Jaipur goes green

 At an emerald auction here on Sunday, After Hrs finds out how the green gem's catching people's fancy both locally and globally


 It was a green day. Some small, some big pieces of green stones were put under a ray of light till the ray passed right through the pieces, and the examiner said, "Oh, this is a real emerald!" And the buyers would just write down their bids on a piece of paper, seal it in an envelope and drop it into the bidding box.
The occasion was the Gemfields Rough Emerald and Beryl Auction on Sunday, where gem and stone dealers from different parts of the country converged to bid for emeralds.
The process looked simple enough, but it belied the amount of work that goes into cutting and polishing the rough stones into the emeralds that are popular all across the world.
"The stones that you see here are in their rough form. More than 70 per cent of their weight will be gone before we get the final glittery emerald," said Ian Harebottle, CEO of Gemfields.
Passionate emerald lovers at the venue simply talked about the glamour of this stone after it acquires its final shape.
"In terms of global trends, it's popularity has increased tremendously. I believe it started three years ago, when Angelina Jolie wore an emerald to the red carpet at the Oscars," said Anna Haber, director of global marketing and public relations, Gemfields.
"And India is very much a part of the emerald market! Green is very much a trend, especially of you focus on royal families or just the lifestyle of some well-to-do people," she added.
In fact, mirroring the global trend, gem and stone traders from Jaipur are also seeing a tremendous demand for the stone from both India and abroad!
"Emerald is not only a stone but also a fascination. And we took it even farther. We shot a documentary on the whole process of obtaining Zambian emeralds, from the mining to the final product. We run a 24-hour shopping channel in the US, and a 20-hour shopping channel in the UK, where we broadcast this documentary almost everyday. Emerald is a fast-selling product there, and it's catching up fast in India as well," said Sunil Agarwal, Chairman of Vaibhav Gems Limited.
The auction results will be announced on Monday afternoon at Gemfields in Sitapura Industrial Estate. The difference between the lowest and the highest bids is expected to be around 450 per cent.
b_shilpi@dnaindia.net