Pala at Las Vegas – May 31 – June 4, 2012

It’s time to plan for the JCK Las Vegas show. Pala International will be there in force, with one of America’s largest selections of fine colored gems.

Note: The JCK Show this year will run Thursday through Monday. The AGTA Pavilion will open the same day.

When: May 31 – June 4, 2012
Where: South Pacific and Islander Ballrooms in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV
Hours: AGTA Gemstone Section
   Thursday, May 31 thru Sunday, June 3:
      9:30 AM – 6:00 PM
   Monday, June 4: 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM
Booth: AGTA Pavilion, booth AGTA514

We look forward to seeing our many friends there. Visit the Pala International Show Schedule for future events. [back to top]

Pala’s Featured Stones: Burmese Spinel &
Sri Lankan Sinhalite

This month we feature a couple of new jewels Bill was able to buy on a recent trip to Thailand and Burma. Other highlights included natural rubies from Mozambique, natural blue sapphires from Sri Lanka and Madagascar, blue zircon from Cambodia, and many other rare ones like hackmanite and amber from Burma.

Red spinel from Burma, 3.23 ct, 9.78 x 7.66 x 5.92 mm. Ask for Inventory #20075. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

Red spinel has been in high demand recently, while the supply is slow to fill the increasing interest. This intense orangey-red spinel exhibits the highly saturated reds that many collectors are looking for. The Pala team is always happy to welcome another spinel into our family even though they seem to move out fairly quickly. Enjoy this one while it lasts.

Golden sinhalite from Sri Lanka, 14.36 x 11.64 x 7.93 mm. Inventory #20073. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

Sinhalite was first identified as a new mineral species in 1952, previously thought to be a brown peridot because of its similar properties and color. Sinhalite is in the borate mineral group and is formed in metamorphic environments. This golden sinhalite is exceptional in size and color for this unusual species. Yet another exquisite gem to be plucked from the mineral-rich lands of Sri Lanka.

Interested? Select the inventory numbers above, call or email us to inquire. [back to top]

Burma Bits

Pala’s Bill Larson witnesses history in the making

Pala International’s Bill Larson was lucky on his last trip into Asia (perhaps his 150th!) to be able to witness Aung San Suu Kyi win the election in Burma first hand. What follows is his account of the trip.

Seeing double. Matched pairs of unheated sapphires examined by Bill Larson in Bangkok. (Photo: Bill Larson)

On the first leg of my trip, I arrive in Bangkok. During my first three days there, I finish my first selection of gemstones, concentrating on natural sapphires from Sri Lanka and Madagascar, and natural rubies from Mozambique.

Expat x2. This unheated ruby from Mozambique was procured by Bill Larson in Bangkok. Ask for Inventory #20076. (Photos: Bill Larson, above; Mia Dixon, below)

During these days’ process I get my visa approved for a week’s visit into one of my favorite countries: Burma (also known as Myanmar). My flight arrives on Friday night, March 30, and I am met by several friends who are excited that I should have come the same weekend that their parliamentary elections are being held.

Cretaceous amber. A suite of faceted amber shown to Bill Larson, with a total weight of 55.98 carats. Ask for Inventory #20060. (Photo: Bill Larson)

Saturday, I visit with several dozen geology students and independent miners (some I have known for the 19 years I’ve been coming here to visit). I am always shown whatever new and unusual things they have seen or found. This time, it is a large selection of insect inclusions in amber, which are quite interesting, and clean facet-quality amber. These have been newly mined and seem finer than I’ve seen in my past few trips. They tell me the Chinese are buying most of the amber produced and that this has increased production and prices. I tell the various people that if some of these came into some of my Thailand dealers’ markets and were recut and processed there, Pala International would be interested in marketing them. Various rough pieces of amber, as well as spinel and peridot, all of which would facet fine gems, are to be shown to me next week when I return to Bangkok.

NLD. Office in Yangon of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. (Photo: Bill Larson)

That being done, all my many friends talk about the positive changes for them in Burma, including a new wave of independent mining contracts that are being offered to them in Mogok district. This will lead to wonderful new things being produced, perhaps within a year. And the other topic, of course, is that they all will be voting—most at 7 a.m.—tomorrow, Sunday, April 1. Being that the whole group of small dealers, gemologists, miners, geology students and brokers that I know in Yangon (formally known as Rangoon) are pro-West, they universally hope for a National League for Democracy (NLD; Suu Kyi’s party) victory. They all want the sanctions on gemstones and business lifted so that American dealers can come and openly do business in Burma, instead of them having to sell to Thailand dealers who then resell to the U.S.

An open door. Entrance to a polling station in Yangon. (Photo: Bill Larson)

The following day, I witness history. Free elections. I am free to walk around and to watch voting booths; no one is bothering anyone. It is amazing that one can park and photograph Su Kyi’s home. In past years guards would not allow anyone to even stop; now there is a picture of her outside the gates with lots of people walking by. NLD has an open headquarters for meetings; today they are selling memorabilia—tee shirts are flying out the door, with dozens of customers coming and going. It’s a very historic day and, of course, the outcome is known the following day with Suu Kyi’'s party winning 43 out of 45 contests. Of course there needs to be more progress and there are years of work ahead, but my dozens of friends feel it has changed for the better.

