Town&Country Travel Winter 2007

JEWELRY
As you drive along one of the city's central thoroughfares, Mirza Ismail Road (or M.I. Road, as the locals say), an ornate facade of turrets and balconies in cream and terra-cotta appears. This is the real Gem Palace, indisputably Jaipur's most popular jewelry store, which has attracted

celebrities from Jackie O. to Mickjag-ger. At this top institution—run by the Kasliwal family, who served as Jaipur's court jewelers for seven generations—visitors, typically with jaws dropped, gaze at such royal artifacts as a twenty-two-karat-gold parakeet-shaped drinking vessel from the 18th century and contemporary pieces, like a diamond choker set with more than 600 sparkling stones. In the past few years, the Kasliwals have also teamed up with New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to create special collector's items, among them Egyptian-inspired, lotus-shaped lapis-and-turquoise drop ear-rings. 348 Mirza Ismail Rd.; 011-91-141-237-4175.
Originating in Brazil, Myanmar and other faraway places, many of the raw gems that arrive in Jaipur are destined to travel yet again, to shops in Paris and New York. Chief among the sup¬pliers is Amrapali, established in 1978, whose pieces have often found their way to Paris department stores Le Bon Marche and Galeries Lafayette. In addition, Amrapali has made a name for itself by scouring tribal regions, from Orissa in the east to Tamil Nadu in the south, to gather a diverse collection, including nose rings and armlets, that speaks of the richness of India. Ranch Batti, Mirza Ismail Rd.; 011-91-141-237-7940.
Fourth-generation entrepreneurs Romi Tholia and his younger brother, Lala, attend to customers themselves at their intimate ground-floor store, Tholia's Kuber, on M.I. Road (the family lives a few flights above). Though this fifteen-year-old shop has a well-edited selection of uniquely set kundan precious stones placed in gold and backed with enamel the real draw is the array of semiprecious baubles (think chalcedony, carnelian, smoky quartz, tourmaline), which can be strung on the spot. Tholia Bldg., Mirza Ismail Rd.; 011-91-141-237-7416.
Once mined in the neighboring cities of Udaipur and Ajmer, emeralds are no longer found in India. That is why fifty-seven-year-old Yogendra Durlabhji, a partner in the Emerald House, who has supplied Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels and other big-name jewelers, traverses the planet, from Colombia and Brazil to Russia and Afghanistan, in search of the deep green stones. The fruits of his labor, loose gems that cost anywhere from $50 to S30,ooo a carat, can be ogled only by appointment at his spa¬cious no-frills showroom. Ask to see the Old Mine oval emerald, a rock that weighs nearly twenty-five carats. D-31 Subhash Marg, C-Scheme; 011-91-141-237-6044.

BARGAINING
Though there aren't any hard-and-fast rules, a no-fail approach to getting the best price is to be firm with street vendors. Start at less than half the quoted amount and refuse to budge; salesmen have been known to run down the street after customers who walk away. And when it comes to high-end jewelers, deftly work a 10 percent discount into the conversation.