"Many of you know me from my profile. I am a Graduate Gemologist, but long retired. When I studied for my degree, I had an opportunity to take classes on period jewels and antiques, but as I worked full time and had 3 children, I only took the required courses to advance my career. Basically, a Gemologist is a trained professional who can positively identify gemstones using techical instumentation. It took me 7 years to complete my degree, and I had little time for reading. However, I am fascinated with jewelry, and when I saw the crown jewels in Londen, I was captivated. Like most jewelers, I am superstitious, and historical jewelry hold many legends, and secrets. In reaality ALL gems have a story we will never know. However, jewelry has always been worn to adorn, and signify statis in every society dating as far back as civilization. I have started a Tudor library in my home, and although I have many books yet to read , I thought I might take a detour, and read some of these, as I am a bit bored with reading about royalty, and thought this would be refreshing. As I said, I know nothing about this subject, so I thought I would share some of my journey with you all. I am taking a short vacation, but will work on this further. I love all the spooky stuff, and the romance, and many jewels have curses, the Hope Diamond in particular, so this should be a hoot. I have 2 personal stories about cursed stones I will share later.These books are expensive, but they have gorgeous illustrations, and so I feel they are worth the investment. Happy new year to you all. It has been a very tough one here in the USA."

"yes that was a rumor started by jewelers, as they are called amorphous stones, stones that break easily, So they are bad luck for the jeweler who sets them or repairs them as they usually break., so the customer is always responsible.They have been out of fashion for some time, but will be back. They are my birthstone, so I never had bad luck with them. But I dont wear them. Tourmaline is the alternative october birthstone. I have a very rare one from Nigeria, I don't wear that either, as it is too rare, and I can't afford to insure it. Do you really want the curse stories and ghost stories? they are genuinely firsthand but might be lengthy to tell both on one thread. there were witnesses for both . still amazing.
more gem lore, Amethysts prevent drunkeness,"

"When I was a junior in college I married my husband. Knowing I would inherit my Mother's ring, I didn't care about an engagement ring, and it was the 60's, and I was a hippie and not into anything but getting him down the aisle. After we were married a year, his mother died very tragically of cancer . I decided I should get a job, as I had finished college, and my degree was in Philosophy, so there was no career there. One of our neighbors Mothers worked for a jewelry store, and I found out they were lokking for someone. I went to the store and took an interview with my boss of later over 25 years, and he hired me on the spot. I was well educated, and young, and pretty, so he hired me, Needless to say, all the old goats there hated me, and did everything they could to keep me down, but even at $1.60 an hour I excelled. Many years later, I left the jewelry store, actually I was fired, because I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, and my boss thought it improper to have a pregnanr woman on the sales floor. By this time, I was the jewelry buyer, the head of the diamond department, and had started taking the diamind course through GIA. Naturally I was replaced by a horrible man who got twice the salary, and had half my qualifications, and got the title manager. After my daughter was born, I thought I'd show him, and got a job in the diamond district in Phila, with one of the biggest diamond dealers in the city. Sam and I were still close though, and he was really wanting me back. At this point, my Father had gone through all his money, and my Mother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. My boss Sam knew my mother, and adored her, and when my father left her in poverty, she still had the 8 carat ring. Sam offered to take it to New York, to a large diamond dealer and sell it for her. Sorry, this is such a long story! but it happened over like 20 years."

"ok I'll wrap it up. Sam went to NY with two armed men, yes guns, and came back with $40,000 in a briefcase, and then proceeded to escort me across the street to a bank where he opened a safe deposit box for me, and we put the cash in. He advised my Mother to buy municiple bonds with the cash, which she did, and she lived off that money until her death 6 years later. Some woman is wearing that ring. Or it has been recut, it was not a good cut, and has been resold. I know that someone has it, and it does have a curse on it. I wonder what ever happened. If I had it now, it would have been worth maybe several hundred thousand dollars, and I also would have sold it ,and never worn it, as I do believe it was an unlucky stone. Oh, I have the gorgeous 3 carat one, but seldon wear it, as I also keep it locked up, as I can't afford to insure it. My husband and I are close to bankruptcy because of the all the credit card stuff and housing crisis here in the US, but Hopefully Mr. Obama will pull the country together. I have another story, equally as long about the jewelry store, but this one has ghosts, I'll post it later. I hope you liked that one."

"Are these stories real...as in did they really happen to you? Can you provide a link to your gemstone books? My favorite story is the Sancy Blood Diamond!"