Why Jaipur, of all places
A planned trade: when Sawai Jai Singh II laid out Jaipur in 1727, he invited merchants and craftsmen to settle and gave the jewellers their own street.
A world centre: Jaipur became one of the great cutting and trading centres for coloured gemstones anywhere, above all emeralds.
- City founded
- 1727, by Sawai Jai Singh II
- Jewellers' street
- Johari Bazaar, from johari, jeweller
- Speciality
- Cutting and trading emeralds
- Rough from
- Mines across Africa, South America and Asia
- Court crafts
- Kundan, meenakari and polki
- Where the rough comes from: much of today's emerald rough comes from Zambia and Brazil. Rubies, sapphires, garnets, tourmalines and tanzanite pass through the same hands.
- The court traditions: setters still practise kundan, stones set in pure gold foil, and enamellers practise meenakari, coloured enamel fired onto gold.
- The risk: a city full of gems is also a city full of people who want to sell you one. That is why the rules below matter.
- Read first: our page on gems and jewellery explains the crafts and the workshops we take you to.
The scam, and how it always starts
A pleasant stranger, often a fellow traveller or a smart young man, starts talking in a cafe or outside a monument. Over a day or two the story emerges: an export business, a tax rule, a friend at home who will buy stones at a profit. It ends with the traveller paying a great deal for stones worth very little.
The tell: any conversation that moves from friendship to gems to profit within a day or two. Walk away, politely.
- The courier version: you are asked to carry jewellery or stones abroad as a favour, sometimes with a deposit on your card as security. Never agree.
- The investment version: you are told that stones bought here can be resold at home for double. They cannot. Never buy gems to resell.
- The factory version: a driver or guide insists on a gem factory with special prices today. The commission is built into your bill.
- The posting version: a shop offers to post your purchase home and posts something else, or nothing. Take it with you, or ship through someone you trust.
- The certificate version: a smart certificate from a laboratory nobody has heard of, sometimes owned by the shop itself. Check the laboratory, not the paper.
How to choose a jeweller
Established and family-run: look for firms that have served Jaipur families for generations and have a known shop, not a back room you were led to.
Your choice, not the driver's: ignore any shop suggested by a driver, guide or stranger you didn't choose. Our guides are paid never to take commissions.
- Written description: a good jeweller gives, without being asked, a written description of the stone: what it is, its weight in carats, any treatment and the metal.
- Independent certificate: for any valuable stone, the jeweller will arrange or accept a report from an independent laboratory, or let you have it tested before you pay.
- No pressure: a jeweller who hurries you, offers a price for today only or will not let you leave without buying is not your jeweller.
- Fixed prices to compare: browse Rajasthali, the government crafts emporium on MI Road, to get a feel for fair prices in crafts before you shop. Our shopping guide explains more.
- Our way: we take guests to family jewellers we have known for many years, book appointments ahead and never take a share of what you spend.
What to ask about any stone
- Ask
- What is it, and is it natural?
- Ask
- Has it been treated, and how?
- Ask
- What does it weigh, in carats?
- Ask
- Where was it cut, and where is it from?
- Ask
- Which laboratory will certify it?
Natural, treated or made in a laboratory?
Treatments are normal, if disclosed: many stones are treated to improve colour or clarity. Emeralds are commonly filled with oil or resin to hide small fissures.
- Some treatments matter a lot: some rubies are heated, and some are filled with glass, which lowers their value considerably.
- Synthetics: laboratory-grown stones can be chemically identical to natural ones and far cheaper. A good jeweller will tell you plainly which you are looking at.
Composite stones
- Doublets and triplets: two or three pieces glued together, sometimes a thin slice of real stone on glass. Look at the stone side-on for a join line.
- Ask directly: is this a single natural stone? Write the answer on the receipt.
Colour, clarity and cut
Colour matters most: with coloured stones, judge the hue, its depth and how evenly it is spread.
- Inclusions are expected: a few in an emerald are normal, and the trade calls them the stone's garden. A flawless, cheap emerald should worry you.
- Daylight test: ask to see two stones side by side, in daylight at the door as well as under the shop's lights.
Weight in carats, not ratti
- Two units: jewellers weigh stones in carats. Some traditional and astrological buyers still use the ratti, an old Indian unit that is not the same as a carat.
- Insist on carats: for the receipt and the certificate, ask for the weight in carats, to two decimal places.
Certificates, and which ones count
What a report says: what the stone is, whether it is natural or synthetic, its weight and measurements, and any treatment detected.
Independent means independent: the laboratory should have no connection with the shop. Ask the jeweller which laboratory, then check it yourself.
- Jaipur's own: the city has long-established gem testing laboratories, and the jewellers we use work with them routinely.
- International reports: for important stones, reports from internationally recognised laboratories are available in India. Expect it to take some days.
- Origin reports: some laboratories will give an opinion on a stone's country of origin. It adds cost and is worth it only for significant stones.
- Keep it together: keep the certificate, the receipt and a photograph of the stone in one place. You will need all three for insurance and customs.
Gold, silver and the metal around the stone
The BIS hallmark: gold jewellery sold by jewellers in India is hallmarked by the Bureau of Indian Standards, with the purity and a unique identification code. Look for it.
Purity: Indian jewellery is commonly 22 carat gold, softer and yellower than the 18 or 14 carat you may know. Fine stones are often set in 18 carat for strength.
- Kundan: kundan setting uses highly refined gold foil burnished around each stone, often on a lac core, so the weight of gold is not the same as the weight of the piece.
- Making charges: jewellers usually price gold by weight at the day's rate, plus a charge for the work. Ask for both on the receipt.
- Silver: silver is less regulated. Ask for the purity in writing, and expect older tribal pieces to vary.
