INTRODUCTION: It is quite a long text that you are about to read. But gemology is such a fancy domain that a simple "countryside Frenchman" like me could not have reach the point where I stay now without some long story behind.
The purpose of this text is to show to visitors interested in the gemological field that nothing is impossible if you really want something to happen. Doing something in gemology is not that easy, as it is a world of secrets, trust and traditions. There are nevertheless many ways to get in such domain; this following story is retracing my experience so far.
I've written this story as many times, after meeting students or traveling companions, I was asked the same question: How did you get to (such fancy thing as) gemology (or gemmology) and became a gemologist (or gemmologist)? Difficult question...
In fact this is simply the result of 2 things:
First, my permanent attempts to make my dreams become true.
Then because I was lucky to meet many wonderful people who helped me all along these years. I would like here to take this occasion to thanks them all. Without them I would be probably doing something completly different. They opened to me a door to the wonderful world of gemstones.
Thanks to them my vague dreams could take a precise shape. They gave me a passion for both gems and traveling. They have influenced my choices and finally they are still changing my life.

"Gem business is not about gemology or sciences, it's about people",

Thanks to all of you guys!

Vincent Pardieu, April 2005, Bangkok

1) FROM A FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE YOUTH TO A GLOBETROTTER: If I got a direct interest for gemstones on the late, my passion for nature came early: As soon as I was able to walk I was following my father and my mother in their walking spring and summer holidays in visiting French countryside and mountain areas. Both my parents were from farmer families even if they were not working directly in farming, they were respectively engineer and teacher; they transmitted me a deep love for countryside things. Then weekend after weekend, each autumn and winter, I also followed my uncle while hunting in woods and vineyards in the French countryside near Dordogne river. I soon developed a strong attraction for both walking and the wild. My uncle was not only hunting in France but frequently he was traveling to fancy places in Africa, Europe or America, bringing back home some wonderful exotic stories... To satisfy my infinite curiosity about the world surrounding me, my parents provided me as soon as I could read correctly a 20 volumes illustrated encyclopedia. This encyclopedia was the best gift a curious kid like me ever gets as it became along with books from Jules Verne, Joseph Kessel, Jack London and JRR Tolkien, my best friend. I got my very first interest about rocks and stones during summer holidays 1980 with my cousin Xavier Chone (now an expert in wine) while searching for fossiles and pyrite crystals near his family house in Lorraine. He introduced me to minerals while I gave him some fishing tricks. That summer I started a mineral collection and the next year I was easily passionate by geology at school. Wonderful summer!

My passions for history, geography, the wild, traveling and hunting gave me a short interest about military things. At the age of 18, I decided to join a French military academy as infantry cadet. But after completing the formation, I decided to spend my life doing something else than traveling carrying a gun. I decided to study sciences at Bordeaux University, France. Interested but not passionate by the subject, I was not a brilliant student: I've spend a lot of time practicing bow hunting and with a band of crazy friends: building an association organizing "Live Role Playing Games", which are a sort of interactive "historical or fantasy like medieval like" events, very popular in south west France, where medieval castles, cities and forest are plentiful.: Archery, riding , sword fighting and acting were globally more exciting to me than atoms and equations. At least they were filling my needs for action and contacts that my science studies were not able to fulfill. If these years were wonderful as I was sharing passions with friends, practicing sports, traveling... I was on the other hand still searching to give my life some sense without real success. To finance my hobbies I soon find a better job than teaching mathematics and physics: I became tour guide for a local tour operator: "Voyages De Maillard" based in Angouleme a lovely small French city. In five years I led more than 50 tours to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Germany, etc...
This great opportunity gave me the possibility to go to visit the world! While studying for my science master with physical chemistry as major, I decided to try to make my interests for sciences and traveling join and went to study few months at the University of Wales (UK) to finish my studies. Experimenting there real laboratory work, I got definitively convinced that devoting my life to the only practice of sciences was not a way to follow: It was nice and intellectually interesting to work in a chemistry laboratory but well my taste for communication and contact with different people was seriously unsatisfied.
I decided finally to stop for a while sciences in order to explore more the traveling possibilities. I decided to join a business school in Toulouse, France to get a general formation about business and especially tourism business. After graduation, I found a tour leader job for one of the main French Tour operators: FRAM based in Toulouse: I was lucky to be proposed to replace a missing guide to go to lead a trip... to Vietnam!
It was again a wonderful chance. The trip was a success and it was the beginning of 5 great years traveling as a FRAM tour leader. Vietnam and the rest of Asia became soon my specialty and each year I was taking regularly 2 or 3 months to explore by myself these countries in order to be more professional and knowledgeable while guiding tours.

But what about gems in all that could you ask me?

