Post subject: Hello from (currently) Tennessee, USA
Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:42 pm
New to the Forum or The Quiet Type
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2013 7:15 pm Posts: 4
Howdy folks! I stumbled across this site a few days ago and have about gone blind trying to take it all in. Great site and people here.
What got me here: A couple of years ago, I got back into metal detecting after a several decade hiatus. Modern machines are very good at finding rings and such and as I progressed, I kept finding gemstones in that jewelry that I was pretty sure what they were. But that isn't good enough, so I started down the long road to distinguish a cut and polished ruby from a garnet from red glass, and a diamond from a moissanite from a cubic zirconia (the latter are easy so far as the rings are all hallmarked "CZ").
About me:
Retired petroleum geologist, MS in geology at University of Tennessee, rockhound since before I ever went to 1st grade. I'm probably a bit rusty with some of the finer points of mineralogy, but I can claim to have gotten good grades some decades ago in all things minerals/crystals/rocks. While I am pretty comfortable in the rock and mineral world, all my life I have studiously avoided learning gemological terminology for minerals. (sidenote: when I become the king of the world, one of the first decrees I will make is that we will go by scientific mineral names ONLY. No more of this "ruby" or "sapphire" nonsense; it will be "red corundum" or "blue corundum" with any other necessary qualifiers tacked on.)
Seriously, there's hardly any facet (last one, I promise) of earth science that I don't love and enjoy and look forward to expanding my knowledge here. Please bear with me as I try to come up to speed in my Gemology.
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