Tips For Gemologists

The following text is a ‘must read’ for all gemologists—recent graduate gemologists and practicing gemologists. Thomas Chatham is well known in the gemological field of science for producing gemstones in his laboratory in the U.S for research applications and the jewelry industry. Chatham rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and other gem species are well-known in the gemological circle. Some stones are easy to identify (old samples with metallic particles and flux inclusions), while the clean stones is not that easy to detect. You really need a comparison set stones for positive identification. He is a frequent speaker at important gemological events and has generously donated samples stones to gemological institutes and students for study purposes.

Read on to learn more……

(via The Canadian Gemmologist, volume XIX, number 1, Spring, 1998):

Congratulations to the students

By Thomas H Chatham

Text of a speech given at the CGA (Canadian Gemmological Association) Graduation in Toronto, Oct 25, 1997

Tonight, you the graduates, have moved to a new level of competence. You started out as unconsciously incompetent. Rubies were red, diamond, white, and then it trailed off from there. This applies to all of us in the room contemplating brain surgery tomorrow morning. We don’t have the slightest clue.

The second stage you went through was being consciously incompetent. You wanted to know more about gemology, but couldn’t separate an agate from moldavite. You had to study to remember where the table was, the girdle, the crown, the pavilion—all these common words with brand new meanings.

Tonight you have arrived at the third stage. You are consciously competent. You practice due diligence when looking at a stone; you look in the stone, perform many physical tests, refer to technical books, and make educated conclusions. Do not go beyond this stage.

The fourth step in being unconsciously competent. This is the person who takes one look at an emerald and says, “yeah, that’s a Chatham” or “I can spot a Chatham Created Ruby across the room”. This was said by one New York dealer who lost US$25000 on this sort of competence. You only think you can do it in your sleep.

Tonight you leave here a little dangerous: soon you will be alone. No one will look over your shoulder; it’s not a grade now—it’s may be $10000! Don’t forget to remember what you learned how to do. Gemology is a lot of detective work. It’s mostly dull, punctuated by lots of self doubt. The job is getting much more tricky. There are many new technologies and treatments and new consequences for error. Public awareness has never been higher than today. People are informed. They will also sue you.

One hundred years ago, Verneuil invented the flame fusion ruby. Since that time we have invented the automobile, air travel, walked on the moon, and put a computer in every office. And people who should know better still get taken by flame fusion stones at the mines. Incredible!

Today begins your valuable education, the practical application of what you have learned. It is by far the most beneficial. Choose any field—retail sales, wholesaler, cutter, manufacturer, appraiser, or gem buyer: they all need your talents. All need updated information because every day brings new ideas, new applications and new crooks!

You must continue to learn by reading books, joining trade associations, subscribing to gemological journals, going to trade shows and attending meetings to hear talks. Some are boring, but you will find those with that tidbit of new information only by going.

I hope you are happy in whichever field you choose. They all need your help. I will leave you with these thoughts:

- Apply yourself 110%.
- Don’t take anyone’s word for it, be it a grade or identification.
- Keep learning. We are always going to produce new headaches.
- Look at progress as a bridge to the future, not as a road block.

Drive carefully, good night and congratulations!

Turquoise Trivia

(via Lapidary Journal) Annie Osburn writes:

Turquoise is one of the oldest known gem materials, and was mined in the Sinai Peninsula before the 4th millennium B.B. Its allure caught the eye of ancient Egyptians, Mayans, and Aztecs, who took to mining the gemstone. In ancient Mexico, turquoise was reserved for the gods and not worn by mere mortals. Apache Indians believed turquoise gave warriors and hunters better aim; the Zuni believed it protected them from demons; and Tibetans have carved it into ritual objects and worn it as traditional jewelry.

“Turquoise is supposed to bring you good luck,” says Bruce McGee, Director of Retails Sales at The Heard Museum, a leader in Native American art collections located in Phoenix, Arizona. McGee, whose father was a trader in the Four Corners area, grew up literally surrounded by Navajo and Hopi culture. “In the old trading days, among Navajo women turquoise was a sign of wealth. The more wealthy ones had large sets of beads, large bracelets, and collar pins on their velveteen blouses. When I was young, I remember seeing belt buckles and chunk necklaces worn by the medicine men, and horse halters with turquoise and silver that were so large you couldn’t even afford to make something like that anymore.”

Jade

By J P Palmer
Spring Books, London
1967

Spring Books writes:

Jade: valued above all other precious stones by the Chinese, fought for by the Maoris of New Zealand and offered as gifts to the conquering Spaniards by the Aztecs of Mexico, this rare and valuable mineral has a long and controversial history which spans 4000 years and five continents.

