Please make a note that Tiptopgem.com will be closed from June 17 to July 3. We will be out of the country and will not be available to ship or answer questions. There will be no eBay auctions running during this time. Please plan ahead and pay for all of your purchases by June 15!
OK it’s just about enough. Stop thinking that you don’t need specific gravity, or that it’s too difficult to take the measurements and make the calculations, or that it is too expensive, or that it’s a hassle. It is one of the easiest, cheapest, most fun tests that you can do as part of gem identification. You will do it, and you will like it young woman (man).
Buy a scale. OK, that part is not easy or cheap- but you don’t have to break the bank to get a good scale. Buy the most accurate, highest capacity scale that you can afford. I like my Tanita 1230 portable because I have bashed it around for years in my carry-on bag and it is still dead-on. But buy what you can afford and make SG part of your skill set. It will make you a better hobbyist or a better gemologist.
First, let’s put together the parts list for this project. Can you afford a bottle of water? You invested in a quality scale so maybe not? That’s alright. Steal an empty bottle from the trash on any street corner in any town or city. Cut it down to size. The finished height depends on the rest of the lengths (like the wire) so just sit and watch for a second.
Get a thin wire from the bread twist-tie. Strip off the paper/plastic flat piece that surrounds it. Get a thick-ish wire from your garage, or from a piece of heavy scrap three-conductor wire that your electrician didn’t clean up off the floor from his last project at your house. If all else fails, go to WalMart and pay 9 cents for a cut-to length piece of it. You need maybe 7 inches. Strip the jacket off of it.
Both wires should be single conductor- none of that multiple conductor stuff is allowed. In other words, if you strip the jacket or coating and find a million little thin wires inside, that is not the stuff you need. Make it go away, and get single-conductor.
Get a quarter. I use a 500-won coin from Korea, but a quarter will work. If you are on the Euro, gosh- I don’t know. Experiment with your country’s coinage. It will be a fairly big, kind of heavy coin. It will need to be heavy enough to stabilize the wires and keep your device from toppling when you put the gemstone on the bottom loop of the breadwire, but not so heavy that it maxes out your scale. Get some scotch tape. Get some water. That’s all.
Parts List:
1. very thin single conductor wire from the inside of a bread twisty tie (mine is .48 mm diameter)
2. water bottle- single-serving style like 16 ounces (cut approximately in half)
3. thick (mine is 1.12mm diameter) single conductor wire (maybe 7 inches or so…cut it shorter if needed)
4. quarter or other kind of heavy coin like 500 won or maybe two American nickels taped together
5. water (any kind will work fine…not saltwater!)
6. scotch tape
You will make two loops in the bread-tie wire. Maybe it will start at two inches long, and end up at 70% of that after you have the loops. Just muddle your way through at first and you will very, very quickly understand what adjustments need to be made to the length of the wire and the size of the loops. Most any questions that you have about this project will be answered with the pictures and by doing the procedure once.
The bread-tie wire will get lost. Count on it. It is best to make the bottom loop so that it can be “clicked” onto the vertical shaft of the bigger wire when not in use. In other words, the top little loop of the bread wire will always remain in place on the gooseneck of the thick wire. Always. When you are finished using the thing and you’re ready to put it in storage, just push the bottom loop onto the shaft of the big wire so that the shaft passes inside the bottom loop. It will stay there until the next time you use it. OH, and just put it inside the emptied out water bottle that you cut in half.
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Here is an important note for those of you who live with families. This cut-up, empty bottle of water with wires inside looks like trash. I suggest as soon as you finish making yours, you gather everyone together for a family meeting and explain that if someone sees it sitting around and throws it out, there will be consequences that include… <taking away foo-foo, snuggly bear, allowance, car keys,…insert age-appropriate punishment here>.
The thick wire has the previously mentioned gooseneck at the top, and at the bottom it is just wrapped into a circle. That circle is taped onto your quarter or other coin. In some cases, with heavy stones, it will be hard to make your device balance with only a quarter. Just add an extra coin.
This is the point that you wish you had a scale with more capacity. Let this be a lesson to those of you who have not bought your scale yet. Of course a scale with low capacity is cheap- it is not as useful! Unless you are dealing diamonds that are big and white, or fine corundum, it is better to give up a little accuracy in favor of more capacity. Did I tell you already to buy as much scale as you can afford? I thought so. You will likely only buy it once, so go the extra mile. Think of the money that you are saving by making your own specific gravity device instead of paying $75 to $300 that you would pay for the optional SG attachment for your scale!!!
Your device is finished. You have taped the bottom circle of the thick wire to the coin, and made the gooseneck on the top of the thick wire. You have the little bread-tie wire dangling from the gooseneck. Can the bottom loop of the bread-tie wire hold a stone? No? Bend it a little. Shape it, form it, and make that monster live.
Tare the scale with the SG device on it, but without the gemstone. Now you are ready to take your first measurement. Do this:
Yes! Just put the stone in the bottom loop of that small wire. Remember, you tared the scale before doing this so it read “0.00″ with the SG device on the platform. Now look at the reading:
It says that the stone weighs 1.45. This is exactly what it would weigh if you did not have the SG device on the scale, and you tared the scale, and then put the stone on the platform. It is the stone’s weight in air. It is the normal, everyday weight of that stone. Get it? I thought you would. It doesn’t get a whole lot harder so if you are with me at this point you will be fine.
