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Most styling is
rather conservative, usually
it is a mixture with ruby, sapphire and semi precious stones
not in a very modern or art fashion styling.
There is only very limited interaction with
the outside world, usually gem quality is good.
To start shopping for precious
products begin at the Bogyoke Market in Yangon down town.
There at least
50 shops selling all variants, from the
simple bangle to the most exquisite carving of
imperial jade,
Buddha
statues and other items and precious stones.
Other body decoration items
are
available too. There are several bigger companies
manufacturing this beautiful objects in Yangon and elsewhere in the country.
Some of them offer free tours to their factories and try to
sell their creations to the tourists this way, standard items
are rubies and jade.
This is not all, very special are
local
pearl products, they usually come as gold, silver and
white spheres in normal and baroque form. All this
precious stones are set into gold, often with a
matching
diamond to create a real beautiful piece, creations
are currently improving
dramatically since the country is
opening up and tourists coming in droves
demanding creative designs.
There is no
use to just create another standard necklace or bangle
like before and the same style is also available in Thailand
made from local gemstones, its time to get creative and
move into some kind of art to get the potential buyers to
select a unique product.
Also the merchants should know that their price
expectations are often just strange, why should
someone buy certain items here when more or
less the same is available in Bangkok, Hong Kong or
Singapore for less, since most of the tourists are
not only visiting one country on their trip they very
well know what it costs in other country, also
the internet is a good tool to find out items and
prices.
take enough cash with
you
because since
the US embargo credit cards cant be accepted
and also money transfer to foreign countries wont
work....and do a
orderly bargaining.
If you like a expensive item very much, maybe a nice
ruby bracelet
lets say they ask for $ 1000,- or more, take
a local person - you can trust - with you
and show him or her what you like,
check the price and go.
The next day send the person
there and tell to buy but only for about half the
price, but don't go with them, wait outside somewhere.
The reason is, a local person
usually gets the things for substantial less as you,
this is also the same in
Thailand jewelry shops.
The four items shown here are from
stores in the Bogyoke market main walk through section.
There are many creative gold items, people often buy gold
bracelets and bangle as a investment other who have not that
much money use gold plated jewelry
Santa
Claus Myanmar style with
a precious Christmas
tree.
Myanmar
Jewelry means gold with red, blue and green
stones,
gold and silver are mined in the country, but
platinum and titanium are not. Fashion items
are made
from less valuable
materials such as spinel.
However, this pretty decoration has been
made out of almost every kind of precious material.
Although gemstone styling is usually
rather conservative most items are distinctive designer
jewelry.
Since there
are only three bigger manufacturer in the country
handcrafted objects is the normality. If
someone is there for what purpose ever it is a good
idea to have a look at one of the jewelry shops at
Bogyoke Market which often have real trendy and
fashionable stuff
on display.
This
is usually real designer work and
every piece is unique. Some shops
carry pretty
ethnic things for astonishing low
pricing its a immediate impulse
telling purchase it you will
never get anything as similar, as
good
and for such as low price
again.
In the past all
gemstone items were
somehow very homemade, but
this is changing rapidly.
The
pearls
come
from
the
“farms”
of
the
Myeik
Archipelago
in
the
south
and
sometimes
Salone
pearl divers
bring
up
the
huge
ousters
from
the
bottom
of
the
Andaman
Sea.
Before
colonial
times
Chinese
traders
were
buying
them
from
them and
after
the
British
kicked
out
the
Chinese.
But
the
shabby
Brits
gave
the
divers
opium
and
alcohol
in
exchange
for
it,
the
former
traded
them against
useful
items.
After some
Japanese
helped the
locals to
get them
cultured it
took several
years until
they
harvested
the first
spheres and
there have
been some
indications
that the way
Japanese are
working is
not very
compatible
with the job
ideas of
local
government
employees,
since few
decades ago
this was a
cooperation
with a state
company.
