Is there a gap between what collectors need and what the major labs offer?
Hi all, long-time lurker, first post here.
I'm a geology/mineralogy professor and I've been increasingly fascinated by the gemological side of what I do. My day-to-day research involves minerals rather than gems per se, but the analytical toolkit overlaps significantly.
Beyond standard petrographic and crystallographic techniques, I routinely use laser Raman spectroscopy, EDS, and XRD in my research. I also have access to LA-ICP-MS for trace element work.
I'm fully aware that excellent dedicated labs exist. GIA and others do outstanding work and have resources and reference databases I can't match. I'm not looking to compete with them.
What I'm curious about is whether there are gaps this community actually experiences or things where access to this kind of analytical capability might be genuinely useful, whether that's identification questions, authentication problems, or things that are just hard to get answers to through conventional channels.
I'd love to hear honest thoughts. What are the frustrations you run into that better analytical access might help with? Or is the existing lab infrastructure pretty much covering what the community needs?
Happy to answer any questions about what these techniques can and can't do.