Monthly Archives: June 2009

Book Review: Emeralds, A Passionate Guide by Ronald Ringsrud

11 Replies

by Richard W. Wise

The subtitle of Ronald Ringsrud’s new book, A Passionate Guide, The Emeralds, The People, their Secrets has been well selected. The book is not just about emerald, most specifically Colombian emerald, it is about a country, its people and one man’s love affair with it all.

I first met Ron Ringsrud about a year and a half ago. I had never been to Colombia and as is my custom whenever I go into a new market, I was looking for a guide to the country and its emeralds. Ron Ringsrud was an inspired choice.

He is fluent in Spanish and has been involved in the trade and traveling to Colombia for over twenty years. He is a true aficionado and knows whereof he speaks.

The book begins with an excellent summary of the history of emerald mining in Colombia coupled with a history of the Mogul Empire and more specifically the Indian princes whose love affair with the Colombian emerald began, almost as soon as the Spanish conquered the mines in the 16th Century. Continue reading →

Grain Boundary Diffusion in Tourmaline; The Epochal Crisis, Part II; A Tempest in a Tabloid:

72 Replies

An Open Letter to David Federman, Editor-in-chief, Colored Stone.

by Richard W. Wise, G.G.

David Federman, I just finished reading Joel Arem’s article Ending Diffusion Confusion in the current issue of Colored Stone together with your editorial titled Some Badly Needed Science. You have written so many open letters to the gemstone industry I thought I would try my hand at writing one to you. Given your reception of my January letter to the editor, I decided that the wisest course was to publish my opinion here.

First question; who is confused? For over a year you have repeatedly published your claims that tourmaline, topaz and tsavorite are being diffusion treated with little backup up of those claims other than your “long simmering suspicions” and the unsupported evidence of one man while many experts in the gemological community have been saying that the evidence presented to support those claims is just plain wrong. You state:

“Was there a better way to test James’ conjecture? I think so…It’s called experimental gemology.”

I find it ironic that you are suddenly calling for “experimental gemology.” I agree with your call, but let’s, just for a change, accurately define our terms. Continue reading →