a lot of on this trip were these lovely Goshenite, Fluorite, Schorl, and flower Mica. I will have lots of this great material to share once I get my shipment in. I will also have some of this material available in Tucson at Mineral City.
After a few days of hanging out in Usakos it was finally time to explore a little more and venture out to Uis, which is the nearest town to Goboboseb and Brandberg. Over the last few years the market for that material has changed a lot. There are a few people who are trying to turn it into a Monopoly so buying material has become extremely difficult, especially at fair prices.
When we arrived in Uis there wasn’t much to see, the town was quiet with material. In years’ prior I was offered numerous lots of Amethyst, however this trip I was only offered 1 lot. After realizing Uis didn’t have much to offer, I had told Karl that I wanted to go to the one and only gas station in Uis to see if there was any material over there. In years past I have gotten a few pieces from some sellers who sell to the tourists who stop to get gas, I was hopeful that this could turn the trip to Uis around. After a few minutes’ drive from one side of Uis to the other I had gotten out of the truck and looked at what a few people had hanging out underneath the shade of a tree. However, just like the other side of town, it wasn’t much, and I didn’t buy anything.
After getting back in the truck someone approached the truck and offered me 3 crappy crystals for N$150, just about $10usd. I quickly said no thanks, then he said N$100.. again saying no thanks, he then said N$10… Less than $1 USD. After that, I looked at Karl, laughed and pulled out N$10. He then took the money and said thanks…I signaled to him to give me the crystals, but he just backed away and said no. I then realized that I had just been robbed LOL. We left and Karl was driving a different way than we had planned. I asked and he said he was driving to the police station. I chuckled and said it’s okay, it’s less than $1… Well Karl was quite upset and he didn’t want this guy doing it again. So once we made it to the police station we gave a quick breakdown on what happened, and they asked what he looked like. I looked to Karl to give a good description of this guy and all he said was…. “he has a big nose”. I chuckled thinking that wouldn’t be enough… however the two police officers then quickly talked back and forth and had an idea of who it was. They asked what they wanted me to do, and Karl quickly took over the conversation saying that he wanted them to go get him. Mentioning that he doesn’t want this happening to others. So we waited at the police station for about 20 minutes until they brought someone to the police station. I was thinking there is no way that they would be able to know who it was off just the nose…. But sure enough to my amazement they did. We couldn’t stop laughing as it’s pretty bad if you can describe someone out of a whole town with a big nose and they find you. After a quick lesson the big-nosed robber quickly realized why he was there and tried to give me the crystals and the money back, but it was never about the money, or the crystals. It was about keeping Namibia a safe place for all tourists. After this encounter we proceeded to stay at Goboboseb later that night.
From Uis to Goboboseb it’s about a 1 – 1.5-hour drive if you are lucky. We arrived at the camp just in time for us to set up the tent, and do a few deals with the miners while the sun was still up. Like I had mentioned before the material wasn’t as good as years past on average, however it was still great seeing the miners again, some the same as years past. To spice up this trip and have some fun we did a few fun coin flips, and the miners won every time. I am not sure if it was how they were “flipping” the coin (holding the coin in their hand and shaking it) or if it was just their luck. It must have been their luck as they won the next coin flip too where I took over and did the flipping the good ole normal way.
The next morning, we finished a few deals, wrapped all the crystals I had bought the night before, and then traded one of the miners for my tent and mattress I had used for the night. The highlight of the Goboboseb trip was to see all the great miners after 2.5 years, and finding a cool skeletal smoky Quartz scepter to add to my collection.
After the trip in Uis & Goboboseb we proceeded to Swakopmund which was a wonderful break to the heat, and an amazing treat of good food. Swako is one of Namibia’s most popular attractions as it’s a beautiful coastal town. This is where most of the tourist’s hangout. I lucked out and found this lovely restaurant on the beach right down the street from my hotel called The Tug. After eating mainly chicken strips, porridge, random meat, and Biltong from the local grocery store in Usakos and Karibib, this quickly became a staple for whenever we were in Swako.
