Jaipur is known all across the globe as a Gem City. However, not many are aware of the behind-the-scene story of how the Pink City gained credence as the Gem City to make a mark on the world map…
EBNW brings out the interesting story on how Jaipur fought all odds to emerge as the Gem City after combating the initial-day struggles, witnessing tough world war times fighting inflation, amid the instances of hoarding and smuggling as well, but finally, everything went well to bring in happy good days for traders. The story is being shared by Dr. R. Shah, Coordinator, MGJ who has seen it all..
The early history of synthetic stone trading goes back to the year 1945 when the trade started growing by leaps and bounds till the year 1960 where there was a certain check on its growth.
Synthetic stones called in local language as kharad was one of the major trade in stones.
“Emerald in those days was in fewer hands belonging to high net individuals and was being used by few upper class people as ordinary people did not get a chance to buy it due to its high cost.
So the common trade was of synthetic stone which was imported as there were no factories in India. All the material was being imported from Europe as America was still not open for India in those times, he says adding that European countries exporting these stones were Swiss countries, France, Australia and Czechoslovakia etc.
The initial trading started with ‘Kharad’, the raw stone form, which was a thumb-like structure supplied in various colours specially white, red, pink and blue. All these colours matched with the real stones like diamond, ruby and sapphire.
However, I cannot remember seeing any green variety mimicking emerald, says Shah.
Trading
These stones were sold by weight measured as tolas. The traders were using hand balances and traction and it was being sold as one rupee per tola at that currency rate. A couple of colours will bring a little better price than white stones.
War times
During war, the import of synthetic stones were restricted and hence there was scarcity of material. Hence prices went high. From Rs 1 tola, the price shot up to Rs 115 per tola. Traders and even public started hoarding.
But later on, restrictions were eased and the prices collapsed and came back to bottom level. Many people lost their money in the matter of time.
Smuggling from Trichi
Jaipur in those days was a centre of trading and hence Kolkata depended on Jaipur market and other cities as well for healthy business.
Another source market was Trichy, near Puducherry which was a French territory. So the raw material was imported there and smuggled into Trichy and finally it came back to Jaipur. For a time being, smuggling was very active due to the difference between import prices and local market prices. Even some Jaipur traders set their offices in Trichi specially Gokuldasji and many other families.
Story of forming imitation association
These synthetic stones fall under imitation category as they resemble the real stones. Hence, in Jaipur, those days, they were labelled as imitation stones so at this time, the traders came together under a banner to form the imitation association.
The formal start of association
With its office situated at the first floor in Delhi wall building at the corner of Gopalji Ka Rasta, it used to make a bag of 100 tola of raw material, close it and then marked it with an association seal. These bags were the only source of trading which was the reason for price hike.
Imitation association also collected funds to make the ‘imitation walon ki dharamshala’ outside Sanganeri Gate. This was a charitable act on the part of members.
There were many developments reported at the later stage which we shall share with you
(The story continues in the second part of the blog–plz keep on reading…)