About Richard Allen
Richard Allen is a Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG) and an Accredited Gemologist (AIGS). Richard loves ROCKS, and knows them well.
A graduate of the University of Utah, his career includes gold mine evaluation studies and extensive mapping projects in remote areas of Alaska, and archaeological investigations of Fremont sites and Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) ruins in the Southwest.
He received gemological certification in 1985 at the Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences in Bangkok, Thailand — the gemstone capital of the world.
Richard became an importer of fine gemstones into the United States after traveling extensively in Thailand, Burma, India, and Brazil. These activities have provided a wide and unusual variety of experience in the jewelry industry.
Richard taught Gemology to retail jewelers and student goldsmiths for five years at the Seattle area’s Highline College. Its Jewelry and Goldsmithing Technology department was the Northwest’s only such accredited degree program. He is a skilled jewelry designer.
He has written more than 50 articles, including those for the Puget Sound Business Journal, Gemological Digest, and Northwest Valley Lifestyles. Richard also wrote the “Geology” chapter for the 1997 book Ruby & Sapphire – the world’s most definitive treatment of the subject.
And besides the above, he is an avid astronomer!
Richard has given numerous presentations to trade groups, professional societies, social and service clubs.
He has conducted astronomy and geology programs for The Boulders Resort in Carefree since 1996, and teaches workshops at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. The JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort, the Four Seasons Scottsdale, Marriott’s Camelback Inn, and Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain are also among his clients.