Jade, which was claimed as a cure for kidney disease by the Spaniards and buried in graves by the Chinese (who believed in imparted immortality), is known today mostly as jewelry in the familiar ‘jade green’.

But illustrated in this book, jade is seen to range from darkest grey green to purest white, blue, brown, pink and gold. So hard and so difficult to work, jade is shown here carved into a multiplicity of objects—jewelry, weapons, bowls and vases—depicted in all the richness and variety of its many colors.

J.P Palmer, as Assistant Keeper at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, has provided a comprehensive introduction to the fascinating story of jade—what it is, where it came from, how it was carved and how it was used.

Glowing and translucent with reflected light, jade is endowed with the special quality, peculiar to this beautiful stone, of combining gem hardness with delicacy; fragility with impressive strength. It is unique. In the 54 full color plates more than 80 works of art are illustrated and there are eight black and white illustrations.

215-carat Letseng Diamond

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (ADWC) has announced the sale of a 215-carat D-color diamond at the Letseng Diamond Tender to Belgian-based Omega Diamonds at $38000 per carat. It is a big stone, and now the master cutter will have to study carefully the size and shape of the rough to produce a masterpiece.

In order to facilitate diamond trade, Letseng Tenders are held monthly by WWW International Diamond Consultants. Letseng mine is well known for its large size and unique quality diamonds.

Sabrina

Memorable quote (s) from the movie:

The Professor (Marcel Hillaire): Bonjour, mesdames et monsiuers. Yesterday we have learned the correct way how to boil water. Today we will learn the correct way how to crack an egg. Voila! An egg. Now, an egg is not a stone; it is not made of wood, it is a living thing. It has a heart. So when we crack it, we must not torment it. We must be merciful and execute it quickly, like with the guillotine.

How To Buy Colored Stones In Sri Lanka

The article written by Donald Couglin on gemstone buying experiences in Sri Lanka is true. It’s the same experience (s) at all gem producing countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. There are endless variations but the content (s) is pretty much the same. If you are not aware or properly trained it’s like two blind walking the street. In order to enjoy the experience (s) you need to have good knowledge on gemstone treatment, synthetics, imitations, assembled gemstones, local traditions, trading practices and good social skills + accumulated luck. You must find a way to become a likable person. It's hard to explain why people like or dislike you, but the concept can make a big difference in Asia, Africa and South America. Even with all the knowledge in the world you may not be able to buy gemstones effectively if the sellers dislike you for unknown reasons. Train yourself to learn the skill. It's an art.

Read on to learn more……..

Sri Lanka: A Gemstone Buyer’s Dream
(via The Canadian Gemmologist, volume XV, Spring, 1994, number 1) Donald Coughlin writes:

It is hard to imagine a more fascinating and interesting country for a gemstone enthusiast to visit. Whether the visitor is a lapidarist, gemologist, jeweler, or hobbyist, Sri Lanka has all one can ask for. This is a photographer’s paradise.

Sri Lanka, still fondly called Ceylon by many inhabitants, is an island lying off the southern tip of India. Filled with color, excitement, friendliness, folk lore and superstition, Sri Lanka is the Pearl of Southeast Asia. Languages are primarily Tamil and Sinhala; English is often spoken and understood in all major tourist areas. In gemstone mining areas, the man on the street knows little English, but tries hard. You should be patient when they misunderstand you.

Various reports claim much of the country’s surface has gemstone minerals beneath it. These are easy to believe, because there is no apparent sign of gem shortages despite centuries of mining.

Very little in Sri Lanka compares with the Western world, and that includes customs and traditions that are often directly related to Astrology. Every lunar month there is “Poya” day, a national Buddhist holiday when most businesses are closed.

Before a visit, I would strongly recommend that you read a guidebook to learn about climate, customs, tourism, etc.

Where, And When To Shop
There are hundreds of gemstone shops sprinkled throughout Sri Lanka. Some are elegant (luxury hotels and museums), while others may be small and unassuming. Normally one’s purse dictates which sort of shop to deal with.

Generally, gem dealers are courteous, friendly, and helpful. They rarely get offended when a customer walks out without buying. Apart from the shops, and a great deal more fun, are the street gemstone hawkers of Ratnapura and other mining towns.