Now fill your beaker (cut water bottle) with water. Take a look:
Do you see how we could just move the water over, and the little wire would be dangling into the container and the lower loop of that wire would be submerged? Well, that is exactly what we are going to do! Yes, this really is simple. But here is the deal, the trick, the scam, the gink, the secret- after you move the water over, and dangle the little wire into the water so the bottom loop is underwater- tare the scale again. Yes, tare it again. The portion of the wire that is underwater will change your reading.
At this point, the big wire is NOT touching the beaker. The big wire is NOT touching the water. The little wire is NOT touching the side of the beaker. The bottom loop of the wire is totally underwater with room to spare (for the stone). Hit TARE. Get that zero dot zero zero reading. Now with a tweezers take your stone and place it on the lower loop of the thin wire- under the water.
The stone is underwater, and just before we put the stone on the bottom loope we hit TARE so we now have our other measurement- the second and final number- which is the weight in water. It is 1.21. Quick- what is this stone????
Just do this:
weight in air / (weight in air – weight in water)
Let’s get the parentheses out of the way first. (1.45-1.21) is the same as (0.24). Now our formula looks like this:
weight in air / .24
and since we already know that the weight in air is 1.45, let’s just say
1.45/.24 which is 6.041666 or round it to 6.042.
Anyone with a guess? If you said CZ, that’s a good guess. If you said it couldn’t be CZ because the SG is 5.60 to 6.00, I would say you have not been playing this gem identification game very long. We always have to allow a little bit of flex in our numbers- and I can say for sure that CZ is the only colorless stone in this range.
Also remember that the more accurate your scale the more accurate your result. And sometimes a bubble or two will get trapped between the stone and the small wire, so it doesn’t hurt to bump it with your tweezers both before and after you set the stone in place on the bottom loop of the wire, submerged. Some folks say a clean stone is important, and I say that it can’t hurt to have it clean. Maybe that makes bubbles less likely to stick to a stone?
You will play around with your homebrew instrument and make your own adaptations and learn the tolerances necesarry for your setup. The point is to get to work doing these measurements because they are very valuable and quick and easy to do. After you have checked even two or three stones, you will wonder what took you so long to get started. It’s really that quick and easy.
Thank you for coming to the Gem Vault today; I really appreciate you! And keep in mind that if you have a question about this post then probably others do as well, so please feel free to leave a comment and ask for clarification. Also, if you have a better way of doing the same thing, don’t hesitate to share that with everyone as well.
1. When a person with money meets a person with experience, the one with experience goes away with money, and the one with money goes away with experience.
2. The two demons that await you at the gem market are greed and ignorance. (all the credit goes to Vincent Pardieu for this one, who was quoting his Burmese gemology instructor when he said it)
3. You are not as sharp at the end of a day of buying stones as you are at the beginning. This is true whether you are buying online, at a show, or in a wholesale market.
4. You are not as sharp near the end of a parcel as you are near the beginning.
5. When you are at a wholesale market, you are swimming with sharks. They are better at this than you are because they have been doing it for a very long time.
6. People who are eager to help you are usually dangerous.
7. People who are eager to help you are not always dangerous.
8. A stone always looks worse after you buy it, and it always looks better after you have sold it.
9. Most people whose aim is to make a lot of money in colored stones lose a lot of money in colored stones.
10. It is easier for honest dealers to sell to informed consumers, and easier for crooked dealers to sell to ignorant consumers.
11. For a dealer to tell an informed customer from an ignorant customer can take as long as five transactions.
12. For a customer to tell an honest dealer from a crooked dealer can take as long as five years.
13. One of the hardest questions to answer after you buy a stone is “did I get a fair price?”
14. If you are very sure that you got an outstanding price on a stone, you are wrong.
15. If you think you got a fair price on a stone, you are probably wrong.
You have noticed that the auctions are back, albeit just a small number of them. I am finally back from the Jungle in the Philippines, and our office is changing a lot. There is a new desk, a new computer, and a new staff member! Pictures are coming soon. Wait- maybe I have a picture of the jungle in the Visayas, which is in the central Philippines. I was visiting the Island of Cebu.
If you are here as a result of the advertisement in the back of Colored Stone magazine, a warm welcome to you! I would be grateful if you would send a note to me at dave at tiptopgem dot com and let me know that you saw the ad. Also, since you are new here you may not know what I am all about or how I do business. If you poke around a bit on the site here, and read some of the auction listings, you will get a feel for what makes Tip Top Gem different from a lot of other dealers on the internet and on eBay. Our focus is on total customer satisfaction, and we are committed to bringing you the highest quality stones that we can find. I personally hand-select every stone that I sell. I am 100% responsible for your satisfaction with our stones, our communication, our shipping, and your experience with us from the time you acquire a stone until you pass it down to the next generation and they become our customer.
One primary difference between me and my competition is that I am accessible. You can email me, call me toll-free (800) 607-1425, write me a letter, or send me a message in a bottle. If I get your message, I will answer you. If you do not get a reply within 48 hours, something has gone awry and maybe a spam filter or a mistake on my part caused the breakdown. One very reliable way to contact me is using the “contact seller” link on my ebay auctions. Also feel free to call my cell phone here in Thailand at (66) 89-208-6499.
I want to help you in any way that I can, and I realize that some people will only contact me when they want to buy something. This need not be the case. Maybe you are looking for some information, or have some information to share with me about a stone that you have seen, or something that you have heard about the colored stone trade. Feel free to write or call. I do this because I love stones; it is highly likely that your question or your bit of information is of interest to me. I am happy to help.
Welcome to Tip Top Gem. We like it here a lot, and we think you will too.