Well, if for a while my interest for natural things had to hibernate, on the other side my tour leader experiences gave me the chance to visit many museums and to get more interest in art and beauty. I had there my first real experiences with gemstones and jewelry visiting the treasures of the powerful in European capitals. But well: Gems were not really easy to access and I have to say that my real lack of knowledge about them did not make them looks that interesting or attractive to me at that time... I was not yet ready to taste their interest: To appreciate gems and especially colored gemstones my own experience made me think that there is a need for gemological education, even if to appreciate their beauty only a pair of eyes is necessary... So gems had to wait. But I had the occasion and the chance to meet on each trip many people with completely different backgrounds, from many different cultures and I had the chance and the possibility to communicate with them and learn a lot from their dreams, success, failures, regrets and interests. My love and interest for gems began by a deep curiosity for humanity, human passions and the diversity of human cultures.

2) BURMA: DISCOVERING GEM PEOPLE AND GEM CULTURE: My interest from gems really came out when my tour operator decided to open a new destination for 1998: Myanmar that was more known to me with this magic evocative name: "Burma" ... As I was specialized on Asia, I decided in Dec 1997 to go there first on myself in order to get some knowledge about the country to be send later there with a group. In order to prepare myself for this trip I decided to read again one of the books I had loved when I was around 12 years old: "La vallee des rubis" from Frenchman Joseph Kessel. It was about a valley named: Mogok... End January 1998, I went to Burma with two friends and there I had the chance to meet an incredible Burmese man. It was one of these magic encounter you read about in books: I was quietly writing on my diary, feeling the activity of the buffaloes taking out the wood from the water on the Irrawaddy river banks near Mandalay: He came to me aimed both by his curiosity and some personal interest. Poet and naturalist, he was in love for its country, its natural wonders that are its forests, its mountains and its gems. Simple and open we became immediate friends. But his immediate interest was to make me leave this place so he could with his friends give himself to his dark side: gambling and drinking... without a foreigner to witness this bad habit. He had the incredible life of many artistic people from such an "out of the common world" country that after the Second World War had experienced anarchy, civil war and military power. His name was U Phone Kyi: We spend the day together visiting islands and speaking about his country and our dreams on the Irrawaddy River. It was his way to take me out from his gambling den... The day after I decided to join him on a few days trip near Mogok, visiting sapphire mines and walking into the Burmese wild. This encounter and this trip changed my life as he shared with me his passion for Burmese gemstones and especially for star rubies and sapphires... This first experience in the gemological field, full of Burmese ways, gave me an immediate taste at the opposite of the typically western way to approach gemology as a pure instrumental science.

On the way back to Yangon, while slowly passing the days on a merchant boat descending the Irrawaddy River after regrouping with my two friends, I had the time to think about my life and these incredible days with U Phone Kyi. It became obvious to me that gems could be the connecting point of all my passions: Science, history, geography, art, exotic cultures, colorful people, traveling, languages, adventure... I had the feeling that I had finally found my way traveling the misty mountains around Mogok with an old Burmese guy!

In order to learn more about these gems that could change my life, I began to search for some books on the subject: Something more than just a basic book. I was happy to find on my way back to Europe one of the best book I've read in my whole life: "Ruby and sapphire", written by gemologist Richard W. Hughes. This book became my bible for several years. It was perfectly in my vision of a gemology as a complex secret domain mixed between human and pure sciences. It was about gems, alchemist like treatments, exotic countries, science, people, art... All that I had interest in was present. This book was a true revelation for me! It took me two more years to plan and finance my move from tourism to gems: A decisive trip was my return in Mandalay in December 1999 while studying Thai language in Chiang Mai: I decided to spend the turning of the century with U Phone Kyi, my Burmese friend! I went back to Burma and there spend 2 wonderful weeks with U Phone Kyi: We had great time together in Mandalay buying and speaking about gems, dreaming about future expeditions... He wanted me to go with him to the village he was once married in the northern Kachin jungle in order to capture an elephant and start a trip together through the Mountains of Kachin state and Nagaland to finally reach India... There we could sell the elephant and come back with enough money to begin some jade mining business. Or may be, more simply we could buy some gems near Mogok or some jade around Hpakant and then transport them through the misty mountains to Chinese Yunnan... I was captured by this simple old man for whom all these completely crazy projects were sounding like very natural things! This trip gave me the occasion to meet several dealers from Mogok and finally hear about a book about Mogok written by Ted Themelis. On my way back to Europe, while stopping in Bangkok, I went to visit Ted to try to buy one of his books. The deception for me was great as the book was not yet completed. Nevertheless I spend a complete day with Ted speaking a bout Burma, Mogok and Burmese gems! I then began to meet regularly Ted while passing in Bangkok on my tours to Asia. We became friends and I became one of his messengers between Bangkok and Burma, trying to help him on his fascinating project to write his book about Mogok. I was really happy to help him as much as I could on this project.

