Pala International, Inc. President Bill Larson shared his adventures and insight from 200 international trips he's taken over 30-plus years as a mineral collector during a lecture for GIA students and staff.

"True Lies: Stories Behind the Larson Collection" was the second of four presentations scheduled in GIA's 2005 Museum lecture series, "Connoisseurship: Excellence in Collecting."

Several blue-cap tourmaline specimens found in 1972 at Pala's Tourmaline Queen mine in California were among his greatest discoveries with business partner Ed Swoboda. It was dubbed "the find of the century" by the late Vincent Manson, former GIA director of Strategic Planning, who was curator of the American Museum of Natural History at the time. One of the pieces went to the Smithsonian Institution, while another - initially valued at $20,000 - sold for $200,000, plus a Rolls Royce, Larson said.

"Luck plays an enormous part if you're passionate about gems and collecting," said Larson, who's earned the nickname "Burma Bill" for taking more than 20 expeditions to Myanmar (formerly Burma).

Luck may play a part in gem hunting, but having an extensive knowledge of gemology is just as important - especially since prices for rare minerals have appreciated astronomically since the late 1960s, and museum-quality specimens can reach into the millions of dollars, he said.

His expertise has been indispensable in making many smart buys, Larson said. Once, he purchased an apatite specimen that officials from a museum had overlooked because of its clay coating. By simply removing the outer layer, the piece's value skyrocketed.

Larson first encountered the world of gemology at age 6, when he found a crystallized geode on the shore of a Minnesota lake. His love for rare minerals developed two years later when his father took him to the tourmaline mine in Pala, California, one of three mines he would later purchase with Swoboda.

Larson also stressed the importance of bargaining skills, which came in handy when negotiating for "The Snail," a rhodochrosite specimen on crystallized manganite. Larson named it his "boomerang rock," after he held out and sold it for 2,300 times more than what he originally paid for it.

It was sold to a collector who would buy specimens and later retire them. Larson, however, insisted on first right of refusal and ended up getting it back through a trade. Larson's private collection is considered to be one of the finest in existence, said Elise Misiorowski, director, GIA Museum. In addition to "The Snail," it includes priceless specimens he acquired from the Dr. Edward J. Gübelin, Idar-Oberstein and the Scripps family, philanthropists from San Diego, California.