Thanks for your patience ladies and gentlemen. I will return on the 5th of November, but in the meantime I will have sporadic access to the internet so feel free to send me any questions or requests, I just beg your pardon for any late replies. I will be in the jungle (literally!) for part of this trip and even cell coverage is spotty there; you can forget any kind of landline phone service or internet. I will do my very best to respond to messages between now and when I return. In the meantime, you can trust that if you have already paid your items are on their way to you!!!
Thanks for your patience, and there will be news about the exciting future of Tip Top Gem very, very soon!!
~Dave
My father is a very successful man. I’ve learned a great deal from him over the years, and even spent five years working with him. I learned a lot of things from him about running a business, dealing with people, and just about making my own way in life. He has a dry, provocative sense of humor that I think I comes to me both from my DNA and my environment. A statement that is meant to provoke someone was often seen as humor in my household, and to this day some of the comedy that I enjoy most is sarcastic, good-natured ribbing.
Once a very good friend of mine, while the target of such provocation, said “Dave, when you were a child you got beat up a lot.” I paused first, and then I laughed.
“Every day” I replied. Indeed, every day. At the bus stop in the morning before any adult supervision was available I was a punching bag. Surely, these were provoked attacks. I was always tossing sarcastic comments about, and there is value in learning what can and what can not be said. It’s part of growing up. There is another valuable lesson in here though. I never stopped getting beaten up by the neighbor kids because I was never willing to relent. I was never willing to admit that I was afraid. The best way that I could show this was to toss another barb their way for every punch that came my way. It was a bit like Randall “Tex” Cobb’s fight with Larry Holmes. Larry, you can hit me direct in the face until your arms are tired and I’m not gonna give up and I’m not gonna stop coming at you. You can’t make me afraid.
The best way to stop from being punched is to show fear. That is what the attacker is really looking for in the first place- fear. Fear is control, and fear means that you have been subjugated. When Hank Paulson wanted 700 billion tax dollars, he made you afraid. When politicians want to be elected, they make you afraid. When people want something from you- especially your cooperation- they like to make you afraid.
The most valuable thing (and painful thing) that I learned from my father was that I should not be afraid. I don’t need to be afraid of people threatening me because I can take care of myself. I don’t need to be afraid of the future because I can prepare. And I don’t need to be afraid of a new path because every new path has ups and downs, and fear has no value in success. Many people argue this point, and tell me that fear has kept them safe. Try not being afraid, and see if the world really does collapse on you like people tell you it will.
Some people told me that I should be afraid of publishing an interview with Robert James of the International School of Gemology. He is, after all, a very controversial figure. I’ve been told that my business will be ruined, that I will lose respect in the industry, that customers will flee in droves. But I am not afraid. I learned that from my father.
Maybe if you are afraid of what Robert has to say, you needn’t be. And if Robert is afraid of what others have to say about him, I think likewise there is no need. If you want to fear something, let it be inertia. You will always do far more, and be far more, if you are only afraid of doing nothing. My dad has always told me to “do something, even if it’s wrong.” Don’t fear information or conversation or ideas. Don’t fear something just because another gem dealer or another gemology student or gemologist tells you to. Fear inertia. That, as well, I learned from my father.
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Today we have Robert James with us, the founder of the International School of Gemology and consumer advocate.
Dave: Welcome Robert and thank you for joining us in The Gem Vault here at Tiptopgem.com.
Robert: Thank you, Dave. It is a pleasure to be invited to come here and share with you all.
Dave: There is plenty of controversy surrounding ISG, and I would like to ask some general questions about that but first I want to know a little bit about you. What credentials do you hold, and what motivated you to get involved in gemology?
Robert: I hold the GIA Graduate Gemologist, I am a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, I was once active in the American Gem Society and held the AGS Certified Gemologist title, I hold a Property and Casualty Insurance Adjusters License with the Texas Department of Insurance, and am a certified instructor and Continuing Education Provider for the Texas Department of Insurance as well as other states both past and current. I got into gemology based on working for jewelry stores since 1971. I found the study interesting, and it is one of the few fields of study that allows you to work anywhere in the world. So I started working on my GG by distance education in 1977, and have been in school by one method or the other ever since.
Dave: I have noticed that ISG is a certified education provider for many state departments of insurance. Can you tell me why this is significant, and what it means for your graduates?
Robert: We were actually education providers for the insurance industry before we formally went into the gemology education business, even though I served as a Gem Tutorial Centre for the Gem-A. I worked for a number of years with USAA handling jewelry related claims. The significance of our status now is that we are the only gemology school that provides appraisal training from licensed insurance adjusters with experience in the jewelry claims field. We have several other insurance professionals who have helped us design the course programs, these include insurance litigation managers and designated underwriters. This allows us to provide a combination of gemology and appraisal training that is unlike anything else on the market.
Dave: What do you see as the biggest challenges for the colored stone industry over the next decade?
Robert: First…disclosure of treatments. The industry needs to realize one thing: consumers are not afraid of treatments….consumers are afraid of being lied to about treatments. Unless the colored gemstone industry starts enforcing some king of disclosure rule, we are going to continue to lose consumer confidence. Second….education. In this day and age of the internet, consumers are very often more highly educated about gemology than the dealers. Unless the colored gemstone industry starts actively improving the level of gemological education by the trade, consumers are going to lose confidence since they will know more about gemstones than the dealers.
Dave: There seems to be a great deal of resistance in the established trade to new mediums of communication, commerce, and education. Do you think that in time concepts like the internet classroom, virtual trading platforms, and the general internet community will be better integrated with bricks-and-mortar stores? Or will these new mediums entirely dispose of our traditional means in the gemstone and jewelry trade?
