B RI LL I ANC E
TA L K I N G TO...
Kim Rix Kim Rix GG GIA is a gemstone expert, author and award-winning photographer. She shares her journey to becoming the Gemstone Detective.
You are the Gemstone Detective. What exactly is your business and how do you help and facilitate your service? Gemstone Detective is a unique learning resource for gemstone hobbyists. The business offers a series of educational travel guides, gemstone tours and gemstone talks. What led you to becoming a Gemstone Detective? Was it an epiphany moment? It all started with a bad buying decision. Whilst on holiday in Egypt, I bought a gemstone which turned out to be glass. It was sold to me as a natural Burmese ruby, and I naively believed the seller because he had been so open and friendly over the course of several days. At that time, I’d spent hundreds of hours self-educating by reading and watching the American television network, Jewelry Television, and thought I was knowledgeable. It was horribly embarrassing to realise that I wasn’t as clued-up as I thought I was. After that, I decided to get a proper education and studied at the world-renowned GIA (Gemmological Institute of America).
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ISSUE 01 | JUNE 2022
After I qualified, the idea for the book series, Gemstone Detective, came as another lightbulb moment. I wrote the books to protect people from falling for similar tricks – to save themselves the heartache and to be able to buy their gemstones and jewellery with confidence. Let’s talk about your books. What do they teach and what can people gain from reading them? The books are educational and aim to help people feel more confident about buying gemstones and jewellery in a foreign country. Each book is a blend of basic gemmology and a travel guide. The books are countryspecific and focus on the gemstones for which that country is known. Buying Gemstones & Jewellery in Australia focuses on opals and sapphires, whereas Buying Gemstones & Jewellery in Myanmar (Burma) talks about the best-known Burmese gemstones, i.e., jade, ruby and sapphire. The first half of each book tells you - in clear, easy-to-read prose everything you need to know about the gemstone. You’ll learn about the
different varieties of each gemstone and what to look for when it comes to buying. The second half of the book contains the travel guide element, helping you decide where to buy your gemstone. Each book is packed with practical information and tips to help you better understand what you are buying and what to avoid. If you ask the top ten questions set out in the book, you should feel confident about making your purchase. Buying Gemstones and Jewellery Worldwide is the exception in the series – it’s not a travel guide like the other books. It still covers the basics of gemmology and what to avoid, but also includes a special section on buying diamonds, proposing on holiday and world-famous jewellery collections. I recently launched Buying Gemstones & Jewellery in Great Britain, where I’ve focused on Blue John, amber and Whitby jet. I have, however, also included many of the other hidden gems that can be found in Great Britain. As our tourism recovers, I want to ensure that the British public and our overseas visitors have an exceptional holiday experience.
