And in a country where infrastructure, capital and labour regulation are all in short supply, it is human bodies rather than machinery that pull crystals from the earth. This island country of 25 million people now stands alongside far larger nations, such as India, Brazil and China, as a key producer of crystals for the world. Gems and precious metals were the country’s fastest-growing export in 2017 – up 170% from 2016, to $109m. Rose quartz and amethyst, tourmaline and citrine, labradorite and carnelian: Madagascar has them all. M adagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, but beneath its soil is a well-stocked treasure chest. Tracing a crystal from the time it is dragged, dusty and cracked, from the earth, to the polished moment of final sale requires a journey backward down the supply chain: from shop, to exporter, to middleman, to mine, and finally to the men and women who work below the ground, on whose labour a billion-dollar industry has been built. There is little in the way of fair-trade certification for crystals, and none of the industry-wide transparency schemes developed for commodities such as gold and diamonds. But still, the rise of crystals continues.ĭespite that explosive growth, the way the crystal industry operates has largely avoided close scrutiny. Last year, Paltrow faced ( and settled) a misleading advertising lawsuit for claiming that Goop’s vaginal egg crystals had the power to balance hormones and regulate menstrual cycles. Not surprisingly, then, scientific criticism of crystal healing has done little to dim demand. According to Pew Research Center data, more than 60% of US adults hold at least one “new age” belief, such as placing faith in astrology or the power of psychics, and 42% think spiritual energy can be located in physical objects such as crystals. First popularised in the west in the 1970s, crystal healing’s recent resurgence has coincided with growing interest in alternative spirituality and healing practices. Include the lower end, he said, and you are talking about a highly profitable, multi-billion dollar industry.īelievers say crystals conduct ambient energy – like miniature phone towers picking up signals and channelling them on to the user – thus rebalancing malign energies, healing the body and mind. Trinchillo estimates that high-end dealers now account for about $500m in annual sales. The most expensive single piece he has sold went for $6m, but he knows of some that have sold for $10m. Trinchillo caters to a growing cohort of celebrities, collectors and investment buyers who want rare and valuable crystals. (Those numbers capture raw stone, but not the crystals imported under many other categories: jewellery, home goods, decorations.) Daniel Trinchillo, owner of Fine Minerals International, a high-end crystal dealership, told me that his business makes between $30m and $40m in sales each year. In the US, demand for overseas crystals and gemstones has doubled over the past three years, and quartz imports have doubled since 2014. The Gem and Mineral Show in Tucson, Arizona in 2014. Deals done here would determine the fate of tens of thousands of tonnes of crystals, dispatching them across the US and Europe into museums and galleries, crystal healing and yoga centres, wellness retailers and Etsy stores. They were expecting more than 50,000 customers to pass through, from new age enthusiasts with thick dreadlocks and tie-dye T-shirts, to gallery owners, suited businessmen and major wholesalers. More than 4,000 crystal, mineral and gemstone vendors had come to sell their wares. It was the month of the Tucson gem shows, a series of markets and exhibitions that collectively make up the largest crystal expo in the world. Crystals were stacked upon crystals, filling plastic trays, carved into every possible shape: knives, penises, bathtubs, angels, birds of paradise. There were enormous, dining-table-sized pieces selling for tens of thousands of dollars, lumps of rose quartz for $100, crystal eggs for $1.50. Beneath tents and canopies, on block after block, rested every kind of stone imaginable: the opaque, soapy pastels of angeline dark, mossy-toned epidote tourmaline streaked with red and green. They spread out over carparks and gravel lots, motel courtyards and freeway footpaths, past strip malls and burger bars.
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