While Karl and I were enjoying the beautiful ocean view and having lunch in the Tug parking lot, I stuck my hand out the window feeling the fresh ocean air. All of a sudden I felt this weird thing on my hand, so I pulled my hand into the truck quickly. After looking at what had just happened I looked at the window and saw this dog just sitting there politely. Apparently my food sounded good to him too. After playing with the dog for a little I decided to call the number on its collar to make sure he returned to their owner. They quickly came to pick up her dog, and had asked me what I was doing in Namibia. To her disbelief I was there sourcing gems. She also was there sourcing gems, and asked me to look at some of the things she had bought. That’s when I realized that a large percentage of the stones this lady had bought were fake. I did a post on this as spreading knowledge on fakes in the market is very important. I felt terrible for this lady, but it seemed like fate that her dog came and licked my hand so maybe I could save her from getting ripped off again in the future. Weird things like this confirm I am at the right place at the right time.
After pressing the reset button in Swako, I decided I wanted to do a trip to the Erongo Mountains and camp up at the top of the mountain with the miners. While we were prepping for the trip, we made a few detours to the famous Crystal Market. Once we had gotten all the necessary goods (beer, chicken strips, biltong) from all the shops we had arranged for me to stay at the top of the Erongo Mountains Saturday through Wednesday. I really had no idea what was ahead of me when I started my adventure Saturday morning. It didn’t take long for me to find out. We made it to the trail where we hiked from around 8am and didn’t make it to the base of the mountain until around 10am. From there it was all uphill… no joke. This mountain gains elevation very quickly and is almost straight up in some places. We made it to the first camp where I was greeted by a large group of miners at around 12pm. I thought I had made it to where I was staying, but boy was I wrong. After catching my breath for about an hour and looking at some great fresh crystals, the miners then told me where I had to hike to, to get to where I was staying. At this point I remember asking how much farther… though it wasn’t very far, it was practically straight up. To get to the first camp there is a trail, however from that point it’s a free for all on how to get where you’re going. The miners are like mountain goats climbing up these steep boulders making it look effortless. Meanwhile all I could think about was the headline that would read in the newspaper, “Young American Mineral Collector dies falling off the Erongo Mountains.” On a serious note I finally made it to the very top about 1pm… and I was exhausted. When I looked out toward the breathtaking view, that’s when reality set in….I was not going to go down that mountain unless I was leaving for good.
After spending the night up there and having a few beers, the miners started to quickly offer me more and more things. I really didn’t know where they were coming from, word spread fast I was up there. Sunday came rather quickly and that’s when I wanted to go inside of the hole that they were working in. The miners had been working on expanding the hole and told me they were on Aquamarine. I felt like a kid in a candy shop, I pictured what it was going to look like in my head and I was so excited. Shortly after they teased me with a crystal they had just pulled out, and well… I got even more excited. So there I found myself repelling down this mine shaft that was about 35-45ft deep with just a rope. I am not one to get claustrophobic…but something about repelling yourself down a hole 35-45ft deep, and maybe 2.5-3ft wide at best with just a rope changes that rather quickly. Lets just say that the miners catfished me, and the vision of what it would look like was far from what it really was like. After a few quick videos of basically nothing, documenting one of the worst ideas I have had, I told them I had to get out of there. I barely got out of that hole… rumor has it without the help from Karl’s son, I probably would be still down there today.
The bag I was storing minerals in quickly filled, and I was ready to get down the mountain. I had enough near death experiences that weekend to call it a successful trip. I then had to recruit someone to hike all the minerals down from the top of the mountain. The person who took the job was named Kenny, and I told him to come to camp at 6am so we could hike out before the sun really got on top of us… well Kenny had other plans and decided to come to camp at 4:45am… And he brought more crystals to sell me. After buying crystals seconds after waking up (which was a first for me), he somehow convinced me to leave even earlier than 6am, so there I found myself hiking down this steep mountain with a headlight. Again not the brightest thing I had done that weekend, but the sun quickly came out and made it a little easier.
I don’t think I have ever been so happy to get back on flat ground after that hike/climb down. We made it back to the road at around 9:45am, and we ended up weighing the bag Kenny carried down after being on the top of the mountain for 3 days… 35 kilos. 77lbs carried like it was nothing. The miners there are really built differently.
The rest of the trip consisted of tying up loose ends, getting the permits ready for export, wrapping all the crystals, and sorting which crystals were coming back with me. At the end of the trip I had purchased just about 600 kilos or 1,320lbs of material. I will have a great selection of wholesale minerals from Namibia in Tucson, just in time for me to go back to Namibia sometime soon. Whenever I do go back, I need to keep in mind how much travel time is involved with getting back to the USA from Namibia. From my hotel on the day of departure to the second I walked into my house it was close to 40hrs of travel. Consisting of over 25hrs in flights. I highly recommend breaking this trip up into at least 2 journeys, but as some say, I am young and can still do stuff like this.