Robert: The internet has already greatly impacted the diamond business. Diamonds can easily be sold on the internet with BlueNile.com®and others as examples. But colored stones are a different issue. Colored gemstones require romance, knowledge, and hands-on experience to be appreciated. With the significant decline in diamond profits, and the increasing potential profits of colored gemstones, the smart jeweler will understand the need to have a strong internet presence but continue to work from a traditional bricks-and-mortar location. All aspects of our industry are impacted by the internet and e-commerce, but the traditional home town, independent retail jeweler will always be at the forefront of the industry if they just stay up with the technology and education.
Dave: In the diamond business we have seen Bluenile.com take a big bite out of industry market share. Do you foresee similar forces in store for the colored stone industry, or are you among those that believe the commodotization of diamonds with a universal grading system is not possible with color?
Robert: The damage to the diamond industry was done by two things: the Rap Sheet, and the internet. When Martin Rapaport made supposed wholesale pricing available to everyone, he ruined the profit margins for the industry. And when the internet allowed diamond databases to be imbedded into anyone’s website, that allowed anyone with a website to become a diamond dealer. That caused the long standing structure of the industry to crash, and with it diamond margins. This will not happen to the colored gemstone industry because of the lack of unity in the markets. Diamonds are one category of gemstone. Colored gemstones encompass hundreds. So the requirements to establish a standardized market pricing list, and the ability to mass market colored gemstones is simply not there. And I hope it never is. If that were to happen you would see the same thing happen to colored gemstone markets and margins that you have seen happen to diamonds.
Dave: Here in Chanthaburi I see a lot of stones that are of interest to my customers who are collectors and gemologists, but that are not available in jewelry stores. The television gemstone and jewelry channels seem to have capitalized on this niche. Do you think that there is more room in the market for bricks-and-mortar retailers who carry beautiful, lesser-known stones like Mali and Malaia garnet, sphene, tsavorite, or zircon?
Robert: Absolutely. The jewelry channels are absolutely brilliant for having identified this category of colored gemstone market and making it a success. There are just so many wonderful colored gemstones available that are being missed by retail jewelers simply due to lack of knowledge of the stone, and a lack of training in how to sell them. This is one of the largest areas of untapped potential business available to bricks-and-mortar jewelers today.
Dave: The financial crisis in Asia in 1997 had some interesting repercussions in the South Korean colored stone market. While people who were strapped for cash quickly converted diamonds and gold, they found that when they attempted to convert their colored-stone assets there were few takers. Many treatments were exposed at that time, and as a result the market for laboratories and gemological education exploded. Today the Korean market is a very different place as customers become more savvy. Is it possible that a global economic downturn could have similar consequences for the world gemstone market?
Robert: Yes. And it is due to some of the claims of the sellers about “investment” buying of jewelry and gemstones. That is a good sales technique until things turn bad and people need to liquidate those items. Then they realize that the concept of gemstone investments is a very difficult issue when times go bad. While colored gemstones can be good investments if purchased correctly and held until the proper time, buying them as a hedge against hard times is never a good idea, as the South Koreans found out.
Dave: Some folks who are new to the trade, like myself, find a fairly widespread practice of half-truths and some outright deceptions in colored stones. Do you think the cost of ISG’s gemological coursework means that more people will have the background and the “eye” to spot such practices, and this will lead to changes in the industry? Is this what you had in mind when you founded the school?
Robert: Exactly. We purposefully keep our tuition rate low so more people can afford the education. And the reason we are the only school outside of the AIGS to offer a course in the Identification of Synthetic Gemstones is because we believe that a proper gemological education for dealers and retailers must include that information. The more people understand treatments and synthetics and are able to identify them, the less deception will be perpetrated on the market. And more knowledge and awareness of the treatments will eventually bring about a greater understanding as to how to sell them openly and with proper disclosure.
Dave: I’m troubled by the lack of disclosure of flux-healed ruby. In the trade we have known about this treatment for a very long time, yet the ruby market suffers from confusion between flux-healed and glass-filled stones. Consumers buy stones that are flux-healed and are told they are only heated, and they buy glass-filled stones and are told the same. The glass-filled stones are notorious for durability issues yet retailers and wholesalers still don’t want to talk about it. Isn’t the trade shooting itself in the foot by failing to educate customers about the difference?
Robert: Absolutely. The colored gemstone trade has making a HUGE mistake by underestimating consumer awareness and acceptance of all sorts of treatments. Consumers are not afraid of treatments, jewelers are. If the ruby treatments were openly disclosed and presented to consumers the market for these stones would increase exponentially. It is the secrecy and hiding of facts that creates the cloud of mistrust for everyone in the industry.
Dave: The Tom Lantos Block JADE Act of 2008 represents a major challenge for retailers who want to deal with ruby from African sources as a replacement for the relatively plentiful Burmese stones. Do you think the documentation requirements are enforceable, or will this just mean that we continue to buy Burmese ruby with fraudulent documentation?
Robert: This JADE Act is actually sort of a joke. I have graduates on the Burmese border who buy from “smugglers” on a daily basis. Except that there they are legitimate dealers and not smugglers. And those stones flow through India and other locations freely. Just as conflict diamonds did for years (and most likely continue to this day). There is no way to enforce this act. It makes good politics. And allows the politicians and the jewelry folks sitting in New York to congratulate each other for the great job they are doing being politically correct. But the folks on the ground with these issues are doing business as usual. If it was possible to control the movement of products by legislation, the Colombian drug trade would not exist.
Dave: I have interacted with your students a great deal. Some are my friends, customers, and business associates. I am sometimes surprised that they are so quick to criticize established schools like GIA and seem to believe that your program is superior in the actual content of gemological curriculum. Would you say that this comes from the top, or are there other forces at work here?
