Burma, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Hpakan, gems

There are many dealers who look upon gemological labs with a good deal of disdain and the feeling is often mutual. So often today it seems that gemologists and traders are on opposite sides. Tug, tug, pull, pull, each seems to have a different agenda. Dealers often view gemologists as inferior beings (those who can, sell; those who can't, teach or identify). And, for their part, gemologists look upon merchants as some type of single-celled amoebae (those who understand, teach or study, while those who can't, become merchants). We hope the following article will go some ways towards bridging this gulf, by gently (and sometimes not so gently) pointing out the problems and solutions for each camp.