Ted send me one day to get some old photos from a Mogok gem dealer that had an office in the Burmese capital: Yangon. The dealer was U Kyaw Thaung. He was again a very rapid but deep friendship that was born: U Kyaw Thaung is a nice, easy and friendly speaking as many Burmese are. We had a good conversation, a great lunch and again a good conversation. Finally we agreed: I will come back this winter to study gemology along with his nephew and gem cutting with him and in exchange I will teach both of them about computers! U Kyaw Thaung advised me in order to get the best of my time while studying gems in Burma to find a "dark field loupe", a strange instrument that one of his American friends, a gem dealer named Bill Larson provided him. Along with this instrument that was so useful to study cut gemstones, I had to come with a good reference book about inclusions in order to get the best of my instrument... Finally in November 2000, I was back in Burma with my brand new dark field loupe, my classic bible: "Ruby and sapphire" and my new fantastic book about gemstones inclusions: The "Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones" from Prof Edward Gubelin and John Koivula. I never regretted these investments as even if the books and instruments were costly, they were containing so much useful knowledge that in fact I can say that they are cheap! Each morning for the next few months I spend then to study gemology from Burmese teachers at the Gem Genuine Association in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma), I was also initiated each afternoon by U Kyaw Thaung to Burmese traditional gem cutting when I was not scouting Yangon gem markets meeting people and Burmese gems. I spend there five fabulous months living as a Burmese among U Kyaw Thaung wonderful family, learning with them seriously gemology the "Burmese way". U Kyaw Thaung was like a brother to me, welcoming me in his house, I learned a lot about gems and gem business in Burma spending time with him and his friends. Thanks to him and his friend Andy, I felled in love for gem crystals and especially about Mogok crystals and I soon started to collect not only gems with inclusions but also small gem crystals of the different gems found in Burma. He opened to my understanding many secrets of the gemstone trade including one of my favorites: "Gem dealers are not really expert in gems, in fact very few are gemologists, but they are expert on people!"
These months there opened my mind and at the end of this life experience in Burma I was sure that I wanted to move my life to live among gems and more: among gem people!
Of course I also went back to Mandalay to visit U Phone Kyi but arriving there at the beginning of my studies I received from friends the sad news that my old friend has died from AIDS while I was in France: His easy but destructive lifestyle made of dreams, poems and travels into his loved Burma but also his bad night habits gambling and drinking in the smoky slums near the Irrawaddy banks where alcohol, sex and drugs are cheap but deadly, finally had reason of his fragile health and great dreams.

3) THAILAND: STUDIES AT GIA THAILAND AND FIRST GEMOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS: After my return in Bangkok with my brand new gemology diploma, Ted advised me to study gemology also on a western way to complete my formation. Back in France I first studied the possibilities to become a gem dealer. I tried to get some profit from the few gems I've bought during my studies. I rapidly find out that doing gem business between Burma and France was not that simple as most of my purchased in Burma were finally not that good bargains and my Burmese gemologist diploma was not really useful there... Not to stay on this deception I decided to use the rest of my savings to come back in Bangkok as there was no other place I could learn modern gemology and spend my weekends getting experience in the gem trade exploring the famous Thai gem markets. Thailand was the world capital of the ruby and sapphire trade and my friend Ted was living in Bangkok! I had to continue my project there...

I decided then to take the course at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) as I was told than its G.G. diploma was better known worldwide than others: Studying at GIA, the "world gemological super power" was sounding like a good idea to complete my Burmese experiences. If I had great time studying at GIA in a very international environment. Our teachers were very friendly and I was able to get great friends I'm still in contact with today.The teaching was very professional but I was quite disappointed to see that I was not really able to see the stones I dreamed to see after reading many times "Ruby and Sapphire" from Richard W. Hughes: The gemstones at GIA were basic and of low quality compared to the gems I was able to study in Yangon, from the private collection of the GGA school owner. At GIA: No indication about the gem origin, either for natural or synthetic gems. But I understand: My Burmese teacher has bought himself all his stones and he knew much more about them than just their identity. While studying in such a large organization as GIA, things had to be different. I was also surprised that very few knowledge was provided on treatments. The course was sadly not much going to details regarding this aspect. But of course there were also some very good points like instrumentation, marketing and as a former tour guide I was really pleased to read all the biographies of famous people involved in the gem trade and the historic references that where present in the GIA course. The fact is that to my understanding the GIA course I attended was in its last days, it was written during the 1990's when colored stones treatments was something quite new for the gemological community. I had the feeling that the course focus was to give a global formation to sales people for retails stores in the US or to entertain "expatriate wives" willing to get enough knowledge about their jewelry and not really to turn people in 6 months into "scientific gemstone experts".
Well nothing wrong with that as it is probably the main market for them in USA and also as most students had only a limited scientific background. It was a globally very interesting and it was a very positive experience as it opened my mind to many new aspects of the gem trade and the gemological world. I realized that there was many ways to approach gemology and probably one way was only better than another if it was fitting your personal goals and interests.
In fact the main difficulty for a person willing to learn gemology is to find the school teaching what he needs. Studying at GIA bangkok was enabling me to understand that and to learn many things that are still useful to me today. But at that time to deepen my knowledge on gems my best friends were still "Ruby and sapphire" and the "Photoatlas of inclusions in Gemstones"...