An open market close to the polling station. (Photo: Bill Larson)

I return on Thursday to Bangkok with an optimistic feeling about the future for my friends in Burma. On Friday I see many of the things I liked in Yangon have been exported into Bangkok and already cut so that business is concluded rapidly. Then I finish my selections from the previous week and get very lucky with one of the major dealers who is selling Pala some calibrated sapphires. His cutters have finished a 3.36-carat Burmese royal blue sapphire gem. This is exciting, as it is so hard to get a certified royal blue, clean gem sapphire from Burma these days. We negotiate a bit, but my Thai dealer friend knows that I know how rare these are. So I agree to his last price and we move on to a fine selection of newly cut Mocambique natural, unheated rubies. Here also I have good luck and obtain several over-3-carat ruby gems.

Calibrated sapphires examined and purchased by Bill Larson in Bangkok. (Photo: Bill Larson)

I have a last day’s meal Friday night with lobster sashimi and know I’ll be back in California in 24 hours. All around, an exciting and wonderful trip.

Feast. Lobster sashimi the last night in Bangkok. (Photo: Bill Larson)

Bite-Sized Bits

Xinhua reported on March 23 that Burma’s 49th annual gem emporium brought in only $702.66 million—compared with last year’s $2.8 billion. The sale was attended by 6,000 traders, half of which were foreigners. A total of 9,762 jade lots were sold, along with 227 gem lots and 8,367 pearl lots. And in other news…

• The Myanmar Times: March gem emporium a boost to hoteliers
• Eleven Media Group: Fall in jade exports blamed for $1–2 billion shortfall in Burma’s total trade volume
• Xinhua: Burma bans mineral mining near four rivers, with a 90-meter limit
• BBC: After meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, prime minister David Cameron called for sanctions against Burma to be lifted, in an April 13 story
• Arabian Gazette: Bill Larson’s friend M. S. Shah Jahan, in the Sri Lankan gem trade, writes on the extraordinary currency reform in Burma, as the kyat floats against the dollar
• AFP: U.S. to ease restrictions on investment in Burma and appoint an ambassador

Star power. A natural 5.85-carat round ruby from Burma. Inventory #19983. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

[back to top]

With Pala Presents, we offer selections from the library of Pala International’s Bill Larson, who will share with us some of the wealth of information in the realm of gems and gemology.

Where Nature Stores Her Jewels

A reprint by Edna Rowell Schley, from Sunset Magazine, 1905

Last month, we presented a contemporary overview of Baja California, 1906, and its varieties of gem minerals. This month we travel north in space and backwards in time, to San Diego, 1905.

A hundred years ago the fair site of a friar mission; eighteen years ago a village of 300 people; seventeen years ago a booming town of thousands; today a city of 25,000 residents with a floating population—visitors with money in their pockets—of 7,000…

Apart from those statistics is another: “In 1901–02, San Diego county produced more tourmaline than the rest of the world.” In “Where Nature Stores Her Jewels,” author Edna Rowell Schley, spends several pages describing the mineral bounty of San Diego County in the early twentieth century.

The author, in hat, at the entrance of a tunnel where topaz and tourmaline are mined.

Tre colori. Technically known as a bi-color, this 16-carat tourmaline from the Himalaya mine features an exquisitely undulating red, white and green—like the Italian flag. (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

[back to top]

— End April Newsletter • Published 4/16/12 —

AGTA GemFair Seminar DVD

The American Gem Trade Association GemFair in Tucson is a trade-only affair. But that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the seminars. AGTA is making 26 seminars from the recent show available on DVD to the general public.

See this PDF for the list and ordering information.

If you’re a member of AGTA, you’ll receive a complimentary copy. [back to top]

Pala’s Featured Stone: Ethiopian Opals

In recent times play-of-color opal has been discovered in Ethiopia’s Shewa Province (1994) and Wollo Province (2008). The Shewa material turned out to be very unstable and unsuitable for jewelry, while the Wollo opal was more stable and exhibited an unusual property know as hydrophane, i.e., the latter opals came out of the ground very porous, possessing the ability to absorb water. The rich rainbow of colors and transparency are a recipe for beautiful gems. The Wollo opal has the most similarities to the Mexican fire and water opals with play-of-color.

Thirsty. Wollo opals from Ethiopia show a bounty of colors: clockwise from top, 2.75 ct, Inv. #19278; 3.38 ct, Inv. #19407; 3.4 ct, Inv. #19274; 1.86 ct, Inv. #19284. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

Interested? Select inventory numbers above, call or email us to inquire. [back to top]

Research Roundup

GIA on Lead Glass-Filled Ruby

GIA has released a video providing an overview of the issue of lead glass-filled rubies. The video describes the material, looks at how to identify it, how to care for lead glass-filled rubies and nomenclature.

Pardieu on New Blue Sapphire in Sri Lanka (and more...)

It’s been a while since we visited Vincent Pardieu’s FieldGemology.org. We’ve missed out on a lot. First, a new discovery, in an old locality, of blue sapphire in Sri Lanka. Pardieu gives you a preview of the luscious material that was written up in GIA’s G&G eBrief this week. (Non-subscribers of Gems & Gemology won’t have access to the March 13 eBrief until June.)

Sri Lanka sapphire. One of Pala International’s many friends sent us this delicious photo to whet our appetite for this new find.

