Gemstone Detective

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Hey! I'm Kim

I'm a bit of a gem geek. I could spend all day looking at gemstones. I love travelling to new places, photographing wildlife, drinking a good glass of Malbec, meeting new people and tanning myself in the sun.

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I created Gemstone Detective back in 2018.  In truth it all started in Egypt three years earlier when I bought what I thought was a very expensive Burmese ruby – it turned out to be glass. I was so upset with myself for being so naive, I decided to go and study gemstones with the GIA (Gemological Institute of America). I am now a gemmologist. As it happens, that silly mistake gave me a new purpose, Now I enjoy helping others avoid the same fate. That's when I came up with the idea for Gemstone Detective. 

The thing is that every country has its share of bad apples and tourist destinations are particularly prone to attracting scammers.  Dishonest people can use your lack of knowledge to get you to part with your hard-earned cash. You can’t get away from that".

Meet the Gemstone Detective

Despite a two year pandemic, it’s been a busy time for gemmologist, photographer and global explorer, Kim Rix, having just published the eighth book in the Gemstone Detective series; a collection of travel guides to help people feel more confident when purchasing gemstones and jewellery on holiday. 

Though the Gemstone Detective series has hit our bookshelves at a rate of knots, Kim’s fascination with gemstones and jewellery has been a lifelong passion. 

“As a seven-year-old, I was chosen by the Independent Adoption Society to present flowers to HRH Princess Alexandra,” Kim laughs, “I was most excited about all the dazzling jewels I was sure she’d be wearing. Disappointed to find this was not the case, I cheekily asked the princess, ‘Where’s your crown?’

Upon reaching adulthood, Kim began to explore the world, always seeking out the local jewellery trade in every country she visited.  Marvelling at how gemstones revealed their spectacular beauty in the creative hands of skilled artists and craftspeople, she began to frequent the Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) website.

Going back into the classroom environment after years of running her own business didn’t appeal, so instead she satisfied her hunger to learn by watching jewellery television.  “It became an addiction,” Kim admits. “Day after day, I would tune in to either Gems TV, The Jewellery Channel or Rocks & Co. I loved hearing the special guests talk about new gemstone discoveries, the mining process and how the trade was benefitting the local communities.​

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It was a bad buying decision on holiday that planted the Gemstone Detective seed in Kim’s mind.  Kim was in Egypt when she bought a so-called ‘natural’ Burmese ruby that turned out to be glass.  Embarrassed by her mistake after all those hours of self-directed learning about gemstones and now in a position to take things further, Kim finally decided to bite the bullet and enrol on the GIA course. 

Juggling full-time study at GIA London with her increasingly successful photography business was difficult, but she qualified as a graduate gemmologist in 7 months. 

“Later on, I had the immense good fortune to be able to learn from the renowned field gemmologist Vincent Pardieu.  I first met Vincent at the GIA when he gave a presentation on Mozambique rubies. Listening to him, I knew that I wanted to be out in the field, not in a laboratory grading diamonds. A year later, I joined one of his field-training trips to the sapphire mines in Chanthaburi, Thailand.”

Driven by a growing sense of admiration for the honest small businesses and family-run enterprises of the worldwide gem trade, and a desire to help people avoid making the same mistake she did, Kim decided that she would use her experience to write the Gemstone Detective series.  “I have a genuine love for the countries I visit and the people I meet – after all, gemstones link people and places.  The thing is that every country has its share of bad apples and tourist destinations are particularly prone to attracting scammers.  You can’t get away from that.” 

She explains the importance of good buying decisions.  “What people buy on holiday has immense sentimental value: my own diamond engagement ring, for example, was bought in the Bahamas.  It’s important that these memories are not marred by disappointment and financial loss.”

While Kim is refreshingly honest and open about her experience of being cheated, many are less keen to openly admit (or be quoted) they’ve been fooled.  Kim says that she was surprised by how many jewellery industry professionals have confessed off the record that they’ve made similar mistakes.  Though Kim’s Gemstone Detective series is aimed at tourists, she has found that people in the gem trade have found them helpful, especially small jewellery designers and those just starting out in the industry. “I was thrilled when one gemmologist with 30 years’ experience said he’d learned something new from my books,” says Kim.

