Hitting the gem with Armil Sammoon

Saturday, 24 May 2014 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ever heard of the Great Kataragama Sapphire Rush of 2012? No, of course you haven’t. Back in February of 2012 construction was finishing on a new road leading from Kataragama to Lunuganwehera. As the workers finished and topped the new road with soil, glimmers of blue started showing up. One here. One there. They were everywhere.

Sapphires. Big ones. Lining a dirt road. What added an extra level of magic to this already fairy-tale-like situation was the quality of the stones. They were a highly transparent variety that those in the industry call ice. And because they were the product of a secondary deposit they just littered the loose soil like pieces of blue ice. As it turned out the soil came from a local Kataragama farmer’s land, and when word began to spread, thousands showed up to grab what soil they could. By three-wheeler, by bicycle, by foot, local villagers filled their rice bags with dirt and carried them home. By the time the authorities got a hold of the situation, more than a few millionaires had been made. There were many. As he told me this story from his Colombo office, Armil Sammoon, who specialises in dealing with sapphires, showed me a picture of an 852-carat sapphire found on the site. (You should know that’s a really, really big stone.) I tried to do the math. Its value is hard to put in terms that make sense to those of us who don’t own our own helicopters. In any case, his story makes one hell of an impression on the relevance of Sri Lanka’s modern gem industry and its impact on the community. Who knew these kinds of events still happened? Gem industry in Sri Lanka I’ve always avoided the gem industry here. I’m not sure why. It’s a prevalent bullet point in any travel guide on Sri Lanka, but it’s always been a source of intimidation on my part. For starters, any guidebook will follow up a gem destination with warnings – “Don’t buy gems here. Don’t buy gems there. Don’t be taken advantage of!” As if the streets were filled with gem bandits and derelicts all hell-bent on pillaging your wallet. Maybe they are. Judging by the characters I meet in bars claiming to have worked in the once-thriving gem community, I wouldn’t discount this theory. But, more likely, I’m probably drinking in the wrong bars. Like a lot of Western males, my prior gem education had been limited to the anxiety-ridden purchase of my wife’s engagement ring. A whirlwind tour of intimidating names and gemmologist facts – carat, clarity, colour, weight – rapidly delivered by a sales person who knew I was about to give up three months of my salary. Inclusions are good? Will she like the setting? Will it fit? Is this going to bankrupt me? It’s hardly a wonder why my gem experience has been so limited. I don’t, as I may have mentioned, own my own helicopter. Gems and gem dealing Armil, a fifth generation gem dealer, has grown up in the industry and can walk you through all facets of gems and gem dealing. His gem experience begins exploring how and where gems are formed, how they are mined and acquired by the dealers, and how (and with what equipment) he and his associates identify and value them. As a Director of the National Gem and Jewelry Authority in Sri Lanka, Chairman Foreign Promotions and Deputy Chairman Facets of the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewelry Association, his appreciation of gemstones is invaluable. What makes a good stone? How can dealers improve them? What are the trade secrets? Armil delivers all the answers. A visit to his gem cutting room offers a glimpse at a rarely seen and well-guarded art form. Artisans cut and polish precious stones on diamond-plated grinders and copper laps right in front of you. All of my prior gem education (and anxiety) – de-mystified. Get your hands dirty After hearing a story like his about the sapphires in Kataragama, you want to get your hands a little dirty. And sitting at a table sorting through the glorious piles of rubies, sapphires, and other precious and semi-precious stones doesn’t disappoint. (Did you know rubies are just red sapphires? The famous padparaja is a pinkish orange sapphire?) THIS is what a gem experience is all about. Seeing the stones up close. Holding them in your hands and looking at them in the light. All the while having a nice cup of tea doesn’t hurt either. What really makes this a special experience is Armil himself. The culmination of the Samoon family’s five generations of expertise. His father’s stories. The journey of the Star of Ceylon. The anecdotes. The history. Armil claims it was Princess Diana’s Sri Lankan sapphire engagement ring that first made the blue stone so coveted in our modern times. Sapphire demand is up 39% in the last year alone. These amazing stones, he says, are rarer than diamonds. Learning about them with Armil and his family is a gem just as rare. Pix by Shehan Ramanayake (Trekurious together with DailyFT explores Sri Lanka for the curious traveller. Trekurious works with talented individuals and great brands to create amazing experiential tours, activities, and events in Sri Lanka. You can find out more at www.Trekurious.com.)