Welcome to Vincent!

[spinel]

I welcome Vincent and team to our road of rubies, spinels and of melo pearls.

 

[widget]

What a beautiful place! Where is that??

And who is who...Spinel and Vincent?

More pictures!!!

widget

 

[spinel]

The tall guy is Vincent, the small one is me.
This is LucYen, Vietnam countryside, a short stop between ruby mines.
I will let the professor telling the whole story.

 

[AGBF]

Hello to both of you, spinel and Mogok. I do hope you will both post about your adventures. Too much goes on *behind* the scenes of which I am unaware. Give the general public some information about what you both are up to!

Here is the introduction to this trip:

Mogok/Vincent Goes to Vietnam

Deb

 

[velouriaL]

So beautiful!
Are the mines open to wannabe-gemologists, er, I mean, the public?

 

[movie zombie]

please excuse my ignorance, but what is a ''melo pearl''?

peace, movie zombie

 

[AGBF]

Date: 4/28/2005 2:17:21 PM
Author: movie zombie
please excuse my ignorance, but what is a 'melo pearl'?

Here you go!

"Melo Melo pearls are extremely rare and come not from an oyster or mollusk but instead from the Melo Melo marine snail, which is found in the waters of the South Chine Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Like conch pearls, the Melo Melo gem is not actually a pearl because it contains no nacre. They can be extremely large and are generally very round. The colors range from tan to dark brown. Orange is the most desirable color."

The above quotation is from here.

You may also want to look here:

Melo Melo pearls

Deb

 

[belle]

thanks for that info deb! so, does anyone have any melo-melo jewelry? i''d love to see some!

 

[Ymanda]

Nice to see Vincent in good hands.

I wish you two a very good journey together.

 

[spinel]

Yes Deborah, I live here in Vietnam and spend my time between mines and my cutting factory. You all are all time welcome if you pass by!

Velourial: Organized field-trip will be available soon to gemologists and wannabe-gemologists. Please check with the professor. He has wonderful ideas! On my side, I am building a website to promote my beautiful country.

A "Hello" from Vietnam to Richard, Gary and Yannick!

 

[Richard M.]

Spinel and Vincent,

I hope you both have a successful and rewarding trip. The countryside looks beautiful. I look forward to a report on your adventures.

Richard M.

 

[mogok]

Hi Everybody,
Here is: i''m back from my trip to Vietnam. It was a great trip that was focus on rubies in Luc Yen and Quy Chau and on Conch pearls in Hanoi and Halong Bay. I will prepair some reports in the next few days that you will be able to see and of course as usual I will put many photos on line.
I just want to thanks particularly Antoine alias Spinel for all the help provided for this trip. It was very nice to travel with him and also very interesting. I was very happy to have this trip to Vietnam with him and to return to Luc Yen after so many years.

All the best,

 

[movie zombie]

so, how does one set to wear a melo melo ''pearl''? or a conch ''pearl'' for that matter? are they hard enough to be worn in a ring? they look quite lovely!

peace, movie zombie

 

[mogok]

Hello to all of you,
Well about how a Melo pearl can be set into jewelry is a subject I will not really deal with as I''ve absolutly no experience about this. The only Melo and Conch pearls I was given to see were not set in any jewelry. Somewhere I have to say that it would be sad to put such beauty on metal as these pearls with their flame patterns are so beautiful to move in the hand... But well why not?

I wanted also to tell you that I''ve now begin to put the photos of my field trip on the net.
If you want to get initaited to Vietnam beautiful gems and gem mining areas, please do not hesitate to visit the photo galleries I put on the following page:

Vietnam a country I cannot forget

All the best,

 

[valeria101]

Melo pearls are quite a curiosity... even conch pearls are "common" by comparison and when set they surely get red carpet reatment

I've seen just one melo pearl set in a pendant that was being repaired by my jeweler: it was a small cage of gold, enamel and rose cut diamonds which could be opened to release the pearl. Whoever made it must have thought the same as Vincent about playing with the thing ! The jeweler said that the setting must have been inspired by a certain Cartier necklace... so more should be out there somewhere.

 

[widget]

Author: Vincent Pardieu also known as ''Mogok''

I wanted also to tell you that I''ve now begin to put the photos of my field trip on the net.
If you want to get initaited to Vietnam beautiful gems and gem mining areas, please do not hesitate to visit the photo galleries I put on the following page:

Vietnam a country I cannot forget

Vincent!!!! THANK YOU!!! What neat pictures of your trip!

I sure learned something: How to see if a ruby can be cut into a star:

"A drop of water was put on the polished surface of a massive ruby from Luc Yen, and the star becomes visible using a single light source."

So interesting!

Look...

 

[mogok]

Hi Widget,
Thanks for your nice comments... It seems that the water droplet technique photo (it can also be done with some oil) is very popular. It is a very simple technique that I''ve learned in Burma while learnig there to cut star stones with a Mogok master: A simple funny fieldgemology technique...

All the best,

Note: I will put today online the Melo and Conch pearl stories. Hope you will all like it!

 

[Sagebrush]

Vincent,

Sounds like a great trip. The journal is not bad either, though not as good as mine. But, you are a young man with many years ahead of you to perfect your technique.

Just a few tips from an old pro to a young guy who is coming along: First, loose the hat! Definatly not comme il faut. Suggest something jaunty and romantic perhaps a beret, it goes well with the French accent. Also, the image needs work. A lot can be done in Photoshop but perhaps you should consider a stand-in, someone who looks a bit more like Patrick Swyaze in "King Soloman's Mine". Oh, and about the smile, not good! Tough guys don't smile, they sneer! You know the look! Its the same one I get it whenever I try to speak French in a Paris resturant.

Cheers,

 

[mogok]

Hi Richard!
Nice to hear from you and thanks for the nice words! I had a great laught reading it...

Dont worry I will continue on my "exception culturelle" with my old hat, its holes, my sapphire crystal shaped glasses and my Burmese steel ring.

If you want to get more of them you can now go again to my Vietnam page where the link to the Melo pearls story and the Halong Bay cruise is on line:

Vincent''s Vietnam page

All the best,

 

[mogok]

Hello everybody...

Now one more photogallery is on line about the Luc Yen trip. You can now follow us to the place where gem quality rubies were found at the end of the 80s: An Phu... It is also the place were most Vietnamese rubies and spinels in matrix are coming from nowadays.

Hope you will like it.

All the best,

 

[widget]

Conch pearls in jewelry was being mentioned before...

Here''s a nice bauble currently being offered for sale by Christie''s in Honk Kong. Estimated value: as much as $250,000!!!!!

widget

 

[movie zombie]

widget, that''s gorgeous! but then for $250K, it should be!

peace, movie zombie

 

[spinel]

Hello everyone!
I will be in US at the end of this month, hope to see you on my way.
By meantime see my fieldtrip story at www.gemsfromearth.com/trip.asp