This post is not about one of the author expeditions or about an article he collaborated with, but it is about one friend, who was a great source of inspiration for the author's when he was still searching his way in gemology: I mean Georges Bosshart.

Last week while I was traveling to Sri Lanka I received the sad news that Georges passed away in Switzerland after a long and very courageous struggle with cancer. He was one of these persons that I would have loved to spend more time with. All my thoughts are today to the one he used to call his best treckking companion: His wife Anna.

The first time I met Georges Bosshart, it was in 2003. I was then working as a part time consultant for the AIGS laboratory in Bangkok, but I was mainly spending my time traveling to Burma to buy gems for my boss Henry Ho, the owner of the AIGS lab. Georges came to the lab while he was on an OPT (Off Premise Testing) mission for the Gubelin Gem Lab. On that occasion Georges was willing to use some of the advance equipment we had. For a young gemologist like the author, learning from such an experienced gemologist like Georges Bosshart was an occasion not to be missed. The contact with Georges turn to be extremely easy as we were sharing similar interests not only for gemology but also about traveling to gem mining areas (particularly in Burma).

"Swiss gemologists in Pailin, Cambodia!"
Left to right Georges Bosshart, Walter Balmer checking heat treated sapphires at a sapphire burner place in Pailin, Cambodia"
Photo: V. Pardieu / AIGS, 2006

That first visit was quite brief as it took less than one hour, just the time to make few analyses. Few months later, on a another OPT, he contacted us again and this time Jim Mullen, the AIGS lab director, made an agreement with Georges Bosshart that in exchange of the possibility to use the lab advanced instruments, he would spend some time showing to the lab gemologists how to better use them. Thanks to that on that second visit the author had the privilege to be able to spend two full days in the lab with Georges Bosshart teaching him how to better use the EDXRF, the UV-Vis and the FTIR. Then as out contact was very good, we also spent a day looking at the samples I collected in Burma during my gemology studies and discussing about them, gemology and our experiences traveling to gem mining areas in Burma. Georges was one of the rare persons to have been able to visit not only the gem mines of Mogok and Hpahant but also the small diamond deposit near Momeik.

These three days working on instruments and looking at stones besides Georges Bosshart were a major event for the author as Georges passion for gemology was very contagious: For the young gemologist still searching his way that I was then, his comments and advices were very encouraging and inspiring. After discussing with Georges, I had the great feeling that I was doing the right thing. Georges also convinced me that I could do much better because I had the unique opportunity to be a young gemologist based in Bangkok: It was then much easier for me to get some interesting samples to study visiting the numerous gem mines and markets located around Bangkok that it had been from him in his young days based in Switzerland. He encouraged me to continue going to the field in order to collect seriously reference samples, and then study them very seriously as he said it was the best way to get more knowledge.

In the weeks and months following Georges visit, I spent more and more time in the lab. I also started to travel more regularly to gem mining areas near Chanthaburi, Kanchanaburi and Pailin in order to collect reference samples at the mines, study them back at the lab and then I also started some heat treatment experiment with the help of local Burners in order to see what had changed in the samples after heat treatment.

My boss Henry Ho noticed then rapidly my increasing interest for gemology and soon accepted that I was somewhere lost for the gem trade. In September 2004, a little bit more than one year after meeting Gorges Bosshart for the first time Henry Ho proposed me to become the Director of the AIGS Laboratory. I accepted with pleasure and passion...

In December 2006, few weeks before leaving Thailand to work as a gemologist for the Gubelin Gem Lab in Switzerland I had also the pleasure to welcome again in Thailand Georges Bosshart with his wife Anna and two other Swiss friends: Walter Balmer (who had just left the Gubelin Gem Lab to start a PhD at Chulalorkorn University in Bangkok) and Michael Kremnicki from SSEF. We went on a field expedition to the sapphire mining areas near Chanthaburi and then to the ruby and sapphire mines near Pailin. It was a real pleasure to spend some time with Georges, this time in the field, help him to visit Cambodia and use that occasion to thank him for these very inspiring days we spent together in Bangkok. Again we had some great discussions about some of his favorite subjects like green minerals or Burmese diamonds.