Publish Year: - Title: Hurricanes Harvey, Irma May Wreak Havoc on Luxury Sales, Too Abstract: The impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are likely to be felt during this year’s holiday jewelry sales. Above, an Aug. 28 aerial view shows the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in Rockport, Texas, located on the coast, southwest of Houston. Photo by AMFPhotography/Shutterstock.com

De Beers announced that it will spend $140 million on diamond advertising this year. Some of these funds will go toward the Diamond Producers Association generic diamond jewelry advertising, but the majority will go to its ForeverMark brand.

Advertising may not help lift U.S. demand this coming fall season because of the devastating damage of Hurricane Harvey in eastern Texas and Hurricane Irma in Florida, particularly in the affluent western coast areas. The damage and disruption of both hurricanes will likely take a toll on luxury sales.

Texas, particularly the Houston area, has always been a center for luxury sales, including larger diamonds and significant jewelry pieces. Many of the jewelers serving that area escaped the worst of the flooding from Harvey, but a significant portion of their clientele will likely face huge rebuilding and repair costs.

Although Hurricane Irma spared the Miami area the worst of its effects, wind damage was still immense and many communities were totally destroyed throughout the state. Obviously, there will not be a full damage assessment of either Texas or Florida for months, but it’s certain these two hurricanes will be the most extensive and expensive disasters ever to hit the U.S.

While the storms may initially impact jewelry sales in these regions, jewelers have noted that after similar destructive storms, a boom in rebuilding ultimately brought more money back to the region.
DIAMONDS
De Beers’ August-September cycle (sight) totaled $505 million, a reduction of 21% from last year’s sale for that period and 12% down from the July cycle. The reasons, according to De Beers’ CEO Bruce Cleaver, were two-fold:

De Beers front-loaded goods to Indian clients in anticipation of an early Diwali holiday, which begins Oct. 18, one or two weeks earlier than usual.
Prevailing caution in the market in the run-up to the Sept. 13-21 Hong Kong shows.

On the first point, Indian diamond manufacturers typically close for two weeks during the holiday. If the market is slow, they will often stay closed for a longer period to let inventories subside and to bolster polished prices.

On the second point, rough sales and manufacturing have been running ahead of polished demand for most of the year in most size and quality categories. While there are spot shortages of very specific goods (medium-color melee sized SI stones, for example), in general there is an oversupply of inventory that is softening polished prices. Estimates are that inventories have increased 25% to 35% in the past 18 months, without a corresponding increase in demand.

Additionally, the diamond industry credit crunch continues to squeeze a lot of firms – even some big names – and softening processes do not help their case with the banks. As with the previous few years, the opening of the Hong Kong show will bring a dash for cash, with a lot of firms selling excess goods at a discount to keep their standing with the banks.

Regardless of the inventory situation, demand for rough has remained robust all year – as it has since the late 2015 “price rebellion,” when a number of De Beers’ clients refused to buy goods at then-current prices. De Beers, followed by Alrosa and Rio Tinto, lowered prices by an average of 15% early in 2016. Prices of polished stones, however, have slowly ebbed this year.
CHINA
Retail sales in China have taken an encouraging upturn. Chow Sang Sang, the country’s second largest jewelry retailer, logged a 3% same-store increase for the first half ending June 30. Sales in the mainland rose 8%, but continued slow tourism in Hong Kong and Macau caused declines of 4% and 5%, respectively. @topic:7


Publish Year: - Title: De Beers Remains Optimistic For 2016 Abstract: De Beers executives remained cautiously optimistic about the remainder of the year after allocating a July cycle (formerly called sight) of $520 million that produced no refusals or complaints about prices, which have held steady for most of the year.

	The total of the July 25-29 cycle was about 8% less than June and the smallest all year, which was not surprising after lackluster demand at JCK Las Vegas and the June Hong Kong Gem and Jewellery Show. Reports from the cycle said that De Beers did not lower prices despite high inventories and declining premiums on rough parcels sold in secondary markets.

	De Beers’ new CEO Bruce Cleaver said that the company would continue to take a cautious role through the remainder of the year.  He also vowed to ramp up programs “designed to stimulate demand for diamonds and continue operations that enhance branding and product integrity.”

	Cleaver came down firmly on the side of expanding diamond marketing programs to include millennials, saying: “Taking continued demand for granted would be a mistake. And assuming the factors that influenced demand yesterday will be the same as those that influence demand tomorrow is folly. We must embrace changing consumer trends and see them as an opportunity to grow.”

	De Beers reported a first half profit of $585 million on sales of $3.3 billion. This strong performance that was extremely welcome for its corporate parent, Anglo American Corp., which had been in financial difficulty after the commodities price crashes of last year. By volume, the total was just over 17 million carats, a 29% increase over last year – a period when diamond manufacturers were hard-squeezed by rising inventories, shrinking credit and declining polished prices.

	Alrosa, the Russian-based diamond producer, announced its sales increased 19% to $1.2 billion during the first half of the year. By volume, sales were up 7% to 9.6 million carats. Revenue rose much higher than volume because the company offered a larger percentage of gem quality rough and trimmed offerings of industrial goods.

	While the credit situation remains difficult, De Beers executives noted that inventories levels have stabilized and don’t see them as problematic.

	In India, however, the credit crunch continues to take its toll with several large firms declaring bankruptcy and one major sightholder on the banks’ watch list.

	COLORED STONES

	Gemfields, the London based colored stone mining company, plans to nearly triple its ruby production at the Montepuez Mine in Mozambique. The company secured a $65 million finance package to expand production facilities at the mine, which will bring production to 20 million carats yearly, up from the current 8 million.

	Some of the proceeds from the loan package will go toward expanding production at the Kagem emerald mine to 40 million carats, up from a current 30 million carats.

	GOLD PRICE

	The currency volatility following Britain’s brexit vote helped push the gold price to its highest level in two years, topping $1350 oz. The World Gold Council noted that this represents a 29% increase over the metal’s January 1 level. The Council predicts that gold will top $1400 oz. by the year’s end. @topic:7


Publish Year: 1981 Title: Irradiated Topaz and Radioactivity Abstract: A parcel of 100 stones of deep blue irradiated topaz, imported from Brazil, was found to be radioactive at a level somewhat higher than typical background activity. Analysis indicates that the material had been treated by neutrons in a nuclear reactor. Most irradiated topaz in the trade is not radioactive. Nevertheless, routine testing for radioactivity in topaz, beryl, green diamonds, red tourmaline, and possibly all gemstones may be advisable for the protection of the jeweler. @topic:10


Publish Year: - Title: 2017 Vegas Outlook: Decent, But Cautious, Buying Abstract: Sotheby’s May 16 Geneva auction featured the Apollo Blue (14.54 cts) and Artemis Pink (16 cts) as an earring set. The pair drew a total of $57 million – $42.1 million ($2.9 million per carat) for the Fancy Vivid blue and $15.3 million ($958,000 per carat) for the Fancy Intense pink. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s

First quarter U.S. retail jewelry sales showed a slight increase, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce figures, though most gains appeared to be at the higher and lower ends. Larger U.S. jewelry chains, which generally serve the middle class market, are expected to again report soft numbers for the first half of the year. Tiffany & Co. reported that its latest quarterly U.S. same store sales were 4% below the comparable period last year and Signet Corp., parent company to Kay Jewelers, Zales and Jared Galeria, said its first quarter sales plunged 11% compared to last year.

It’s likely that buyers at the upcoming June 5-8 JCK Las Vegas show will stick to their open-to-buy plans, but take relatively few chances on new lines or extra stock. Business at the boutique shows just before JCK should be a little stronger, however, because these shows are geared to the higher-end independent retailers who generally outperform the chains.

The results from the large retail jewelry chains, which have been lagging several percentage points below last year, show they are not immune to the difficulties confronting U.S. retailers these days.
RETAIL WOES
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), some 8,600 retail outlets of all types are expected to close this year, a number surpassing the 2009 recession year. Entire shopping malls have closed or converted much of their retail space to non-retail activities, such as movie theaters and restaurants. While many analysts blame online shopping for some of the decline, clearly other factors are at work as well, as e-commerce sites have not been growing strongly either.