Next, Pardieu provides the abstract to a study, published in February in Mineralogical Magazine, titled “Conditions for emerald formation at Davdar, China: fluid inclusion, trace element and stable isotope studies,” and co-authored by D. Marshall, Pardieu, L. Loughrey, P. Jones and G. Xue. As always, a great photo of tempting emerald crystals—one 5 cm long—in matrix from Davdar, which is in Xinjiang Province in northwest China.

Then a personal remembrance of the late George Bosshart. Again a picture worth countless words: Bosshart, clearly impacted by the cancer that would fell him, delighted to present to the viewer a fromage-sized wedge of lustrous tanzanite.

And last, from the personal to the more personal, a memoir of Pardieu’s ten years as a working gemologist.

SSEF Facette No. 19

SSEF has published the 19th issue of Facette, a gemological journal. Pala’s Jason Stephenson was especially taken with this edition. “This research-based laboratory seems to be expanding and upgrading its journal’s content and exposure. Essential information for those involved in the gem trade.”

The contents include: fancy sapphires, jade, bastnäsite, corundum research, rostellite, odontolite and apatite, pearl testing and research, an expedition to Vietnam, a memorial of George Bosshart, and more.

Download the PDF here.

Gems & Gemology: Blue Topaz

We couldn’t resist this. The current issue of Gems & Gemology includes an article by Jian Zhang, Taijin Lu, Manjun Wang, and Hua Chen: “The Radioactive Decay Pattern of Blue Topaz Treated by Neutron Irradiation.” The team studied 15 neutron-irradiated blue topaz samples. The decay pattern of the samples was determined and the time for decay to safe levels was calculated. The results? Most of the material was safe when first measured at 95 days after leaving the reactor, but some samples indicated that it would be years before they would be safe, due to higher concentrations of radionuclide impurities. See our past coverage of this issue here. [back to top]

Burma Bits

Calendar Year Gem Production Down

Last month, Burma’s Central Statistical Organization released gemstone production figures for December 2011, allowing us to look at a full calendar year. (Burma’s fiscal year runs April–March.)

• Jade: 25% increase over 2010
• Rubies: 37% decrease from 2010
• Sapphire: 17% increase over 2010
• Spinel: 3% increase over 2010
• Peridot: 7% decrease from 2010
• Total Gem Production: 12% decrease from 2010
• Pearls: 13% increase over 2010

Extrapolating from last year’s production, the 2011–12 fiscal year will see a slight drop in total gemstone production, a trend of the last three fiscal years—about 12 million carats. By comparison, 2007–08 produced nearly 23 million carats, and 2008–09 produced nearly 19 million.

Sphene. This golden brown sphene from Mogok, included in Renée Newman’s new book Rare Gemstones (p.84), was our featured stone for November 2010. It weighs 40.33 carats and measures 20.03 x 20.05 x 12.86 mm. Inventory #18755. (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

Emporium Taking Place Now

Mizzima wrote on March 9 that the 49th annual gem emporium in Burma was to be held from March 9 to 18 in Nay Pyi Taw. Offered are nearly 17,000 jade lots, 227 gem lots and 367 pearl lots. The story provides a lot of detail regarding the nature of the lots, including 41 jade lots worth over €1 million and others worth €3.2–5 million.

Kachin: Chinese Jade Mining Outside Approved Sites

Chinese companies are running jade mining operations outside their licensed sites in Kachin state’s Hpakant and Dalon regions, according to a March 7 story on the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) website. The story quotes a Hpakant resident and prominent jade producer as saying the logic behind the renegade excavation is fear that a new government in Burma will not treat the Chinese as favorably as in the past. One reason for this fear could be the suspension of the Myitsone Dam project in 2011.

The story states that about 200 companies—Chinese and backed by the Burma government—operate in Hpakant. As we’ve noted previously, villages are at risk of monsoon flooding due to environmental consequences of jade mining. The DVB story stated that the Chinese companies are using heavier machinery than for which they are licensed and are operating 24 hours a day.

» Bill to Allow Local Jade Processing; Trade Group Formed

The Kachin State Assembly has passed a bill that will allow local processing of jade, including cutting and polishing, according to a March 7 story by Mizzima. The bill, introduced on March 1 and passed unanimously, is hoped to create jobs in Kachin. It now moves to the president for signature. As currently configured the processing of jade requires the boulders to be shipped to Nay Pyi Taw for cutting and polishing, which adds cost to the finished product.

Mizzima went on to write that a new trade organization was founded on March 3, The Jade and Gemstones Merchants Association (Myitkyina), which includes 400 members. A head office is in Nay Pyi Taw, and branch offices are in Hpakant, Mandalay, Sagaing and Mogok.

» Peace Talks Pause, Clashes Begin

Meanwhile, a breakdown of peace talks in China between the Burma army and Kachin rebels led to new fighting on Monday. The conflict is outlined in this March 3 Associated Press story, as the government claims it will have refugees relocated by May. And also in Ruby Land.

Dusting off a danburite. This 20.58-carat pastel yellow Burma danburite was given the spotlight by our photographer Mia Dixon, in our Old Stock... New Pix section. Inventory #16134.

