Publish Year: 2024 Title: Gold Granulation by Zaffiro Abstract: Figure 1. Elizabeth and Jack Gualtieri of Zaffiro at their AGTA booth. Photo by Jennifer Stone-Sundberg.
Granulation, an ancient goldsmithing technique dating back nearly five millennia to Mesopotamia, involves the joining of tiny high-karat gold or other precious metal spheres (“granules”) to a metal base to create a decorative pattern (J. Wolters, “The ancient craft of granulation,” Gold Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1981, pp. 119–129). These patterns can be very complex, and the granulation process is one that requires a high level of precision.
In the AGTA designer showroom, we spoke with Jack and Elizabeth Gualtieri of Zaffiro (Walla Walla, Washington; figure 1), who specialize in 22K gold granulation. They occasionally incorporate platinum as well. They find the granulation technique very rewarding and meditative, as it demands extraordinary focus.
The Gualtieris formed Zaffiro in 1996 in Portland, Oregon, after meeting at the University of Kansas several years earlier. Their focus on granulation was inspired by a seminar at the university and by Elizabeth’s study abroad in Florence. They chose the name “Zaffiro,” which translates to sapphire in Italian. The business was a part-time venture until they could dedicate themselves to it full-time starting in 2003. They have sold their pieces through galleries, retail shows, and private clients. In 2019, they moved to Walla Walla.
Jack and Elizabeth design and construct each piece from start to finish and consult with each other on their individual designs. They alloy their own 22K yellow, white, and rose gold and also create their own gold sheet, wire, and granulation balls. After clipping snippets of wire onto charcoal blocks, the blocks are heated to bead the metal into tiny balls of gold, which are then sorted by size through sieving. (See video below showing the process of making granulation balls).

	Granulation Process

The Gualtieris find inspiration in the stones they purchase, the natural world around them, and architecture. In fact, they sometimes have to negotiate over who will get to use a particular stone, as both artists may simultaneously envision designs for it.

Figure 2. “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky” is a one-of-a-kind pendant featuring a 19.51 ct Australian boulder opal and 11.37 carats of blue moonstone. The boulder opal is accented with 0.63 carats of tsavorite garnet. The granulated yellow gold is 22K, and the gold links between the elements are 18K yellow gold. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Zaffiro.
Jack’s opal, moonstone, and tsavorite garnet pendant design (figure 2) began with the Australian boulder opal. The moonstones inspired him to go larger with the design and add some movement to the piece. He said the use of green tsavorite garnet accent stones around the opal instead of blue stones was a riskier option but ultimately the right choice.

Figure 3. Tanzanite pendant designed and fabricated by Elizabeth Gualtieri containing a 46.15 ct tanzanite crystal in a hand-fabricated setting of granulated 22K gold. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Zaffiro Jewelry.
A heated rough tanzanite crystal inspired the pendant designed and built by Elizabeth in figure 3. This piece represents a signature style the Gualtieris describe as “talismans,” signifying the way in which collectors of the pieces connect with them. This jewelry collection features rough crystals or baroque pearls and represents some of Zaffiro’s most personal pieces. The intricate caps allow for a more expressive use of granulation and accent stones.
The fusion of this ancient technique with contemporary jewelry designs is a testament to the timelessness of granulation and its endless design possibilities. @topic:6


Publish Year: 2023 Title: Sixth Annual Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award Winner Abstract: Sara Guergova’s winning design sketch for the 2022 Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design, featuring gold, black onyx, ruby, diamond, tourmaline, and blue sapphire.
Sara Guergova, a graduate of GIA’s Jewelry Design program in London, received the sixth annual Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design. The 12 finalists and winner were announced at the GIA Alumni Collective’s “Night at the Museum” event held during the AGTA GemFair in Tucson. Guergova, the first student from the London campus to win the award, designed a stunning bracelet featuring swans to represent togetherness and loyalty (see above).
Created in partnership with the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation in 2018, the award recognizes outstanding talent in design among GIA students worldwide. Larry French, chief officer for North America strategies at the foundation, said, “On behalf of the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation, we want to congratulate Ms. Sara Guergova, this year’s winner, plus all the other finalists whose work so enriched this year’s competition. We also want to recognize the talented GIA design instructors who helped guide the students on their way to the final judging in Tucson.”
The 2023 Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design competition is underway and open to students in GIA’s Jewelry Design courses who meet the eligibility requirements. Visit www.gia.edu/buccellati-foundation-award-jewelry-design for more information. @topic:6