CEOs quoted in the WSJ article said fierce competition has kept prices low across the board, while costs rise. The CEO of Calvin Klein/Tommy Hilfiger noted that a pair of men’s dress pants costs less today than in 2007.

Consumers face increased costs of their own while wages remain stagnant. New cars, for example, are becoming less feasible for some would-be buyers, according to Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst with Cox Automotive. “It’s not just the price of the cars – it’s the price of everything else,” she said. “The price of things like health care, shelter – all of that is fighting for the budget.”
MODERATE MAY SIGHT
De Beers’ May cycle (sight) was moderate at $520 million, with apparently few additional deals struck outside the process. The total was about 12% below April’s cycle total of $586 million.

De Beers’ executives said in interviews that sales totals for the remainder of the year should be at “normal” levels following larger-than-expected allocations during the first quarter.

The early-year sales were directed mainly at some leading Indian manufacturers who had significantly cut their purchases late last year in response to the Indian government’s “demonetizing” higher denomination rupee notes. While the government action created some short-term turmoil in the country’s economy (many contractors and workers were paid in cash), business there adjusted much more quickly than expected.

The large sights made it possible for the company to clear a 6.7 million carat stockpile of lower value diamonds that had accumulated during the demonetization last year.

To further its “mine to market” initiatives to guarantee the supply chain of its diamonds, De Beers announced it would begin test-selling a wide range of qualities and sizes of polished stones in periodic auctions beginning in late June. The company said the test was to gauge demand for diamonds “with a clear and attractive source of origin” and “to offer the assurance of product integrity that dual certification provides.” The diamonds are graded by GIA and DeBeers gemological labs, according to a DeBeers’ press statement.
AUCTIONS
Prices for top gems at auctions have not continued at the record-breaking pace of the past few years where every sale saw a new benchmark, but they have remained solid.

The headliners for the spring season were a pair of fancy color diamonds sold at Sotheby’s Geneva on May 16: the GIA-graded Fancy Intense pink 16 carat (ct) Artemis Pink ($15.3 million /$958,000 per carat) and the 14.54 ct GIA-graded Fancy Vivid Apollo Blue ($42.1 million/$2.9 million per carat).

At Christie’s Geneva the following day, the 92 ct D flawless La Legende diamond brought in $14.98 million. The $163,000 per carat price was a record for a heart-shaped diamond, but well below prices that other large D flawless diamonds have achieved.

As reported last month, the auction season began with a record at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong: at $71 million the 59.6 ct Pink Star diamond was the most expensive gem ever auctioned. Its per-carat price of $1.2 million, however, was less than half of what similarly graded smaller diamonds have achieved at auction.

Prices for such top stones can vary widely because the market is thin at that level and is usually dependent upon two or three bidders running prices up after they pass the reserves. If even one of those buyers does not bid, then the prices can be 20% to 30% lower. @topic:7


Publish Year: - Title: Shared Bonds: GIA Education Connects Alumni Members Around the World – for Life Abstract: Alumni members travel the world to meet fellow graduates and experience all the gem and jewelry industry has to offer, such as the Mexico chapter’s annual visit to pearl farms in the Sea of Cortez. Photo courtesy of the GIA Mexico City Alumni Chapter

	Alumni members around the globe continue to amaze me with their commitment, dedication and pursuit of excellence.

	In recent months, I have had opportunities to interact with many members worldwide as I visited some of our global chapters. I shared celebrations of longevity, observed the positive evolution of change and supported the advancement of both chapters and individuals. Each experience made it possible for me to observe first-hand the impact GIA education has had on so many.

	I visited with chapter members in Japan, Korea, Malaysia and across the U.S., and connected with members from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America at trade fairs. Alumni shared stories of personal achievements and lifetime opportunities that they attribute directly to their GIA education, including increased personal confidence and professionalism; the significance of their reputation and responsibility as individuals to uphold ethical industry standards; and the value of a lifetime of learning.

	These foundations − along with the relationships that began between classmates or developed as industry associates − continue to connect our alumni worldwide. Their shared experiences and mutual respect often bring alums together for business success. It’s heartwarming to hear of so many personal successes and commitments of alumni − to the Institute and themselves − to uphold GIA’s legacy of excellence.

	I applaud members around the world for their actions, and encourage others not active in the alumni community to take steps to get more involved. One of the ways alumni can do so is to take the opportunity to network ‒ whether in your home city or when you travel ‒ at GIA Alumni Association chapter events. These provide limitless possibilities for you to stay relevant with issues and to make new connections in the industry to become more successful. More than 40 events were hosted by GIA Alumni Association chapters since May 2016. You can visit our events page and the alumni Facebook page to learn when events are scheduled.

A group of alumni gathered to celebrate the GIA Alumni Association Japan’s 25th anniversary. Photo courtesy of Bunkyo Yuno

	Alumni Visits to Asia

	A special thank you to the alumni leaders and members of chapters in   Japan  ,  Korea  and Malaysia for the  exceptional experience of visiting your chapters in M ay. Highlights of this trip include:

Alumni Association Japan (AAJ)’s 25th anniversary, which included a celebratory reception, education seminar and recognition of Ms. Yoshiko Doi for her 40 years of service to GIA Tokyo. More than 100 members of AAJ attended, along with GIA’s Susan Jacques, Seung-Hae Moon, Phil York.

		The Korea chapter elected new leadership, Phil Oh, GIA GG, as president, and re-launched the chapter. I gave a brief alumni update to more than 60 attendees, which included past chapter leaders, alumni and members of the gemstone and jewelry trade in Seoul.

		The Malaysia chapter hosted a luncheon during which I presented an update on GIA education news and alumni benefits. The chapter welcomed new board members and recognized the immediate past president, Yihchen Ng, for his leadership and formation of the chapter in 2011.

 Malaysia Chapter meet-up with GIA Global Alumni Relations Manager Kate Donovan (center, 5th from right), in Kuala Lumpur. Photo courtesy of Kelvin Chow Fook Yoong

	Chapters News

		The following chapters celebrated milestone anniversaries in recent months:

Alumni Association Japan – 25 years

Mexico City – 10 years

Monterrey, Mexico – 1 year

		New chapter leaders were welcomed in Houston, Korea, London, Malaysia and South Florida

 Six industry organizations celebrated “A Night Among Gems” at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of Gaelen Casey

	Chapter Activities

		Susan Jacques, GIA president and CEO, spoke to members of New Orleans chapter and attendees of the Louisiana Jewelers Association conference in August.

		Synthetic diamonds in the jewelry market remain a primary topic and have been the discussion at five chapter events – Johannesburg, Georgia, San Diego, St. Louis and Manhattan.

		Colored gemstone talks were hosted in London, St. Louis and Washington D.C., featuring Evan Caplan on alexandrite, Renee Newman on exotic gems, and Vincent Pardieu on gems of Madagascar.

		Fancy colored diamond lectures featured speakers Alan Bronstein, in Manhattan and Diana Benoit, in Mexico City. GIA’s Ric Taylor provided education on diamond fluorescence in Johannesburg.

		Updates on gemstone treatments were popular events held by Japan, St. Louis and Wisconsin. The Los Angeles chapter launched the first annual Rossman Caltech Research Lecture. George Rossman, professor of mineralogy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), presented research updates and discussed the cause of color in gem materials to 99 attendees. Rossman is also a member of Gems & Gemology editorial review board and is a former GIA Board of Governor.

		Hands-on gemological sessions continue with members of Twin Cities, who are participating in a multi-part 2016 “Year of Corundum” study group.

		Appraisal methodology was taught by appraising professional Bill Hoefer, GIA GG, in Cincinnati and Michigan.

		Jewelry history, design and lapidary talks were held in Manhattan, San Diego, Switzerland and Washington, D.C. presented by known experts Come Remy, Tim Adams, Denise Nelson, Jacqueline Stone and Helen Serras-Herman.

		A Kimberly Process review was presented by Pat Syvrud, executive director of the World Diamond Council (WDC) to Washington D.C.

		A film night featured a screening of the documentary “Sharing the Rough” in Monterrey, Mexico, St. Louis and Vermont.