During this time at GIA I had the chance to spend a lot of time with Ted after my studies as he was living at a short distance from both my place and GIA Bangkok building. He soon asked me to join him as assistant on 2 scientific expeditions first to Namya and Hpakant in Burmese Kachin state and finally to my gem heaven: Mogok.
Luckily for me I was there at the right time when, after several years, the Burmese government was again willing to allow foreigners to come to visit its famous gem mining areas. We were at that time the first foreigners to visit Namya in July 2001 after the ruby rush that this swampy area experienced earlier in January 2001. The team was composed of Ted Themelis and Hemi Englisher a spinel dealer. Ted and Hemi had to travel through the Kachin swamps using an elephant... while I used my former hunting experience to make my way walking through the mud. The small photo on the top left of each page on this website that I also use as signature in forums was taken during this field trip. After a day discovering Namya rubies and spinels, we finally reached the famous jadeite mines in Hpakant. Witnessing the Jadeite mining was something for a young gemologist... The Mogok expedition was also full of wonders: I had there another fantastic and unique time following their steps. We spend that time 4 days running the Mogok valley from the sapphire mines in the west to the spinel areas in the east and from the peridot mining in the north to the central ruby mines. From the warmth of Mogok people simple houses to the glacial storm that surprised us on the top of Zalat Thaung Mountain, passing by the misty morning landscapes and the exceptional beauty I found in Mogok people and gems, this trip was wonder after wonder.
Helping Ted in these two expeditions was a major experience for me: Ted taught me how to do serious gemological field work: I was enjoying taking photos, writing field notes and collecting samples for him. I'm very grateful to Ted for all these days working from dusk to dawn without even the time for lunch break: It was a hard but very good time. And I never regretted the money invested in these field trips...
While back in Bangkok, Ted also found some utility to my interest for inclusions and microphotography. He pushed me further on that way and it was found to be helpful as Thailand became hot at this time with a new treatment technology involving beryllium. After graduating from GIA in Dec 2002, I did for him beginning 2002 many inclusion photographs on this subject that I was then happy to find later in his booklet about "Beryllium treated rubies and sapphires" published in February 2003.

4) AIGS: BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL GEMOLOGIST AND DISCOVERING THE INTERNET: Ted was not just a mentor but he was also a great friend that helped me to find a work after my studies... During the Bangkok Gem and Jewelry Fair in Feb 2002, Ted introduced me to Henry Ho: A famous Bangkok dealer.
Immediately I had with Henry a good feeling and it was the beginning of a great collaboration as Henry Ho experience within the gem trade is immense. He first gave me the opportunity to discover his family gemological institute: The AIGS: Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences where my "gemological hero": Richard W. Hughes was working for around 10 years. I had then the possibility to pass gemologically to the next level as I got the unique opportunity to spend some time studying at AIGS gemological laboratory among a team of very experienced Thai and Indian gemologists. I got also the opportunity to learn from knowledgeable visitors from other laboratories visiting AIGS. Thanks to Georges Bosshart from the Gubelin Gem Lab, I was introduced at the AIGS Laboratory to the gemological applications of spectroscopy using FTIR, UV-Vis and EDXRF. Motivated by this introduction to study again, I was able to upgrade my technical gemological skills to a professional level and then reviewing my old spectroscopy and chemistry courses that I bring back from a trip to France, I was able to use these advanced gemological instruments available in the laboratory. Finally I was given the possibility to study all the different rubies and sapphires from the AIGS collection. It was an old dream from the time I opened Richard W. Hughes book! All the Kashan, Douros, Ramaura, Chatham, and many other stones I read about in Richard book were available at AIGS. For the gemology students learning at the institute it is excellent: All the gemstones are documented there with their origin, eventual treatments! Of course as in GIA the stones were not very high quality but at least I had a better idea about what I was looking at.
At this time I was spending also a lot of time in Burma, visiting markets, mining areas buying gesmtones for Henry Ho. My collaboration with such an experienced gem dealer as Henry Ho helped me to touch some of the gemological aspects that are usually off limit to standartd gemology students: The understanding of the complex quality aspect of gems and their links to pricing...
Why this given gem can worth 20 times more than this other one?
Thanks to Henry and I've to say some hard work, I was soon able to pass from student to teacher, from field trip assistant to expedition leader with the same idea that whatever and whoever we are, we are still everyday learning from other when we are sharing with others.
Henry also gave me the unique chance to meet regularly some of the gemology giants I knew as names on my favorite books or magazines. I was not even really dreaming to share one day some time with them! One of my best human and gemological experience was our visit to Prof Edward Gubelin, in Lucern, Switzerland...
He was the author with John Koivula of the "Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones", one of my favorite reference book with "Ruby and Sapphire" I used each day while looking at inclusions during my studies in Burma or then at the AIGS.
I had there the incredible chance to study for 3 days a part of Prof E.Gubelin personal gemstone collection, to discuss with him about this or that aspect of a given gemstone. He was impressive of calm, knowledge and attention. If each of his words were for my like coming from heaven, he most impressed three times during our stay while telling me with wonderful curious eyes and a great humility: "I don't know"...
I was shocked!
Several times since then I used this story while teaching at AIGS in order to advise students not to be overconfident with their skills: "If Prof E.Gubelin told me 3 times in 3 days "I don't know", well you can then also tell me that from time to time or I will feel somewhere suspicious about your real gemological level". This experience with Prof. E. Gubelin was bringing to my mind one expression from one of my favorite chemistry teachers: "In science the good way to advance is not by finding the good answers but by asking the good questions..." I like to summarize this like telling this:
"A good gemologist is not afraid to say "I don't know", while a bad one is afraid to admit his ignorance"...