Robert: I think this is based on many of our students and graduates who started with the GIA and then study with us, and realized that our program is indeed superior at a fraction of the cost. And no doubt that it is. We have combined the best of both the GG and FGA programs to create a unique education opportunity that is the top in the field. And at a price that far more people can afford. But as far as anyone criticizing the GIA, that does not come from my desk. I am a GIA Alumni and continue to support the school in a number of ways.
Dave: When you look over the very long history of GIA and the sheer volume and quality of research that they have published, is it fair for you to expect that ISG should have similar standing in the industry?
Robert: I don’t think I have ever said that I expect this. If we have a similar standing in the industry it is because of the respect that is given to the quality of our graduates. A gemology school is not made by the volume of their research, but by the quality of their graduates. And there is no doubt that our graduates are better prepared for the market than the GIA graduates. With our requirement of annual recertification, additional courses provided, and continued support for our graduates after they complete their program, the GIA offers none of this. So we have actually put something together here that is well beyond the scope of the GIA program.
Dave: There are some in the trade who would like you to open a laboratory and who believe that a certificate from ISG would be truly impartial. There are some who scoff at such a notion. If you were to draw a line between those two groups of people, what would you see on both sides of the line? Can you make some generalizations that might help us understand who is “for” ISG and who is “against” the school?
Robert: I do not foresee the ISG establishing a trade laboratory in the foreseeable future. We are a training facility and that is our purpose. As far as anyone “for” or “against” us, I honestly don’t concern myself with that. Again, the quality of our graduates speak for the quality of the school. I really don’t think in terms of people being “for” or “against” us.
Dave: I’ve repeatedly seen you criticized for failing to work within the system, and for failing to complete your research before you release your findings. Knowing what you know right now, would you have done anything differently in light of these criticisms?
Robert: On the andesine issue? No. That was too volatile of a situation that the establishment had ignored for far too long. It needed immediate assistance. On the releasing of our findings, the industry has totally misunderstood who we are and what we do. I believe that our students need to understand the research process. They need to see how it’s done, how mistakes are made and corrected, how good results are achieved. In other words, total transparency in the system so that students and graduates can learn from and about the process. The industry believes that you hide all of this because, God forbid, someone should actually make an error. Well, errors are made all the time. And people need to be able to see the processes, understand what goes into research, and how final determinations are made. That is why I don’t mind sharing with our people as we go. The more they get to experience the research process, the better off everyone is in the industry.
Dave: Why do you think the public has the misconception that profit margins are exorbitantly high in the jewelry industry, and what can we do in the trade to combat this?
Robert: You will need to ask Martin Rapaport about that one. He is the one that started that snow ball rolling. I have no answer because when the Rap Sheet started talking about inside wholesale prices and giving that information to the public, it created that problem and I do not think there is any way to heal that situation up.
Dave: There seems to be a lot of conflict between people who are long-established members of the trade or the science of gemology and people who are new. Are those of us who are new to gemology acting disrespectfully, or are we failing to give credit where credit is due? Is there a good way to bridge this gap so that we can work together with people whose experience would be a great asset for us?
Robert: The new folks NEED to get outside of the box and bring in new ideas, new concepts, and new ways of thinking. That the andesine issue lasted for 6 years was due to a total failure of the establishment to do the needful thing to make sure issues were handled correctly. We need the new people in the industry to question the establishment, dare to make changes, and don’t take no for an answer when you work on new concepts.
Dave: What advice would you give someone who just completed their RG, or GG, or other gemological credentials today? How would you steer them in the right direction, and what would you tell them about growing their business, their reputation, and their understanding of the science?
Robert: Wow. This one would take a book. My main recommendation is to do something you love doing. This business is a difficult one to make a living in right now, too many people needing to buy petrol and food, making gemstones just that much more difficult to sell. So you need to do something you enjoy so you will be able to stay with it during the bad as well as good times. And above all else, remember that your gemological education never stops. Never! There are always new developments, new treatments, new gemstones on the market, always something new to learn. You must always keep your education going in order to stay ahead of your competition.
Dave: I was really surprised when my friendship with an Iranian stone broker here in Chanthaburi created so much of a stir online. Can you offer advice to people in the trade about dealing with countries who are under embargo, whether it be Iran, Burma, or any other country that is subject to economic sanctions?
Robert: If you live in the US , there is a list of countries that you cannot do business with. Check with the US Treasury Department for that list. And know that they are serious. Been there, done that.
Dave: Thanks very much for spending this time with me Robert. I wish you luck with the school and with all of your pursuits.
Robert: It has been my pleasure Dave. I wish you all the very best with your endeavors and want you to know that if we can ever be of assistance the ISG is always at your service.
What an amazing day I had today…it was just plain fun! Somebody is looking out for me. First, two friends of mine came to visit me and show me some rough. We trade favors- I sometimes identify stones for them when they are not sure, and they show me the rough that they have and give me an idea of what to expect as far as yield, cost, and sometimes toss in some tips on buying rough. In the future I want to do more cutting of rough material and less recutting of stones that are already poorly cut. But there is a chasm of risk that is not easy to negotiate. If it turns out that these friends of mine are legitimate and I learn from doing some favors and then some business with them that they are to be trusted, it could be a mutually beneficial relationship that also benefits you as my customers. And if they really stick it to me I will be sure to share that as well. See- this is win-win-lose, or win-win-win. You, the reader, always win. The friends of mine from Guinea always win. It’s just me who has his neck on the line. Anytime someone has his head on the chopping block and he offers you some advice, listen well. It’s bound to be from the heart.
