[Richard W. Wise]

Burma Journal; On The Road To Mandalay, Part II

By Richard W. Wise, G.G.

©2006

Day Two:

After a good night’s sleep we are up and on the road early. The morning is cool, the air sweet like early New England summer, the heat doesn’t become oppressive until about noon. Until then we tool along with our windows rolled down, saving our air conditioning and fuel. I am feeling good and ready to take photographs so we stop several times along the road.

In one small town, Lwin pulls over. There is a wedding in progress and he stops for me to take few shots. I am immediately accosted by one of the guests who insists that I come in and take a picture of the bride and groom. The music stops, I am shown a seat. Tea, cakes and a pack of cigarettes appear on the table before me. I am embarrassed, upstaging the young couple on this their most important day. They seem bemused and not at all pleased. They are young, perhaps fourteen, and sit solemnly on a small raised stage in the front of the hall, he in a white suit, she in a wedding dress. So I smile, take a few photographs, bob my head up and down, mouth inanities, thank the guests and back the hell out of there.

http://gemwiseblogspotcom.blogspot.com/

[Richard W. Wise]

This one is about Mozambique and Paraiba tourmaline, not about pearls. But, what the hey, broaden your vision. http://gemwiseblogspotcom.blogspot.com/

[Satine De La Courcel]

Hi Richard,

I loke your blog! always imformative!


Ash

[Richard W. Wise]

Gem Mining in Magagascar a three part series

BY VINCENT PARDIEU WITH RICHARD W. WISE

©2006

Moramanga mining village, Andilamena region, Madagascar, June 29, 2005

It is 4 a.m., and I can’t sleep. It’s been two hours since the local nightclub has ceased churning out the pop music that can turn this jungle city into a disco. The neighboring movie theater closed a few hours ago, and the choreographed grunts of the latest Kung Fu movie have faded into the darkness.

Still, the jungle night in this mining village is far from quiet. In fact, it sounds like a battlefield. By day, this shantytown of 15,000 is the kingdom of men, but the night is ruled by rats — thousands of them, perhaps millions. In each wooden shack, dozens of rats run over the sleeping bodies of men, women, and children. I don’t like rats, so I’ve made a small fire and installed some candles; that way I can at least work and think . . .

So begins Colored Stone Magazine's three part series on the gem mines of Madagascar. The Magazine has very generously made our series available online. If you are not a subscriber, get with it. READ ON http://gemwiseblogspotcom.blogspot.com/

[JulieN]

Richard, so nice to see you here.

[Kevin Canning]

I agree you are definitely an asset to the forums, keep up the good work on the blog.

[purepearls]

Hi Richard,
Your blog is excellent! I absolutely love the emerald ring shown on the blog. It looks amazing! Too bad it's sold.

[Richard W. Wise]

Amanda,

Yes, the emerald was perfect in every respect. Something you rarely see. Brazil has produced some extraordinary stones but I have never seen a round that had such beauty. Completely unenhanced as well.

Just set an exceptional blue sapphire and Burma ruby in similar settings. Will have them on the site around mid-August once my Photographer arrives.

[purepearls]

I can't wait to see them! I do love the unique nature of the ring setting. It really showcases the gemstone very well.

[Richard W. Wise]

Check out the latest post on Michael Dyber, gem sculptor

[Richard W. Wise]

Rating the Gem/Jewelry Forums

by Richard W. Wise, G.G.
©2006

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall”

The Jefferson Airplane

The Internet is a fund of information. And, as some say, the Internet is free; grass roots democracy, freedom of speech in action. You can say anything about anything. The fact is, this so-called freedom is somewhat illusory. Freedom of speech implies the freedom to be heard. Without that what have you got or as the British philosopher Berkeley once asked: “If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it fall, does it make any noise”?

The freedom to be heard, aye that is the issue! Recently the search engine, Google, kowtowed to the China’s Communist government, agreeing to restrict content available through Google’s Chinese search engine. What do you suppose a Chinese citizen will get when he googles “free speech?” What a perfect segue into a discussion of online gem forums:

Gem/Jewelry Forums have been sprung up all over the net like brown fungi after a summer rain. The major forums are; Pricescope, Diamondtalk, Gemologyonline and Pearl-Guide. Each of these sites claim to be online communities advocating the rights of the consumer and promoting a free exchange of ideas and information. Some are part of for profit websites and some are non-profit. Are they really all they claim to be? What’s a consumer to believe? The quick answer, like fungi some are edible and others will upset your tummy, lets try and separate the mushrooms from their less palatable cousins, the toadstools. READ ON VISIT MY BLOG, GEMWISE; www.gemwiseblogspotcom.blogspot.com

[mikehrz]

"One of the most active and knowledgeable members, a non-professional, irreverently refers to cultured pearls as “pearl-plated beads.”"

I believed the active, knowledgeable non-professional member in question irreverently refers to cultured akoyas as "pearl-plated beads," not all cultured pearls in general. Certainly, no knowledgeable non-professional worth her salt would use the term "pearl-plated beads" to refer to freshadamas. This concludes today's nitpick session.

[perlas]

Zeide,
How about an "Irradiated Pearl Doublet"? Does a string of bead nucleus be called synthetic pearls since they're made of nacre as well?
Does Semi-synthetic pearls sound better than pearl-plated beads?

Richard,
I think this site is owned by Kevin Canning of Pearls Of Joy.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Sam,

A string of nuclei would have to be declared as what they are, either freshwater mother of pearl beads, tridacna shell beads, dolomite beads or whatever they are made of. They are definitely not "cultured pearl substrate" or "pre-cultured pearls." Akoyas are simply an abomination and Tahitians are on their best way to join them in ignonymy with South Seas being eager to follow. I sure hope that the Chinese will be smart enough to not go the Kasumi way and try to perfect quality.

Zeide

[jshepherd]

Richard,

Ok, here is the meat!

I started this Site as a pearl information Site. You can see the articles on the left nav. I was toying with the idea of writing a book on pearls, but decided at that time that an online account would be best suited, as this is where my business is.

Kevin Canning runs a Site called PearlsOfJoy.com. We have known each other for about 5 years, and have met up in China and Hong Kong several times while we were both there.

Kevin was very interested in my "Pearl-Guide Project". He has a background in programming as well. He suggested I add a discussion forum to the Site.

As my programming skills are somewhat marginal, I let Kevin into the back end of Pearl-Guide and gave him the keys to the code. He purchased a license for the forum software, and adapted it to this forum.

SO! I DO actually own the entire Site, but KEVIN owns the software, which is the forum. I know it is confusing, but it has actually really worked out well.