Publish Year: 2019 Title: Second Annual Buccellati Award Winner Abstract: Ching-Hui Weng’s design, which won the second annual Buccellati Award, was inspired by the Urocissa caerulea bird, which is representative of her native Taiwan. The finished piece features white and yellow gold, white and yellow diamonds, opal, aquamarine, lapis lazuli, black chalcedony, and coral.
Ching-Hui Weng, a 2018 graduate of GIA’s Jewelry Design program in Taiwan, received the second annual Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design. One of 18 finalists from GIA’s seven schools, her winning design was a bird brooch (see above) featuring white and yellow gold, white and yellow diamonds, opal, aquamarine, lapis lazuli, black chalcedony, and coral. “My inspiration for this piece is the Urocissa caerulea, a blue bird that represents Taiwan,” said Weng. “The gemstones in this piece illustrate the bird’s fierce temperament and flight.”
Weng will travel to Italy to meet Mrs. Buccellati and view part of the foundation’s collection. She will also receive a plaque recognizing her achievement.
“We are pleased to congratulate Ms. Ching-Hui Weng, and look forward to welcoming her to Italy. Together with GIA, we hope to continue to encourage and support the dreams of young jewelry designers throughout the world,” said Larry French, chief officer of North America strategies for the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation. “We know Gianmaria would have been proud to have his name on an event that celebrates, so beautifully, the art of jewelry design, the art that he loved so much.”
Submissions were presented as original, hand-rendered designs. Following several phases of judging, they were finally evaluated by a panel of industry experts. Weng was announced as the winner at the annual GIA alumni event held during the AGTA Gem Fair in Tucson.
The Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation sponsors the award to inspire beginning designers and honor the house’s founder. The 2019 award is now open to GIA Jewelry Design students who meet the eligibility requirements. @topic:6


Publish Year: 2022 Title: Fifth Annual Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award Winner Abstract: The winning design from the 2021 Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design, created by Meghan Simmons, a Carlsbad graduate of the GIA Jewelry Design program.
Meghan Simmons, a graduate of GIA’s Jewelry Design program at the Carlsbad campus, received the fifth annual Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design. The award was presented at the GIA Alumni Collective’s “Night at the Museum” event held during the AGTA GemFair Tucson. One of 11 finalists, Simmons competed against more than 80 students from GIA’s seven campuses. Her winning earring design (see above), inspired by the abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky, emphasizes the use of line and shape with gold, diamonds, and blue sapphires.
Simmons will spend a week in Italy, traveling from Florence to Venice to Milan, and will meet with a representative from the foundation.
Larry French, chief officer of North American strategies for the foundation, said, “This competition was born out of the life and work of Gianmaria Buccellati. We congratulate not only all the students who participated in this year’s design competition but also the talented instructors from GIA who guided the students on this beautiful art.”
The 2022 Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design competition is underway and open to students in GIA’s Jewelry Design courses who meet the eligibility requirements. For more information, visit gia.edu/buccellati-foundation-award-jewelry-design. @topic:6


Publish Year: - Title: Amethyst History and Lore Abstract: This ancient necklace dates to 2000BCE. An inscription on the center stone is a South Arabian script from the 8th century BCE. - From "Gems and Gemstones: Timeless Natural Beauty of the Mineral World" by Lance Grande and Allison Augustyn, 2009, University of Chicago Press.

                      Because of its wine-like color, early Greek legends associated amethyst with Dionysus, the god of wine and pleasure. The Romans called him Bacchus. Other legends reflected beliefs that amethyst kept its wearer clear-headed and quick-witted in battle and in business affairs. Because amethyst was associated with wine, it was believed that wearing amethyst prevented drunkeness.

Fine amethysts have been set in religious jewelry and royal crown jewels for ages. It was once considered equal in value to ruby, emerald, and sapphire. It’s no wonder that fine amethyst adorns the fingers of bishops as well as the coronation regalia of British royalty.

Amethyst is the birthstone for February and one of the emblems of the twelve apostles. @topic:8


Publish Year: 2022 Title: One-of-a-Kind Designs from Zoltan David Abstract: Figure 1. Zoltan David working at the bench in his studio, located in his store in Austin, Texas. Photo by Patti David.
2022 marks the 42nd year in the industry for iconic jewelry designer Zoltan David (figure 1). At the AGTA show, the authors had an opportunity to converse with David about his passion, career, and inspired jewelry creations.
Curiosity and the drive to create led David to his career in metalsmithing. For David, creativity can be furthered by an in-depth understanding of the materials and skillful maneuvers. While modern technology allows for efficient jewelry sketching and design, the lack of knowledge about metals—base or precious—limits the execution of a great design or even the creativity of the design itself. David’s jewelry pieces reflect this philosophy. Each of his creations is a three-dimensional “architecture,” which must be viewed from multiple directions to fully appreciate its beauty.

	Zoltan David Interview

The “Time” pendant (figure 2) is David’s most recent award-winning design. In 2020, this piece won second place in the Business/Day Wear category of the AGTA Spectrum Awards. This pendant features a 19.54 ct fantasy-cut citrine as the center stone, surrounded by eight suspended metal elements forming two circles. The metal elements are made of iridescent blue and purple steel with 24K textured yellow gold inlays, a signature patented technique invented by David. In addition, all these metal elements are suspended and well connected with each other. David wanted to create a sense of rotation with this design: All elements rotate around the center of the universe, trying to find the perfect balance.

Figure 2. Exotic metals such as the iridescent blue and purple steel in the “Time” pendant are Zoltan David’s signature. 24K gold inlay is also a Zoltan David distinction. This piece features a 19.54 ct citrine. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Zoltan David.

