We took a road trip to one of our favorite temples, and the most famous Buddhist temple in southern Thailand today. The purpose of the trip was to visit with a friend of mine that just had another baby – this one a girl! So I visited with her and her son, while my hubby went to the main temple to see if he could find some amulets, necklaces and bracelets we needed badly.
And he did!
This video does not give a great representation of the amazing ceramic sparklies that are part of this amulet – the blue. It is all washed out. We’ll shoot better videos tomorrow for this and show it the way it really is! It’s so much better than what you see here – promise. Actually, here are photos below of these amulets which give a better approximation of what they really look like:
We found a lot of different items we needed. We bought about 80 necklaces, 12 amulets, and a couple of hundred bracelets to restock what was depleted. We give a LOT of bracelets away – hundreds each month, so they go quickly.
Apparently there were two lovely amulets that almost became ours. One did. The one that wasn’t purchased was a Kwan Yin stone carving from Nepal. I’ve seen the photos – hubby said it was stunning. The temple wanted something like 5,000 THB for it.
Which is fair, for sure, and actually a good deal I think. But, the problem is – will anyone recognize a Kwan Yin from Nepal? That’s the thing. The Kwan Yin’s from Nepal have many arms – like the typical Indian Kwan Yin, however, they also have many heads and faces… MANY. The face looks very man-like also. Is this something that our customers will buy? We’re just not sure. We didn’t buy it.
The other amazing item, was a blue crystal Buddha – carved straight from an oval rock. It’s priceless. He said he had to buy that one. I’m so glad he did, it’s so beautiful. This is the most beautiful crystal statue we’ve ever had – or seen. Most of the statues are just typical and plain. This one is so lovely you have to see it. We’ll take photos tomorrow in the morning light.
This Buddha is going to be hard to ship. Someone might think it’s an antique or somehow important to Thai history. But, it is not old, it has been made within the last 10 years – we’re guessing. The price will be high. I’m not sure we have anything for $395 at the moment, but I think that’s what makes the most sense.
Remember – we give 10% back to the temple after a sale, so if you buy it you are contributing to Wat Mahathat temple again… I say again because we already bought it for thousands of baht, then we’ll give over 1,000 THB back to the temple after it sells.
The other amulets we purchased today were jade Buddhas – the happy, smiling, chubby Buddhas that sell so well. These are a bluish green Buddha color and they are absolutely some of the coolest Buddhas we have. Unfortunately we could only find one of the necklaces we like for these jade Buddha pendants, so the first one to order will get it I guess.
We bought a bunch of the traditional brown bracelets, some pink and white and yellow and white bracelets… and I think even some purple and white because we are running low.
We found two very special bead necklaces that we’ll sell for about $29 each. We just want to test the market and see if anyone out there appreciates them like we do.
Oh, oops, we also grabbed two more of the solid silver Buddha amulets from 7-8 years back that were made specifically for Wat Mahathat in Nakhon Si Thammarat – these are the colored Buddha series – and we now have about 19 of them in stock. We are not sure we will even sell them – we like them so much!
These are never to be found again, they were a one time pressing – and the molds have been destroyed. These are collectors items – even more so than the traditional Jatukam Ramathep amulets the temple has. The Buddha Jatukams are still selling like crazy at the temple. Good for us that few Thais have the money to pay what they are worth – and we can still get them!
We currently have in-stock over 1,600 Thai amulets to sell to customers. If you love Thai amulets, you must have a look at our main store: www.ThaiAmuletSales.com and see if you can find something that matches the type of amulet or bracelet you might wear or something you might feel proud to give as a gift.
OK, best of luck and best of life to you… :)
Click one of the below Buddhist figures to learn more and find amulets:
The Buddha – Happy Buddha – Jinaraj Buddha – Somdej Buddha