Let’s take a look at what the fellas brought to my office.
This is about a kilogram of sphene- 5,000 carats. That’s a lot of sphene, friend. It’s probably more than I have ever seen at one time. Now mind you I’m not that big into rough, but a KILOGRAM of sphene! Wow. I better never go to Tucson. I would lose my mind.
This is a little closer look at it.
Here’s a really fun crystal that I picked from the parcel. No, I didn’t buy it. I would be embarassed to ask to buy less than 20 or 30% of any parcel! Not that I will not do it- because sometimes when I see a parcel with 20% nice stuff and 80% junk I will do just that. It just makes me feel like a small-time dealer. Don’t tell anyone- OK? I’m just a small-time dealer!
This is a parcel of Mali garnet. There were a few small pieces in here with color that was extraordinary. But by and large, it was just small C-grade material in my humble estimation.
Why do I love rough so much? I don’t know. I wanted to pick up two handfuls of these little rounded pebbles and rub them all over my face but I thought that it would creep out my friends from Guinea so I held back.
Yeah- Mali just like that. Only stones that weigh 20 carats each, and super-clean, and just that exact same color. I’d like a kilogram. How much? Uhhhhhh… let me get back to you on that one….
Quite the range of color in this parcel of Mali. But they were small, and when I put the fiber optic to them…
There was a lot to see. You want to see very little inside, but in this case…
…no sale. But this is about education anyhow, so no loss. It is an investment in time for everyone involved, but trust me when I say that time comes along every single day here in Thailand. It’s not the hustle-bustle world of the Western cities, or the hurried pace of East Asia. Down here we take it easy- work or play.
Did I grab your attention with that chocolate opal? Ohhhh it would be mean not to show you. Let me see what I can do. Maybe just a single piece here and you have to wait for them to come up on auction if you want more pictures. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, you know!
Thanks for stopping by The Gem Vault and please come back anytime!
Ahhh, what lofty heights I have reached as a gemologist! What fun it is to live in Thailand, in the gemstone market town of Chanthaburi no less, and preach the word of gemology to the masses. What a pleasure to share with you my sage advice on treatment methods, market ups and downs and changes, the latest material that is here and that which is not. What fun it is to answer questions on Allexperts.com about all kinds of gemological topics and all sorts of jewelry and related topics. It’s good to be King!
Why, you too can attain such status. Just go to gemology school and study hard- live, breathe, and eat gems day and night. Read all you can online and meet as many people in the trade and the science as you can, young man or woman. Heck, old man or woman this applies to you as well! You could be me one day!
Has the parody hit you yet? I am hoping that you caught it early but you never know as it is a diverse crowd that reads my blog. I have to say it really is interesting living here in Thailand, and the market is wonderful. But there are other stories to be told, and the one I will tell you today is a good one. It begins just before the flood last week, and there was a lot of hustle and bustle about this market as some people bought, some sold, and some were preparing in one way or another for the onslaught of water.
I was rushing around after my morning coffee trying to prepare to go out of town and my mind was full of the prospects that such an adventure brings. I had some clothes packed up and had a lot of work done. I did not manage to get to breakfast, and it was well past lunchtime. There was a wave of dizziness that told me I should stop at one of the food stalls next to my soi (small street). As I settled in front of a large bowl of chicken noodle soup, I struck up a conversation with a man whose English was not bad at all. It’s always nice to chat with the friendly locals.
“Where you stay” he wanted to know.
“Soi Kachang Hok” was my reply. He understood that I meant street Kachang 6.
“Offit” he asked next. In other words, is this your office?
“Krab”, or yes was my answer. He wanted to know what I buy, and I rattled off some stones like tourmaline and garnet and others- with the addition of “Soo-ai-mak-mak”. I designated that I wanted very beautiful stones. So, he pulls out this amazing looking stone and declares “Tuh muh leen”.
I know tourmaline. Inside and out, I know it. I have been buying it for years. Some of the most wonderful to my eye (and many of my customers’ as well it seems) is parti-colored. There are bands of different colors that alternate. As he handed me the stone I was well into my noodle soup and feeling a lot better. It was a nice day in spite of the threatening flood waters and the sun was shining even as the river rose courtesy of the seawater backing up and last nights rains flowing down from the mountains.
This stone was big. Really big. Over twenty-five carats. The dominant color was green- not my favorite- but the bands were sharp and I could see colorless, yellow, and some golden bronze zones in the mix. Wow. This was a hot stone. This was cool. This was fabulous. This would bring a lot of money. He gave me a price, and I laughed out loud but inside I was thinking- wow- he doesn’t know how much collectors pay for this material. He really doesn’t know. I offered him less- much less. He stammered and thought. I told him to see me in my office after my soup.
Did the sun get even brighter as I finished the soup and thought of the amazing stone that I was about to buy, and then all of the fun I would have in my travels later that day? I think it did, and there was a breeze as well. It was a lovely day. In the midst of culture shock and all of the touble that brings, there are often some great days when your spirits are high and you feel you made great choices. As any fine gemologist would, of course.
He brought the stone to me shortly after I returned to my office and we sealed it up with my signature on the tape and my offer price on the package. “I speak ownuh” he said, meaning he would take it to the owner for approval. When he returned 20 minutes later he gave me the customary “Ownuh yes” and the deal was done. I paid him and darn if that day didn’t feel even better.
I had some errands to run but I couldn’t resist stopping by to see some friends and showing off my treasure. WOW. That was the reaction- WOW. Great stone. Strolling around and being proud was surely in order. It was my due, of course. I had paid all of that money and made all of those sacrifices and studied hard. I was a GG, a real Graduate Gemologist and living here to boot.