My collaboration with Henry Ho was facilitated because we were sharing the same interest for Burma (Myanmar), Burmese gems, Internet and also the AIGS where with his help I soon became a gemstone buyer, a gemology teacher, then a lab gemologist and finally in October 2004, I had the honor to become "AIGS Gemstone Identification, Grading and Research Laboratory" Executive Director. As a result, I had also the privilege to become an ICA member.
I was pleased to follow somewhere Richard Hughes steps...
Working at AIGS lab was a pleasure as the lab has a very good team of skilled gemologists: Suree, Siem, Suyot and A were combining great professional and personal qualities. I learned a lot working with them mainly on ruby, sapphire and jade and it was a real pleasure. From 2001 to 2006, Bangkok was an incredible place with gemstones from all over the world coming there to be cut, heated, traded or set into jewelry. I was able to focus on ruby and sapphire treatments and especially the lead glass and the beryllium issues but also on "origin determination". After two years as Laboratory Director at AIGS lab. I decided finaly to resign in October 2006 and in Feb 2007 I joined the Gubelin gem lab in Luzern Switzerland as gemologist. It was not an easy choice as I was really enjoying working with my fellow gemologist at the AIGS lab and with Henry Ho.

This story would not be completed without to speak about Internet. As this website: fieldgemology is the result of my interest for both gemology, traveling and the Internet:
As I said just before, after some interesting experiences as gemstone buyer in Burma (mainly buying spinels and crystals), I became for a time more and more involved as advisor to my Thai friend Koranan Nawarat (a former AIGS student) in www.gemwow.com adventure regarding to Burmese crystals and gemstones. This project gave me an interest for Internet and this website is somewhere a direct result of this influence on me. Thanks to it I learned a lot about website and Internet and even if I'm not really a programmer and a web designer I've learned enough to think about building websites. After building two new websites for both AIGS School and Laboratory, this knowledge became very useful when I started to think about doing something more personal in order to experience some of my ideas in the net:
As a "shameless travel addicted gemologist" (copyright: Richard W. Hughes), I was for very long time interested by origin determination for rubies and sapphires. Each time I was looking at a nice stone I was wandering where it could have been mined from. As this field is nowadays more than a real challenge, especially for a gemological laboratory located in bangkok were gems from all around the world are coming just few days after their discovery in some remote place of Asia and Africa, I have begun a personal field trip program to visit gem mining areas of interest around Bangkok, first.
It turned to be possible as in June 2004, I decided to stop totaly my collaboration with gemwow.com. More sadly it was also meaning to stop my gem buying activities in Burma. I was then focussing on my work as a consultant gemologist for the AIGS gemological laboratory and as a gemology teacher for the AIGS school in charge mainly of the synthetic and treatment course. Great time... but what a challenge as I had to face my students questions. As one of chemistry teacher used to tell us at the Bordeaux university in France:

"To advance in science the most important is not to find the good answers but to find the good questions."