After a few
years they
broke apart
and the
whole culturing
came to a
complete
stop. Now
since a few
years they
managed to
get this
running
again and it
looks as if
they are on
the right
track now.
When having
a look at
this
beautiful
spheres here
it gives a
positive
impression.
Just look as
the pretty
gold, white
and silver
pearls, e.g.
a south sea
gold pearl
pictures
above with
around
10-12mm
diameter
goes for
about $
200,- and
this is
excellent
stuff.
Burma jewelry
are often made from ruby, sapphire and jade.
Precious
stones are
abundant in
the country
This are
ideal
precious
stones to
create
beautiful
jewels
because they
come in many
colors, just
look at the
picture at
the right, all
stones are
sapphires.
The usual
color is
blue but
they come in
yellow,
pink,
without
color, a bit
greenish and
so on. Most
of them are
used as
fancy gems
often as a
add on to
some diamond
jewelry in
particular
pink
sapphire
look good
and are look
almost
identical to
pink
diamonds.
Myanmar is
one of the
major
producer of
them, other
are Sri
Lanka and
Madagascar
and a few
minor mines.
This stones
belong to
the corundum
family just
as rubies
do, the only
difference
between them
is the
color,
physically
they are the
same.
This
precious
stones have
a high value
depending at
the clarity,
size,
inclusions
and cut.
Precious
stones,
loose
gemstones and
cabochons
Trendy designer
jewelry,
rubies, gemstones
and
Myanmar jade
Since there is silver and gold
production in the country silver for
jewelry and gold for jewellery is
rather normal. Silver is also used
for other items of religious nature
and tableware is also widely
available that's includes decorative
items such as small sailing ships
(about 20-30cm) and more.
For
semi precious jewelry
also pearls are often used, they are
available in many shops at Bogyoke
market and elsewhere
Semi Precious Jewelry
in Yangon the same is
valid for jade items and ruby jewelry. This market
is the best place to go shopping for unique stuff,
such as local textile, local silk, handicraft,
local food,
precious
stones,
pearls,
mother of
pearl and
dozens of
fashion
jewelry
shops showing an amazing
creativity since the country
was opened up by the
beginning of the1990ties.
When on a shopping tour
plenty of cash needed since
all shops price there items
in dollars, its similar as
in Cambodia, of course you
need some local money,
that's called "Kyat" and by
far the best to change is
also at this market just ask
for a money changer, keep in
mind that nobody takes credit cards.
As you
can see at the jewelry pictures
here, the diversity, beauty and
sophistication of exquisite art and crafts, of course
not all of them. Trendy
jewelry is not high priced popular
jewelry and fashion jewelry.
Not only Burmese ladies like
jewelry, body decoration is an
almost essential item to be dressed,
most popular are ear-rings,
pendants,
necklaces,
bracelets,
bangles
and
rings.
Usually
a
red-yellow
mixture
of
18.0-22
carat
gold
mixed
with
a
bit
copper
is
preferred,
during
the
melting
and
blending
process
tamarind
seeds
that
produced
a
non
shiny
surface
with
a
slightly
yellow
reddish
hue.
For
certain
type
of
precious
items
silver
is
used
as
base
material.
Since
almost
all
material
to
create
gorgeous
precious
items
are
found
in
the
country
this
kind
of
body
decoration
is
very
popular.
Other
materials
are
jade,
pearls,
ruby,
sapphire
and
the
whole
spectrum
of
semi
precious
stones.
Although
gold
is
mined
in
the
country
usually
by
gold-washing
most
gold
is
imported
so
are
most
diamonds,
diamonds
usually
come
over
the
border
from
India.
Jade pendants and
Jade jewelry
is something special, usual are bangles, pendants, rings, bracelets, necklaces and more. In particular to Chinese people who consider the mineral itself has mystic properties.
This green stone was used for various purposes such as knives, arrowheads, stamps and other since the material is very hard and durable, on the other hand it’s not easy to handle it.