Tourists and hobbyists with little knowledge are still Kim’s target audience, though.  At the airport, on the way back from the USA, Kim struck up a conversation with a woman decked in jewellery mostly bought from Gems TV.  Sharing her story, the woman showed her a pretty floral-style ring, which she had bought on holiday in Thailand for around £500.  Under the impression that she was wearing sapphire, she had taken it to be valued for insurance purposes and was mortified when the jeweller revealed that it was coloured glass. It is, unfortunately, an all-too-familiar story. 

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Kim meticulously researches each book, travelling to each country in question – sometimes more than once – meeting key people in the industry and immersing herself in the culture as far as possible.  On each trip, she has to remember to view everything through two pairs of eyes: those of the gemmologist and those of the rookie tourist. 

As the former, Kim has had some informative, if hair-raising, experiences.  She always tries, wherever possible, to visit the mines themselves.  “On my first Sri Lanka trip, I was given the opportunity to go down a sapphire mine.  I left with a renewed appreciation of the conditions the miners work in, and how hard they have to work to feed their families.”  More recently in Mogok, an excursion into a mine ended abruptly when the entrance began to collapse. “We had to get out very quickly,” says Kim, “I should stress here that I was accompanied by mining professionals – the mines are absolutely not playgrounds for tourists!”  Driving 4443km solo through the Australian Outback with no human contact or even a phone signal was tough, and left Kim with an intense sense of isolation.  Likewise, navigating herself across eight-lane motorways in the USA sent Kim’s heart racing.

Luckily, Kim’s natural verve and positive energy has helped her make solid local connections, all of which feed into the valuable advice the Gemstone Detective series gives.  These experiences have taught Kim that the jewellery trade in each country is diverse, with different rules and different etiquette.  To help her navigate these tricky situations, Kim always uses a local guide recommended by her global network of friends and acquaintances.  “In Sri Lanka, for example, my driver’s second job was cutting gemstones.  I learned lots of useful local and cultural tips from him – what to avoid at the gem markets, where to stand, how to negotiate and do business...”  

Putting herself in the shoes of someone on vacation, Kim has tried out many gemstone experiences targeted at tourists.  From fossicking for opals and digging for sapphires in Australia, prospecting for gold and diamonds in the USA and visiting the plethora of museums around the world that house breath taking specimens, Kim aims to include some fun family activities in her books as well as no-nonsense, clear advice about buying gemstones and jewellery in unfamiliar environments.

“The story behind a gemstone is important to its buyer,” Kim points out.  “I like to encourage the readers of my books to get out there and learn about their purchases.  The mineralogy section of a good museum, shopping in a bustling local gem market, digging for your own gemstone or commissioning a local artisan makes the consumer experience much more meaningful and can even be the gateway into study of gemmology itself.”

Kim’s book, Buying Gemstones and Jewellery in Myanmar, is be aimed at a slightly different audience. Kim says that the Myanmar book is for serious gem enthusiasts looking for insider information. 

Between 1962 and 2011, Myanmar suffered from military dictatorship and civil unrest.  As a result, the country has never developed as a tourist destination, unlike the countries covered in her previous books.  During this time, the city of Mogok (nicknamed ‘The Valley of Rubies’) was opened in 1995 to 1996 for Visit Myanmar year, then again in 2000 to 2003, before once again closing.  However when Mogok celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2018, the gates were reopened to the public.  The three-day celebration brought jobs to the local community, which had suffered from a lack of income in the gem trade and in other sectors.  The government, heartened by the event’s success, opened Mogok for tourists six months later. For how long it will be open is uncertain.

Myanmar – thanks to Mogok in particular – has become one of Kim’s favourite countries.   “For the gemmologist or hobbyist, it’s a fascinating place to visit.  It’s also a stunningly beautiful country (which satisfied the photographer in me!) and, because I had a skilled local driver and English-speaking guide, I was able to experience aspects of the locality that a traveller without these would not.”

Kim is passionate when it comes to the ethical aspects of the gem trade.  “I believe we owe it to ourselves and future generations to do our best to help the planet survive and to do right by other people, through fair treatment and fair trade.”  She acknowledges that sometimes complex ethical decisions are part and parcel of buying gemstones. “Sometimes buyers are torn between buying from localities where they know laws are strictly enforced, and buying from people they can see are struggling to feed their families.  As a global community, we in the gem trade need to uphold the ethical sourcing of gemstones as a priority. Transparency is key – consumers need to demand evidence of their purchases’ provenance and traders need to be able to provide that.”

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Kim Rix is the creator and author of Gemstone Detective, a series of travel guide books to help tourists who have an appreciation of beauty, buy gemstones and jewellery around the world.  www.gemstonedetective.com

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