Once you arrive at Ratnapura (Ratna means gems; pura means area), there are many things the visitor should be aware of before stepping into the unknown. The following information will help you:

What Instruments Do I Need?
When visiting a “Pola” (a street auction where all the action is), you will want to carry only a few gem testing instruments such as:

- 10x lens or loupe

- small diffraction grating spectroscope

- dichroscope

- tweezers

- sewing machine oil in a small dispenser; ideal for checking rough stones for asterism or chatoyancy

- Chelsea filter

- pen light; as strong as possible, with spare batteries

- a portable polariscope or 49-mm polarizing lens

- pocket sized calculator

Basic Rules For Shopping

Keep your sense of humor
This is most important and therefore heads the list. Sri Lankans enjoy a good laugh, and often local men laugh at you for no apparent reason. You should not take offence, and understand that they have a completely different mentality to yours and they do not mean to offend you. Whether laughing with you, or at you, try to take it in a good natured way.

The same thing works in reverse, you can laugh at them for whatever the reason, and they enjoy the joke. Depending on how you view it, this sort of laughter can be quite refreshing when compared with our often exaggerated western sensitivities.

Guard your money
Do not flash your money around. Carry only small bills and plenty of small change, and only the amount you intend to spend.

Keep calm
Do not let yourself lose your cool. These peddlers hound you to death, about 50 of them pressing in on all sides, and you must remain calm. Agitation only makes things worse, and there is a strong likelihood that poor judgment will result on your part. Just make it clear to them that they must back off or you will no longer discuss gemstones with them. Eventually they get the hint.

Know what you want
Decide in advance whether you will purchase cut stones, or rough. It is illegal to export rough stones from Sri Lanka. However, this should not prevent you buying some (particularly if you are a lapidarist and know a good stone when you see one). You can then take it to any established shop dealer who will be pleased to cut it for you at a low cost.

Bargain
Always bargain, even if a shopkeeper insists he has fixed, or unbeatable prices. I have yet to see a dealer let me walk out of his shop reconsidering his fixed rules. Many dealers in Sri Lanka, whether in first-class hotels or gemstone shops, have as much as 30% mark up on their gemstones. Up to 20% of that is for the touring guide or agent, while 10% may be tacked on for discount purposes. Foreigners often receive advice to refuse any purchase not accompanied by a discount. If you are unaccompanied, then you should deduct 30% and even more to set a bargaining plateau.

Buyer beware
When you have agreed upon a price, you cannot, ever, change your mind. To change your mind after you have made a fixed offer is unethical, and not playing the game. If this happens (and it did to me), you will find many stern and angry faces closing in—quite frightening to uninitiated. Don’t worry, they will never hurt you and are teaching you a lesson, but your popularity has dropped considerably.

Agreeing on a price
The hawker is offering his blue sapphire (cut or rough) for the bargain price of 12000 rupees. You like the stone, so you may feel you should start bargaining at 4000. Watch it. You will feel ill should the dealer immediately accept that figure. The streetwise shoppers offer under 4000. This leaves the door open, and if the seller agrees, then you start working on a lower figure.

The Sinhalese way of indicating yes
Many foreigners are confused when the seller shakes his head in a curious wobbling manner much as we indicate no in Western countries. This delightful and unusual mannerism means yes in Sri Lanka. When I first experienced this peculiarity, I raised the price under the assumption I had made too low an offer. The laughter among the hawkers was sure sign that I was not the first to make this mistake.

Synthetics and imitations
If the price seems too low for such a high quality stone, it is likely the stone is synthetic. Test it if you the necessary instruments, or refuse it. Because of greed and excitement one can become incredibly stupid. For example, you think you have spotted a rare stone and in haste to get away and admire the steal you throw commonsense to the wind. Sad to say, you forget to check the stone; and sadder still, you may even forget to bargain. I know from experience.

I sometimes buy synthetics and imitations for study purposes, but only for the price of cutting. When you spot a desirable specimen, you can offer possibly rupees 50-100 per carat. Pit glasses are attractive and worth collecting.

Bear in mind
More often than not, local gemstone dealers (as in most other countries) know little about gemology. This is a great advantage to the intrepid buyer trained in identification techniques. It is shocking to see how many honest dealers unknowingly peddle synthetic stones.

One dealer situated in a five star hotel, claimed he had to certified rare stones (ekanite and taaffeite) for sale. I checked and found the certificates did not match the stones in question—even the colors were wrong. I brought my portable refractometer and showed him that he had a diopside and a normal blue spinel. He was the victim of a switch deal.

Rare stones
When you spot a rare stone, and obviously the seller is not aware of it, but it. Do not let your conscience bother you too much in this grey area. Dealers are businessmen, and it is obvious that their consciences are at rest when they grossly inflate their prices on the unaware tourist. You can make an excellent purchase, e.g. a beautiful spessartite garnet as a hessonite for only a couple of dollars, or a very rare taaffeite represented as a blue spinel for a similar amount.

