Dear Anne,
it dawns on me, that you are the "Kiffa-lady" from Austria, who contacted me once with questions (?) on Kiffas. Am I right? Greetings to you!

Only now I saw your photos of the new silver-enemal beads from Southern Morocco. They are OK, but way better quality is possible. I guess you know that and have a reason to buy market-quality.

I am writing for another reason! Let me quote you "To find the real gems it is neccessary to spend time and to build trust in the remote villages etc. Then if you are very fortunate you may find the genuine treasures." and quote

Excuse me, but I strongly object against this allegation. You seem to be of the idea, that finding "gems" (as you took it) were a matter of trust. Neither in Morocco, nor elsewhere on the planet this is or ever was the case, since the word "business" was coined. Though it is a sweet-romantical idea, it just proofs you´re not really familiar with Morocco, Moroccan business and values, if you allow me to say so. It´s a naive standpoint of a sweet soul instead, I fear. Moroccan reality is very different!

That goes for your second allegation - or was it just an assumption? - as well. There is no such place one can call "remote" in Morocco. This is not the 18th century any longer, Anne, excuse me! Tourists cruising the country for the last 40 years, heavily for the last 3 decades. What seems to be remote - places like Goulimine, Zagora, Tatta, Foum-Zguid or Akka - is remote only for those, spending much of their time in Marrakech and the likes. The ones I mentioned, as well of those most have never heard about, are all "touri-places". Not only since yesterday, Anne.

Moroccan dealers have sent our their "handymen" into all four corners of the country. In the 70´s and 80´s! None of them would even dare to try these days. Try it, go searching, go "hunting" as Uwe 'nuz-nuz' Wandtke takes it, but you´ll return empty handed. Betcha!!

I´m not saying your "idea" doens´t contain any logic. I am just saying you´re 30, surely 20 years too late.

Now you might say "one never knows, have you knocked on every single door yourself?" Yeah, those were the counters or arguments I like the most. "Killer-arguments" nobody in the world can sufficiantly answer. Let me try anyway, you´re open minded enough to agree. Let´s assume you were lucky, you´d somehow managed to meet this last old lady without family (...), but a huge "tresor Alibaba", filled with the finest Moroccan gems, villagers had ever possessed. How would they look like?
Would it be a fine old silver necklace, niello-ornamented with big round pieces of golden amber, cherry-red coral and a neolithic pendant of the darkest blueish-green amazonite, the market has ever seen? Or is more likely looking like a tragical piece of white metal, with dyed camel-bone and red painted cement beads to represent amber and coral?
Even if it were a hybrid, a piece you could possibly convince yourself to be be interested in - given your many days of sweat´n´ache before reaching your "forgotton garden of good and evil by midnight".

During your "thé ala remote" - "nuz-nuz" is unavailable tonight - you´d already calculated the price you´re going to pay, the experienced but fair buyer you are.

15 gr. of red cement, 200 Euro the ton, adds up to be...., never mind, 5 Euro. 80 grams of metal with some silver,....dedede, make it 30 Dirhams, sorry, Dollar, OK, Euro. Camel are rare in the area, I agree to 10 Euro for the amber. Buttons, wood, the single jemenite bead,... I admit it´s authentic, OK...all together I can pay.....eh-eh-eh-eh...

"1500 Dollar", grandma says in a camel-bone breaking voice, three times as confident as your own. No matter how often you recount, you don´t get further than 1300. Dirhams though! Hahaha, a misunderstanding. OK Granny, I´ll add this 200. Take it as a bonus ( to ease the tonus).

What is the author trying to tell you? A little story of 1001 remote nights? Not at all. This, or very much like that, is what you see and what you get!

You think about Moroccan jewelry in terms of:

"the more remote - the better the quality"? WRONG!

You think "remote" means cheap? HAA! THE OPPOSITE!

You think old Grannies don´t know? BETTER THAN YOU!

You think remote means getting old pieces? NO WAY!

You think remote is remote? SORRY! YOU´RE THE SEVENTH "TOURI" KNOCKING THIS WEEK!

Back to real! I´ve said the same thing over and over - on this site too - there are no antique pieces of relevance left for you to buy in Morocco, no matter how remote. Since Nixon was using "orange agents" and Elvis wishing "Aloha", the days when "touris" (as well as other aliens) could be lucky to find an authentic piece of Moroccan jewelry are over.
By the way: I´ve said the very same thing about "Kiffas around 1998 and not many were believing. See what you get nowadays....! Same story!
Demand may be endless - supply is not.

What worsens the story of authentic Moroccan jewelry - for the avarage Western buyer and collector at least - is the very fact that more and more and more rich Moroccan collectors show up. And those Jews felt being driven out of the country in 1967. They got all the funds they need. And all the connections, you can´t dream about. What is left nowadays for people like you and me is semi-oldish pieces which might be collectible in another lifetime.

But this is, I learned here, what most of you understand about collecting anyway. Buy new pieces today, be patient, give it some
time - what are some 50-60 years? - and let your grandkids be happy to find some antiques!

Maybe....!

Vara Nares

PS
This post should help you getting through Christmas and must last April or so. I come back knocking around Easter, if I may. May I....?
Excuse me - I have some other reportings to do now!

PPS
don´t forget to study the Kazach anthem. I was told it´s the alternative Christmas tune 2006 in U, S and A!