 Cincinnati’s Summer Social with members of the GIA alumni chapter and AGS guild. Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati chapter

		Business-focused educational events included speakers Molly Clark on social media in Manhattan and Bosco Chow on “Understanding Intellectual Property” in Hong Kong.

		Local networking socials were successful in Cincinnati, Hong Kong and Toronto.

		“A Night Among Gems,” celebrated by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles gem and mineral collection, welcomed its newly appointed curator, Dr. Aaron Celestian. The evening was organized by the Los Angeles chapter and brought together six industry associations, and more than 175 members and guests.

		Members from across the globe gathered for mixed chapter meet-ups. Canada, Malaysia and Taiwan visited Sri Lanka; Spain and Monterrey, Mexico paired in Las Vegas to host an all alumni event with 80 attendees; Hong Kong, Manhattan and Georgia welcomed visitors at events they hosted and planned around major trade fairs in their area.

		The annual “Gemstone Safari” to visit pearl farms in the Sea of Cortez was a success for Mexico City and included members of Monterrey, Mexico, plus GIA’s Robert Weldon, who  lectured on the “Splendor & Science of Pearls,” a book he co-authored with Dona M. Dirlam, director of the Richard T. Liddicoat Library and Information Center in Carlsbad.

 Mexico’s alumni members went on their annual “Gemstone Safari” to visit pearl farms in the Sea of Cortez, including a hands-on look at mollusks and pearls. Photo courtesy of the GIA Mexico City Alumni Chapter

	The value of the GIA Alumni network and its people is immeasurable. Whether its business relationships, connections for resources, mentorship or a shared affinity for the gems and jewelry that brought us to study at GIA, the benefits and bonds between all graduates is easy to see.

	I hope the education and networking events organized by our chapters inspire you to take action and attend a chapter event in the future. @topic:6


Publish Year: 2014 Title: Books: The Art of Bulgari:La Dolce Vita and Beyond, 1950–1990 Abstract: By Martin Chapman and Amanda Triossi, 174 pp., hardcover, illus., publ. by The Arts Museums of San Francisco/Delmonico Books/Prestel, 2013, $34.95.

              For those who associate Bulgari with vivid colored stone cabochons or antique Roman coins mounted in gold jewelry, Chapman and Triossi’s book is an eye-opener. The Art of Bulgari served as the catalog for the exhibition of the same name at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, intended to chronicle the succession of glamorous celebrities who have worn Bulgari from the dolce vita years of Italian cultural creativity through today. The authors also aim to trace the development of Bulgari’s creative aesthetic through compelling and sometimes surprising examples of its work. In both respects, they succeed.

The jewelry and luxury goods firm is so strongly associated with Rome that it may surprise readers to know that the founder, Sortirio Bulgari, opened his first shop in his native Greece. He later relocated to Naples, and finally to Rome in 1881, where the flagship store, opened in 1905, still stands at 10 Via Condotti.

Prior to World War II, the company operated as a traditional goldsmith shop, but thanks to Sortirio’s forward-thinking sons Costantino and Giorgio, Bulgari began to take a more contemporary direction. Jewelry inspired by Greco-Roman classicism, the Italian Renaissance, and the 19th-century Roman school of goldsmiths took hold, as Bulgari acquired important gemstones and created exclusive luxury pieces, including an emerald and diamond necklace commissioned by American socialite Brooke Astor.

In the post-war 1950s and ’60s, American movies were often filmed in Italy, where production costs were advantageous. As a result, many Hollywood stars fell in love with Bulgari’s bold new style, which featured large pieces set with colored gemstones. Most notable of these was Elizabeth Taylor, although Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Ava Gardner, and Gina Lollobrigida were also steady customers. Wealthy and influential socialites, including Barbara Hutton and Diana Vreeland, also became collectors.

Beginning with the 1950s, Chapman and Triossi show us the evolution, decade by decade, of Bulgari’s distinctive style. The use of color in so many Bulgari pieces stands out, but some gold and diamond jewels featured in this book, such as the Fireworks necklace and the Parentese parure, both from the Heritage Collection, are likewise dazzling.

The book devotes a chapter to pieces from Elizabeth Taylor’s Bulgari collection. Taylor is quoted as saying, “Undeniably, one of the biggest advantages of working on Cleopatra in Rome was [the Bulgari store].” It is clear how dearly she loved this jewelry, wearing her Heritage Collection platinum necklace with emeralds and diamonds to receive an Academy Award in 1966 and again when she was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II of England.

The Art of Bulgari also showcases whimsical pieces  that are relatively unknown. Such items include a gold measuring stick (1970), a silver-and-gold St. Moritz cigarette case (1977), a silver-and-gold tennis ball canister (1980), and a wonderful boat paperweight (1974) fashioned of sterling and gilded silver to look like a boat of folded paper. An exotic gold table clock with onyx, mother-of-pearl, and diamond (1980) is set off by two antique Chinese jade belt hooks.

The text is enhanced by excellent photography, with many jewels displayed in full-page plates. Original sketches of jewelry designs also add visual interest and insight, and photos of famous clientele wearing their Bulgari jewels abound. From magnificent bib necklaces and snake bracelet watches, to the whimsical Star-Spangled Banner series and ice cream cone brooches, this is a stunning look at Bulgari.

Chapman is a curator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and Triossi, a jewelry historian and consultant, is curator of the Bulgari Heritage Collection. Together, the authors do an admirable job of presenting Bulgari’s history and cultural impact. @topic:6


Publish Year: 2021 Title: Glass Imitation of Star Sapphire Abstract: Figure 1. Glass cabochons with weights ranging from 0.47 to 1.29 ct were obtained by the author. The stones displayed white six-ray stars across their domes, resembling star sapphire. Photo by Jessa Rizzo.
The market for sapphire simulants and synthetics is plentiful, as sapphire is likely the most popular of all colored stones. The high cost of natural, gem-quality sapphire means it is not obtainable for much of the world’s population. This has opened the doors of creativity to produce blue stones with high luster resembling the natural material. Recently, the author obtained a parcel of blue cabochons with an unusual star pattern resembling star sapphire (figure 1). After a series of tests were performed, the material was identified as manufactured glass.

Figure 2. A vertical cross section of the glass cabochon showcases the internal structure and diagnostic flow lines imitating star sapphire. Photo by Nathan Renfro.
Gemological investigation revealed an average specific gravity of 2.46 and a refractive index of 1.40. The cabochons were inert to long-wave ultraviolet radiation but exhibited strong chalky blue fluorescence under short-wave ultraviolet radiation. Observation under a microscope revealed gas bubbles shallow to the surface within the blue regions of the stones and small conchoidal fractures along the girdles. One cabochon was cut in half vertically for further scientific investigation (figure 2). This cross section uncovered a large core of white glass raised to the surface of the dome in a star pattern. Flow lines were also visible within the white glass core. Finally, a thin layer of blue glass around the perimeter of the cabochon was seen in the cross section, creating the bodycolor of the stone (again, see figure 2).
Asterism is an optical phenomenon that can be defined as a star-shaped concentration of reflected or refracted light from inclusions within a gemstone cut en cabochon. Genuine asterism is also mobile if the stone and/or light source is moved. These glass imitation star sapphires, however, do not exhibit genuine asterism, as their stars were simply molded into shape and are fixed in place.
Glass imitations span the gamut of gemstones. Faceted transparent colorless glass is one of the oldest and simplest diamond simulants. Glass beads coated with pearlescent paint are a common pearl imitation, and colored glass of various opacities is capable of imitating almost any colored gemstone. Recent G&G articles on colored stone imitations include “Artificial glass imitating a Paraíba tourmaline” (Winter 2020 Lab Notes, pp. 518–520), “Greenish blue glass imitating gem silica” (Summer 2020 Gem News International, pp. 314–315), and “Glass bangles” imitating jadeite and nephrite (Spring 2019 Lab Notes, pp. 93–94). @topic:3


Publish Year: - Title: ‘Hippie’ Designer-Appraiser Follows Her Heart, Re-ignites Local Alumni Chapter Abstract: “If I had known then what I know now, I would have jumped in with less reserve and taken more risks,” says Rebecca Buys, GG, of her early career in the jewelry industry. As her career evolved, so did her hobbies: she learned to ride motorcycles in her 50s and bought a Kawasaki Vulcan 1500. “I ride for the fun and adventure it brings,” she says. Courtesy of Rebecca Buys

	“Sometimes I feel like I hit the jackpot.”

