Idea 64 of 500. Cluster 3: Souvenirs that are actually from here
Natural stones: a small Ceylon sapphire, garnet or moonstone in a sealed card with its laboratory report, at a price a tourist will pay
The mechanism, from the book
The Zermatt water bottle. Sigiriya has not got a stone with its own name on it.
Every idea in cluster 3 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Get three small certified stones, a sapphire, a garnet and a moonstone, from a dealer you trust, and mount each in a sealed card with its laboratory report. Offer them at a hotel shop or guesthouse for two weeks at a price set for a tourist. Sales, and the questions visitors ask, show whether the sealed card solves the trust problem.
- Who pays first
- Visitors who want a real stone as a keepsake but fear being cheated, and who trust a sealed card with a report inside.
- What leaves today
- Fear of fakes stops many visitors buying gems at all; a sealed, certified card turns that fear into a retail sale on the island.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. FiveThe Most Photographed Rock in the World
The Matterhorn water bottle and the souvenir that is from there
More from cluster 3
Idea 64 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.