last time we were in bangkok, fatumnette went to this precious
stones wholesale place someone recommended to her, it's not one of
those tourist traps where they ketok you, but a real wholesale
jeweller who sells only loose stones, by appointment only, we were
the only non-B-to-B customer there, all the other fellows were
buying pebbles by the briefcase load .....
you know what I saw ? .... little grain sized stones, rubies,
emeralds, etc, those type used for crowning bigger pebbles .... in
sets of 10, a set for between 30 to 50 US .....
loose rubies, sapphire, they empty out a ziplock baggie's worth,
give you a monocle, a spotlight and a pair of tweezers and you pick
yourself ..... only a couple of hundred US per carat for the best
stuff ......
you can imagine how ketok'ed you are buying pebbles at retail
.....