Thanks to the AIGS students I had many good questions and soon I had to find a way to find better answers. Pailin sapphires and Thai rubies gemology was among these challenges as their "heated" or "unheated" status was sometimes confusing me. I decided to try to find out about these stones and their treatment. It was now more possible as I had stop my Burmese trips, and as I could not stay quietly in my room in Bangkok watching Thai TV on the week ends, I decided to start going around and visit the places in Thailand and around I was also dreaming to visit. To solve all my problems, the best decision was obviously to go to the mines, get some stones and then perform some heat treatment experiments. As in 2004 the AIGS management was not willing to help me to finance such research trips, I decided to open these new "week end field trips" to some of the students from my classes willing to share my private gemological expeditions.
Many AIGS students like Anera Zivkovic, Siggy Ellenberger, David Bright, Jean Baptiste Senoble, Yannick Mandaba, Samuel Boissinot, Tanguy Lagache, Edouard Monges, Noah Severs, Guillaume Soubiraa and others followed me regularly while visiting gem mines sharing each time the cost of the trip with me as I was clearly told by the AIGS school management that "AIGS was not a travel agency". Basically I applied the technique Ted Themelis did with me, whihc was very fine for me: Each participant pay for his part.

I've to say at this point for justice to be done, that the reasons they joined me is also dealing with the personal project of an other Frenchman sharing the same great passion for gemology: Jean Marie Arlabosse. If Jean Marie is not as traveler as me, he has created from his "French Riviera" a wonderful personal website of great gemological interest: geminterest.com. After getting some interest for the Internet things, I soon became a regular visitor and blogger in www.geminterest.com forum under the name of "Mogok". It gave me the wonderful opportunity, as I was living isolated in Bangkok, to begin to create contacts with other people sharing the same passion for gems in my own country. I was soon happy to welcome in Bangkok members or simple visitors from the great community around the geminterest.com forum and these people were just dreaming about one thing: to come with me to see the real stuff: The mining areas and the gem markets... I had from May 2004 to Jan 2007 twenty one field trips to sapphire mining areas in Pailin, Cambodia.
Excited by this French forum I then find two other great forums and communities using English language in which people interested in the gemological field could visit regularly either to ask or answer questions: pricescope.com and yourgemologist.com. These forums were very fine in the old days but as they got a more commercial attitude many member left (or were banned) and moved to a new independant forum: GemologyOnline.com
These English speaking forums were great for me to improve both my English and widen my understanding about gemology and people interested in gemology. Thanks to the excellent questions I found there and the possibility to read the opinion of so many interesting people! It was great to read and then meet such interesting personalities as Richard W. Hughes or Richard W. Wise. One of my best moment in these forums was to have got the possibility to get finally in contact with Richard Hughes, whose book, as I've written earlier, gave me the desire to join to the ruby and sapphire trade after my first trip to Mogok in 1997.
And finally, many emails later, we became good friends and I could realize my dream to travel to gem mines with Richard when he asked me to join him on his trip to Madagascar in September 2005. As I just had scouted the island in June 2005 for 40 days, I was very happy to be his private guide and to help him to visit Ilakaka, Andilamena and Andrebabe mining areas were very few foreigners even went! It was just great as one of my old dreams has finally again become true...(Please find and read here Richard's Madagascar fieldtrip report, while you might also be interested in reading the trilogy on Madagascar: part 1, part 2 and part 3, I've written for Colored Stone magazine with my friend Richard Wise, after these two expeditions to Madagascar).
During this September trip I met a young French guy who had decided that Madagascar was the right place to learn Gemology. This young French guy, Guillaume Soubiraa finally came at AIGS in Bangkok to study the "synthetic and treatment" course and in summer 2006 he became my fieldtrip assistant to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China. It was then great to meet again Richard Hughes and Dana Schorr in Tajikistan and have together a great three weeks fieldtrip to the Pamir ruby and spinel mines! ( Please find here and read Richard's Tajikistan fieldtrip report)

As a result of this "Internet Forums/Fieldtrip" dynamics, I lead many expeditions to Mogok in Burma, Pailin in Cambodia, Kanchanaburi and Chanthaburi in Thailand and Houay Xai in Laos... The growing success of these field trips was obvious to me as the number of candidates to come along with me was growing each time. I was not really surprised to see the deep interest that many gemologists, simple students (or even people that had no knowledge at all about gemology) had for visiting gem mining areas: It was for them somewhere as attractive and wonderful as it was for me while traveling in my early days with U Phone Kyi or Ted:
A unique way to go to meet differently the gems that passion us..
A unique opportunity to meet also both the gem people and the real gem culture missing in Europe where gems are seen by most people as expensive and secrets mysterious wonders coming from oversea...
These expeditions were also for me a unique way to make friendship with these young students who were so much in many aspect as I was when I came in Asia searching for gemological knowledge. These travels were also very useful to select some students in order to come with me for much longer and serious expeditions as the fieldtrips I organized during Summer 2005 (Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania) and summer 2006 (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China).

