How Do I Become A Gem Collector???

[wonka27]

This experience searching for an engagement diamond has really got my juices flowing about gemstones. I think this is an extremely interesting area and want to learn more.

So how does one get in the "game"? Is there books, courses, or what? I''m not saying I want to become a graduate gemologist (yet...I like my teaching position too much), but I''d love to maybe take this up as a hobbie.

Any suggestions from those doing it now or the professionals who visit the site?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

You might consider checking out the gem books at Barnes & Noble. They've got some great practical and enjoyable books on gems. The GIA website has an outstanding book selection, as well as enjoyable reading under their "Gems & Gemology" magazine highlights section.

Visting gem shows, jewelry stores and auction houses is a lot of fun too.

Then you can always surf the internet while you're taking it easy at home. There's no end to the info available. You might try starting out by reading the "buyers guides" offered at www.palagems.com. Great site, with lots of information.

 

[mogok]

Hello Wonka,

I understand what you feel and dream about: I was a little bit in the same situation few years ago while I was a tour guide in Europe and Asia. I was enjoying my work: Travelling to the most beautiful places in the world, a lot of free time, good income, meeting new people each trip: Great job...
I became addict with gemstones after meeting a Burmese gem lover in Mandalay which took me to Mogok. After this trip I decided to learn more about gems. I have begin buying some books but soon I've decided to come to spend some time where the gemstones are: In Asia in order to learn about gemology with people that live from the gem trade... The other point was also that learning about gems in Asia cost much less than in europe or USA and you can see and learn much more in a short time!
It was a great experience! It has changed my life... and I'm very happy with that!

All the best,

 

[wonka27]

Thanks to both of you for your advice and inspiration.

I really think I may look into this, because I have no real hobbie. Everyone else in my family and my g/f's family is a collector of something. I think it is time for me to get in the game

 

[WinkHPD]

Be sure to visit www.Concavegems.com. Richard's work is seriously worth collecting!

Wink

 

[Cave Keeper]

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On 7/16/2004 9:22:32 PM wonka27 wrote:

:
So how does one get in the 'game'? Is there books, courses, or what? I'm not saying I want to become a graduate gemologist (yet...I like my teaching position too much), but I'd love to maybe take this up as a hobbie.
:
----------------

With so much information on the World Wide Web, you don't need to spend any money on books initially. All you need to do is use search engines and hyperlinks in articles you come across on the Net.

You should avoid spending any money on actual specimens and equipment for quite a while. Just surf and look at all the sites which have been set up by educational institutions, dealers and dedicated hobbyists. Many dealers have information facilities which serve to provide you with some knowledge about the thing that you wish to know more about. Some others have pretty encyclopaedic libraries, complete with high-definition color images.

I recommend you explore eBay and exploit it to mine information related to what you're interested in. Many of the sellers on eBay give very helpful descriptions of their products, and information relating to them. Eventually familiarity with those sellers may lead you to their own websites where you can find out more about the products they handle. And when you're serious about the less expensive things from $0 to $10,000, you may find bidding at eBay less expensive than buying directly from the nromal dealers' sites.

Even then, initial expenses may be heavy if you need a paper-based filing system and a heavy-duty color printer, plus hundreds of folders and reams and reams of plain paper to make copies of whatever you see on the Net!

The images of your object of attention can be so highly seductive, so much so that when you receive the parcel containing what you ordered, you might say, "Oh, no, so that's how it really looks like?". on opening the parcel and seeing that object for the first time. So, if you can, complement your Internet activities with some window-shopping at the local mall. If possible, do more travelling so that you are able to see the objects you think you are really interested in before you commit yourself to it. That way, you won't make a mistake like some people may with mail-order brides.

After the initial month or two, perhaps then you can be surer about how you should go about seriously getting into gem collecting. BTW, I'm only about 3 weeks into this hobby myself, so take my advice with a pinch of salt!

All the best!

 

[wonka27]

Wink - I'll be sure to check out that site.

Cave Keeper - Thanks for the advice from your vantage point

 

[mogok]

Hello,
I dont really agree on internet to be such a reliable information source, the problem on internet is that most of the inofrmation is the lack of reference. Many website copy information from other website or from books that are out of date, there are also very frequently mistakes...
I think that forums are a very good place to learn, because the inofrmation post there are read by the other memebers and corrected if necessary: I remember once to have been "shoot" for a spinel treatment story, it was very constructive!
If you want to collect gemstones, you will soon spend several thousand dollars in gems so to spend few hundreds in reference books is not a stupid idea. These books will also help you if you begin to visit good discussion forums and want to be active. With these reference books you will be able to begin to answer questions correctly or verify the answers given by other people.
I recommend strongly to all my gemology students the following books:

First 2 very unexpensive books that are the complement of each other:
"Gemstones of the world" by Walter Schuman is a good field book
"Consumer guide to color gemstones" by david federman with excellent photos from Tino Hammid it is also not an expensive book

then if you want more complete and serious data:
"Gems, their sources, descriptions and identification" by Webster (5th edition) It is the gemstone trade best reference and this book is the bible.
"color encyclopedia of gemstones" by Joel Arem
"Gemstones, quality and value, volumes 1, 2 and 3" by Yasukazu Suwa

I will also add:
"Ruby and sapphire" from Richard Hugues which was my favorite books for the 4 years I spend before to decide to go to study gemstones were Richard has accumulated so much knowledge: In Thailand and Burma.