[back to top]

Rare Gemstones

By Renée Newman

The latest book from Renée Newman, author of Gemstone Buying Guide, is actually a companion to that acclaimed book, which was first published in 1998. As tastes have become more sophisticated and as consumers attempt to satisfy their appetite for novelty, Newman’s Rare Gemstones provides information on dozens of stones not included in the earlier book, literally from A(mblygonite) to Z(ultanite).

The book, subtitled How to Identify, Evaluate and Care for Unusual Gems, is divided into two major sections. The largest, “Rare Gemstones Used in Jewelry,” covers nearly fifty gems and related varieties. Nearly twenty more are handled in “Rare Gemstones Sometimes Used in Jewelry.” Included for each gem is information on the identification properties, geographic sources, treatments, imitations, durability, uses, value factors and pricing. The entry for each gem is accompanied by several photographs—nearly 500 in all—and many of the stones are mounted in jewelry settings.

Chrysocolla. This suite—our featured stones for August 2009—was cut from the same piece of rough, from the Globe Hills of Arizona, providing uniform color. It’s on p. 29 of Rare Gemstones. Inventory #17488. (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

These sections are followed by “How to Care for Rare & Unusual Gems,” covering storage, cleaning, durability, setting tips, and more. Also included are appraiser directories; a list of birthstones; a bibliography and index; tables of Mohs hardness, refractive index and specific gravity; and a glossary. The endpapers have a photo of gemstones arranged in color groupings for quick identification of that hard-to-name tugtupite.

Hackmanite. This 7.87-carat transparent lavender hackmanite was snapped up after it appeared as our featured stone for May 2009. It appears on p. 82 of Rare Gemstones. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

It’s a lot of information packed into less than 140 pages. Rare Gemstones is available from your favorite bookseller or via a link on the book’s website.

Own a gem from the book

Several of the gemstones pictured in Rare Gemstones are available to the retail-buying public via the Collector’s Corner section of Palagems.com.

Taafeite. This 8.5-carat taafeite is found on p. 114 of Rare Gemstones. Look for it in Collector’s Corner. (Photo: Wimon Manorotkul)

Taafeite. Also on p. 114 is this moody 2.35-carat taafeite with brown body tone and slight lavender secondary. Look for it in Collector’s Corner. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

As you browse Collector’s Corner you may recognize from the pages of Rare Gemstones several other stones that we’ve pointed to in the last year or so: a 28.55-carat oval calcite (p. 24, Inv. #11295), a 8.44-carat pear cabochon hackmanite (p. 82, Inv. #14861), and a 5.30-carat fluorite (p. 44, Inv. #14245).

[back to top]

With Pala Presents, we offer selections from the library of Pala International’s Bill Larson, who will share with us some of the wealth of information in the realm of gems and gemology.

Uncle Sam’s Oversight

A reprint by Elliott Flower, from Technical World Magazine, 1906

The cover of the June 1906 edition of Technical World Magazine (forerunner of Popular Mechanics) declared “First Photos ’Frisco Ruins!”; the 7.7–7.9 magnitude earthquake had struck only about a month before, with fire destroying half of the buildings that would have survived the temblor. Before-and-after shots in the photo essay are humbling in their depiction of a world-class city brought to its knees. About a month before, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was published, creating shock waves of its own. It was the middle of the Progressive Era in which government began to intervene in ways it hadn’t before. The United States was on the move, as was alluded to in another article in the June 1906 Technical World.

Rancher and miner Eduardo Roderiquez, of Jasay, in north central Baja, stands at one of his mines.

In “Uncle Sam’s Oversight,” the latest entry in our Pala Presents reprint series, Elliott Flower takes the reader on a tour of Baja California, and at nearly every turn he notes how, if only resources were brought bear in Baja, as they were north of the border, what a place Baja could be. In the third person he laments:

For, in Lower California to-day, there is no man so poor that he may not have a pleasant, plausible dream of wealth. Indeed, it is quite probable that, had the Mexican dreamed less, he would now have more of the wealth within his grasp. As for the American, he is after the wealth in his own strenuous way, tempered somewhat by climatic conditions; but he feels that he would have a much better chance under Uncle Sam’s beneficent rule.

As we note in the introductory note to “Uncle Sam’s Oversight,” Flower’s employment of the “sleeping Mexican” stereotype is curious because his article sets out to dispel another stereotype—that Baja is but a barren pile of rocks. Flower takes us on a tour of the peninsula, likening it to Italy. But also it is the rocks that Flower surveys—hyacinth (varieties of zircon) and jargoon, tourmaline, beryl, varieties of garnet, turquoise, jasper, epidote, rose quartz, and more.

Un trío baja californiano. Clockwise from left, yellowish-green prehnite weighing 3.21 cts, sphene from Pino Solo weighing 3.61 cts and a trillion scheelite from the El Fenomeno Mine, Sierra Juares, Baja California, Mexico. (Photo: Mia Dixon; Collection: Bill Larson)

[back to top]

— End March Newsletter • Published 3/15/12 —

Mines to Market Show in Trends & Colors

CIJ International Jewellery’s twice-yearly Trends & Colours trend-tracking guide, covered the First Mines to Market Coloured Gemstone Conference in India in its Winter 2012 edition. (Web edition available here; look for page 40.)