During my victory lap I ran into Ning, a favorite Thai dealer of mine who has sold me many things. I showed her the stone. She looked, and then said “Not tuh muh leen.”
“What?” I said in near total disbelief. She must be wrong. “What, Ning?”
“Hydro.” The word hung in the air like a judge handing down a sentence. Hydro. I heard it again, even though she said it only once. Hydro. Hydrothermal. Solution process synthetic- quartz. No. Couldn’t be. She handed it back with a bit of a grin, but not so much that I thought she wanted me to suffer. She has been a dealer here for a very long time. She knows how it all works.
I walked very briskly back to my office and pulled out the refractometer which had been at arm’s length when I paid for that stone. I tapped the drop of RI fluid off using the side of the bottle and then dabbed a bit on the metal beside the hemicylinder. One tiny dab on the glass itself and we are in business. I kicked on the light and slid the stone onto the glass. As the shade cutoff came into view my heart sank. And I hated that man with his passable English and easy smile. I hated him.
It’s not easy to be a gemologist. And it’s not easy to swallow your pride and write an entry like this one. But there is a reason that you are here and reading it. It’s not because I’m a genius or because I’m perfect. It’s not because of my education or my great business sense or any thing at all that is great about me. It’s just because I’m willing to tell the truth even when it hurts. And when you come here to the blog, you know you will learn something. It might be about equipment or the market or the science of gemology or just about Dave. But surely, when you come here, you will learn. And that is all I can offer you.
Now let’s look at some pictures of this devil stone and talk about why I will never make this mistake again, and why you will never make it the first time.
Big, beautiful, and cheap. Choose only two of the three. A big stone might be cheap but then it is not beautiful. A beautiful stone might be cheap, but it will not be big. And a big, cheap stone will not be beautiful. This stone, of course, was the exception. It was big and cheap but ONLY beautiful to my customers. It was an ideal profit opportunity. This reminds me of Vincent Pardieu quoting his gemology instructor in Burma who said “Greed and ignorance are the two demons that await you at the gem market.”
Grasshopper- why do the bands go the wrong way? Usually a tourmaline crystal grows up into the void in a pegmatite and as the liquid solution trapped in that void crystallizes the stone is formed. But when the solution changes components, the color changes. The problem here is this would have to be a very wide fat short crystal. It is possible, but not likely. It would be better to orient the colorless seed plate the other way if they want to be tricky. Then again, they were tricky enough to fool me.
Think about that void again- the space of air or liquid in a pegmatite. And let’s say that yes, we really do have a short, fat tourmaline crystal. But do you see how it is symmetrical? That’s a problem. The story would have to go like this. The void fills with a solution that makes a green crystal. Then it would have to change- for a very short time- to make that yellowish zone. Then it would have to change to make that gold zone. Then the clear zone. So far, this is how parti-colored tourmaline is formed so no major feat- but rare, sure. Now here is the really unlikely thing. The void would then have to produce a colorless zone in the middle, and start all over IN REVERSE and produce an identical golden zone of the same thickness, and then an identical yellow zone, and then a green zone again. That doesn’t happen in nature.
This is a nice view of the zones, and of course what we see in the middle is the seed plate. Now this makes sense. Because the seed plate is suspended in the liquid, it will grow exactly the same zones of color on both sides. It’s immersed. It becomes a perfect symmetrical crystal.
If you look in the green zones in the various photos above- closest to the yellow or golden bronze zones- you will see lines. Those are twinning planes. Note that they are so even and beautifully spaced. ALARM ALARM ALARM. Tourmaline generally does not show twinning and for a stone to show so much like this would be extraordinarily unusual to say the least. Such lines could be mistaken for zones of different saturation as sometimes occurs in parti-colored tourmaline. But they are just too perfect.
I suppose a summary is in order. Don’t believe your eyes. You have all heard that before, of course- never to identify a stone on sight. At the same time, many stones are bought and sold by sight here in the market in Chanthaburi. So if you are going to do that fine, but make sure that every single bit of information that you glean from a stone by sight agrees with what you are buying. In this case, the stone would not have passed that test. Also the microscope would have told me so much had I used it! Tourmaline has a lot of liquid inclusions and I have seen so many of them under the scope I know pretty quickly when something is not right.
Also we know the results of the RI even though I didn’t mention it above- 1.55 just like we would expect from quartz. Perhaps the biggest lesson is that gemological tests are wonderful, and even better when applied with your senses (including common sense) but do all of this BEFORE you pay, not after. Wait- that isn’t the biggest lesson at all. The biggest lesson is to keep coming back to The Gem Vault and reading my blog. Because even when I make really bizarre, silly mistakes I am willing to share it with you and that is of value.
This happens very regularly. A customer buys a stone from me, or sees one that I have for sale. “I want one just like that, except round. Do you have one?” Most often the answer is no. And the next question is “Will you tell me when you get one?” And of course I will! But when the conversation veers toward price this is when I start to lose people in the gemological quagmire. Why would a round stone be more expensive than an oval? And why so MUCH more? And why might it take you a year or more to find one?
First, we need to think about dust. When gemstones are cut, the piece that is left is the gemstone and everything that is ground away is the dust. Both the gemstone and the dust have value- and that value is the same. Huh? What is wrong with this fool??? OK, think of it this way. Maybe you remember that parcel of Burmese ruby that I showed you a couple of posts back. We can use that because it illustrates this point so well. My neighbor owned the parcel. He bought it with cold, hard cash which is the instrument of choice here in Chanthaburi at least as far as the gemstone trade goes. Just like gold, or flour, or sugar- gemstones are bought and sold by the weight. He had to pay for every rough carat- not finished carat!! When he finished cutting those stones, and grinding so much of the valuable weight into dust- the person who sold the parcel of rough did not run up to him and say “Oh! Sorry about all that dust! Here is a bunch of money to compensate you.”