	Rebecca Buys, a GIA Graduate Gemologist and a senior member of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, says she’s never happier than when a client brings in a special designer piece for identification and valuation.

	“Recently, a client and her 95-year-old mother brought a parcel of jewels that her mother, a French woman, was passing on to her,” she says. “The American-born daughter had little knowledge or appreciation for the items. As I gazed in wonder at some of the pieces, the mother began telling stories in her thick, delightful French accent of how she acquired signed, vintage designer jewelry from Mauboussin and Van Cleef & Arpels. She spoke of the Palace Vendome, and shopping for jewels with her beloved in the 1930s and 1940s.”

	For Buys, jewelry “tells a story of romance and love,” and that story goes back decades for the appraiser-designer, who has been captivated by rocks, minerals, gems and jewelry for as long as she can remember.

		People find me in the weirdest ways. I call it magic – I always seem to have lots of work… I enjoy the people I meet and love to hear the stories of their precious items.

		Rebecca Buys, GIA GG

	Buys grew up in Ohio and remembers exploring the area around her home − and discovering a new passion.

	“As a child of the ‘50s, I was allowed to freely roam the gorge and falls near our home,” she says, noting that there was a nearby cave with Native American paintings, as well as a tribal burial site. “It was a pristine place where I discovered artifacts and colored rocks, and the fact that rocks came in colors fascinated me.”

	Buys became a budding rock collector, spending her allowance money on a children’s collector set. As she grew and the family moved to San Diego, her interest expanded to include jewelry and beads, and her explorations reached a little further, and away from home – frequently on trips to San Francisco and Santa Cruz to find “cool and unusual” beads and findings to make into earrings. Though Buys wanted to pursue a career in the arts, her parents encouraged her to pursue what they considered a more practical path.

	“So I became a business major and worked as a legal secretary in downtown Los Angeles out of college,” she says of her life in the late 1970s. “Until I decided to become a hippie and follow my spiritual quest.”

	Following that quest would lead many places – connecting with a spiritual guru in Southern California, embracing a brief apprenticeship with a likeminded goldsmith-designer in Big Sur, and finally, moving to Poona, India for four months to live and study in an ashram.

	“While in India, I discovered faceted, colorful gemstones, and they were plentiful and inexpensive,” she says. Buys returned to Southern California to care for her ailing mother, and brought the gems with her. She found a goldsmith to set them, and began to sell her designs.

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	Eventually, Buys partnered with a colored stone dealer and opened a retail store, Charles & Co., in the heart of downtown Encinitas, a seaside enclave in north San Diego County. She often traveled to the Tucson gem and mineral shows and to colored-stone markets in Thailand.

	“We had a healthy inventory of rubies, sapphires of all colors, tourmalines, opals and tanzanite. While our strength was in our colored gemstone inventory, we were rapidly expanding in diamond sales. I didn't know much about selling diamonds, and heard about GIA from colleagues and dealers,” she says. “I took the diamond grading class at the Santa Monica campus and received my Diamond ID and Grading certificate in 1985.”

	Buys and her partner successfully operated their store for nearly 20 years, but when they sold it in 2000 she was ready for a change.

	“I didn’t believe I could have a successful career on my own,” she explains. “I thought I would leave the industry and do something else. I knew I loved it, but wasn’t sure how to make it work.”

	It turned out that Buys’ customers weren’t ready to see her go. “Clients kept finding me,” she says. They were seeking her design and repair services, and though Buys knew she didn’t want to open another retail store, she began to think about how to branch out on her own.

	She decided the first step was to come back to GIA and worked on her GG from 2002-2005 through Distance Education and lab classes in Carlsbad.

	“It took me nearly 20 years to complete my GIA education,” she says. “Being at the new campus was such an inspiration. I had a good knowledge of colored stones, but what I learned at GIA took it to a different level. Much of what I thought I knew was improved with my GIA education.”

Buys, second from left (in white blouse), leads an “active membership” as president of the GIA Alumni Association’s San Diego chapter. “I encourage everyone to become involved in their local GIA Alumni Association chapter,” she says. “Attending presentations, field trips and special events really increases your knowledge and expands your network.” She is pictured with, from left, JJ Williams, president of Number 8; Craig Danforth, GIA director of global business development; and Kate Donovan, GIA alumni relations manager.

	Buys, who says she felt “empowered” with new confidence, began attending GIA Alumni Association events to meet fellow professionals who gladly exchanged ideas and contacts. As her network and knowledge increased, she noticed that the San Diego Alumni Association chapter was struggling to plan activities and pull together a leadership board.

	“I felt like it was essential for San Diego to have a thriving, active chapter, so I volunteered to step in as temporary president,” she says. “Several years later, I’m still president! We have an active membership and our board is coming together nicely. We also have numerous volunteers and host exciting speakers nearly every other month. There are plenty of excellent opportunities for mentorship and networking.”

	Earning her AJP and GG diplomas also made it possible for Buys to join the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, which launched the next phase of her career.

	“I knew I liked the research aspects of determining an item’s worth,” she says. “It was a good way to utilize my education, experience and knowledge outside of the retail environment.”

	Buys – who doesn’t advertise or have a studio open to the public, and operates under the name Rebecca Young Designs – says her custom design and appraisal clients mostly find her through word of mouth and referrals from local jewelers.

	“People find me in the weirdest ways,” she says. “I call it magic – I always seem to have lots of work, it always comes. I enjoy the people I meet and love to hear the stories of their precious items. It’s a privilege to be trusted to accurately identify, educate and evaluate their treasures.”

	She also finds herself lately doing more large estate jewelry parcels for attorneys, banks and executors, and finds those large assignments rewarding, too.

	“I have a deeper knowledge and understanding that if you follow your passion – do what you really love – a way to succeed will always be presented,” says Buys, who recently learned to ride motorcycles for the sake of adventure.

	“If I had known then what I know now, I would have jumped in with less reserve and taken more risks,” she says. “I couldn’t have guessed it would be so fulfilling.” @topic:6


Publish Year: 2023 Title: Spring 2023 Auction Highlights Abstract: Figure 1. The Bulgari Laguna Blu, an 11.16 ct Fancy Vivid blue diamond, was featured for the first time at auction in Geneva. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Following a lackluster start to the auction season in Hong Kong, all eyes were on the estate of late Austrian billionaire Heidi Horten in May, presented by Christie’s in Geneva. Leading up to the three-part auction, the collection made headlines due to the controversial source of Horten’s wealth. (Horten’s late husband reportedly made his fortune buying businesses from Jews forced to sell well below value in Nazi Germany.) Despite the controversy, the sale became the most lucrative jewelry auction in history, garnering $202.2 million and surpassing the 2011 auction of Elizabeth Taylor’s estate, which totaled $116 million. In accordance with her wishes, proceeds from Horten’s estate were donated to a foundation for medical research, child welfare, and access to the arts, while Christie’s pledged to donate part of its commission to Holocaust-related charities.
Also in Geneva, Sotheby’s rebounded from a disappointing fall 2022 auction season for colored diamonds (Winter 2022 GNI, pp. 524–526) with the sale of the Bulgari Laguna Blu (figure 1). Cut by Bulgari in the 1970s for a private collector, the 11.16 ct Fancy Vivid blue diamond made its auction debut, selling just above its estimate at $25.2 million after only four minutes of bidding. As the highest-priced gem Bulgari has ever sold, the VS1, type IIb diamond also holds GIA’s highest color grade for a blue diamond.