The article, by Cynthia Unninayar, begins with some statistics: India’s gemstone industry employs nearly one million people and colored stone exports in 2010–11 rose nearly 10% over 2009–10. The article is peppered with other statistics, such as Edward Boehm (RareSource, and InColor contributing editor) noting that 80 percent of colored gems, from the 47 nations that produce them, originate from artisanal and small-scale mining operations. This would raise issues of ethical mining and fair trade, which were addressed at the conference, amongst a number of other topics, covered in the article.

And for another colorful look at the Pushkar Camel Fair that rounded out the conferees’ visit, see Richard Hughes’s photo album, “Pushkar: India’s Camelot.” [back to top]

Tucson Time: Pala Pix

A report by JCK on this year’s AGTA GemFair was upbeat, with American Gem Trade Association CEO Doug Hucker saying that attendance was at least steady with last year, or perhaps “slightly up.” Several dealers were quoted as saying that the finer stones were in demand, but only after careful deliberation. This year saw the debut of the AGTA Preferred Pricing Program, which rewards AGTA with a 5% discount on buys from more than 120 exhibitors.

Pala International’s Jason Stephenson, left, and Josh Hall at this month’s AGTA GemFair in Tucson. (Photo: Geri Vigil)

“This year’s AGTA show definitely kick started 2012,” said Pala’s Jason Stephenson. “It seems like the show started off with a lot of excitement and stayed fairly busy throughout. All the usual clients and gem enthusiasts were out and about buying and swapping stories from the year past and looking forward to what new may come.” Regarding what clients were on the prowl for, Jason continued, “Natural sapphires and rubies, spinels, tourmaline of all varieties had the biggest amount of fingerprints at the end of the show. Garnets seem to be a big hit this year with a lot of interest in Russian demantoid and Nigerian spessartite.”

Pala’s Gabrièl Mattice gets the red out at the AGTA GemFair. (Photo: Geri Vigil)

As to the word from peers, Jason commented, “A lot of positive reviews from other dealers around the show as well, so it seems we are off to a good start as some economic indicators seem to be starting to point in the same direction.” Bill Larson capped that assessment: “Pala was extremely happy and successful this Tucson faire at all three venues—AGTA, Westward Look, and TGMS—with each one surpassing our best expectations.”

Hundreds of years of expertise. At the AGTA GemFair, from left, photographer and crystal artist Harold Van Pelt, Pala’s Bill Larson, collector Alex Schauss, and Ed Swoboda, who was to give a rare talk at the Westward Look Show. (Photo: Laura Schauss)

For on-the-floor reports, see Gary Roskin’s The Roskin Gem News Report; Roskin also includes his wrap-up from 2011 for handy comparing.

Bill Larson, very happy to be out of a suit and tie at AGTA, dons a more relaxed style at the Westward Look mineral show, and finds just the thing for a client’s little black box at the Westward Look Show. (Photo: Geri Vigil)

During the show, a benefit for the charity Jewelers for Children, the musical jam called GemJammin’, was held at local tropical-watering hole, The Hut. The 2011 event brought in $5,000 for the cause. Visit Facebook for a selection of jams.

Bill Larson at Pala’s booth at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show with legendary mineral expert and host of “What’s Hot In Tucson” annual rockumentary, David Wilber. (Photo: Will Larson)

[back to top]

George Bosshart on Bi-colored Beryl—“Emeraqua”

George Bosshart, who passed away last month, was a colleague of Dr. Schmetzer, and his contributions to the above study are mentioned in its acknowledgements and references. We thought our readers would be interested in one of the last reports undertaken by the late researcher. The following appeared in our sister e-newsletter, Pala Mineralis, earlier this month.

In November of 2010 Pala International’s Bill Larson was notified by the late George Bosshart of some intriguing crystals.

I have a topic for you, the connoisseur of the Afghanistan-Pakistan and other beryl-producing areas: You cannot be aware of our totally unexpected find of cm-size emerald crystals in the Binntal (the famous mineral paradise in the southwestern Swiss Alps) because we have published the find in a Swiss mineral magazine only (Krzemnicki M. S., Bosshart G.[2003]: Der Binntal-Smaragd als Juwel. Schweizer Strahler, 13, 4, 31-33. ISSN 0370-9213).

The topic has not been published in English.

Certainly it is not the size of the emeralds which is noteworthy but the optical and chemical properties which strongly resemble those of Colombian emeralds and even more so a phenomenon which truly is rare. A few of the longer double-ender crystals are bi-coloured, chromium-green on one and aquamarine-blue on the opposite end. This catapults our tiny babies into a world of their own, the emerald-aquamarines or “emeraquas.”

Figure 8a. Bi-coloured Habachtal beryl specimen, consisting of an emerald top and a milky base (due to inclusions), separated by a mica layer. Weight 4.99 ct. Donation G. Grundmann.

Bill Larson replied, “I have seen some of these new Austrian emeralds; some with aquamarine. They are quite unique.” We immediately followed up with Bosshart, asking whether we might publish his remarks. He replied:

Palagems people have never been asleep, just like their big boss. This time, however, I have to pull the brakes. I do not see the urgency for publication or pre-publication of the subject, especially since I have no decent specimens and analytical data. … I will consider sending you a write-up as soon as I have made substantial progress on the topic.

