[Rockhounds] Man in China

Wed Apr 30 02:38:24 PDT 2008

Hi Lyle,

Nice to hear from you!

Guess what? I met a very nice Chinese lady too on our annual mineral show. I
know her from our previous show but this time we actually got to talk since
I was there as a dealer for the first time.
She had some breathtaking stuff in her shop but obviously she knew the
current prices very well. 
I just made clear to her that I wanted some of the fluorescent calcite that
she had (gorgeous) and that I intended to resell them BUT I would leave HER
price tag on them, not to duck under her prices.
She (spontaneously) said to handpick what I wanted. She the took out a
little calculator, smiled and gave me a 42% discount. 
Cultural differences between western people and Chinese are enormous and
sometimes bewildering but you're patient and try to understand why they do
things differently, they will treat you nicer than your own family will.

Now, you seem to be at the source of minerals that one day may be in my
collection. Tell your mineral suppliers that we value a correct and complete
locality of a mineral VERY highly.
I recently saw (again) labels like "Scheelite, Hunan, China"
My country ,Belgium, fits about 30 times in Hunan so we like to know the
Mine, area, nearest town or city, county, province, nation. 
So, I guess that I'm sending you on a mission... It's (like suicide bombers
say:) all about locality, locality, locality!
I've left exquisite specimens that were ridiculously low priced lying on the
table of the dealer because the label was incomplete.

Cheers
Axel
Axel Emmermann 
European Regional Vice President of the 
Fluorescent Mineral Society 
<http://www.uvminerals.org/> 
========================= 
Mineralogische Kring Antwerpen/Antwerp Mineralogical Society 
<http://www.minerant.org/index.html> 
Werkgroepleider/Workgroup leader: Fluorescerende mineralen/Fluorescent
minerals
Technische Realisaties/Engineering 
My website:<http://users.pandora.be/axel.emmerman/home/> 

> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com 
> [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] Namens Lyle Pai
> Verzonden: woensdag 30 april 2008 8:54
> Aan: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem 
> collectors
> Onderwerp: [Rockhounds] Man in China
> 
> Hello Everyone,
> 
> As I'm brand spanking new to the list and not known to be a 
> shy person, let me jump in with both feet and see if I sink or swim...
> 
> My name is Lyle Pai. I'm a Chinese American currently living 
> in Shanghai. I moved to Chicago in 1967 from Taiwan and grew 
> up in the Chicago suburbs. Went to Downers Grove South High 
> School (Go Mustangs!) and then went onto the University of 
> Chicago (Go Moroons!) where I graduated with a degree in 
> Economics. After school, I worked in the Financial Futures 
> markets in Chicago before being recruited by Citibank New 
> York to trade foreign exchange and fixed income securities. 
> After 4-5 years in New York, I moved to Hong Kong in 1986 
> with Reuters PLC and have been in Greater China (HK, Taiwan, 
> Shanghai) ever since. After getting out of the banking 
> business about 5 years ago, I've been involved with real 
> estate investments in China and trading Chinese stocks.
> 
> About six months ago, I met a lovely Chinese girl (actually a 
> lady) that I plan to marry (I know, I'm a real sucker for 
> punishment...).  Anyway, long story short, my girlfriend is 
> involved in the mineral business in China so I've been on a 
> steep learning curve over the past few months on the whole 
> mineral business. Unfortunately, there are only so many hours 
> in a day... Luckily, I also had a chemistry background (my 
> mother wanted me to be a doctor, you know the story...) so 
> some of the nomenclature is not totally new to me...
> 
> Anyway, I was reading the recent discussion on 'Chinese 
> crystals on Ebay' and noted the concerns of many on the 
> authenticity of some of the products coming out of China. I 
> understand that this problem is of grave concern to many 
> people around the world and as the old saying goes, CAVEAT 
> EMPTOR... I know it's hard for some of you to understand and 
> to accept that so many faked products are coming out of 
> China. You have to be here and watch the change that is 
> overtaking China to appreciate what's going on. I first 
> visited China with my parents in 1984. You should've seen it 
> then... and what I've seen over the past 24 years is nothing 
> short of astounding... China went from a third world country 
> to a global power in just over 1 generation...
> 
> You can just imaging how fast the wealth discrepancies have 
> been growing here so it's understandable that there are many 
> who wish to get rich quickly, even if it is at the expense of 
> poor suckers like you and me... Just remember, Americans are 
> not above sucking the blood of their own and at the much 
> bigger scale. Just look at Enron and other examples of 
> corporate malfeasance over the past 30 years... I'm not 
> trying to excuse the fraud but just giving you the subtext of 
> what's been happening here from someone who has watched it up 
> close for the past 20+ years... 
> 
> Anyway, I know this is getting long so I'll get to my pitch 
> before you guys fall asleep. I've visited several of the 
> markets in China including those that sell crystals. I've 
> seen some amazing things and plan to get into the mineral 
> collecting business over time. As I'm new to the business, 
> I'm proceeding cautiously. I see that the internet is the way 
> to go but again, I'm learning to crawl before I start to walk.
> 
> In short, I would be very interested in working with any 
> number of yous to source the stones, minerals, crystals that 
> you need from China. I need knowledge (like how to 
> distinguish between real and fake crystals, etc) and 
> experience that many of you can provide. In return, I get you 
> what you want or need at a reasonable price plus reasonable 
> shipping cost. I can ship (via ocean freight) to Chicago 
> where my family still lives and then ship out by UPS ground 
> at a much cheaper rate than what they offer on Ebay. Of 
> course, this takes longer than EMS shipments but can be done 
> at a much lower cost...ALSO, I need to make some money doing 
> this... but I'll guarantee you that you get exactly what you 
> paid for, not some fake replica...AND, of cause, I can 
> communicate fluently in English so things don't get mixed in 
> translation...
> 
> Interested parties are welcome to contact me. I have a US 
> phone number: (630) 214-9727 that you can call me on and I 
> pick up in Shanghai... Just remember, I'm on the opposite 
> side of the planet from you so 13:00 CST is 02:00 here in 
> Shanghai. Please don't call me in your afternoons, I'm 
> sleeping. I can be reached here all through your evenings and 
> into the mornings. If I'm not in the office, the calls jump 
> to my cell phone and you're paying international cellular 
> rates (which can be expensive) ... so before you want to hear 
> my pleasant voice, please drop me an email: lpai at hotmail.com 
> and let me know what you would like to do. As some of you 
> already know, exporting real fossils is illegal so I won't do 
> that. Otherwise, anything goes. China has an abundance of 
> rocks and minerals and they're not above selling the roof off 
> their house...
> 
> I will be in Tucson next year for the show so hope to see 
> some of yous in person then. I will be going to Sainte-Marie 
> and Munich this year so if any of yous attend those shows, 
> please contact me and let's have a beer together.
> 
> I know that many of yous are already buying and selling 
> stones from China and here comes this newbie to increase the 
> competition.... My goals are simple: I like what I see and I 
> can see there's money to be made in collecting and trading 
> good stuff. Most of the good stuff is held by American or 
> European collectors. However, there is growing interest by 
> Chinese collectors and before soon, some of the Chinese 
> collectors will join the world ranks... I've seen some 
> collections already that would make your mouth water... One 
> of these days, they'll have an international show like Tucson 
> here in China and you guys get to come over and see for 
> yourself... I'll be welcoming you and showing off my 
> collection then...
> 
> My sincere thanks for your patience and kindest regards from 
> Shanghai...
> 
> Lyle
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
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