Figure 2. The 126.76 ct Internally Flawless Light of Peace diamond sold for $13.6 million. Courtesy of Christie’s.
The season ended on a high note in June with the New York auctions. Leading Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale, the 126.76 ct Internally Flawless Light of Peace diamond (figure 2) was offered without a reserve. Selling within its presale estimate, the GIA-graded type IIa diamond garnered $13.6 million. The largest stone cut from a 435 ct rough unearthed in West Africa, the Light of Peace was once owned by the Zale family, who used the diamond to fund peace-supporting missions. To continue this legacy of goodwill, a portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Figure 3. The Estrela de Fura, a 55.22 ct ruby from Mozambique, became the largest and highest-priced ruby ever sold at auction. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
At Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction, two gems smashed multiple records. The Estrela de Fura (figure 3), a 55.22 ct “pigeon’s blood” ruby, became both the largest and most expensive ruby ever to sell at auction, raking in $34.8 million. The gem was cut from a 101 ct rough mined in Mozambique in July 2022, which made headlines as the largest gem-quality ruby ever discovered. Remarkable not only for its unprecedented size, the Estrela de Fura’s florescence, clarity, and vivid red hue rival that of Burmese rubies. A portion of the proceeds from the sale will help establish the Fura Training Academy in Mozambique, encouraging access for locals to education and technical training in areas such as mining, engineering, carpentry, and agriculture.

Figure 4. The 10.57 ct Eternal Pink diamond set a new record per-carat price at $3.3 million. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Also selling for $34.8 million, the Eternal Pink (figure 4), a 10.57 ct Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid purplish pink diamond, fell just short of its estimate but still surpassed the previous record for a diamond of this color grade. The GIA-graded diamond, which was cut from a 23.78 ct rough from Botswana, set a new record price per carat at $3.3 million. Sales of the Eternal Pink and the Estrela de Fura helped Sotheby’s break two more records, becoming the first auction to sell two items for more than $30 million each and achieving the highest total ever for a jewelry auction at Sotheby’s New York. The overall sale brought in $95.9 million, topping the house’s previous record of $65.1 million from April 2015. @topic:7


Publish Year: - Title: Museum, Lab Collaborate with Students on Design Project Abstract: JDT students recently completed a design project that featured tourmalines from the GIA Museum. This digital rendering shows the gold rings Tyler Abe created using 3-D scanning and CAD (computer-aided design) technology. ©GIA

	Artists are often inspired by the beauty of the materials they use. A sculptor may sense form in a block of stone; a painter might sense the image in the texture of a canvas. In the same way artists transform canvas and stone, jewelry designers manipulate gems and metals into works of art, taking inspiration from the raw material. That inspiration, however, strikes each artist or designer differently.

	GIA’s museum and laboratory staff recently collaborated with the Institute’s first Jewelry Design & Technology (JDT) class to encourage students to find inspiration in gems. The effort tapped into the museum’s wealth of history and knowledge and the analytical and research tools of the lab.

	“JDT students often have the opportunity to see beautiful gems and jewelry from GIA’s museum, but have never had the chance to create their own designs with gems from the collection,” said McKenzie Santimer, GIA museum exhibit developer. Terri Ottaway, GIA museum curator, and Santimer challenged students to design rings featuring five tourmalines from the museum.

	The tourmalines, ranging in size from eight to 11 carats, span the color spectrum. Four were originally owned by Edward J. Gübelin, a pioneer in the world of gemology who amassed one of the most extensive personal gem collections in the world, which was acquired by GIA for the museum in 2005.

	The project gave students the freedom to explore their own design style. The GIA museum staff, as clients for these designers, gave the students careful requirements. Each of the five tourmalines had to be incorporated into a size seven, yellow gold ring with up to one carat of side diamonds to enhance the designs. To encourage the students to find inspiration in the beauty of each stone, Ottaway and Santimer described the localities where each of the tourmalines were mined in Brazil (8.15 carat cushion-shaped red and 11.96 carat cushion-shaped green), Namibia (9.89 carat emerald-cut bi-colored red and blue), Nigeria (9.4 carat oval-shaped blue) and Mozambique (9.15 carat round orange).

	Hannah Becker, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, embraced the opportunity to design a collection that would highlight the “big and flashy” tourmalines. She relished the chance to work through her own ideas to create pieces that match her style. When she learned the green tourmaline came from Minas Gerais, a town in Brazil known for baroque-style churches, she designed a ring reminiscent of the architecture she learned about while studying art history.

	“Everyone’s projects were really different and demonstrated what we’re interested in,” she said. “It was fun to see how everybody tackled each stone.”

	Josh White, of San Francisco, California, instantly found his inspiration when he saw the tourmalines. “I knew I wanted to design something elegant,” he said. His designs featured traditional techniques such as prong and bezel settings.

	This CAD rendering, designed by Josh White, illustrates prong and bezel settings. ©GIA

	The GIA laboratory used 3-D scanning technology to create a representation of each tourmaline, called a stereo lithography file (STL file). The file was then imported into CAD (computer-aided design) systems so the students could create renderings of their designs that matched exact specifications of the stones.

	"Technology from the GIA lab, like the 3-D scanning machine, helps ensure students have the latest tools used in the jewelry industry," said Mark Maxwell, GIA's Jewelry Manufacturing Arts manager. “This is how our students benefit from the work done in our lab.”

	White learned first-hand how important this technology is when he was asked recently during a job interview if he had experience with 3-D scanning. He was able to give specific examples, including his designs from this project.

	“Cookie-cutter stones don’t exist in the real world,” he said. If you plan to work in custom jewelry, you need to know how to design using 3-D scanning, he added.

	Students also made rapid prototypes of their designs using the 3-D rendering and CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) tools. The prototypes are an exact representation of their design, from the intricate aesthetic details to dimensions that precisely match the tourmalines. Maxwell demonstrated the perfect fit by placing one of the tourmalines into the prongs of the plastic prototype designed for it.

	“Our goal is to create real-life, real-world experiences for the students,” he said. “This project is just one of many that prepares them for situations they’ll likely encounter in the jewelry industry.”

	This plastic prototype was made using CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) tools after Alyssa Brownell created a CAD rendering (inset) of her design. ©GIA

	Students presented their projects to fellow classmates, instructors and Ottaway and Santimer. The instructors gave feedback on the practical aspects of their designs; Ottaway and Santimer responded from an artistic standpoint, discussing how the rings highlighted the stones and the quality of the design.

	Santimer enjoyed working with students on the project because she said it let them explore jewelry as an art.

	“Some students designed avant-garde pieces that would be difficult to wear, but are meant for display in the museum,” Santimer said. “If it’s art, you can break the rules.”

	In the end, for Becker, it was all about the gems. “The museum is such an invaluable resource because of the beautiful and historic gems they have,” she said. “With this project the stones dictated our designs.”

	Talk about inspiration.

	Hannah Becker found inspiration for her designs from the localities where the tourmalines were mined. ©GIA @topic:6


Publish Year: - Title: Spring 2019 Auctions: Premium Prices for Historic Pieces Abstract: A circa 1935 Art Deco emerald and diamond creation, presumably made by Van Cleef & Arpels for American socialite and collector Hélène Beaumont. Courtesy of Sotheby’s

While the major auction houses are still making news with their rare gemstone offerings, the news about recent sales is focused more on history than record prices.
This year’s auctions have seen fewer lots, fewer very large diamonds and an easing of prices from the record levels seen a few years ago. But auction executives are quick to point out that the market for high quality gems and jewels is still robust – for pieces with a historic past.
“Our April New York auction represents the market, right now,” said Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International Head of Jewellery. The April 16 sale did not have any top fancy colored diamonds over 5 carats or D flawless diamonds larger than 25 carats, as had been the case in recent years. In addition, a high percentage of lots came from estates, not dealers.
Several 15 ct-plus diamonds achieved per carat prices of more than $100,000 at the sale, which he acknowledged was down from the peaks of $150,000 to $180,000 in mid-decade.
“That was a spike in the market,” he explained. “But if you look at the long run, prices have risen substantially for such stones over the years.”
Sotheby’s May 14 Geneva sale saw one large D fl (36.57 ct) diamond sell for about $5 million ($136,000 per carat), but most of the action was for signed period jewels, such as The Beaumont Necklace, a circa 1935 Art Deco emerald and diamond creation, presumably made by Van Cleef & Arpels for collector Hélène Beaumont, that sold for $3.6 million, about 20% above its estimate.
Tailoring Auction Items to Market Demand
When the market weakens for major gemstones, the auction houses have to become more careful about curating their sales – smaller high-quality stones, more classic “signed” period jewels – and concentrate more on estate pieces. Prices are usually less aggressive than those from dealers, Kadakia said.
Dealers who sell at auction said they need high prices to recoup the auction seller premiums of 12% to 15% on sales. (Note that auctions also charge buyers a similar rate. Thus, if a gemstone has a hammer price of $100,000, the buyer will likely pay $115,000 and the seller will receive about $85,000.)
Sotheby’s and Christie’s have reduced the number of lots in their major jewelry sales by 25% to 35% in the past two years because, even though these houses almost never own pieces they sell, they go all out to avoid “buy-ins” – lots that fail to find bidders.
“The auctions’ publicity power works against them if this happens,” explained one major dealer of fancy colored diamonds. “If pieces don’t sell, everybody knows it right away and they start to worry about the market.”