I think that my fieldtrip companions were excited to be able to travel with somebody able to give them explanations both on the culture, the history of the visited country and also on the gems they were able to see. My tour guide side was very pleased to make them happy and to witness them having the same great time I had discovering the "secrets of the gem trade"... with Ted Themelis and Hemi Englisher.
(Note: I want to explain why I've choosen here the wording "Secrets of the Gem Trade", it is the occasion for me to offer you a link to another great book about gemology from my other "Richard" Internet forum friend: Richard W. Wise. This book is truly the best book on gems and gemology I've read since I got in my hand "Ruby and Sapphire" and the "Photoatlas of inclusions". It is great to be able to learn and understand about Richard passion regarding gems: Quality. The book cover a domain which is sadly most of the time not really covered in gemological school as no gemological school can afford to use as student stone any quality gems. As a result young gemologists, especially those who studied in countries where gemstones are difficult to access, have most of the time never see a "good stone" or if they saw some they usually were not able to really study them, which is a little bit ironic... and explain why I advise people to go to study gems in a gem trading center.)

THE FIELDGEMOLOGY PROJECT: After my early fieldtrips to Pailin, Kanchanaburi and Chanthaburi, I began to think that there was something to do about this subject mixing the two domains I have some experience in: : Gemology and Traveling...
Something that could complete or illustrate the great books from the "two Richards"... But something quite different from what they did. Something fun that could be useful and pleasant to people...
I tried first with www.aigsthailand.com website that I build during summer 2004, as I was not working anymore on the gemwow.com project. I thought that my experience regarding websites could help the AIGS gemological school to motivate people to follow my steps and come to study gemology in Thailand. Which is I believe still a good idea to start in gemology.
Mixing gems, and traveling to exotic places was attractive to me. But then I was told that somel people complained that www.aigsthailand.com website was, under my direction, too much like an "Indiana Jones Outfit" which was also written in "Bastard English" and furthermore "AIGS was not a travel agency". In Jan 2005 I decided sadly to stop my work as part time gemology teacher for AIGS school and webmaster for www.aigsthailand.com. In serious conflict with the school managements I decided to focus on the laboratory and the website I created for it after this conflict: www.aigslaboratory.com . After the gemwow.com and the aigsthailand.com adventures, I was feeling that I was not willing to loose a third website, on which I was working day and night. In Jan 2005 I began then to think that I had to get positive about the concept of an "Indiana Jones Outfit".

Such a website could be useful to promote gemology in the field and help people willing to go to learn more about gemstones without the reality of the gemstone trade from the mine to the main trading centers. In one word, thanks to the people that were not appreciating my work and my vision of the things: Fieldgemology was born... In these aspect, I learned a lot and benefit in fact a lot from the different conflict I had with people from AIGS or Gemwow management as thanks to them I found the energy to do for myself what I was willing to do for them!

Now after the gemwow.com and the aigsthailand.com experiences, I had an independant website to have some fun with and spend my week ends and evening time with some constructive projects that could not be taken out of my hands.

The things started greatly in January 2005 as I started to work on a project to give more exposure to the AIGS lab I was directing. Gemological Laboratories are about data, communication, ethics and independance in my opinion. It means that we need to get as much knowledge about the gems we work with and at the same time do the things for people to know that this knowledge is present in the lab.
As after the Asian crisis in 1997 AIGS had some dark days as many experienced gemologists left the lab and then very few was done regarding research and communication, I put these aspect on my priority list working hard on the new treatment hitting the gem trade: The lead glass treatment. We published a study on the subject that was very appreciated by the trade and then started to find ways to collaborate with other gemological labs and associations.
The first success in this domain was that I could successfully organize and lead two 10 days field trips for 2 groups of the AFG "Association Francaise de Gemmologie", the French gemological Association in march 2005. Then visiting the Gubelin Gem Lab people at the Basel gem Fair in Switzerland I was able to build a common research project with the Gubelin Gem Lab and the ICA, to start an ambitious field trip program to gem mining areas and collect data on new ruby and sapphire mining areas in order to update the lab collection and do some promotion for our services.

The program started in summer 2005 by a four months expedition to Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Kenya and finally Tanzania. Along with former AIGS student Jean Baptiste Senoble (And former AIGS student Tanguy Lagache for the Madagascar expedition in Jul 2005) I was able to visit most of the ruby and sapphire deposits in these areas and collect samples that will be then usefull for some research work on origin determination regarding these deposits. This great trip gave me also the opportunity to be asked by Richard hughes to guide him in Madagascar for the expedition he was planning in Sept 2005. This private expedition financed this time by Richard Hughes was great as I was available to realize an old dream (to travel with Richard...) and to deepen my knowledge on Ilakaka and Andilamena stones. The samples we collected from these areas during this expedition were found to be very important for the gemological community and prooved that such expedition are useful and valuable. The fact was that we discovered that the blue sapphire samples we collected from a mine in the south of Ilakaka we containing naturaly some beryllium. As this discovery happened few months after the arrival of beryllium treated blue sapphires in Bangkok, it helped a lot to understand and handle better this difficult issue.