Before George Bosshart’s death, we received an elaboration of his poster session on the subject, which he presented to the 32nd International Gemmological Conference, July 2011, in Interlaken, Switzerland. While we feel the loss of the man, his work endures. In celebration of the life and loves of George Bosshart we are pleased to publish “Do bi-coloured, green and blue beryls exist, which are composed of emerald and aquamarine zones?” [back to top]

Burma Bits

Refugees in Utopia: Jade Mining Behind the Front Lines

If we recall correctly, The Myanmar Times (MT) online newsweekly was taken offline at least once or twice in the past few years for lack of adequate self-censorship. That was then. Nowadays its pages are peppered with discussions of whether the upcoming April 1 by-elections will be run fairly, and the positioning of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. A recent opinion piece by former MTer Aung Tun rehashes the pros and cons of sanctions, but does so in a candid way that we likely wouldn’t have seen a year ago.

And exiles are returning home to Burma—among them, Mizzima News Agency, a source to which we often have pointed. The editors, brothers U Soe Myint and U Sein Win, have not been back to Burma since 1998, when they founded Mizzima, according to a February 6 MT story.

It should be noted that all the buzz in MT about foreign-firm tax breaks, a previously unexpected 30% trade boom, shortage of higher-end housing and more (and more) has overshadowed a dire situation in Jade Land.

Jade and amber occur in the northernmost part of Upper Burma, reached by a weekly flight from Rangoon to Myitkyina. This village is in the eastern part of the so-called jade and amber belt and is very near the border of Yunan Province of China. —Martin Ehrmann, “Burma, The Mineral Utopia,” October 1957

A spokesperson from one of 24 camps established in Myitkyina township said the increase in refugee numbers was stretching the resources of the camp management bodies. —The Myanmar Times, January 16, 2012

Because of the conflict, Kachin News Group reported on January 25, the Kachin Independence Organization “officially” and ceremoniously opened a jade field in Hpakant for mining. The field was to be open to “the general public” and to local artisanal miners, but not to large operators. The jade field provides an alternative to miners who have been denied access to usual sites.

Golden amber from the Hukawng Valley, in Kachin’s Myitkyina District. This stone weighs 19.48 carats, Inv. #19524. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

[back to top]

The Book of Ruby & Sapphire, From an Unpublished Manuscript by J. F. Halford-Watkins, 1936

Edited by Richard W. Hughes

If you went to Tucson you likely got a peek at a project dear to the heart of Richard Hughes: The Book of Ruby & Sapphire, From an Unpublished Manuscript by J. F. Halford-Watkins. Such a manuscript, from the pen of Halford-Watkins (?–1937), who died before it could be printed, is remarkable because the writing springs from his more than twenty years of residence in Mogok. The scope is what you’d hope for: history, chemistry and crystallography, physical properties, “enclosures,” sources (Burma and elsewhere), mining—and that’s but half of the book’s pages.

The present volume is the result of more than a decade’s effort by Hughes and his confederates (including Pala’s Bill Larson), and the presentation is a reflection of the singular scholarship exhibited in Halford-Watkins’s text. The book is handsomely augmented by the inclusion of dozens of photographs and illustrations from an array of sources, contemporary, current and in-between. A sweet surprise is the addition of “The Streeter Diaries,” by way of Patrick Streeter, grandson and biographer of George Skelton Streeter, who traveled in 1887 with the first British expedition to Mogok. It was in Patrick’s book that Richard Hughes first learned of Halford-Watkins’s manuscript.

Dr. John Emmett, who urged Hughes to take on the project, apparently found his confidence well-placed, saying that the book “is a rare find—as exquisite as any fine ruby” and that every lover of fine gems will want a copy. Preview it and purchase it at Blurb.com.

At Tucson. Pala’s Gabrièl Mattice and The Journal of Gemmology editor Elise Skalwold, at Pala’s AGTA GemFair booth, with an advance copy of Halford-Watkins’s The Book of Ruby & Sapphire. (Photo courtesy Elise Skalwold)

[back to top]

With Pala Presents, we offer selections from the library of Pala International’s Bill Larson, who will share with us some of the wealth of information in the realm of gems and gemology.

Burma, The Mineral Utopia – Part Three

A reprint by Martin Ehrmann

Last year we treated readers to Martin Ehrmann’s unpublished (and unfinished) manuscript, Ruby Mines of Mogok. We followed up with his 1957 Gems & Gemology article, Gem Mining in Burma, which contains substantial overlap. This month we offer Part Three of another 1957 three-part article with material that will be somewhat familiar to readers of the other pieces. We offer it, however, so that people interested in the subject will have multiple resources as well as mid-century images of the mines, methods, miners and dealers of Mogok and elsewhere.

In Part Three of Burma, The Mineral Utopia, Ehrmann begins with an overview of amber mining in the Hukawng Valley in northern Burma. He then describes the gem trade procedure “used in all Oriental countries except Burma,” before looking at the exception to the rule, noting, for instance, the important role of women in the trade in Burma.

Amber deposits in the Hukawng Valley can yield stones with hefty carat weights. This orange oval, Inv. #19521, is nearly 25 carats and measures 29 x 22.83 x 15 mm. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

[back to top]

— End February Newsletter • Published 2/15/12 —

Sainte-Marie Scission

Early move to Colmar for Euro-Mineral & Euro-Gem

A planned 2014 move of Euro-Mineral & Euro-Gem from Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines to nearby Colmar will take place two years early due to a breakdown in negotiations, according to a statement by Michel Schwab, who has directed the show for thirty years. In 2010, two studies convinced Schwab and some other organizers that the move was needed; now it’s happening ahead of schedule.