The Jonker V, a 25.27 ct GIA-graded D VS1 diamond, was cut in 1934 from the famed 726 ct Jonker Diamond, found in South Africa. © Christie, Manson & Woods LTD (2019)
Kadakia said prices for major colored stones seem less affected by the slowdown; top sales lots are usually fancy colored diamonds. The top lot of Christie’s May 15 Geneva sale was a 22.86 ct cushion shaped Burmese ruby that sold for $7.2 million, more than twice its pre-sale estimate, and a natural pearl sautoir (a long necklace that can suspend a pendant or tassel) that brought $5.8 million from a dealer.
The May 15 sale did feature two significant diamonds:

An 118 ct GIA-graded Fancy yellow diamond purchased for $7.1 million (twice the estimate) by Siba Corp., a New York-based dealer of major gemstones, in honor of its founder Sam Abram who had passed away shortly before the sale
The Jonker V, a 25.27 ct GIA-graded D VS1 diamond cut in 1934 from the famed 726 ct Jonker Diamond, found in South Africa, which achieved its estimate of $3 million

One-of-a-Kind Pieces and Prices
But even when prices in general are softening, truly one-of-a-kind pieces will always command top-dollar because buyers know they will not likely see them again.
“A perfect case in point was the Wittelsbach blue diamond,” Kadakia said. “We sold that for a record $23.4 million in 2009 when the financial markets had crashed.”

The Catherine emerald, mined in Colombia over 250 years ago, sold for $4.3, nearly $1 million above its high estimate. The emerald, originally a 107 ct square cut, was acquired by Catherine the Great, the Russian monarch, around 1790 and passed through Russian royalty until 1920. The gem was recut in 1954 to remove inclusions.  Photo Russell Shor/GIA
The most publicized lot of Christie’s May 15 auction was surely one-of-a-kind: The Imperial Emerald of Grand Duchess Vladimir of Russia, which originally belonged to empress Catherine the Great.
The emerald’s rich history started when it was acquired as a 107.67 ct square cut by Catherine the Great toward the end of the 18th century. It passed through Russian royalty after her death until Cartier purchased it in 1927. Cartier had the emerald recut into a pear shape of 75.63 cts to eliminate most of the fissures and inclusions and then sold it to John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1954.
Valuing the gem was difficult because of its provenance, Kadakia said.
“We met with the trade, as we often do, and they asked us to list it without adding its history to the price.”
Christie’s experts listed the pre-sale estimate of $2.3 million to $3.5 million in the catalog.
“If we’d gotten that, then it we could say we achieved the value of the emerald itself. Anything higher would be the add-on for its history,” Kakadia noted.
When the bidding ended, an anonymous private buyer paid $4.3 million for the emerald, adding about $1 million for the history.

The 19 ct Fancy Light pink Le Grand Mazarin diamond was presented to French King Louis XIV in 1661 by Cardinal Mazarin, passed through a succession of French monarchs and, later, emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. © Christie, Manson & Woods LTD (2017)
Two years ago, Christie’s added $1 million to the $4 million pre-sale estimate of the 19 ct Fancy Light pink Le Grand Mazarin diamond presented to French King Louis XIV in 1661 by Cardinal Mazarin. It was then passed through a succession of French monarchs and, later, emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
In Kadakia’s words at the time “it was the diamond with the most prestigious and historic provenance still in private hands.” The diamond, which was offered at a November 2017 sale, had been sold in 1887 at the auction of the French crown jewels and was sold through private collections until resurfacing for this auction.
“In the end, the stone sold for almost $15 million – an $11 million premium because of its history,” he said. @topic:7


Publish Year: 2015 Title: Fluorite Sphere with Phosphorescent Coating Abstract: Figure 1. This large fluorite sphere proved to be coated with a fine grained phosphorescent powder and a colorless plastic. Photos by Don Mengason.

              A large green 2,685 ct, 120 mm sphere was recently examined in the Carlsbad lab. The sphere displayed an unusual phosphorescent reaction when exposed to a strong illumination source (figure 1). These phosphorescent stones are commonly referred to by the misnomer “night glowing pearl.”

The sphere was warm to the touch. Microscopic examination revealed a colorless plastic coating, readily identifiable by the numerous trapped gas bubbles trapped within (figure 2, top). Upon further inspection, a subsurface granular material that contributed both a very subtle green component to the overall bodycolor of the sphere was also observed (figure 2, bottom). The granular material was also responsible for the material’s phosphorescence. It was apparent from these observations that the colorless coating was used to adhere the fine-grained powder to the surface of the sphere. The coating acted as an enhancement, contributing a near-vitreous luster to the finished sphere. The stone also contained numerous cleavage cracks oriented in numerous unrelated directions, and fractures along grain boundaries indicative of a crystalline aggregate material. Because the fine-grained powder was coated with polymer, we were unable to analyze it for identification; however, the appearance is consistent with that of a strontium aluminate material that has been previously reported to coat “night glowing pearls” (Spring 2005 Lab Notes, pp. 46–47).

	Figure 2. Gas bubbles were trapped in the colorless plastic coating of this “night glowing pearl” (top) and a granular material underneath the colorless coating was the source of the phosphorescence (bottom). Photomicrographs by Nathan Renfro; field of view 3.55 mm.
Due to the plastic coating, a refractive index measurement of the substrate material was not possible. Raman spectroscopy positively identified the substrate material as fluorite, which was consistent with the microscopic appearance.

While night glowing pearls have been previously reported, this example was particularly unique because of its large size and the fact that the phosphorescent reaction was easily induced by visible light. It was also unusual that the phosphorescent material was nearly invisible to the naked eye, creating the appearance of a normal, uncoated fluorite sphere. @topic:1


Publish Year: 2018 Title: Coated Pink Synthetic Moissanite Abstract: Figure 1. This 0.41 ct pink stone was revealed to be a coated synthetic moissanite. Photo by Aurélien Delaunay.

The French Gemmological Laboratory (LFG) recently received a 0.41 ct pink stone resembling a pink diamond (figure 1) for identification. The surface of the stone showed numerous patches (figure 2), casting doubts about the natural origin of its color.

Figure 2. Metallic flakes on the surface raised questions about the origin of the pink color. Photomicrograph by Aurélien Delaunay; field of view approximately 1.8 mm.

Figure 3. Doubling of the edges, observed near the crown in this synthetic moissanite. Photomicrograph by Aurélien Delaunay; field of view approximately 3.4 mm.
Under the microscope, these flakes showed metallic luster. Furthermore, the pink color appeared concentrated at the surface. Some unevenness in the color was observed due to scratches of this film. When observed through the crown, the gem showed a clear doubling of its edges, indicating an anisotropic material. These observations confirmed the client’s doubts that the gem was a pink diamond (figure 3).
The sample was analyzed using infrared, UV-visible, and Raman spectrometers. All the spectra collected indicated a synthetic moissanite coated with a colored film. Chemical study of this film acquired with an EDXRF spectrometer revealed that iron and titanium were responsible for the color of the calcium-rich film.
This is the first example the LFG has seen of synthetic moissanite coated with a thin colored film. This type of treatment is not rare with topaz, quartz, diamond, or tanzanite. Gemologists must remain vigilant because this treatment can be performed on all gems, natural or synthetic. @topic:4


Publish Year: 2018 Title: New Technologies and Techniques Abstract: Figure 1. Single-crystal CVD diamond. Courtesy of Element Six.