As a buyer of gemstone rough, it is your responsibility to consider the weight of the dust when you buy a parcel of rough. You also have to factor in the amount of good stones vs. poor stones, the loss from fractures or other unforeseen abnormalities that may crop up after the cutting has begun. How good is your cutter at retaining weight from the rough stones? That is a critical factor. How demanding are your customers regarding light return? If you are selling to one market the answer is not the same as another. Good light return means more lost weight. Do your customers mind lopsided or out-of-shape stones? That is another huge issue. If you just have to round off the stones, you can keep most of the weight. Do your customers want to buy a pyramid-shaped ruby? No? Then factor in plenty of extra loss for the parts of the finished gem that deviate from the shape of a pyramid!
I sent some sapphires to my mother as gifts for my cousins recently. She liked them, but wanted round instead of pear-shaped, and just a little bit bigger. Whoa! This means a big difference in price! Take a look at these diagrams that I so artfully drew onto a ruby crystal. Can you see how much dust there will be left on the ground to make mom’s round ruby? Now look at the oval shape, and the pear shape. Big difference, right? There are very, very few rubies on the market that are round. It’s not because people do not want them- it is because they are not willing to pay for all that dust on the ground. It’s not easy for people to digest that a one-carat round stone is worth the same as perhaps a 1.5 carat pear. But since you cut both from the same size rough crystal, it makes sense doesn’t it? They consume the same amount of rough.
Of course not all rough is shaped like corundum rough. And not all corundum rough is the same. But overall, the closer you are to a pyramid the cheaper your stone can be. And with tourmaline, the closer you are to a triangle (viewed from the end of the finished stone) the more efficient the weight retention is. If you buy beautiful stones, you have to pay for dust. There is no way around it. I have to pay, so everyone down the line from me has to pay. If you want tourmaline that just has the natural crystal face ground off but has no shape of its own- no shape that resembles what you think of as a gemstone- this is cheap. Let me know. I can have those custom cut for you!!!
Thanks for stopping by the blog for a visit. I appreciate that you are here and that you continue to support my efforts. As always, feel free to send me a note and say hello, or ask me a question. I’m not a big dealer so I’m not a big deal. I have time for you.
Take care,
I bought this stone two days ago and I’ve been staring at it ever since. It rocks. It is gorgeous. I’m swimming in a sea of junk tourmaline here in Chanthaburi so when a stone like this comes across my desk it really grabs my attention.
It’s easy on the eyes, don’t you agree? This material comes from Nigeria and in spite of the riveting color it has no copper content. Also, I will be selling this stone as heat+radiation which is the typical life history of stones with such color. Virtually all rubellite currently on the market is heated first to remove color, and then irradiated to bring beautiful and much moreintense color back.
Please, do not make the mistake of assuming that because this stone is treated it is not rare or unusual. I can assure you that I see precious little of this in the market here. In fact, just take a look at my old blog posts or auctions to try to find such a beautiful stone! There aren’t any.
Take a look at reputable sellers on eBay and try to find such stones. You will see sellers with feedback percentages below 99% selling them- but the photos are doctored to remove glaring inclusions and the hue and saturation are toyed with to make the prettiest picture. Fortunately for me, the prettiest picture does not make the most satisfied customers.
It is a highly competitive market out there among dealers who are vying for business from collectors. We know that you will pay well for stones that fill an empty spot in your collection, but we all have a little different way of going about getting your dollars. I tend to be pretty direct and perhaps that appeals to the no-nonsense collector. But the masters of this art are the colored stone shopping channels. They can create a flourish of words and stones that makes people run for their credit card and the cordless phone. But I want to meet the needs of the discerning collector and the ones who realize that the stones they bought a year or two ago have lost their luster. I want to sells stones that have a meaningful place in a collection long-term, and won’t be relegated to a shoebox as prettier stones come in the mail. That is not an easy task given the current market.
This is a very tough time for the colored stone market. As you might know, while colored stone deposits tend to be small and mined with primitive methods, this does not mean that every site is a group of men in loincloths swirling river gravel around in bamboo pans. Most mines use electricity for lights or water pumps or basic machinery. Oil is expensive these days, and that makes everything more expensive- gemstones included. Caught in the middle are dealers like me who want quality stones and my customers who want good prices.
Also consider that I don’t usually offer material like this because of the risk. Especially at 1 cent starting price, the potential for loss is great. I’m a small dealer and this must be a consideration for me. We will see how stones like this go, and hopefully I will be able to offer more and more two to five carat stones in the near future. Being here in Thailand is a big advantage for me as I do not have to pay for those airline tickets back and forth anymore. I am very pleased with this decision and I hope that you begin to see how it is changing the stones that I offer for sale. The money that I used to spend on expenses can now be invested in stones and that will benefit you and me!
One way to let me know what you want to see more of is with your bids! But another way is just to send me a note or click the “comment” link on one of my posts here on the blog. Tell me what you are looking for, or what you are having a hard time finding from other dealers. I will do my best to find it and offer it on eBay or sell it to you directly. Don’t be shy- I’m not such a hard guy to talk with. Thanks for stopping by the blog. I appreciate the time that you spend here and I know that I am lucky to have you. Because of customers like you I can pursue my passion, and I can do it in a place like Chanthaburi.
Take care,
