What's it take to be a gemologist?

[Gilberticus 374]

I've gotten four or five PM's asking me what it takes to be a gemologist, so I figured I'd tackle it all here rather than individual private messages. I'm not going to talk about which courses and school are the the best in my opinion, nor am I going to discuss your best plan of attack. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, like I'm trying to hinder future competition or something. The reason why I won't talk about that is because all of that info can be obtained by research, and love for research is the very first thing you will need to have, because you'll never stop learning and researching in this career. Trends, price comparisons, new discoveries; there's a variety of things you have to stay on top of on a daily basis in order to really thrive in this career. When I was new, I thought all I had to do is go to school, gain a little piece of paper that says I know everything there is to know about gemology, buy a few expensive toys, open up my own store, and everything's sunshine from there. I'd just fly over to a different country, "excuse me, I'd like 100 lbs of your best quartz", come back to my store, and the stuff will fly off the shelf, easy peasy. Man, that's just a fantasy, the true nature of the beast is far uglier. Negotiations, back ally deals, frustrations,trade unions...... and that's just the easy part. This is a ruthless, cut-throat business, far uglier than the shiny, sparkly, glistering stuff we sell.

 

I will tell those interested one thing that you won't learn in class. Selling gems isn't just knowing prices, compositions , cutting techniques, and the normal stuff you'd imagine. There's also the mysticism side of gemstones that you'll also need to know. I had to learn all about symbolism, mysticism, chakras, etheric energy, Reiki.......just all types of stuff. Because you WILL have people coming in asking you crap that you've never heard of. I remember my very first customer came in and said: "Now, I'm looking to realign certain energies. I'm having panic attacks, and I don't want a quick energy spurt, I want something that has lasting power that's gradual and soothing. Oh, it also has to vibrate with the number 2 and 8." My answer, in a thick country boy drawl, was "The hell? I have....... some nice turquoise I just got in." Bam, lost that crowd for a LONG time. People who come in to your shop talking about the 7 basic chakras and etheric energy already know what stones they need, they're just testing you. That right there's a hard crowd to regain confidence and respect with once you've lost it. Also, I specifically talked about my country boy accent because that crowd won't buy gems from a guy who sounds like he just got done plowing his field with his John Deere while chewing backer and listening to Brooks and Dunn, had to go through a little bit of speech therapy to lose that accent. I hope I didn't offend anyone, because the "plowing fields, chewing backer, etc" crowd was ME. You know the good ole boys you see while camping with their beat to crap old sky blue Fords, drinking PBR and singing "Simple Man" at the top of their lungs around a campfire? That's me, those are MY people, and there's nothing wrong with that. Out of everyone I know, those good ole boys are the ones I can trust in a pinch to have my back. Heck, even with money. Those are the guys who I can leave alone in my house with all my valuables and wife and trust that everything'll be just as I left it. Anyway, that's a good group, but you're not going to strike a good chord with the mysticism crowd if you sound like Lucky from "King of the Hill".

 

So, there ya have it. Oh, the answer to the question my first customer posed to me, if you're curious: I'd go with smoky quartz, especially when dealing with a Capricorn or Sagittarius. Smoky quartz is associated with nerve pain, but it's also used to alleviate panic attacks and nightmares. Plus, she didn't want a quick fix (which would be regular quartz), she wanted a more permanent, soothing influence. Smoky Quartz transforms negative energy into positive energy. Now, the type I would have sold her is your traditional smoky quartz, the stuff that looks like ya got a tiny person smoking a cigarette inside of it. I never sell the dark brown or solid black stuff (known as morion) to the mystic crowd, as they don't believe it functions quite the same as your more traditional-looking smoky quartz. Some of them believe morion is smoky quartz that's behaving kind of like a pool filter. Yeah, it's sucking up negative energy and filtering it, but that negative crap is being trapped in there. Eventually that container of negative junk is gunna rupture. That's partly why it's considered ill-mannered to give someone morion.