Synthetic CVD Diamond—30 Years On
Daniel J. Twitchen
Element Six, Global Innovation Centre, Harwell, Oxford, United Kingdom
Element Six first started its chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthetic diamond program in 1988. Thirty years on, this talk will review notable high and low points, flagging some lessons learned.
Volume synthesis of diamond by CVD (figure 1) has not only contributed to reducing the cost of the material but also enabled the superlative properties of diamond to be more fully utilized. It has long been recognized that, aside from its extreme hardness, diamond is a remarkable material with many properties—optical, thermal, electrochemical, chemical, and electronic—that outclass competing materials. When combined, these properties offer the designer an engineering material with tremendous potential to create solutions that can shift performance to new levels or enable completely new approaches to challenging problems.
Components routinely fabricated using CVD synthetic diamond now span tweeters for loudspeakers, radiation detectors and sensors, optical components for lasers, windows for radio frequency and microwave transmission, blades and cutting tools, and electrodes for electrochemical sensing, ozone generation, and direct oxidation of organic matter.
Lightbox, a new De Beers company, has recently announced jewelry using white, blue, and pink lab-grown CVD diamonds. As crystal growers and materials scientists know, intrinsic undoped diamond is colorless in the visible range, but its absorption properties can be modified by defects, often referred to as “color centers,” formed either during the CVD growth process or through post-growth treatments such as irradiation and annealing. This presentation briefly summarizes some of the tools used to engineer CVD diamond. For example, controlling the nitrogen level (yellow CVD) to obtain particular thermal and optical properties, doping with boron (blue) to make electrically conducting diamond used to produce ozone for sanitization and for thermal management in telecommunications, and growing in nitrogen-vacancy centers (pink) to make magnetic sensors.
The diverse applications of diamond that harness its exceptional properties and the impact of color centers touch our lives in unexpected ways: Diamond is used to create the high-quality mirror finish on your smartphone and to produce the 170 miles of copper wiring in the aircraft that takes you on vacation, and it is also enables new higher-power lasers used in welding our cars together. It is even used in the quality control of food and in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
In summary, there has been considerable progress in the fabrication and commercialization of CVD-grown diamond over the last 10 years by a number of producers. This progress, coupled with the broad range of applications, shows that perhaps a new age of industrial diamond has truly begun—the age of CVD synthetic diamond.
Beyond Gemstones: The Medical, Industrial, Scientific, and Computational Applications of Lab Diamonds
Jason Payne
Ada Diamonds, San Francisco
Many gemologists know that there are important technological applications for laboratory-grown diamonds; however, it is less understood how broad the nongemological uses really are or why diamond is the ideal material for each use. This presentation will review modern industrial applications of laboratory-grown diamonds, including surgical tools, tumor detection, orthopedic implants, water purification, industrial tooling, compound refractive energy focusing, Fresnel lenses, high-pressure anvils (figure 1), sound reproduction, deep space communication, high-power electronics, quantum computing, long-term data storage, AC/DC conversion, and electrical vehicle efficiency.

Figure 1. Laboratory-grown diamond anvils, capable of generating 1 terapascal of pressure, enable high-pressure experiments for physics, chemistry, materials science, and industry. Photo courtesy of New Diamond Technology.
These applications are rooted in the less frequently discussed gemological properties of diamonds that make it a “supermaterial.” The biological, thermal, mechanical, optical, acoustic, and electrochemical properties of diamond will be introduced. Specific properties discussed will include thermal conductivity, Young’s modulus, breakdown field, band gap, and saturated electron drift velocity. Furthermore, the utility of diamond defects such as nitrogen vacancies and boron will be explored.
In addition to discussions about functional monocrystal diamonds, two unnatural forms of functional diamond will be discussed: polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and diamond-like carbon (DLC). Many of the functional diamonds discussed, including PCD and DLC, will be available for hands-on examination as part of the presentation.
Big-Data Analysis and Insights in the Online Gem and Jewelry Trade
Menahem Sevdermish and Guy Borenstein
Gemewizard, Ramat Gan, Israel
Big-data analytics is the process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing large volumes of data to reveal hidden patterns and unfamiliar correlations, identify market trends, and extract other useful information that might otherwise be invisible—even for the data manager.
Big-data analytics is seldom used within the gem and jewelry trade. The gem and jewelry sector is kept with general fixed inquiries that block the category from characterizing its inventory and users, and by that, identifying new opportunities.
Another challenge is that in most online marketplaces, the “What You See Is What You Get” experience is hindered by two main factors: improper disclosure and misrepresentation of images (e.g., digitally enhanced photos).
The research and development team of Gemewizard has devised and digitized a fully automatic big-data analysis system for large-scale gem and jewelry marketplaces, based on color and contextual search engine and image analysis (figure 1). This system generates unique market analytics and a fraud detection and prevention service.

Figure 1. The system algorithm crawls the HTML pages of gem websites for big data. For each gem, it condenses the item page to its attribute components and records useful data. The collected data is then compared against the entire database to identify insights and peculiarities.
Since 2016, the Gemewizard team has had the opportunity to examine the validity of the system using vast amounts of data from a world-leading online retail marketplace. The information gathered from this survey, together with additional volumes of information collected from the Internet, provided some important insights regarding the online gem and jewelry trade. Some of these insights, which we consider fruitful and eye-opening for any marketplace or e-tailer, will be revealed.
The gem-related information contains insights regarding common fraudulent activities and practices for 128 varieties, species, and series of merchandisable gems. The gathered data includes anomalies in attributes such as:

Gem type: Mineralogical, gemological, and trade names, as well as misnomers. Analysis includes accepted word combinations (e.g., “ruby” and “zoisite”) versus problematic ones (e.g., “diamond” and “moissanite”).
Color (e.g., “yellow emerald”)
Synthetic wording and nicknames (e.g., “heating with light elements”)
Treatment wording, ranked and analyzed according to severity (e.g., “heating” versus “diffusion” in ruby)

The trade-related information provides powerful forecasting tools for the marketplace administrator. These include sales and trends history, defined by attributes such as type, color, geography, seasonality, and price, and the ability to identify tendencies (e.g., “Prices of untreated ruby gems between 2 and 3 carats are on the rise in Europe…”) and pricing opportunities (e.g., “Currently, there is a high demand for pale-colored Paraíba tourmaline gems in Far East markets”).
Diamond Impression: The Key to Sustainable Competitiveness
Sergey Sivovolenko1, Roman Serov2, and Janak Mistry3 (presenter)
1OctoNus Finland Oy, Tampere, Finland
2OctoNus Software, Moscow
3Lexus SoftMac, Surat, India
People are impressed with the uniqueness of diamond, which incorporates factors such as brilliance and fire. When the trade commoditized the category through the Four Cs, it was partly due to the technical inability to promote diamond’s impressive optical effects, including optical illusions. This common trade practice inhibited diamond’s competitiveness against other goods in the luxury sector. But from now on, emerging technology will allow demonstration of diamond’s magic on a large scale with fine details.
Modern algorithmic craftsmanship creates the category of high-vibrancy diamonds, referred to here as Hi-Vi: exceptional diamonds with superior consumer benefits such as brilliance, fire, table color, symmetry, and spread, compared to others of the same shape, size, and pavilion color. The triple excellent round, which took centuries for the industry to craft, was the first Hi-Vi diamond.
Diamond vibrancy is a combination of optical effects and illusions. For example, brilliance, fire, scintillation, and spread depend on both objective parameters such as cut design and stone size, as well as subjective aspects of human vision, such as space-temporal sensitivity and stereo perception. Figure 1A demonstrates the scintillating grid illusion: The intersections seem to flicker white and black, generating additional brightness and contrast when the observer’s glance wanders. Distortion of pattern ruins this effect (figure 1B). Certain patterns produce higher perceived brightness. This example is a 2D effect; more astonishing optical illusions result from human stereo vision.

