For miners, cutters and dealers
We buy rough.
Directly, at source, in Sri Lanka. You do not export anything, you do not post a parcel overseas, and you are not paid on a promise — our partner receives the material locally and settles there.
Why this is different
No export licence
Rough stays in Sri Lanka and is cut there. Nothing you sell us leaves the country as rough, so the export question never arises for you at all.
No parcel to a stranger
You deal with our partner, locally and in person, in the market you already work in. Nothing is posted overseas on trust.
No waiting to find out
The offer is made against the material in hand, and payment follows acceptance by bank transfer. If you decline, the parcel goes back to you and you are under no obligation.
How it works
- 01
Show us what you have
Photographs and weights to start — a phone is fine, taken in daylight on a white surface, wet and dry. Tell us where the material is from and roughly what is in the parcel. There is no obligation and nothing changes hands at this stage.
- 02
We come back with a range
If the material is not something we can use we will say so plainly, and where we think you would do better selling it elsewhere we will tell you that too. A range from photographs is indicative — rough cannot be finally priced until it is in hand.
- 03
Hand it to our partner in Sri Lanka
Not to us, and not by international post. Our partner is a licensed Sri Lankan gem dealer who receives and assesses the material locally, in person, in the same market you already work in — so the purchase is a domestic one, made by someone licensed to make it. You are not shipping to a stranger overseas and not waiting on a parcel to reach the other side of the world before you know where you stand.
- 04
Firm offer, in person
Made against the material in hand. Accept it and the deal is done. Decline it and the parcel goes back to you — there is no fee for looking and no obligation at any point.
- 05
Paid by bank transfer
Settled locally once the offer is accepted. We do not deal in cash or cryptocurrency for any transaction of any size — that is a regulatory position on our side, not a comment on anyone, and it means every payment we make is traceable and receipted.
- 06
Cut in Sri Lanka
The rough we buy is cut where it comes out of the ground, by cutters there, and it is finished stones that leave the country. The cutting value stays in Sri Lanka — which is the point, and also why we can buy without either side dealing with a rough export licence.
What we are buying
Sapphire above all, in every colour it comes in — blue, yellow, pink, the fancies, and anything that looks like it might come out padparadscha. Cut and rough both, but rough is what this page is about.
- Sapphire rough — single pieces and working parcels, waterworn or from the gravels. Size matters less than colour and clarity; a clean small piece is more use to us than a large dark one.
- Chrysoberyl, including anything showing an eye.
- Spinel, garnet, zircon in good colours.
- The rare things. Taaffeite, and anything you have been told is unusual and cannot place. If you are not sure what it is, that is a good reason to show us rather than not.
We are a small buyer and we do not pretend otherwise — we buy what we can sell, and we would rather build a standing relationship with a few people than make one large purchase and disappear.
What we will not buy
- Synthetic, lab-grown or composite material of any kind, and anything glass-filled.
- Anything where clear title cannot be established, or where the account of how it was acquired does not hold together.
- Burmese-origin material. This is a sanctions position and not a comment on the stones — the entity controlling Burmese gemstone permitting is subject to US and UK sanctions, which affects who we can sell to afterwards.
- Rough diamond, which carries its own export regime entirely.
How we price
Rough is priced on what a cutter can get out of it, so the questions are colour, clarity, shape and how it will orient — not weight on its own. We will tell you how we arrived at a number rather than just giving you one, and if we are wrong about a piece we would rather you said so.
A range from photographs is exactly that: a range. The firm offer comes when the material is in hand, and it can go up as well as down once a piece is seen properly.
One thing we will not do, ever, is understate a value on paperwork to reduce anyone’s fees. Parcels are valued against the National Gem and Jewellery Authority’s (NGJA) own price list, and a declaration that comes in too far under it is penalised or confiscated outright. Nobody wins that and the stones are what get lost.
What we need from you
Photo identification and proof of address before any purchase settles, and a straight account of where the material came from — which mine or which gravel, on whose land, and under what licence.
That last part is not paperwork for its own sake. Sri Lankan law restricts who may sell gems won from State land, and a purchase made outside those rules is an offence for the buyer as much as the seller. Our partner is licensed and buys accordingly, which protects you as well as us — and a clean chain of ownership is exactly what makes a stone worth something to whoever owns it next.
If you hold an NGJA dealer licence, tell us the number. It makes everything faster.
Settlement is by bank transfer. We do not deal in cash or cryptocurrency for any transaction of any size.
If you are not in Sri Lanka
We still want to hear from you — the arrangement above is built for Sri Lanka because that is where most of what we buy comes from, but we buy from elsewhere too and will work out the practicalities with you. Start the same way: photographs, weights, and where it is from.
If you are in Australia and have stones rather than rough to sell, start at selling stones to us instead.
Show us what you have
When this opens, photographs and weights are all it takes to start. Write in whatever language you are comfortable in — if English is not the easiest for you, say so and we will carry on through our partner.
The rough enquiry form is not open yet.
There is no contact address on the site yet either. Rather than take a message nobody can read, we would rather tell you that now — which is also, we think, the more useful thing to know about a shop.
We are based in Sydney, Australia. Everything above is how we work rather than a promise about price — that is a conversation about a specific parcel, and we will have it honestly.