Colmar is the capital of the Haut-Rhin department in which Sainte-Marie is situated, and the city lies on the eastern edge of the Parc naturel régional des Ballons des Vosges (named for the round, balloon-like mountains) that is home to Sainte-Marie. Colmar, with an urban-area population in 2008 of 126,000, is nearly 17 times larger than tiny Sainte-Marie. The show is taking advantage of the city’s Parc des Expositions de Colmar, with five halls totaling nearly 14,000 square meters (500,000 sq. ft.) of space.

On November 10, Sainte-Marie mayor Claude Abel and manager (and former Euro-Gem organizer) Raymonde Kistler announced that the town would host its own, competing event, which will take place the same days as the Colmar show, June 21–24, 2012. The “new” group, which stems from Sainte-Marie’s town council, goes by the name of Mineral & Gem à Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines and has a new website. A letter of explanation to prospective exhibitors was issued December 1.

Fortunately the two venues are 35 km apart. Pala International plans to attend both next June.

Bon choix. Two emerald-cut fluorites from francophone countries. Left, a 14.22-carat, yellow fluorite from France, Inv. #13041. Right, a 5.3-carat reddish-orange fluorite from Switzerland, Inv. #14245. (Photos: Wimon Manorotkul, left, and Mia Dixon)

[back to top]

Pala’s Featured Stones: Brazilian Paraiba

This month we feature a set of tourmalines from the original mining area in Brazil. The pegmatite that produced these copper-bearing beauties spans the states of Paraîba and Rio Grande do Norte. Distinguishing which side of the border an individual stone was mined from has been trying, even for the most highly equipped laboratories around the world.

Brazilian Paraiba. Blue green center oval, 2.8 carats, 9.22 x 7.8 x 5.57 mm, and the green teardrop pair, 2.51 carats, 7.5 x 6.3 x 4 mm. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

Whichever state these paraibas were actually mined from seems irrelevant as you take in the light and color that is unlike any other gem on the planet. Dazzling neon hues of blue and green in a perfect medium tone, with saturation tilting the scales of what’s possible for a natural gemstone.

Throughout the year Pala is fortunate enough to have a handful of true Brazilian paraibas pass through our doors even though the mines have been exhausted for several years now. We also have a good supply of the now depleted Mozambique deposit. Contact us or check our inventory to see what’s available.

Interested? Call or email us to inquire. [back to top]

George Bosshart 1943–2012

We received word on Monday from Anne Bosshart that her husband George passed away last Saturday. “Over many years he was fighting cancer and lost in the end. Throughout all his days, his work kept him going and he loved to be with people, all the precious stones and their sources.” Our hearts go out to Anne, whose devoted care of George made it possible for him to remain out of hospital until just a few days before his death. It was such care that allowed George to prepare a study on color stability in spodumene, which he presented at last July’s International Gemmological Conference in Interlaken, Switzerland.

George Bosshart had been chief gemologist, Research and Development, at the Gübelin Gem Lab in Lucerne. He made many contributions to gemological science and literature. After his university education in Switzerland, he did some geological fieldwork in Canada. His career in gemology followed, and he became director of SSEF (Swiss Gemmological Institute) for many years, when the lab was located in Zurich. During this time he worked closely with Prof. H. A. Hänni.

George was a close friend of Dr. Karl Schmetzer for nearly forty years. “To his last days he was interested in gems and gemmology,” Dr. Schmetzer told us, “and continued his major research project about green diamonds and the origins of colour, working with his own collection and samples from museums.” He conducted irradiation experiments and compared spectroscopic properties of natural samples with irradiated stones.

Palling around. George Bosshart, right, with Edward Boehm, at the entrance to Ruby Land. (Photo: Dr. Eduard Gübelin and Edward Boehm)

Richard W. Hughes shared with George “a love for travel to remote localities, particularly in Burma, and we often found ourselves exploring the same places, albeit at different times.” Anne Bosshart was George’s constant traveling companion, and they loved the jade mines of Upper Burma. “But it wasn't just the jade,” Hughes said. “I think, like myself, that was just a convenient excuse to travel, meet new people and explore new cultures. While certainly a Swiss at heart, he was simultaneously a citizen of the world.” George Bosshart contributed to “Burmese Jade: The Inscrutable Gem” by Hughes and others, archived on Palagems.com.

Pala’s Bill Larson recalled getting to know George personally on their first trip to Mogok, Burma, in 1993 with Dr. Eduard Gübelin. They rode together in the “pain-mobile,” named not after the famous mineralogist and gem dealer, but “so named because we all hit our heads on the metal roof (as we rode in the back of the four wheel drive vehicle—sans shock absorbers—the Burmese assigned us to) on every bump on the eight hour journey from Mandalay.” Out of all in that party, George got the worst gashes, but never complained even though they required medical attention. “He was just so excited to see the Valley of Rubies! He made the trip even more special; we all had the best time with him.”

