Thank you very much Sharon~ and welcome to the channel :D

Thanks ~ it's my pleasure to serve

Thank you thank you~ and YES heaps of bots these days. I guess i should be grateful in some way, because that means that my channel is finally worth trolling XD. Cheers~!

Thank you ~ glad to be of service.

I'm glad you enjoy it. They put tons of work into it and I feel it shows ;) Cheers, Jennifer~

Thank you very much, Ian. I am indeed grateful that I had the opportunity to be ground and shaped by my first career. Painful, but also a powerful skillset ^_^

I do my best ^_^

I am glad to serve~

Thank you very much Robert~

Cheers~ yep, book collecting is a dangerous addiction XD

Got to ~ the difference between a product and a treasure is the story of the thing. Object #776JLQ is nowhere near as inspiring as King David's footstool.

Thanks David~ i'll keep that in mind as im planning new episodes and i'll see what I can make happen. Some people get mighty sensitive with cameras around, so it will take some time and planning, but could be fun~~!

@@GemologyforSchmucks thanks

Thanks for that vote of confidence ~ Also - pearls are glorious on so many levels. How much more so when accompanied by such an adventure.

Welcome to the channel, Donny~

I agree. While I hope to upload all the knowledge I can into my brain, it is also very nice to have some hefty books on the shelves to serve as reminders of what there is to know. Also they are useful to throw at thieves XD

My pleasure ~ Indeed we are all eager to get back out the door and into something resembling society again. Working on faceting skills is a great way to spend the time otherwise though.

Thanks Dennis~ I agree. There are some inclusion scenes that are downright wholesome, and im much faster to buy a stone with an inobtrusive inclusion scene that gives me confidence on the nature of the stone than a loupe clean affair that I need a microscope or advanced lab to be certain about.

Thanks Christopher~ I hear you. There is a diamond cult that needs to hear the gospel of true colour XD I was just having a conversation about the Vargas family the other day with a lapidary friend of mine. Thanks for the reminder.

Thank you ~

Welcome to the channel Vince~ and thank you. I also hope that my content will serve you.

Hi Sam ~ I'm glad that you're enjoying these. I sometimes worry that the content can be too academic, but the topic needed to be covered anyhow. As to the green ghost/ synthetic overgrowth quartz specimen, China Town may be a good place to look, otherwise they're easier to find at a gem show such as the Tucson gem show or the Bangkok gem fair (assuming we actually have a physical one in the next year... oh how I wish) Happy New Year~

Hi Peter, do you have a recommendation for a book that has information/photos of absorption spectra of common gems? I’d like to learn to use a spectrometer but have just realized I need reference material. Thanks.

I live in Bangkok currently ~ glad to hear of other engravers. I've been working on bright cut engraving for the past 2 years, and growing my skills. I look forward to doing high-relief and sculpting in the days ahead. Cheers Greg

Thanks Rog~ There are indeed a lot of books out there, and it's an easy thing to spend a small fortune on them and forget to keep buying the stones they're about XD I suppose my advice for anyone really is: pick what you want to learn about and don't buy more than you can read in a season. Finish those and then buy more.... Be well, Rog.

@@GemologyforSchmucks - great advice. Thanks Peter. 😀

There's a rumour that there may be a second edition coming out soon, so unless you're in a particular rush, or love collectibles, it may be valuable to wait.

@@GemologyforSchmucks will wait. Im not in a tax bracket that buys $1k books :) The second recc for gem atlas also out of print and people are hoarding their copies like gold. Any more books youd reccomend?

The spectroscope I love, but its a pain in the rump to learn. My suggestion, having gone through that is this: get a variety of red- purple- orange garnets, some red spinel (synthetic or natural as you like) and synthetic/natural ruby, zircon, and maybe jadeite (it can be cheaper but some transparency is important) You'll need to train your eye to accept seeing ghosts. All of these stones have the clearer spectra that I believe are easier to identify/ recognize. The spectroscope starts to push you into the bizarre area where you accept that science is sometimes pretty fuzzy. As far as books - the one I heard recommended the most (haven't read it myself yet) is "The Spectroscope and Gemmology" by Anders and Payne. This has explanations about the tool, and example spectra prints for you to reference.

Thanks Laurentiu~

Welcome to the channel~

@@GemologyforSchmucks Can you please tell me the best book you recommend for Identification & grading guides of most gemstones not only the popular precious ones ? Thank you.

Yes, there is discussion about the various known pearl producing molluscs, though not all have pictures. There is also some significant discussion on the features of various natural pearl harvesting regions, and pearl-culture.

@@GemologyforSchmucks Thanks. I'll add it to my reading list. This video served as a good reminder that it's about time I renewed my local gem association membership. I've been missing out on the periodicals, and, with any luck they'll have a copy in their library🤞.

Thanks for the suggestion ~ maybe the opportunity will arise soon.

Thank you~

Some assets are non-transferrable XD Thanks for the comment, Isuru~

The good news is that they dont go down in price. I know some people that hoard extra copies so that they have them for sale when they go out of print

Is what a big price? I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean.

This is the book sir

Hi Luke, thanks for engaging in discussions and sharing your perspective. In the Yiddish-American popular usage of the word schmuck, its a mildly insulting word like dummy, in this you are correct. There is also a popular series of books translated into many many languages called “ _____ for Dummies” and this idea sparked out of that, predicated on the idea that all learners need to first accept that they do not know. The name is a minor challenge to that end to see who is willing to take their quest of knowledge with a pinch of salt. My teaching style is neither clinical or typically academic, so I try to reflect that in my title aswell. Thanks again for exchanging ideas, and I hope that my content will continue to serve you.

Luke Luke Luke, everyone seems to be offended by their own shadow these days. Just chill man. I’m a Schmuck.

Pearls are gems~ just not totally crystalline XD Love them.

@@GemologyforSchmucks I like them also 🤗 Saltwater natural ones the most! The cultivated are ok but its more like a moissanite pearl. 😅🤐

@@maximhollandnederlandthene7640 oh no ~ nothing of the like. Moissanite shares very few physical properties in common with diamond. Cultures pearls share almost ALL properties in common with so called natural/ man-unassisted pearls. The process that the creature uses to create the biogenic gem is the same in both cases.