As the first summer fiedtrip was very succesful, we decided then to continue in summer 2006 with a new expedition to Western Himalaya and Central Asia as new rubies possibly from Tajikistan appeared in the market in Jan 2006.
I lead then for this second expedition a two months fieldtrip to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China. This time I was joined by former AIGS student Guillaume Soubiraa for the complete trip and the Tajikistan part of the expedition was planned as a common fieldtrip with Richard Hughes and Dana Schorr, which turned to be as great as gemologicaly speaking than on more personal way.

It was for me perfect occasions to invest in some good photography equipment and start "fieldgemology"!

Today I'm not anymore working as Director of the AIGS Gemological Laboratory, in Bangkok. I'm currently living in Switzerland as in February 2007, I've started working as gemologist for the Gubelin Gem Lab in Lucerne. It was a great opportunity to work in a different environment, see and study many exceptional gemstones as the Gubelin Gem Lab is known for "Exceptional Gemstones" and their "Origin Determination": (Read more about origin determination: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).

I'm fully aware of the chance I have to have been accepted in this lab as it is one of the most famous gem lab in the world. An independant lab with a rich tradition, in permanent contact with the trade, sending its gemologists all around the world to check stones during OPTs, visit new gem deposits and collect data them. A lab with a great team of experienced and passionate gemologists and finaly a very complete lab with the best level of instrumentationa gem lab gemologist can dream about. It was my image of Gubelin before to join it, and I'm happy today to see that I was right about it.

Of course I'm very busy at Gubelin learning new techniques, sharing knowledge with my collegues, studying the lab data collection and the most beautiful gems in the world: Gems we see later on famous auctions house catalogues. But working at Gubelin, I still have some evenings and week ends to fill here in Switzerland and I can use them to continue to travel around the world to explore the the gem trade as the Gubelin Gem Lab management allowed me to continue my hobby: Building a website about gemology and travel.

During the last one year and half at the Gubelin Gem Lab, I was able to continue to travel around the world during my holidays: I visited again Tanzania in October 2007 with again Richard W. Hughes and Guillaume Soubiraa but also Mike Rogers, Warne and Monty Chitty and Philippe Brunot. These three intense weeks together were a great opportunity to complete the work I did in 2005 wit Jean Baptiste Senoble and complete my reference collection of Kenyan and Tanzanian gems.
In December 2007 I was also able to make an old dream become true: Thanks to my friend Kham Vannaxay from Bangkok, I was able with my colleague and friend at the Gubelin Gem Lab Christian Dunaigre to visit the Mergui cultured South Sea pearl farming area in Burma. A wonderful expedition...

Then finaly in April 2008, thanks to the work I did in Tanzania in October 2007 I was able to build and perform with gemologist Jean Baptiste Senoble a short expedition to the new ruby deposit near Dodoma at Winza. We were the first foreign gemologist to visit this mining area which had produced some amazing gems after its "discovery" in November 2007.

Now I'm preparing myself to complete my new East Africa survey by returning to Madagascar. I helped the French Gemological Association to visit this huge gem island with two groups of 25 people... With again Jean Baptiste Senoble and Guillaume Soubiraa we will spend few days with each group and in the between we will explore some new gem rich lands... Thanks to this new expedition I will be able to update the fieldgemology Madagascar pages. I hope that it will be useful.

To conclude, my purpose with fieldgemology is simply to help people to understand more where the gems they love come from. It is also a way to thanks and give some promotion to the people who help me during my expeditions allowing me to visit their mines and spending some time explaining what they are doing.
I feel that, traveling to mining areas to collect samples in order to update my understanding of Origin determination of gemstones, I've the opportunity to help people from these mining areas, giving them some exposure, and also people from consuming markets, providing them some useful information. It is a lot of work, but I'm happy to do it as I found out that the best way to help myself in this tough gemological world is to help others first.
Understanding where the gems they bought come from help people in consuming countries to love even more their gems: Mining and trading are indeed very difficult work but many people I met there at the mines were wonderful people, sometimes very poor, sometimes wealthy but in all cases they have hope in their future, they were believing in what they were doing, they had face and pride. And a man with face and pride even poor is already somewhere a rich man!
I hope that fieldgemology.org will raise your interest in gems and in the people working hard for others to enjoy their beauty.

I hope that you will appreciate this website and have some pleasure and fun visiting its pages.

Note: I hope that the lecture of my "Frenchglish" or "bastard-english" as some fancy minds called it sometimes in the past was not too annoying for you. If you have some suggestions to give me, please do not hesitate to contact me, I will be happy to consider them.

All the best,

Vincent Pardieu, (B. Sc., G.G.A, G.G.)
"Travel addicted gemologist"
This page was updated in July 2008

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