[Rockhounds] Afghanistan Minerals

[Tim Fisher]

I guess this is still on topic, but when my parents went to Tanzania 
a few years ago, they asked about getting a rough tanzanite to bring 
home & get me to facet it for my mom (yeah I am slave labor for my 
family when it comes to jewelry lol). Turns out that the local 
"dealers" in Dar Es Salaam and Kinsahsa are basically scam artists 
who try to rip the tourists for outrageous prices for junky stones 
they could get on Ebay for a few bucks a carat. So unless he knows 
what he is looking at, I think he would be better off trying Ebay for 
Afghani minerals. Just my $0.02...

At 12:10 PM 10/6/2007, you wrote:
>Gems are pricy... Even over there ;-)))
>
>A nice crystal (preferably fluorescent) of apatite on matrix will probably
>cost less and make more profit when sold back home. At our annual mineral
>show in Antwerp the Pakistani and Afghan dealers certainly knew to scare the
>bargain hunters away ;-)))
>
>Axel

Tim Fisher
Ore-ROCK-On!
Email address at http://OreRockOn.com