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 Our guide while we were in Brazil was author and gem merchant, David Epstein. (Check out his website: http://www.gembuying.com/. David was an amazing host and a wealth of knowledge about both the gem industry and Brazil. He set up most of our travel planes, drove us to mines, and share many wonderful meals with us. His biggest role, however, was guiding us through the negotiating involved in buying gemstones in Brazil. In Teofilo Otoni, there is a square about 2 blocks square, where the gem dealers hang out. Dev and David would walk around the park and up on street to meet the dealers and see what they had for sale. These are few scenes from from the park and lapidary street: It was pretty wild to be just walking along a street and have men come up and unfold white papers containing the most beautiful gemstones.
After meeting with the dealers in the park and on the street, we would go back to the office and wait for the dealers who had goods we wanted to see to arrive. Dev and Beth would sit on one side of the desk, and there job was to look bored and uninterested no matter what amazingly beautiful rock was put in front of them. David would examine the parcel to see if it was worthy. If it was, we would then examine the stones ourselves, and find out what the asking price was. (The seller always says the price first. See David’s book to learn more about how to close a gem deal.) We would then look at them like they were crazy for asking that price, and counter with a much lower one. This would continue back and forth until a price could be agreed on.
Use the links below to check out other topics of interest from our trip to Brazil.
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One of the friends we made on our trip, Carlerio. He is also a dealer. 