Today these precious items are only used for body decoration, without one exception in Chinese medicine; they still pulverize the stone, mix it with water and take to (maybe) cure various ailments.
As for body decoration it comes in various forms such as jade pendants, necklaces, bangles, bracelets, earrings, rings, beads and other, one of the best items made from is a Jade Buddha usually in green, white or lavender color. Jade is the birth stone for people born during Virgo. Jade has been used in China for thousands of years
Green finger ring jewelry
and became part of Chinese culture. Many use pendants as a talisman to provide health and happiness, strong roots in Buddhist culture is seen since most pendants have a Jade Buddha image carved into.
One of the interesting thing with this material is it comes in plenty of colors actually almost all colors of the rainbow, most used colors are the whole green spectrum plus white, lavender, some red colors, such as pink and purple plus variants of blue.
Good quality items always have some translucence, the more, the better a good rich color, good texture, no cracks. It needs to be careful because many crooks .
handling the material in the workshop do all kind of nasty treatment to enhance the mineral. Such as filling cracks with raisin and injecting colors via heat treatment and more. The thing is, a casual jade buyer won’t see this and naturally they won’t tell. The problem starts after some years when the expensive piece starts to deteriorate and it can be thrown away.
Jadeite
is sometimes a cheap stone and sometimes very expensive, easily matching diamonds and other precious stones, e.g. at the Bogyoke Market in Yangon, Myanmar bangles are available for around $ 10, - and up to several thousand dollars, this is genuine Jade Jadeite, the Chinese, Canadian, Australian etc. version of the green stone is nephrite which has a lesser quality than jadeite which is almost only mined in Kachin state Burma, great bracelets and bangles are made from.
Ethnic Jewelry
Most ethnic jewelry have pretty colors and a somehow unique aura. Various precious and semi precious materials and colors support a valuable appearance.
Since the country has quite a long tradition in working with precious materials artisans show great creativity for new ideas.
Myanmar
people
and
Thai’s
regard
the
head
as
the
most
sacred
part
of
the
body
that
naturally
needs
some
decoration
by
necklaces,
ear-rings
and
keeping
the
hair
together,
this
is
for
both
sexes.
Mural
paintings
in
various
temples
at
Bagan
and
Mrauk
U in
Arakan
or
Rakhine
State
show
women
with
this
kind
of
body
decoration.
At
the
Shite-thaung
Temple
at
Mrauk
U
several
dozen
wall
painting
show
different
hair
styles
with
various
decoration,
such
as
combs
and
hairpins
to
keep
the
hair
in
place
they
were
made
from
turtle
shell
and
ivory.
For
everyday
wear,
colored
cut
glass
and
stones
matching
the
color
of
the
clothing
are
also
used.
At
traditional
jewellery
polished
cabochon
from
ruby
and
jade
beads
are
used
all
those
is
great
jewellery.
In
general
most
used
are
rubies,
jade,
gold,
pearls
and
semi
precious
stones
in
recent
times
ethnic
creations
appeared
in
the
Bogyoke
market.
Visiting Bogyoke market
in Yangon and have a look for
gorgeous gems, that's possibly the
best start. The diversity of jewelry
on sale is overwhelming in terms of
volume and different materials like
ruby, jade,
sapphire, gold,
diamond, pearls from
the Andaman Sea and freshwater
pearls.
Some creative designer jewelry also uses other materials to
be included into a great jewels.
When visiting the country one of the
best daytrips in Yangon is a visit
to the Bogyoke Market.
This wonderful oriental bazaar is in
the old traditions of the
east, its absolute genuine you wont
find this in any other Asian city
anymore without all the technical
marketing tricks everyone get
confronted almost everywhere.
Designer jewelry is very popular
since everyone wants to have something
unique with a distinctive artistic
touch as body decoration. The ideas and fantasies
are limitless and shops showing the latest fashion
ideas, they also have plenty of ethnic jewelry with
great materials and unique designs.
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