I hope you guys enjoyed this write up. It was a fantastic trip with lots of great stories. Please also checkout the photos and videos attached with this story to really get a better idea of how amazing Namibia is, and how crazy I am for climbing the Erongo Mountain, and then going inside of that hole….
Munich Gem Show 2022
As many of you know I just attended the Munich Gem Show. Munich Germany holds the largest Gem and Mineral show in all of Europe! It’s a fantastic show, and there are hundreds of dealers. This year was a month earlier and conflicted with Oktoberfest. This caused a large influx in hotel prices and people visiting the lovely city of Munich. I always stay at the Novotel which is right next to where the show is held, where the prices were twice as expensive even though I booked months in advance. The Novotel is so close to the show it’s as easy as hoping on the U train and riding one stop. Another thing I love about staying at Novotel is all the resources next to you. There is a grocery store, ATM’s, clothing shops (which came in good use again, you will see why soon), restaurants, and even a DHL if you buy too much like I have done in years past. Lots of other mineral dealers also stay at this hotel which is nice for meet ups after the show. On the way to the show I regrettably took Lufthansa again, why do I say regrettably? Well… they somehow lost both of my checked bags again. I was really thinking what are the odds that they could do it 2 trips in a row?? Well I quickly found out those odds as soon as I landed on Monday. At least I learned my lesson last time and packed a few changes of clothes in my backpack alongside my minerals. I was also lucky because I had a few days to get situated before the show officially opened on Friday. However, if you have never been to this show I highly recommend getting in as soon as you can, and trying to score a dealer badge some way. The badge at this show is very important as it’s kind of like a sporting event. Without the badge there is no way you are getting in. While the dealers are setting up is the best time to get the deals as you are fighting head to head with other dealers who have also scored a dealer badge. One thing that was interesting about this year’s show was the fact that there was a large decrease in the size of the show. What used to be 4 and a half full halls in 2019, there were only 2 and half to 3 full halls this year. There were also quite a few delays with dealers setting up. Some dealers didn’t even get in to set up until Wednesday or Thursday which made buying a little more difficult. As you walk the show you sort of cross off parts of the show on your own to-do list. With the dealers setting up later it meant more time wasted covering ground that you have already covered. I lucked out and I scored a nice 1ct Benitoite gemstone on Friday. I was honestly shocked, but it was also a stone that wasn’t out on display and the dealer tucked it away in the back. I don’t think he wanted to sell it, and I don’t blame him. But this taught me a very valuable lesson, it never hurts to ask. I would say that was one of my best scores for the trip alongside a few other rare stones. Prices seem to continue to rise at these large international shows, which makes sense as it seems everything these days is increasing in price to adjust for inflation, booth fees, hotel costs, and just everyday expenses. I sadly didn’t get that lucky sourcing any new finds unlike years’ in the past. In 2018 I scored a killer Rhodochrosite pocket, I luckily purchased 20+% of the find, and in 2019 I got close to a kilo of AAA Rhodonite gem crystals.I didn’t get to experience Oktoberfest till Thursday night, as the other days were busy finding deals. I never realized that the Oktoberfest was more of a state fair surrounded by massive beer halls. I brought along a childhood friend with me, and we had a fun mix of business and pleasure as we met up with a few other mineral dealers that night. Lots of beer was had, along with good times. Those halls can get crazy, I’ve never seen a building so packed. Luckily before I left Munich both of my bags got delivered on Friday, right on time for my trip to Namibia the next day. I hope you guys enjoyed this quick write up of my trip in Munich, tomorrow I will be posting a longer write up on my trip to Namibia.
