Brice’s experience, involvement, knowledge of minerals and local conditions, together with the reliable network of miners, suppliers, collectors and clients that he has established, are the keystone of Mineral Art.
Brice has been travelling around our planet for three decades in the most isolated areas, visiting mines all over the world, in order to meet his collector clients’ requirements.
He is invariably guided by a unique rule: go on site, where the precious stones originate from and are extracted. The best situation of all, is receiving permission from the local authorities to enter the mine itself and so participate in the miners’ excavation works and actually have a share in the memorable moments of discovery of certain gemstones.
«Searching for a gemstone cannot be achieved on the Internet, but should be conducted in the dust of a mine, in the heart of Africa or China… as far as I am concerned, the most Important factor for me during the search, is to get out and meet and share time with the local workers who are out there excavating; it is these people who lead me to the searched for goal.
My passion remains unfailing and becomes more enrichened as time goes on with the accumulation of past experiences of human contact in this field of work. To share a bowl of Bunga*with miners in the depths of the Congo, to have a game of football with the kids in the middle of the Hunza valley in Pakistan, or stop by for a cup of tea with a Chinese miner… ; all these moments are vital for me… » “Gemstones always have a story to tell, and I need to experience this….”
A balance between having one hand on the rock and the other extended towards an enthusiastic collector: through Mineral Art, Brice Gobin personifies passion, authenticity, trade, reliability, respect for nature and its treasures.
This visceral attachment to his job in mineralogy, learnt from his late father, enables Brice to satisfy almost all the highest demands from his enthusiastic clients.
An in-depth knowledge in the field of gemstones and their surrounding habitat assists him in occasionally unearthing the unfindable.
* Corn flour used for staple food in Katanga, south east of the Congo