- Village jewellery: our Rajasthani jewellery guide explains the borla, the bajuband and the other pieces you will see in Jaipur's windows.
Kundan, meenakari and polki, what you are buying
Kundan
- What it is: stones set in highly refined gold foil, pressed and burnished around each stone without claws. It allows irregular stones to be set.
- What to check: that the foil is tight around every stone, and ask whether stones are natural, synthetic or glass. All three appear in kundan.
Meenakari
- What it is: coloured enamel fired into engraved channels in gold or silver, one colour at a time. Jaipur's enamellers are known for their reds.
- What to check: turn the piece over. Fine kundan pieces are often enamelled on the back as richly as the front.
Polki
- What it is: diamonds left largely uncut, with a flat or gently faceted surface, set in kundan. They glow rather than sparkle.
- What to check: polki is expensive and deserves the same care as any fine diamond, including an independent report for significant stones.
Thewa and lac
- Thewa: from Pratapgarh in southern Rajasthan, finely worked gold sheet fused onto coloured glass. Ask a jeweller to show you a real piece.
- Lac bangles: shaped over charcoal on Maniharon ka Rasta, off Tripolia Bazaar. Inexpensive, beautiful and no certificate needed.
Look before you buy
The gem lanes: walk Gopalji ka Rasta and Haldiyon ka Rasta with a guide who grew up in the walled city, and watch stones traded from paper packets. Nobody will try to sell you anything.
A cutting room: with a family we know, sit beside a cutter at his wheel and see why two emeralds of the same size can differ so much in price.
- A kundan workshop: watch foil burnished around stones and enamel fired, colour by colour. Ask to see the back of a finished piece.
- The collections: the costume and textile galleries of the City Palace and the Amrapali Museum, a private collection of Indian jewellery and silver, show what fine work looks like.
- Then a jeweller: only after all that, sit with a family jeweller and look at stones. You will ask better questions and recognise better answers.
- Time it: a morning for the lanes and workshops, and a separate visit for buying. Never do both in a rush on your last afternoon.
Lovely things that need no certificate
Lac bangles: made in front of you on Maniharon ka Rasta, set with glass and stones. Children treasure them.
Semi-precious beads: strings of garnet, amethyst or carnelian beads, sold by weight. Enjoy them for their colour, not as an investment.
- Silver: simple silver earrings, toe rings and anklets in village styles, from shops the bazaar has trusted for years.
- Meenakari trinkets: small enamelled boxes, buttons and pendants in silver or plated metal. Ask what the metal is.
- Gota and costume jewellery: the bright bridal jewellery of the bazaars, made for a single wedding season. Pure fun.
- Where: our guide to the bazaars of Jaipur has the lanes, and our textile shopping page covers the rest of the bazaar.
Paying, receipts and getting it home
Pay by card: it gives you a record and some protection. Be wary of any shop that insists on cash or a bank transfer for a large purchase.
A proper receipt: it should describe each stone, its weight, any treatment and the metal, with the shop's full name and tax details.
- Pay
- By card where possible
- Keep
- Receipt, certificate and photographs
- Carry
- In your hand luggage
- Ship
- Only insured, tracked, arranged by someone you trust
- Check
- Your own country's customs allowance
- Photograph it: photograph the piece before it is packed, next to its certificate.
- Take it with you: carry jewellery in your hand luggage, and keep the papers with it.
- Shipping: if a piece is too big or not ready in time, use insured, tracked shipping arranged by us or a jeweller you trust. Never let a shop you don't know post it.
- Customs at home: your own country may charge duty on jewellery brought home. Check its allowance before you travel and declare honestly. Our money and tipping guide covers cards and payments.
Stones for the planets
The idea: in Indian astrology, each of the nine planets is linked to a stone, worn to strengthen a planet's influence on the wearer.
The navaratna: a setting of all nine, traditionally ruby, pearl, red coral, emerald, yellow sapphire, diamond, blue sapphire, hessonite and cat's eye.
- Respectfully: a good jeweller will explain the tradition gladly, whether or not you believe in it.
- The same rules apply: astrological stones are often sold by ratti. Ask for carats, a written description and a certificate as for any stone.
- A lovely gift: a small navaratna pendant or ring is a meaningful souvenir of Jaipur, and the stones can be modest.
Having something made
Tell us before you come: plan at least three or four nights in Jaipur, so the first meeting can be on your first day.
Choose the stone first: look at loose stones with the jeweller, and take your time. A good one will happily show you twenty emeralds.
- Then the design: bring a drawing or a photograph of a grandmother's ring, or ask for something in the Jaipur style, such as jhumkas, the bell-shaped earrings of Rajasthan.
- Agree it in writing: the metal, the purity, the weight, the stones and the price, before work begins.
- See it before it is finished: most jewellers will show you the piece in progress, so you can ask for changes.
- Timing: from a few days to a week or more. If your stay is too short, the jeweller can ship it to you, insured, and we follow it until it arrives.
When to go, and how to behave in the bazaar
The wedding season: roughly October to March, when brides and their families crowd Johari Bazaar. Book appointments with jewellers ahead.
Dhanteras: two days before Diwali, Hindu families buy gold or metal for luck, and the bazaar is at its busiest and brightest.
- Best hours: late morning on a weekday for the gem lanes and workshops, late afternoon for the bazaar itself.
- Treat a shop like a home: accept the tea, sit when asked and take your time. Ask before photographing stones, people or workshops.
- Keep your distance: in the gem lanes, never touch a stone on a dealer's cloth unless invited.
- Bargaining: normal in the bazaar for small things. In a family jeweller's shop, fine pieces are discussed calmly rather than haggled over.
- Pair it: a morning at Hawa Mahal and the City Palace, then the gem lanes. Our Jaipur itinerary has the days.