2010.1 | 2009.3 | 2009.2 | 2009.1 | 2008.3 | 2008.2 | 2008.1 | 2007.3 | 2007.2 | 2007.1
2006.3 | 2006.2 | 2006.1 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000
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Pala International president Bill Larson will address the 2010 Tucson Meeting of The Society of Mineral Museum Professionals on the subject of Gem Crystals – Mogok, Burma. The meeting will be held during the annual extravaganza of gem and mineral shows in Tucson in late January and early February. The public is welcome to attend.
The Society of Mineral Museum Professionals (SMMP) is an international organization of mineral museum curators and others with related interests. SMMP is a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation incorporated under the non-profit laws of the State of Arizona.
Event: SMMP 2010 Tucson Meeting
When: Thursday, February 11, 4–5 p.m.
Where: Tucson Convention Center
Tucson hosts the world’s greatest gem and mineral show in February. One-stop general information about individual shows can be obtained from the Tucson EZ-Guide.
Pala International will be represented in Tucson as follows. We look forward to seeing our many friends there. Visit the Pala International Show Schedule for future events.
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Pala joins nearly 100 exhibitors for this annual extravaganza. Some highlights from the schedule that may interest mineral lovers and dealers:
Event: AGTA GemFair
When: February 2–7
Where: Tucson Convention Center
Pala International Booth: 1016–1018
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Pala International and two dozen other world-class mineral dealers shack up at a Sonoran Desert resort.
Event: 9th Annual Westward Look Mineral Show
When: February 5–8
Where: Westward Look Resort
Pala International Suite: 236
See Pala International’s page on the Westward Look Show site.
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TGMS is the largest gem and mineral show in the country. This year’s theme is “Gems and Gem Minerals”—a Pala International specialty.
Event: 55th Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
When: February 11–14
Where: Tucson Convention Center
Pala International Booth: Aisle 5 East
Ronald Ringsrud has informed us that the Geo-Literary Society will host a book signing (Emeralds, A Passionate Guide) and lecture by Ringsrud in the Crystal Ballroom at the Tucson Convention Center during the TGMS, Friday, February 12, at 3:30 p.m.
The next day, Saturday, February 13, Richard Wise will appear at TGMS at 11:00 a.m., with a signing (The French Blue) and talk on “The History and Mystery of the Hope Diamond.” [back to top]
The I-10 Widening Project is complete; therefore the Gem Ride shuttle is discontinued. Many shows, however, will offer their own shuttles. View your transit and parking options here. [back to top]
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| Previews. Above, a promotional piece for the upcoming exhibition. Below, a preliminary floorplan. Click on thumbnails to view full size. (Images courtesy San Diego Natural History Museum) |
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The San Diego Natural History Museum is opening an exciting new exhibit for all those gem lovers out there. “All that Glitters: The Splendor & Science of Gems and Minerals” will include mineral specimens, faceted gemstones, and designer jewelry. It tells the story from the formation of gems within the Earth to Man’s creations employing all the wonderful gem materials. The exhibit will appropriately focus on the fascinating array of gems and minerals found in San Diego County, along with a wide variety from major gem producing regions around the Earth.
Over 100 gems and mineral specimens will be provided by Pala International. Prominent names in the industry like Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, and Cartier will provide a wide range of original jewelry pieces. Harvard University, the Smithsonian, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston all will be adding to the extravaganza with more jewels and mineral specimens.
The exhibit opens May 15, 2010 and is scheduled to run through April 2012. “In addition to demonstrating the ‘splendor and science of gems and minerals,’ All That Glitters will have a playful side,” says Exhibition Curator and Graduate Gemologist Elise B. Misiorowski. “Jewels and carvings incorporating natural-history themes will give children as well as adults delightful surprises to hunt for. How many jeweled butterflies, birds, and flowers can you find? Which case contains the Faberge carved pig with diamond eyes?”
See the exhibition website for a look at the efforts underway to construct display installations as well as some of the pieces that will be included in the exhibition. The show’s inaugural week will culminate with the All That Glitters Gala. “The All That Glitters exhibition will seduce visitors with the beauty of these precious objects and fascinate them with the science of their formation, and the Gala will delight revelers with exquisite food, beautiful ambience and fantastic entertainment,” said Ellen Zinn, museum board member and Gala Chair, according to a press release containing more Gala details. [back to top]
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CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has added “Ruby Day” to a line-up of gemological mini conferences that the organization plans to feature at future congresses. “Ruby Day” at next month’s congress in Munich will focus on new and old deposits as well as new research findings associated with ruby treatments. The conference is to include such topics as:
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| Déjà vu. This photograph is included in the “Ruby Day” press release. Pala Gem News readers will have seen another view of this nearly 40-gram Montepuez, Mozambique ruby in our last edition. (Photo: Vincent Pardieu/GIA Laboratory, Bangkok, 2009) |
Subject matter and findings of presentations and articles will be added to the CIBJO Blue Book system, which aims to advance universal standards and terminology in the gem and jewelry industry. “CIBJO Blue Books are a definitive set of standards for the methodology, nomenclature and the trade practices of diamond, coloured stones, pearls and precious metals,” explains a recent press release.