Figure 1. A scintillation grid (A), a scintillation grid with a wavy pattern (B), and squares covered by round brilliant-cut diamonds in different sizes (C).
The phenomenon of diamond brilliance has a similar origin—human vision peculiarity—as the scintillating grid illusion described above. The impact of optical illusions on both Hi-Vi diamond patterns and jewelry designs (e.g., melee) are to be considered, so Hi-Vi optimization is made for not just single diamond cuts, but also for each diamond jewelry piece as a whole.
Figure 1C shows squares with round brilliant-cut (RBC) patterns that differ only in size. The integral colored and colorless areas are exactly the same, while the perceptions of fire and brilliance in each image are quite different. It is impossible to maximize two performance parameters (both fire and brilliance, for example) simultaneously. The consumer’s final choice should be based on subjective preferences and rely on performance benchmarks.
Hi-Vi diamonds should be demonstrated with an optical performance digital “loupe,” which allows even inexperienced buyers to easily appreciate the performance difference at the highest levels of brilliance, fire, and scintillation. The “loupe” is critically important for mass marketing of relatively small diamonds. For sustainable market development, diamond impressiveness and vibrancy born of masterly designed optical illusions and visual effects is the selling proposition to craft, demonstrate, and explain. @topic:4


Publish Year: - Title: Books: The Cheapside Hoard: London's Lost Jewels Abstract: By Hazel Forsyth, 272 pp., paperback, illus., publ. by Philip Wilson Publishers, London, 2013. £19.95.

                      Written to accompany the Museum of London's exhibition of the Cheapside Hoard jewels (October 11, 2013 to April 27, 2014), this book gives the reader a unique glimpse into the world of the Elizabethan jewelry trade. Author Hazel Forsyth, the museum's senior curator of medieval and post-medieval collections, says this book is not a catalog but instead provides the reader with some context of the gem and jewelry trade in late 16th- and early 17th-century London. It also explores and illustrates some of the most beautiful jewels of this era, jewels that were found in what is known as the Cheapside Hoard.

The book begins with the 1912 discovery of the hoard during the renovation of a building in the Cheapside area of London. The story itself is like a detective novel, involving shady characters and intrigue. Forsyth has done exhaustive research to bring it to light. The book is illustrated with period documents, drawings, and paintings. The thorough research into both the 1912 discovery and London’s 16th- and 17th-century jewelry trade will delight historians. The beautiful photos of the pieces highlight both the wonderful gems in the hoard and the unique settings created by Elizabethan and Jacobean jewelers. This book is a great resource not only for jewelry historians but also for anyone who has an interest in gems from this period.

The Cheapside Hoard, a treasury of nearly 500 pieces, is the most important collection of jewelry from this era. Forsyth takes the reader on a journey to the days when these jewels were created, exploring the gem trade in London and around the world. Exotic locations from which the gems originated, such as Persia, India, and Colombia, are interwoven in stories of the secretive and sometime dangerous gem trade. Also discussed are the guilds and the leading characters in the industry at the time. The reader is introduced to politics and disputes that took place within the trade through the court and guild documents cited by the author. The craftsmen’s workshops and tools are also described in detail.

Not only are the jewels beautifully illustrated, but the period paintings throughout the book show how they were worn. It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. To learn that a bodkin is a hair ornament is informative, but to see it worn in a 1617 portrait of Anne of Denmark illustrates the point even better. Earrings, rings, necklaces, cameos, and more are seen in period portraits throughout the book. The photos of the gems and jewels show the exquisite craftsmanship of the pieces in this collection. The enamel work, gold work, and imaginative settings of these pieces capture the reader's imagination.  They are of the highest quality from this period.

The most impressive piece in the Cheapside Hoard is the watch encased in a large hexagonal-cut Colombian emerald. The dial, with gold roman numerals, is made of green enamel to match the emerald’s color. The lid of the watch case is also solid emerald and is translucent enough to see the face and tell the time even when it is closed. It is truly a masterpiece of watchmaking and stone-cutting design.

The Cheapside Hoard: London's Lost Jewels is recommended to anyone who enjoys historical jewelry, the history of European trade, or beautiful gems. It is a chance to see precious artifacts with mysterious and intriguing stories, artifacts that give a glimpse into a bygone era. @topic:6


Publish Year: 2019 Title: Plume Agate from Iran Abstract: Figure 1. Iranian plume agate (22.45–82.03 ct) from the Ferdows agate field comes in two main varieties. The material on the left with white, green, and orange inclusions is known as “spring agate.” The stones on the right with red, yellow, and green inclusions are called “autumn agate.” Photo by Diego Sanchez.
Iran has long had a reputation as a source of quality agate, principally derived from extensive volcanic deposits throughout the country. Archaeological research on ancient tombs and finds in early human settlement sites there show that agate, chalcedony, and jasper were used not only for arrowheads and other stony instruments but also for ornamental beads and pendants.

Figure 2. Iranian “spring agate” showcases inclusions that are typically green, white, and orange. Photomicrograph by Nathan Renfro; field of view 3.78 mm.

Figure 3. A display of orangy red, green, and yellow inclusions seen in “autumn agate” from Iran. Photomicrograph by Nathan Renfro; field of view 6.00 mm.
Today, Iranian agates are primarily traded in the city of Mashhad, the largest holy city of Iran and the capital of the northwest province of Khorasan. Several varieties can be found in the market, but plume agates are the most colorful and most sought after. The samples of Iranian agate examined by the authors contained numerous plume structures in a variety of colors including green, yellow, red, white, and orange (figure 1). These plume structures are characterized by elongate billowy inclusions that can resemble clouds of smoke or feathers. The material with predominantly green, white, and orange inclusions is sold as “Bahary” (spring) agate (figure 2). The material that is principally green, yellow, and red is sold as “Paaeasy” (autumn) agate (figure 3).

Figure 4. An agate sample collected at the Aysak area in the Ferdows agate field in the southern region of Iran’s Khorasan Province. Photo by Hamid Mir-Blukey.
The samples examined were acquired in Iran by author MMS from Dr. Hamid Mir-Blukey, who has a private mining claim in the Ferdows agate field in the southern region of Khorasan (figure 4). Mining there is done mainly with primitive hand tools at or near the surface, where veins of agate are exposed as they weather out of their volcanic host rock.
While most material from this region is locally traded, the area could become an important global source for plume agate. @topic:2


Publish Year: 2015 Title: Large Namibian Demantoid Garnet Abstract: Figure 1. This selection of andradite garnet from Namibia’s Green Dragon mine includes an 11.63 ct demantoid round brilliant, an unusually large stone for this source. Photo by Robert Weldon/GIA, courtesy of Green Dragon mine.

              At the GJX show, Stefan Reif (Tsuen Wan, N.T., Hong Kong), showed us an 11.63 ct round brilliant demantoid garnet. It was an exceptional stone of intense vibrant green with a touch of blue. According to Reif, the original rough weighed approximately 46 ct—about 9 grams—making the yield a little over 25%. This is an exceptionally large gem for Namibia’s Green Dragon mine, where the bulk of production is suitable for small calibrated gems.

Namibian demantoid was first discovered in the 1990s (Fall 1997 GNI, pp. 222–223). The current production came from an open-pit, hard rock mine with an annual production between 5,000 and 10,000 carats. According to Reif, the local geology includes marble, pegmatite, and rhyolite. The distribution of demantoid pockets within these rocks is irregular and difficult to predict. Beside the geological challenges, water is scarce, and temperature extremes range from freezing at night to baking desert heat in the daytime.

The Green Dragon mine is renowned for its production of well-proportioned rough. This material is suitable for cutting smaller gems into 2–3 mm sizes in a range of colors from slightly bluish green through “lemongrass” green to greenish yellows and reddish browns. These are used for precision-cut calibrated and melee-sized goods placed as accent stones in high-end jewelry. Most of the cutting is done in Thailand, and the yield is approximately 10% due to the desire for well-proportioned cut gems. Besides precision-cut demantoid and andradite garnet in calibrated sizes, Reif also cuts to higher tolerances for the watch industry, producing 3 × 2 mm tapered baguettes for watch bezels.

Even in these small sizes, well-cut gems display high luster and very distinct fire, making them an excellent visual alternative to diamond. Rough suitable for gems of 6.0 mm (about 1 ct) is much rarer, but material for larger gems does come up once in a while. @topic:1