Thai Amulets

[chuang]

Hi there,anyone knows of any English language website concerning Thai Amulets....thanks

[ColPyat]

Hi there,anyone knows of any English language website concerning Thai Amulets....thanks

I have seen a few websites in English, but none of them were any useful, they were all either not even covering the basics, or by some of the Singaporean collectors and just Mumbo Jumbo.

To really learn about amulets you have to be able to read the Thai magazines, or have a Thai specialist teaching you.

At the moment the amulet market experiences a huge bubble, i have never seen more amulets coming out than now. Right now the fashion are very large and garish amulets, often painted in bright colors, very elaborate. Dealers make a killing, they get amulets of a famous monk, and can be assured that within a few months the amulets will make profits of several hundred or thousand percent.

I don't know much about them, i have a few friends who are very much into them, and many of them are staying away now, they say that what is going on now is just madness. They get amulets from a respected teacher, and a week later they see the same amulet sold on the market for three thousand baht, and rising.

Two amulets i have gotten for free a few weeks ago at the funeral of a monk (see the thread about the mummified monk), and were priced only a week later for 500 baht each. I have no idea how much they will trade for now.

What happens now has nothing to do anymore with rarety or age, it pure speculation. There is another thread here, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=105348, a very interesting article criticising the state of the sangha right now that also has an interesting statement on the amulet business here:

Many high-ranking monks in Bangkok are astrologers, masters of the occult arts or entrepreneurs in the amulet industry, making Thailand one of the world's largest amulet producers. The amulet market, also controlled by the Ecclesiastical Council in Thailand, is as lucrative as that of the underground lottery: billions of baht circulate in this business daily, and it is all tax-free.

Edited February 28, 2007 by ColPyat