The ISG was recently contacted by a member of the United States Marine Corps inAfghanistan regarding our 10 minute YouTube video on Gem Shopping at Bagram AB. It seems that the internet access available to our soldiers there does not have sufficient bandwidth for them to view the video properly. As a result of this situation the ISG has produced an expanded 35 minute edition of this video to be available for direct mailing to any military personnel stationed anywhere in Afghanistan.
This expanded video covers the following information:
- How to use a jeweler’s loupe to inspect gemstones
- How to identify authentic Afghan Lapis Lazuli
- How to identify treated or imitation Lapis Lazuli
- A brief overview of traditional Afghanistan jewelry designs
- How to identify glass filled and otherwise treated rubies
- Images of fake rubies and fake emeralds being sold in bazaars around Bagram AB
- Information on a variety of other gemstones that have been reported from the area
This 35 minute DVD video has been formatted and tested to play on any Macintosh laptop computer and/or any Windows based PC using Windows Media Player or comparable viewer. In additional to Macintosh computers, we have tested this video on players ranging from our 5 year old Acer laptop using the home version of Windows XP to our new HP laptoprunning Windows 7 to insure that it will be compatible with all anticipated players available to our military personnel stationed in Afghanistan.
This video is available free of charge from the ISG Community to any coalition military personnel stationed in Afghanistan, and will be shipped to any APO AE or FPO AE address sent to the email address listed below as long as we have the resources to supply these. Any military personnel stationed in Afghanistan who needs assistance with shopping information can also email to the below address to get free assistance.
Please use the following email address to contact the ISG regarding this DVD.