Things are not always what they appear to be: For example, local descriptions of gemstones differ from textbooks. A tourmaline parcel is a stone paper filled with a mixed variety of stones with few (if any) tourmalines in it. Many peddlers call colored stones tourmaline, and the inexperienced buyer often believes these are all different shades of that variety. Normally these parcels consist of green metamict zircon, almandine and hessonite garnets, spinel, diopside, quartz varieties, and glasses. However on occasion a sharp eye will spot the odd chrysoberyl and rare stones such as sinhalite, kornerupine, taaffeite, ekanite, etc.

Quartz varieties (smoky, citrine, and rock crystal) are called topaz (in English). The dealers are not intentionally misleading you (though such a possibility exists), but to them topaz is English for quartz.

Have your stone certified
If a gemstone is expensive and you doubt its authenticity, insist that you want the stone certified by the State Gem Corporation of Sri Lanka (free of charge without certificate, minimal charge with one), or other qualified agency, before you make full payment. The street hawkers usually work for a mine or shop owner, so are probably paid on a commission basis. Some may be pit workers who manage to find sapphires and rubies while out jogging, or perhaps the stones fell off a truck.

Insist that your man take you to his master, or bring him to you, and request the necessary certification. This applies to shop dealers and street hawkers alike, but only for expensive stones. The dealer will deliver both stone and certificate to your hotel room if he is sincere. Should the stone turn out to be synthetic, you may not see the dealer again unless he has an alternative stone of equal value on hand. (I understand the Gem Corporation will destroy the synthetic—much to the dealer’s dismay).

Cutting
Pay close attention to the cut of a stone. Sri Lanka has excellent lapidarists, but unfortunately many intentionally turn out poorly cut stones to gain maximum weight and/ or color. Star stones and cat’s eyes are usually cut with crown showing excellent asterism/chatoyancy, but with the base left rough and uneven.

Do not disregard badly cut stones, but bargain hard and have them recut. Take into account the number of carats you may lose and of course the cost per carat. You can double or triple the value of most stones by recutting.

Sri Lanka must be one of the most exciting countries in the world for gemstone enthusiasts, and the above is only an enticing morsel of the great gemstone experience. Sri Lankan tourism is priceless and must be taken advantage of. The sights, natural beauty, are unparalleled (and I have 38 years of travel behind me for comparison).

Harshad R Mehta + Rosy Blue

Here is an inspiring profile of Harshad R Mehta and Rosy Blue, from modest business to one of the biggest diamond companies in the world. In the trade circle he is also known as the Diamond King.

Read on to learn more about Harshad Mehta @ http://archive.gulfnews.com/friday/People/10107947.html

It was educational + the rise to top is a good learning curve for beginners in the industry—Understanding Diamond Business 101 to Advanced.

The Lizzadro Collection

By Miriam Anderson Lytle
John Racila Associates, Inc
1982 Library of Congress Catalog number: 82-099930

John Racila Associates writes:

Climb to the mountain retreat of an ancient Buddhist monk. Peer into this Chinese hermit’s cave; observe him in his solitude and contemplation.

View a Chinese goddess—elegant and regal—yet beneficent, warm, welcoming; bestowing blessings on all who revere her.

Closely examine the sinuous rhythmically flowing form of a pair of graceful cranes captured forever in gray-green jadeite.

Marvel at the sight of a ceremonial dish hand carved from stone as thin and translucent as the finest porcelain.

The Lizzadro collection is wonderfully complete representation of the complex art form that is hard stone carving. This book is a presentation that reveals the beauty and symbolism of many fine Chinese carvings, as well as the magnificent utilization of the natural coloring and pattern in the materials used. The pieces selected well represent the amazing skill and creativity of many generations of Chinese artisans.

Through close up photography and enlarged views, this book brings into sharp focus subtle details that may take many hours of careful observation to reveal. The text instills the reader with a sense of the romance, poetic soul and heritage of Chinese culture, and gives knowledge of its great contribution to history. The breathtaking photographs and informative text are full of inspiration for the art connoisseur, the lapidary, the geologist, the engraver, the student of China, or any person interested in gaining an understanding of this intricate art form.

This book further serves as a celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the museum that houses the phenomenal Lizzadro collection. Located in Elmhurst, Illinois, the Lizzadro Museum came into being out of the late Joseph Lizzadro’s philanthropic desire to share his appreciation of this special art form. This legacy continues to this day under the guidance of John S Lizzadro, director, and the help of the family whose hope is ‘to share with others our enjoyment of the eternal beauty in gemstones and our appreciation of the art with which man has complemented the work of nature’.