The Gemstone Detective: Buying Gemstones and Jewellery in Australia

By Kim Rix

This handy tourist guide is the must-have item to pack into your suitcase if you're planning a trip to Australia. Known as `the land Down Under', Australia is renowned for its exquisite gemstones and jewellery; notably, Black Opals, Sapphires and Pink Diamonds.

An integral part of the `Gemstone Detective' series, written by Kim

• Language: English
• Publisher: Filament Publishing
• Release date: Jan 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781912635603

Kim Rix

Kim Rix is a professional photographer and gemmologist (GIA). Based in London where she lives with her husband, Kim travels extensively and has gathered a vast amount of the best local knowledge from her world-wide contacts.

Book preview

The Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine © Kim Rix

Altar made of Boulder Opal, Quilpie © Kim Rix

Why you need this book

G’day mate! If you have bought this book, you’re probably on holiday — or planning one — in Australia. A wonderful choice of destination — it’s right up there in my Top 10. I first visited in 1995, after a two-year stint on The Guardian news desk made me yearn to go globetrotting. During the week, I worked at the Sydney Institute of Technology as a secretary to the Assistant Director of Operations, but my weekends were dedicated to exploring the incredible landscape and learning how to dive.

Australia is an extraordinary country. Did you know that the oldest mineral discovered on earth, a 4.4 billion-year-old zircon, was found in Australia? Or that it was an expedition into the Blue Mountains of New South Wales and his encounters with Australia’s other-worldly fauna and flora that sparked Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution?

Perhaps you are thinking about buying a souvenir of this incredible country. Perhaps you’re hunting for the perfect gem to have set as an engagement or anniversary ring, or perhaps you’re keeping an eye out for a piece of jewellery to match your favourite outfit. Whatever your reason, what could be more meaningful than buying your gemstone in the very country whose earth formed it? What an incredible way to remember Australia!

Whatever your reason, you’ll almost certainly be looking for some reliable advice on what to buy… and what to avoid. As a tourist, you are vulnerable to the tricks of the trade. Dishonest people can use your lack of local knowledge to get you to part with your hard-earned cash. That’s where Buying Gemstones & Jewellery in Australia comes in.

This book is primarily about buying opals because Australia is one of the world’s most important sources of opal. Indeed, the Australian Women’s National Basketball team is nicknamed the Opals! However, in these pages you will also find all the information you need to buy other gemstones in Australia with confidence, such as sapphires, pearls and diamonds. Don’t worry if you have little or no knowledge about gemstones — I have written this book with you in mind. Read it before you buy, and you’ll save a lot of time and heartache.

My book will give you the up to date, researched and reliable information you need before making your purchase.

I’ll reveal:

Who to trust

What to look for

When to walk away

Where to buy

Why you need to ask questions!

Australia’s equivalent of a chocolate fire door? © Kim Rix

What makes me an expert?

Everything in this book is based on personal experience and local expertise.

The letters after my name are testament to my scientific and technical knowledge. I’m a skilled gemmologist with qualifications from the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) — the world’s leading authority on gemstones. However, it’s my extensive global travel and research that will make this book so useful to you.

Did you know there are a staggering 3800+ minerals known to man, with only about 200 of these suitable to be cut and polished into gemstones? I’ve bought gemstones from all over the world and take every opportunity to expand my local knowledge along with my collection.

My list of colleagues, friends, and genuinely reliable contacts around the world is now large enough to enable me to get in amongst the hustle and bustle of the global gem trading community, to bring you the best local tips for buying in many different countries.

I hope that writing this book will benefit and boost Australia’s small gem-trading businesses: the exceptionally hard-working miners, dealers and jewellers who, like all of us, are trying to make a living in challenging times.

Don’t learn the hard way!

I realised on my travels just how much this series of books needed writing. As someone who can’t get enough of gemstones and roaming the world, I’ve certainly encountered a few tricks, and you’ll see that any internet travel forum is full of tourist horror stories. However, with the right local knowledge, you can avoid the heartache of being cheated.

Before I became a gemmologist, I got caught out. Even after becoming a gemmologist, I’ve been caught out, and I’ve heard many other experienced gemmologists say the same. What I’ve never done, though, is pay more than I could afford to lose. You shouldn’t either.

Australia has a reputation as a pretty laid-back and honest country, and my travels around Queensland and New South Wales have certainly seemed to bear this out. There’s a lot of secrecy within the industry itself but you can, on the whole, trust people, certifications and guarantees. The jewellers tend to help each other as they feel it’s important to encourage tourists, and you can browse freely in a shop without the fear of being hassled by a shop assistant.

It is a sad fact, though, that everywhere has its bad apples. In this book, I’ll reveal the opal merchants’ tricks and opal imitations you need to be aware of (see page 49). Don’t let this scare you! Most traders sell with prestige and honesty. I certainly found no evidence of the infamous gem scams you’ll come across in places like Thailand, India, Cambodia, and on cruise ships, to mention a few. The best advice is simply to be cautious. Australians are a friendly bunch, so make sure you ask lots of questions and ask for opinions.

A friend in the small outback town of Lightning Ridge told me that the two questions asked by pretty much every tourist interested in buying an opal are: ‘Where is the best place to buy opals?’ and ‘What do I look for?’. I have written this book to answer those questions, so you can buy with confidence and have a great gem-buying experience.

Just one more thing before we get going — this book comes with a health warning! Reading it could give you opal fever…

Entering Lightning Ridge © Kim Rix

Carvings created by local opal miner Ron Canlin at The Black Hand © Kim Rix

About opals

The ancient Roman natural historian Pliny the Elder wrote that, of all the precious gems, opal is the most difficult