Sainte Marie Aux Mines Gem Show 2022
Hey everyone, I hope you all are doing well! As some of you know, I just returned from the Sainte Marie show in France. This show is arguably the second best mineral show in all of Europe, and some may say top 5 in the world. In memory of John Veevaert, who used to do write ups on all the main shows, I thought it was only right to do a write up on this show for those who weren’t able to make it. RIP Benitoite Buddy.Overall it was a great trip to SMAM, a large amount of people showed up and the show was very lively starting as early as Saturday… which was the day some dealers got there to set up. It seems every year people show up earlier and earlier. I showed up on Wednesday morning and the show opened officially Thursday. As the show went on it got increasingly busier, the streets were jam packed and it was at times hard to walk around some parts of the show. The parking lots in this tiny town are often full by 10 am so if you are staying outside of SMAM which most are, you have to get there early! If you do go to the show in the future, be prepared and bring cash…. Any kind of cash. You can expect to spend around $1000 – $2000 round trip on flights from the USA and anywhere from $100-200/night on a hotel or Airbnb. SMAM itself is a very very small town, the population is around 5,000. Most stay in neighboring towns like Colmar (40 minutes), or even as far as Strasbourg (50 minutes)! This year I was lucky enough to get a very beautiful Airbnb with a friend right outside of SMAM only about 15 mins from the show!There were things to buy you just had to do a little more digging than normal, but that may be because I got there a little later than others. There were no new finds to report as a lot of mining has slowed down with the pandemic, and cost of mining going up due to diesel prices. It’s always nice seeing a large selection of European minerals, from Gwindels to the Pink Fluorite. I was fortunate enough to score a Hayune collection the last day I was there, for a relatively good deal. I have attached a picture of some of the gemstones and specimens I was able to score. People definitely were excited about having a chance to buy in person which made it a great show for both the buyers and sellers.One thing that makes this show so different than shows in the USA is the fact most of the dealers are selling mineral specimens unlike a lot of the shows here in the USA that are now selling the hottest item on the market…. Tumbled rocks, or towers! It was also interesting to see more and more Moroccan dealers. There presence makes sense in France as Morocco is close to France, however there attendance at all shows in the USA is also through the roof. I am not quite sure how they make it at these shows with the cost of shipping and the amount of dealers selling the same goods.A lot of the dealers at SMAM are old time collectors and a lot of them use this one show along with Munich as a source of income for the year. Dealing with them sometimes can be a little difficult with the language barrier and payment preferences, however at the end of the day it only adds to the fun trying to negotiate for a rock in a different language. Most dealers only take cash, which puts a lot of stress on the ATMs, there were basically lines for 20+ minutes unless you knew where the secret ATM was which basically had no line( sorry I can’t share my source ).Another interesting thing to touch on is the euro conversion to the dollar. This year it was close to being equal to the dollar which was great for USA dealers. In years past it was very difficult to buy due to the conversion rate being higher. You would have to add an additional 10% + a few extra percent for the exchange fees.The weather this year was interesting, the only other year I had to compare to was the 2019 show, which was the last year this show was held. I was packing for it to be hot like last time, roughly 100+ Fahrenheit.. 40 Celcius. However that didn’t really matter anyway because British Airways lost my bag. Luckily there were only clothes in the bag, even though I didn’t really realize how important my own clothes were until they lost my bag. So there I was in all European clothes. No I am not sponsored by Puma, and honestly wouldn’t recommend them. They never did find my bag; but maybe one day it will show up. Back to the main topic, the weather. This year was was much more enjoyable as it was cooler and even rained a few times. This spiced up the show as it is mainly an outdoor show with only a few inside rooms. It made the indoor show like a sauna after the rain and amount of people.Luckily they do have beer and food stands almost every where to keep you hydrated. In 2019 they even had misters everywhere because it was so hot. The food in Europe is always so great, from the breads to the beer. Lots of great food to be found all around. I only wish there was more restaurants to chose from in SMAM. I was stuck eating the same thing almost everyday. At least it was tasty, and very affordable.A little side story and important lesson to those that collect minerals… I think this is very suspicious, however on Friday I found a dealer with an Ok benitoite; and 2 larger Moldavite specimens. I had negotiated with the dealer and figured out what my price was, then I had left thinking I would go back tomorrow to get them. I didn’t put them on hold… well I thought about it more as I walked away and returned about 10 minutes later with the cash, and those exact 3 pieces were gone. I couldn’t believe it… and honestly thought it was funny. Someone must have saw me looking at those 3 pieces and then went in after me. I am usually known for being the vulture, so there must have been someone stalking the vulture. The dealer and I couldn’t believe it, and I even asked if they had been out the whole show.. and he said yes. We both thought it was weird, but it was a good lesson to learn… don’t leave a good deal on the table. It was great to see some of my friends from all around the world. I only wish we took more pictures. Enjoy some pictures from the show, and thanks for reading. I will try and do more write ups in the future.
