VietNamNet Bridge – Stone collector Phan Chanh Tam, on January 27, opened his collection of Vietnamese gemstones, the largest so far, to the public.

Tam and a dragon-shaped natural gemstone block	An agate block in the shape of galloping horses
A gemstone-made fish	A pair of vases made of gemstone

In 34 years, Tam has collected thousands of stones of all kinds, from rubies to sapphires, amethyst, spinel, emerald, citrine, topaz as well as colored stone blocks.

Tam began to research and collect natural stones in 1977. He traveled throughout the country, especially volcanic areas like Di Linh in Lam Dong province, Gia Lai, Buon Me Thuot, Phan Thiet, Ha Tien, Yen Bai, and Nghe An.

In the first 11 years, he found little and bought inexpensive stones but spent all of his assets on them. In the 12^th year, he found his first gemstone and sold it to Bulgarian experts for several thousand dollars. After that he discovered several gemstone mines. A year later, he earned back all the money he spent in the previous 11 years, and since, his collection of Vietnamese gemstones has healthily grown

Tam said he visited many foreign museums that didn’t have gemstones he keeps in his collection. Their largest gemstone is 50-70kg only, while he has gemstone blocks up to 500-700kg.

Tam’s collection is now on display at 3 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, District 3, HCM City.

(Source: TTO)