All the best,

 

[Cave Keeper]

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On 7/18/2004 12:57:23 AM mogok wrote:
Hello,
I dont really agree on internet to be such a reliable information source, the problem on internet is that most of the inofrmation is the lack of reference. Many website copy information from other website or from books that are out of date, there are also very frequently mistakes...
:
to spend few hundreds in reference books is not a stupid idea. These books will also help you if you begin to visit good discussion forums and want to be active. With these reference books you will be able to begin to answer questions correctly or verify the answers given by other people.
:
----------------

I totally agree with everything you say. I qualified my own statement with the word 'initially'. And, yes, one need to read between the lines and not accept everything described. Some descriptions are actually half-truths. But I was assuming our inquirer, a teacher, is already trained to think critically whenever he comes across the written word.

In fact, books can a much cheaper alternative to printing tons and tons of Internet-sourced material anytime on a per page basis. And of course their words carry more weight.

Mentioning books, I like books written by Antoinette L. Matlins. In one of her latest books, she really goes out on a limb to give her opinion of current prices, especially those about rare color gemstones currently in fashion. Just bear in mind her prices are for investment grade gemstones, not normal stuff being offered by those sites which seem to have thousands and thousands of stones on offer. Of course, those sites may also have gem-quality stuff on offer, but still I doubt they can be considered investment-grade (i.e., above jewelry (for wearing purposes) grade).

 

[wonka27]

So Internet for some basic background knowledge, but to really start getting serious and making some purchases, I should be reading bound literature?

 

[strmrdr]

It really depends on what you want to do,,,,,
If you want to collect high end stuff by all means get the books and put the time in.
But you could just as easy say for example start collecting different types of garnets of which there are a lot and most arent expensive and just start buying them.
There are enough places with them that you can get a good idea of the going price by shopping around.

Or start collecting different cuts of a given gemstone like Amethyst :}

But if you want to start with sapphire and or ruby it is going to take a ton of homework once you get beyond the it looks good stage.

 

[Sagebrush]

To become a gem connoisseur you must look at a lot of gems. Seems simple but there is no substitute for comparison. I suggest a simple approach. At gem shows most newbys tend to become overwhelmed. Like kids in a candy store they want to taste everything. Be disciplined. Pick a gem, any gem, say blue sapphire. Ignore everything other than blue sapphire and look at every one in every booth. Ask questions...prices! After you have seen a lot examine your preferences. Which did you like and why?

A few books will help you form a basis for understanding, categorizing and evaluating what you have seen. You need a context, a series of criteria to evaluate what you are seeing.

Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones by Richard W. Wise has been called a "master work" and a "tour de force" by the critics and it is, as the subtitle suggests a connoisseur's guide that will provide the tools for evaluation. In addition it has individual chapters illustrated with excellent photos of paradigm gemstones useful in providing a basis for comparison. www.secretsofthegemtrade.com

Precious Gems written in 1911 by Max Bauer and available for twenty bucks in a Dover Edition is still the best overall book on gems/gemology/locations/...ever written.

If you want to get heavily into Ruby & Sapphire buy Richard Hughes www.ruby-sapphire.com. Stephen Hofer's Collecting and Classifying Coloured Diamonds is encyclopediac is scope.

Ignore Schuman and especially Suwa. Photos stink and no systematic analysis.

 

[mogok]

----------------

Ignore Schuman and especially Suwa. Photos stink and no systematic analysis.----------------

Well Richard you are very hard here... I agree with the rest of your post but Schuman is a very good small book to begin, inexpensive, quite well done and easy to use while travelling: It was one of my first books about gems and i have find it useful for a while.
For Suwa I agree that some photos are not that great, but the stones that you see in most trade shows are of the same kind... There are several things that I also find not really great in this book, but for people that want to begin to learn about gems it is not useless... For me the main bad point for Suwa is the price... not the photos!

For "the secrets of the gem trade" I have to admit that I dont have read it yet (May be I spend too much time writting in forums...lol..) but I've heard very good comments on it by several people in the gemological school I teach in.

I will have to come to your website and order it on of these days...
Its several time I wanted to do it... but... well... Very busy!

All the best!