See the congress website for details. [back to top]
See how Vincent Pardieu and colleagues marked the New Year at the ruby mines and markets of Pailin, Cambodia, and the sapphire mines and markets of Chanthaburi, on Fieldgemology.com. [back to top]
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| Image courtesy Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien |
The Wittelsbach-Graff diamond will be coming out of a 50-year hibernation from the public eye and be unveiled in the Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals in the Smithsonian. The stone will be on loan to the National Gem Collection, which includes the Hope Diamond. Rumor has it the Wittelsbach-Graff and the Hope diamond were both found in the Golconda mine in India; scientists will explore this possibility while the two are under one roof.
The Wittelsbach-Graff diamond weighs 31.06 carats and has a very rare, fancy deep blue color (Type IIb) and is internally flawless according to GIA. This remarkable diamond has a colored past, first being illustrated in 1664 when it was given by Philip IV of Spain at the time his daughter, the Infanta Margarita Teresa (portrayed here by Diego Velázquez), was engaged to Emperor Leopold I of Austria. Then in 1722 the diamond changed hands to the Wittelsbachs, members of the ruling House of Bavaria. In 1931 the crown jewels of the House of Wittelsbach were sold through a Christie’s auction. Laurence Graff eventually bought the 35.56-carat blue diamond at auction in London and recut the stone to its current weight of 31.06 carats to enhance the brilliance, clarity, and grade. Thus he was compelled to rename it the Wittelsbach-Graff.
See the Smithsonian website for details. [back to top]
This month we feature a Burmese red spinel with a single octahedral crystal, in conjunction with the theme of this year’s Tucson Gem and Mineral Show: gem crystals. As the world opens its eyes to new gem varieties, spinel is standing at the front of the line, intense and beautiful. Nothing better than a good ol’ fashioned flame-red spinel. This spinel exhibits the best Burma has to offer, with a slightly orangey red hue, high saturation, and a pleasing cushion cut.
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| Crystal & jewel: 2.24-carat Burmese faceted red spinel, 8.3 x 7 x 5.1 mm,, with 15-carat Burmese spinel crystal, 17 x 12 x 10.5 mm. Inventory #16655. (Photo: Mia Dixon) |
As we see many deposits producing fine spinels these days, with Tanzania, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka, to name a few, nothing quite compares to some of the rich reds that are produced in Burma.
Interested? Select the inventory number above, call (telephone numbers below), or email us to inquire. [back to top]
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Last month, we featured Will The Younger’s report on the phenomenon of Mineralientage München. This month we look towards another world-class venue, Tucson and, among other things, the appearance of the elder Larson’s take on the Munich show, courtesy of the Russian journal, Mineralogical Almanac. If all goes as planned, the Almanac’s Ludmila Cheshko and Michael Leybov will have copies in tow, at the show.
We’ve seen a proof of the nicely illustrated article, which shines the spotlight on the Indian Exposition, the centerpiece of the 2009 Munich show. Munich this year featured some colossal mineral specimens. “It’s amazing to see the many tons of relatively perfect Indian mineral specimens which would be somewhat common if not for their enormous size,” Larson writes. “There are Stilbites, Quartzes, Quartz geodes, Calcites, Apophyllite in large formations rarely seen.”
As we stressed in our pre-show news item in October, the Munich show has much to offer fans of colored gemstones. A companion article by Jacques Touret, of Paris’s Musée de Minéralogie–Ecole des Mines, includes a page of faceted and sculpted beauties: luscious Mahenge spinels, 25–40 carats, and two aquamarine carvings—a 15–20-cm gold-beaked, sapphire-sighted falcon perched on a ruby-topped pedestal of gold and jasper, and a “frozen” aquamarine, which, at 15,950 carats, surely melted the hearts of its viewers.
See Mineralogical Almanac for more information. [back to top]
On December 17, John Koivula was presented with the Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) highest tribute to an individual, the Richard T. Liddicoat Award for Distinguished Achievement. GIA President and CEO Donna Baker, who presented the award, noted, “The Richard T. Liddicoat Award for Distinguished Achievement goes to an individual who truly embodies the characteristics that made Mr. Liddicoat so great, and who sets an example for all of us in our service to the industry and the public.”
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| Donna Baker presents an image of John Koivula and Richard T. Liddicoat. (Image: Kevin Schumacher/GIA) |
In accepting the award, Koivula said, “This award, named after Richard T. Liddicoat, has a very special meaning. Mr. Liddicoat was one of a small number of special people that built and strengthened GIA’s international gemological reputation through decades of hard and innovative work. I was extremely fortunate to have known him, and I considered him to not only be an excellent teacher, but also a very good friend. Gemology is a great profession. I would be doing this anyway even if I was not being paid because this is what I love to do,” he said. Koivula currently is being paid by GIA as the institute’s Chief Research Gemologist, but it goes without saying that he would receive the award anyway because of his his stature in the field of gemology, due to his groundbreaking research and innovations in the laboratory.
