Hydraulic sapphire mining in Pailin, Cambodia
Like many “field gemologists”, my interest in the subject developed by accident and seemingly out of nowhere. My interest in gems and minerals started in the late 1990’s while working on a remote island in the Pacific. Because of the island’s small size remote location, I could not pursue my normal interest in hunting and related activities. Luckily, I also enjoy fishing and Johnston Island probably has the finest ono fishing in the world.
The working and living conditions on the island allowed for a generous amount of spare time and disposable income. Others on the island had experimented with their extra cash by mail-ordering Australian opals. They did not have any experience in the business, so of course they were just throwing away their money. The idea of buying gems from all corners of the world seemed like an interesting idea to me since I love to travel. I took the job on the island in the first place just so that I could travel.
At first, the real benefit of buying gems on a holiday was getting a “valuable” souvenir. Over the years, I developed a rule to follow when it comes to buying souvenirs from a far away land: Don’t’ buy trinkets and when traveling light, buy small expensive things. Gemstones met the requirements perfectly!
My first purchase was on my initial trip to Thailand in 1999. There I paid a lot of money for poor quality rubies and sapphires from a shop on Silom. Although I did not realize my mistake at the time, I knew that I knew little-to-nothing about gems. Now that my interest was peaked, I began to read about gems in the consumer oriented buyer’s guides. As a scientist by profession, these books only increased my interest to a higher level.
Soon I was buying more and more technical books on gemology. I also researched what stones might be available in the country of my next visit. Regular visits to Thailand kept my interest high until my time on the island was coming to and end. After five years of having an once-in-a-lifetime vacation every two months, the project was over.
With the money I had saved, I planed to spend six months traveling through central Africa. I really had wanted to explore the African jungles, but a two or three week vacation was just not enough for such a trip. Now I would have time. However, there was an awful lot of fighting going on in the places I wanted to visit. This forced me to accept my second choice- attending a gemology course at the Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences (AIGS). Unknown to me at the time, this would become a critical turning point for me.
I knew that if I wanted to become competent in the study of gems, I needed to have some practical experience. I had learned as much theory as I could from the books, but I was still just a sheep in the gem markets. Some quality time looking at stones along with an instructor’s guidance is what I needed. AIGS turned out to be far more rewarding than any other second choice I had ever made.
While at AIGS, I was able to study hundreds of stones in the school’s collection. There were also many gem markets around the country where I could go to test my skills. I tried to take advantage of every weekend by going someplace to see what was available. By this time I can say that gemology was a growing into a keen interest.
Shortly after starting my studies with AIGS, I was introduced to an energetic character by my instructor. His name is Vincent Pardieu. Nowadays, he is a well known gemologist. Back then, he was working in the AIGS lab and starting up the online business Gemwow.com. I had the opportunity to work with him on this start-up project. Over the months, I was infected by his total passion for gemology. We had the opportunity to take a couple of fieldtrips together and I studied his way of collecting data. These were no longer weekend getaways.
His style of travel really struck me. Not only are these fieldtrips to collect information, they are a study of geography and anthropology. Finally I could travel with a purpose rather than following the average backpacker itinerary with only having the empty bragging rights of “been there, done that.”
Not only did these trips become much more satisfying intellectually, they combined yet another interest – photography. Taking pictures is a common hobby with the advent of digital cameras. Making photographs is still a skill that must be learned and practiced. It is yet another challenge and constant learning process.
I had the opportunity to take fulltime positions in gemology laboratories, but I have decided to keep my day job and practice gemology as a serious hobby. Many students in the field expect to become expert dealers or famous gemologists in no time. I never had these thoughts. Actually, I went to gemology school to buy some time before the beginning of a totally different three year project. Now it is difficult to believe that this entire gemology interest is just by accident.
Most of my vacations are dedicated to field trips to wherever I can afford to go. Gemwanderings is my outlet to share my knowledge and experiences. Hopefully you can find something of value in these pages.