What you’ll learn in this episode:   Why all jewelers need to understand the durability of the stones they work with How Sally designed her book to be a quick reference for jewelers with minimal gemology knowledge Why consumer protections for gemstone quality are lacking, and why jewelers need to take up the mantle for this issue What Sally covers in her gemstones for jewelers classes Which unusual stones jewelers should take a second look at   About Sally Spencer Obsessed with jewelry and gemstones, Sally Spencer has been designing and making jewelry since 1995. Her love affair with stones started when she was small, spending many happy hours collecting pebbles on the beach. The stones may have become more expensive over the years, but she is still fascinated by them and has studied both colored stones and diamonds with the Gemological Association of Great Britain (Gem-A). As a Fellow of Gem-A, she continues to love researching about gems and teaching gemstone courses. She is the author of “Jewelers’ Quick Reference Guide to Working with Gemstones,” written specifically for jewelers to live on the bench, ready to answer queries when designing or working on a piece of jewelry.   Additional Resources: Sally's Instagram Sally's Facebook  Sally's Website (Book available on her webisite)  Photos available on TheJewelryJourney.com   Transcript: Gemology is such a vast field that it’s impossible for a jeweler to understand everything about the stones they’re working with. That’s where Sally Spencer comes in. As an educator and author, Sally is passionate about teaching jewelers and consumers about the qualities of the stones they’re buying—or think they’re buying. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about the issue with mislabeled synthetic and treated stones; the one thing that every jeweler who works with stones must understand; and why she hopes to see more consumer protections and verification options for gemstones. Read the episode transcript here.    Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the first part of a two-part episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it’s released later this week.    Today, we’re talking with Sally Spencer from the U.K. You may already know Sally if you’re a jeweler. You may have her most recent publication, “Jeweler’s Quick Reference Guide to Working with Gemstones.” You may have that on your worktable right now. You may know Sally because, if you were a jeweler and you got into trouble with any kind of stone—and by that, I mean perhaps you accepted a stone from a client but you really didn’t know about the stone—you might call Sally and ask her if it can be fixed or if they should buy a completely new stone, depending on what it is. You may have seen Sally at fairs she attends where she exhibits her wares. Perhaps you’ve taken one of her classes and know her through that. In any event, you’ve probably heard of Sally Spencer or at least know of her. We are all going to learn about the rest today.    Sally, you’re the author of “Jeweler’s Quick Reference Guide to Working with Gemstones.” I think I read that title several times. Did you think about writing the book for a long time before you actually wrote it?   Sally: I did. Thanks for having me on with you today. I’m looking forward to chatting gemstones with you.   Sharon: I’m so glad we connected.   Sally: I did think about the book for a while. It was in the back of my mind because, as I was teaching jewelers to make jewelry, I would occasionally see, out of the corner of my eye, that they were about to do something with a gemstone that was not going to land well for that gemstone. I kept thinking, “If they just had a little bit of gemological knowledge, they wouldn’t attempt to do that.” I wanted to know, over the years, how many gemstones are inadvertently destroyed by jewelers not having that extra bit of information that could make their life easier, and potentiall