Koivula’s writing should be well known to our readers; he has authored or co-authored more than 800 articles. With the late Dr. Eduard Gübelin, Koivula produced all three volumes of Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones, but one title he has written or contributed to. His resumé is colorful and rich, including work on the development of a television series. For more on Koivula’s career, see the GIA website. [back to top]
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Bad time to go entrepreneurial? Apparently not for Dr. Eric Erel, the director of Carat Gem Lab, which opened its doors on January 4, in a suburb of Metz, in the northeastern région of Lorraine. While this Gallic city has roots that date back to pre-Roman Celts (known as the Mediomatrici, from whom Metz derives its name), Dr. Erel studied there for years in fields that are hardly prehistoric. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees in molecular physics and chemistry from the University of Metz. We should note the city’s other cutting-edge door-opening this year—of the Centre Pompidou–Metz (yes, associated with that other Centre Pompidou).
Erel spent four years studying the characterizations of trace elements in minerals and laser ablation processes at the school’s Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse et de Chimie Laser. He also studied natural and synthetic gemstone characterization. The last six years have been spent at Vancouver’s European Gemological Laboratory followed by the Gübelin Gemological Laboratory in Lucerne. He has authored and co-authored articles on diamonds and colored gemstones, several of which are posted, covering topics of interest to our readers. Also browse the lovely Gallery. [back to top]
We can draw a fine portrait, but can we draw life?
—from a South Indian devotional poem by Allama Prabhu
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As indicated by the evolving career of Carat Gem Lab’s director, a grounding in the science of Gemology is requisite in the laboratory. But how to account for the fact that, as John L. Emmett points out in a new article, “with few exceptions, gemologists have not received formal scientific training”?
Richard W. Hughes offers an initial response: “In my opinion, the decision to purchase a gem is based more on emotion than analysis.”
Gemology involves analysis and aesthetics, left-brain and right-brain skills and sixth-senses. A duality prone to mesh and clash. In “Betwixt Two Worlds: A search for gemology in the 21st Century,” Emmett and Hughes explore a field that is enhanced by and sometimes diminished by human nature. [back to top]
Last month we pointed to Vincent Pardieu’s expedition to the ruby mines of Mozambique. This month, we look at a lab report from The Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand Gem Testing Laboratory (GIT-GTL). The accompanying photomicrographs were taken for the lab by Wimon Manorotkul, Pala’s former resident photographer.
Chemical compositions of Mozambique ruby were found to be similar to those of Winza, Tanzania, and other east African localities. Heat treatment can be detected chemically, as in other localities worldwide.
Characteristics revealed under microscopic examination were twin lamellar planes as well as extended needles of böhmite, as shown here.
The report is available from the home page of the GIT website.
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| Planes and needles. Above, lamellar twinning. Below, partially melted böhmite needles. Both samples were heat-treated. (Photomicrograph: Wimon Manorotkul, courtesy of GIT-GTL) |
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In our November issue, we mentioned in passing that Colored Stone, the bimonthly trade magazine, would begin its twenty-third volume with an all-digital, biweekly format. A risky move? Alas, it seems so…
According to an e-newsletter distributed last week by Gary Roskin’s eponymous Gem News Report, Colored Stone’s departure from the scene has been confirmed by David Federman, the e?-zine’s editor-in-chief. Roskin states that Colored Stone, which Federman has edited since his appointment in July 2007, will have no presence—physical or virtual, hard-copy or digital. Indeed, the magazine’s publisher, Interweave, does not include Colored Stone in its list of bead, gems, and jewelry periodicals.
Subscriptions are no longer available via the magazine’s website. Come to think of it, Colored Stone’s own GemMail e-newsletter ceased offering subscriptions to the magazine in early October, with ads for Interweave’s Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist taking up the slack.
Nevertheless, our January/February issue of Colored Stone was delivered on Friday along with the Tucson Show Guide. (A swan-song stack of that edition may yet await visitors to Tucson show venues.)
Some might have quibbled from time to time with what graced the pages of Colored Stone and GemMail, but that meant for engaging reading. Come what may, we wish David Federman and his crew all the best, especially at a time when the craft of publishing, as well as the trade of colored gemstones, both experience monumental challenges. [back to top]
— End January Newsletter • Published 1/18/10 —
2010.1 | 2009.3 | 2009.2 | 2009.1 | 2008.3 | 2008.2 | 2008.1 | 2007.3 | 2007.2 | 2007.1
2006.3 | 2006.2 | 2006.1 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000
Note: Palagems.com selects much of its material in the interest of fostering a stimulating discourse on the topics of gems, gemology, and the gemstone industry. Therefore the opinions expressed here are not necessarily those held by the proprietors of Palagems.com. We welcome your feedback.
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January 19, 2010
