Ratnapura Gem Market
At Ratnapura, which is Sinhalese for “city of gems,” the street market is crowded like the Beruwala market but cover a wider area. Ratnapura is literally the City of Gems and it has been known as such throughout the history of the island and has been referred to in ancient texts here and elsewhere. Many of the prominent gem dealers in Sri Lanka operate from this town. The streets were often crowded with them. As in Beruwala, material found in the street market would often be brought to a dealer in an office. There were also numerous offices, traditional cutting shops and burners. Gem mining is widespread throughout the region and you will see pits dug in low lying areas like valley floors, riverbeds, paddy fields and other very damp places. Anything worth investigating is usually found in a gravel bed and extracted using primitive methods. A unique feature of the occurrence and distribution of gemstones in Sri Lanka is that a variety of different stones are invariably found together at one site.
Most of the gemstones being offered are rough Sapphires, but there are also cut and polished Sapphires and a wide variety of rough and cut colored gemstones. The stones that have made the region world famous are various Spinels, Aquamarines, Tourmalines, Topaz, Garnets, Amethyst, Cat’s eyes, Alexandrite, Zircons and Moonstones.
In Ratnapura, not far from the trading zone, there are numerous hotels allowing for foreign buyers to do trading with ease and spend more time in the market.
The exporters of gems can test the gems and accompany the report to provide guarantee and to win the trust of buyers who remotely do business. Therefore, the following types of gem certification and testing is available in Ratnapura.
- Issuance of Detailed Certificate with a photo image of the Gemstone.
- Issuance of Detailed Certificate with Variety Name
- Issuance of Gemstone Brief Report
Most of the transactions involve Sri Lankan dealers selling to each other, but there are also foreign dealers buying and many with local dealers advising them. Numerous local dealers bring in their stones and offered them for sale. Also, Ceylon Blue Gems would be happy to function as an agent and consultant for buyers if required.
Foreign buyers are welcome to trade in Ratnapura. Also, Sri Lankan dealers act as their local contacts, advisors, and negotiators. Further, local dealers bring in a wide variety of inventory from other dealers to their offices for buyers.