the Scottish Gemmological association CONFERENCE, 2025
SPEAKERS
Samantha Lloyd
Peter lyckberg
Peter Lyckberg is a Swedish life long mineral collector and researcher. His main passion is for
geology-mineralogy-gemology and he has travelled to study the geology, mineralogy of gem and
ore deposits in situ. His interest started as a toddler finding muscovite, quartz and red kalifeldspar
among the grey granite gravel on his grandparents walkway. He studied civil engineering and
geology at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden.
He is well known for his knowledge of ore, mineral and gem deposits including pegmatites and
various gem deposits in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Alps, Ukraine, Russia (Ural Mountains,
Transbaikal, Kola Peninsula), Tadzhikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Namibia, Brazil, California,
Maine and many other regions. He has been a speaker at many international conferences GIA,
IMA, Tucson and Rochester Symposiums, AGS, AAG, Gem-A and many National Gemological
Associations. He has been giving lectures since 1978 and was teaching geology since 1983. Peter
has written some 60 articles and chapters of books on geology, mineralogy and gemmology and
been on the editorial board and a reviewer for several mineralogical journals since 1985. He has
also organized and lead field trips and conferences for mineralogists and geologists.
Peter is an independent researcher and scientific collaborator with the Museum of Natural History
in Luxembourg. For 25 years he worked as the first Swedish international nuclear inspector for
EURATOM, part of the European Commission in Luxembourg until 1 Sept 2022 when he decided
to retire from that position.
BEATRIZ CHADOUR-SAMPSON
Based in England, Beatriz Chadour-Sampson is an international jewellery historian, author and lecturer. Her publications range from the classical world to the present day and include her doctoral thesis on the Italian goldsmith Antonio Gentili da Faenza (1980), catalogues for the jewellery collection of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Cologne (1985) and for the rings in the Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Switzerland (1994 and 2019).
She was consultant curator for the redesign of the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and guest curator of its Pearls exhibition (2013-14), as well as curator of the Alice and Louis Koch Collection display in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich and Gübelin Gem Museum, Lucerne.
In 2021 she co-authored Tadema Gallery London with Sonya Newell-Smith.
Helen Molesworth (MA Oxon, FGA, FSA)
A well-known jewellery historian and gemmologist, Helen has published and lectured widely on gems
and jewels. She has worked with the trade, gem labs, and auction houses across Europe and Asia over
her 25-year career.
She spent ten years as a jewellery specialist for Sotheby’s and Christie’s in Geneva
and London where she worked on many word-class collections, including that of HRH the Princess
Margaret. She later launched a gemmological Academy in Switzerland, HK and China, and was
Professeur d’Histoire du Bijoux at the Geneva University of Art and Design.
Helen in now the Senior Jewellery Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London,
and recently published Precious, The History and Mystery of Gems Across Time, with Penguin.
Stuart Robertson
Stuart Robertson is an award winning gemmologist and coloured stone market analyst. He has more than 40 years of experience in the industry and has worked as a valuer, quality control department head, and market research.
Stuart is the president of Gemworld International and research director ofGemGuide based in Illinois, USA.
CAROL WOOLTON
Carol Woolton is an author, broadcaster, jewellery historian and Jewellery editor at British Vogue for over 20 years. She's the woman who initiated the role of jewellery editor at Tatler and Vogue magazines and have written widely for newspapers, magazines and online supplements around the world including Vanity Fair, Air Mail and The Financial Times.
She curates exhibitions and is the author of 8 books covering the broad spectrum of historic and antique jewels to contemporary styles. She is also the founder and presenter of the hit podcast show If Jewels Could Talk and co-founder of The Leopards, a charitable initiative created to preserve crafts and skills and encourage young people into the industry.
Nathan Renfro
Nathan Renfro, a native of western North Carolina, developed an interest in minerals during his late
teens, which was sparked by his grandfather’s rock collection. In 2006 he completed his undergraduate studies in geology at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. He then went on to enroll at GIA for the resident Graduate Gemologist (GG) program as a recipient of the William Goldberg Diamond Corporation scholarship. Nathan also completed his FGA with Gem-A in 2014.
After finishing the Graduate Gemologist program at GIA, he was hired by the GIA laboratory as a
diamond grader and soon transferred to the Gem Identification department in 2008. Since then, Nathan has authored or co-authored more than one hundred gemological notes and articles and lectured to several gem and mineral groups throughout the world. His photomicrography work has been featured by National Geographic, the London Natural History Museum and Zeiss Microscopy. His primary areas of gemological interest are photomicrography techniques and identification of inclusions, gemstone cutting, defect chemistry of corundum and geographic origin determination of gemstones. He is currently the Senior Manager of the GIA gem identification departments in California and New York. and is a contributing editor of G&G’s Microworld quarterly column, which is published in the journal Gems and Gemology, where he is also a member of the editorial review board.
PAT DALY
Pat Daly FGA is a senior gemmology instructor at Gem-A and has been an independent valuer since 1984. He started his trade career with James Walker Ltd (a multiple retail jeweller), and took the N.A.G. and Gem-A courses during this time.
He began his gemmological studies under the tutelage of renowned gemmologist Basil Anderson. He then worked for David Harris Ltd (a manufacturer/second-hand jewellery dealer) in Hatton Garden,eventually joining Gem-A as a gemmology instructor in 1993.