Pain-mobile. Hold onto your hat, if you’re lucky enough to have one. Otherwise your pate will be at the mercy of jeep’s metal roof. (Photo: Dr. Eduard Gübelin and Edward Boehm)

Friends and family will say goodbye on January 24 at 2:00 p.m. at the Protestant Church of Wädenswil. Consider donating to a charity in George Bosshart’s name: Schweizer Berghilfe (Swiss mountain assistance) or Schweizerischer Verein für das Blindenwesen (Swiss National Association of and for the Blind).

In situ. George Bosshart is in his element here, in Lin Yuang Chi Primary Ruby Mine, Mogok, Burma. (Photo: Dr. Eduard Gübelin and Edward Boehm)

[back to top]

Burma Bits

“Mid-Year” Emporium Shows Sluggish Sales

Well, the annual “mid-year” gems emporium, which historically has taken place in October, was held in 2011 even later than 2010’s November sale. This year’s event had been announced by Mizzima News as having been cancelled. The most recent sale began December 24, ending January 3, 2012, according to The Myanmar Times (MT). The total earned was €700 million, or $903 million. The sale featured almost 12,000 jade lots (8300 sold), 230 gem lots (39 sold) and 270 pearl lots (212 sold). The top lot sold for about $9.3 million, and 55 jade lots sold for more than €1 million each. Chinese dealers picked up the most expensive lots.

The MT story claimed a December 2010 sale brought in $2.9 billion, but that appears to have been confused with the March 2011 sale, which garnered $2.8 billion. The November 2010 mid-year emporium brought in $1.44 billion, according to our statistics. (See also this story, below, on that sale.) Non-paying bidders previously had caused problems, so deposits on all bids were required at this latest emporium, which appear to have slowed sales. The New Light of Myanmar stated that the next annual emporium would be held “soon.”

Cease-fires, Cease-sanctions

General Saw Mutu Sai Pho, commander-in-chief of Karen National Union, signs the cease-fire in Hpa-an, January 12. (Photo: Kaung Htet)

Even as encouraging political developments continue in Burma, reports from the Kachin jade region indicate a status quo of conflict. The Irrawaddy reported a week ago that fear of new fighting between Burma troops and the Kachin Independence Army caused refugees to flee the Hpakant jade area, just days before Burma signed a groundbreaking cease-fire with rebels in another ethnic region—Karen. The Karen conflict—like other such conflicts—involves ethnic autonomy and predates Burma’s independence from Britain. Burma had signed agreements with all other major ethnic groups, and so the signing of a Karen cease-fire, as noted by Reuters last Thursday, was seen as a possible “small step” towards the end of twenty years of sanctions against Burma.

Small step or big step, a day later the U.S. restored full diplomatic relations with Burma, after the government freed more than six hundred political prisoners, one of the largest in Asia’s history, according to an unnamed senior state department official.

Root beer and olives. From our Old Stock… New Pix section: Above, a 2.8-carat root beer-colored, emerald-cut spinel from Burma, Inv. #19017. Below, a hefty 26.54 carats of olive green enstatite, Inv. #17734. (Photos: Mia Dixon)

Rob Bates, senior editor of JCK Magazine, wasted little time in examining the issue of U.S. gemstone sanctions against Burma, yesterday. Bates wrote that Jewelers Vigilance Committee president/CEO Ceclia Gardner stated that lawmakers are looking at the lifting of sanctions even if no legislation is in the works. And Jewelers of America supported the ban, but CEO Matt Runci, who retires from JA at the end of 2012, said the group looks forward to easing the ban. JCK pointed to Australia already moving in that direction. ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), at the request of Burma’s foreign minister, says it agrees with a call for the lifting of economic sanctions. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), ASEAN took the same stance a year ago. (Burma declined to chair ASEAN, in rotating fashion, five years ago due to international pressure.) Yesterday, the Philippines called for sanctions to end, as reported by Associated Press. Even U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had a photo op with President Thein Sein yesterday, calling him a “genuine reformer,” holding out the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions in April after elections in Burma.

And the Brits?

Just a few days ago, when outlining this edition of our newsletter, we had planned to lead with news of British foreign secretary William Hague’s offer to lift sanctions in return for further “bold steps” by Burma. Sound promising? Not to The Myanmar Times, which called this ploy by Hague “moving the goalposts” and inventing “new rules of the game.” MT actually claimed that the need for such a shift is because “the changes that have occurred owe little or nothing to Western pressures, but are essentially home-grown.” Oh, and: “To acknowledge this too openly could lead to a loss of face.”

In some encouraging news, The Irrawaddy today reported on peace talks in China between Kachin rebels and the Burma government, which has ordered the country’s troops to hold its fire, according to AFP. Jade roads that had been closed due to security concerns have been reopened, as reported by Kachin News Group. [back to top]

A Visit to the Gem Emporium

An article by Emily Jane Chang

This article, from Lotus, the inflight magazine of Air Bagan, looks at Burma’s jade, gem and pearl emporium from the point of view of a novice. Emily Jane Chang, who grew up in Hong Kong, was no stranger to Burma, having visited there years before. But it wasn’t until November 2010 that she was introduced to the “mid-year” emporium by an old high school friend who had attended these sales since they began in 1964. The November 2010 sale—the first to be held in the country’s political capital of Naypyidaw—nearly tripled the proceeds over the March 2010 sale. And it brought in ten times the 2009 mid-year total.

Read the article here. [back to top]

— End January Newsletter • Published 1/18/12 —