My adventures in Namibia 2020
With all that’s going on in the world, I thought I would write something that will take your mind off what’s happening, even if it’s for a few minutes. As most of you know, I just had my third trip to Namibia this week, and as always it was an amazing trip. Every time I come to this country I learn something new, and my appreciation for the hospitality increases. I have never been somewhere where the people want to help you as much as they do here, it really does amaze me, and I never really get used to it. If you are driving down a gravel road in the middle of nowhere, and you see someone headed the same way as you, then you usually pick them up, this is something that almost will never happen in the USA. But what’s more shocking is that if you get a flat tire or something happens to the vehicle, they are more than happy to do everything they can to get it fixed. They are always looking out for each other and wanting the best for each other, this is one thing that is so important in these current times. These people don’t look out for just themselves they think about everyone. The first day of my trip composed of travelling from the international airport in Windhoek to Usakos which is where I set up my headquarters. It was a little late in the day, so there wasn’t any rock buying planned, but here, you don’t have to look far to find gems and minerals. And that is one other thing I love about this country. We were at the gas station outside of Karibib around 8:30pm and someone saw that I was in town and looking for gems and he pulled out a few tourmalines that he was trying to sell. This area is around 30 minutes from the nearest mineral producing area, but still shocking to be offered crystals so late at night. Which leads me to my next topic. In Namibia a large majority of people don’t see minerals as something to hold onto and collect, but more as a means to provide shelter, and food for themselves and their family. This is always hard for me to understand as I see minerals as something nature has created that is so beautiful and I am lucky to own while I can. However, it makes the hunt for these gems so much more rewarding, knowing that you are helping someone and their families survive for a few weeks, or sometimes even a few months depending on how big of a pocket they found. It really is a dream come true as you don’t know what’s right around the corner, as there are so many artisanal minerals and different minerals to be found. And if they see you, they approach you with open arms trying to sell you their minerals. One second you can be looking at Aquamarine, and the next Phenakite, Tourmaline, or Fluorite. During my last trip I learned buy what you can while you are being offered it, as long as it’s a good price. The first trip I did in March of 2019 produced hundreds of Fluorites from the Erongo Mountains, and the second trip in November, practically no Erongo Fluorite. The reason is they don’t hold onto the minerals that they have found very long, it is usually the first buyer that gets them, unless the price is too high. Someone can find something Friday afternoon, and it will be gone by Saturday morning. You have to stay on top of things, or else you snooze you lose. So you are probably wondering what was the hot item this trip, and I would have to tell you that it was these awesome Quartz and Fluorite combos found in the Brandberg Mountains…. Yes the Brandberg mountains and not the Erongo Mountains where you would expect these fantastic specimens to come from. I secured as much of this find that I could, and I am excited to start cleaning these pieces. Sometimes the Quartz crystals shot through the bluish/purple phantomed fluorite cubes. Similar to the ones I saw found in Colorado last year. Although these pieces were sold uncleaned which is fairly common with Namibian minerals they looked amazing after a quick bath in the iron out solution that I brought to Namibia. And once they get the proper cleaning they will look even better. After spending a few days tracking down these wonderful specimens I spent some time looking for indicolite tourmaline in Karibib. This is one item that basically sells itself due to the rare blue color. In my opinion this is the best blue tourmaline in the world. These are always hard to find as the miners are digging by hand, and most of the material has a closed c axis which makes cutting these dark beauties difficult. But when you find a piece… it makes all the time you spent searching worthwhile. Some of the miners insist on weighing the stones and selling them per gram, others don’t care what they weigh and price for the necessities they need. Which leads me to one of my last topics…. Pricing and negotiating in Namibia. WOW it’s like nothing I have ever seen before, and it takes a few days or even weeks to adjust to. One reason is the exchange rate, which is currently $1 USD equals N$16.5 Namibian dollars. So before you start negotiating you need to keep that in mind. 90% of the time the miner will start with an outrageous price….. and you usually end up countering anywhere from 10-30% of what they are asking. At the beginning you feel like an ass, but you are honestly giving them a very fair rate for what they have. You usually close paying around 30-50% their starting rate. Which is really hard to understand as an American, but for them, they start high so they don’t lose any potential profit they can make. Everyone can learn something by travelling to this country, whether it’s the way people should treat others, or how minerals are brought to the market. I hope you guys enjoyed this quick read about another fantastic trip to Namibia. I would say once in a lifetime, but not for me, thanks to your guys continued support.