	Zoltan David “Time” Pendant

More than four decades of knowledge building and practice have made David’s jewelry pieces the perfect combination of metal art and architectural construction. The “Mirror Mirror” pendant (figure 3) represents the continuous exploration and technique refinement by the master designer. To fully understand this piece, one needs to carry out a jewelry “anatomy.” Starting from the center of the pendant, an elongated oval pink opal is encased by a cut piece of mother-of-pearl, which was carved and inlaid with beaded pure platinum. The mother-of-pearl is surrounded by polished surgical steel and inlaid with 24K engraved and shaped rose gold. All of these elements are nestled in a framework of green gold leaves. From the side view, diamonds mounted in the surgical steel layer are exposed through the space between the green gold leaves (figure 3, right).

Figure 3. Zoltan David’s “Mirror Mirror” pendant combines multiple innovative techniques and materials. The piece features platinum inlays in the mother-of-pearl surrounding the pink opal center stone, highly polished surgical steel as the base frame (left), a leaf wreath made of green gold wrapping around the outer edge of the whole piece, and diamonds mounted in the steel base (right). Photos by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Zoltan David.

	Zoltan David “Mirror Mirror” Pendant

Although renowned for his metalsmithing, David is also drawn to spectacular colored stones. The “Ruby Flight” ring (figure 4), a piece from the Duchess collection, features a 2.45 ct Burmese ruby. The ruby is held by 18K gold prongs between two platinum wings inlaid with 24K gold. The engraved and shaped gold inlays form patterns on both sides of the wings. The interior walls of the wings are set with melee diamonds in between the gold inlays, while the exterior walls are set with melee rubies along the inlaid lines. More than 300 melee rubies also decorate the edges of the wings. The shank of the ring is also one of a kind, made up of three components: a melee diamond stud band sandwiched by the bottom of the two wings.

Figure 4. The “Ruby Flight” ring is representative of Zoltan David’s stone selection and construction of a complex jewelry piece. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Zoltan David.

	Zoltan David “Ruby Flight” Ring

From the start, David has been an eager learner and has never stopped his exploration of the metalsmith profession. He is involved in all aspects of his business: designing, crafting, and trading each one of his creations. As David said, he would like to keep traveling along this journey by continuously surpassing himself. @topic:6


Publish Year: 2022 Title: Spectacular Yellow Sapphire from Sri Lanka Abstract: Figure 1. This 160 ct yellow sapphire rough was found in a deposit outside of Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. Photo courtesy of Kreis Jewellery GmbH.
A return to the Tucson shows meant the opportunity to see the latest findings and designs from the Kreis family—stunning yellow sapphire from Sri Lanka. As G&G has reported in previous Tucson reports from 2014, 2015, and 2017, father Stefan buys the rough, mother Sonja designs the jewelry, and Alexander cuts the gems for the family business (Kreis Jewellery GmbH, Niederworresbach, Germany). Locating the sapphire rough in Sri Lanka required a combination of planning and luck, relying on the family’s previously established network while also acting on rumors of possible sources. Two successful trips in 2020 and 2021 yielded five exceptionally large rough stones from five different deposits in the area surrounding Ratnapura, Sri Lanka (figure 1).
Back in Germany, Alexander cut the five rough stones, and Sonja designed an exquisite bracelet (figures 2 and 3) to complete a suite of jewelry for a private collector. (Her previously designed pieces included a pendant, brooch, ring, necklace, and earrings.) The family aimed to create a harmony between the gems and the materials used, concentrating on gold colors that would not overshadow the sapphires. Alexander opted for a traditional cut for the outer shape but faceted the back to allow for more cross-reflection, mimicking this faceting in the diamonds that appear on the side of the bracelet. The creative combination of faceting and design perfectly captures the sunlight, creating magnificent reflections for the admirer. With an impressive total weight of 168.27 carats (containing 50.33, 32.80, 33.70, 23.98, and 27.46 ct sapphires), the bracelet is truly a breathtaking sight.

Figure 2. The yellow sapphires faceted by Alexander Kreis were set in a bracelet designed by Sonia Kreis. Photo courtesy of Kreis Jewellery GmbH.

Figure 3. The stunning finished bracelet features five yellow sapphires from Sri Lanka with a total weight of 168.27 carats. Photo courtesy of Kreis Jewellery GmbH. @topic:9


Publish Year: 2021 Title: Fourth Annual Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award Abstract: Belle Sin Ting Wong received the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design for her diamond, sapphire, pearl, jadeite, and enamel brooch, inspired by the Siamese fighting fish. Photo by Johnny Leung and Tony Leung.

Belle Sin Ting Wong, a graduate of GIA’s Jewelry Design program in Hong Kong, received the fourth annual Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design. This year, the prestigious award was announced virtually due to the global pandemic shuttering the Tucson gem shows. Sin Ting Wong (see above) was one of nine finalists selected from a competing group of more than 100 students from GIA’s seven campuses. Her winning design was inspired by the Siamese fighting fish and features diamond, sapphire, pearl, jadeite, and enamel set in 18K yellow and white gold.
Sin Ting Wong hopes to raise environmental awareness through this brooch design and advocates the use of sustainable products or “we might be very close to losing these beautiful creatures and quicken the pace of global warming.”
She will travel to Italy, where she will have the opportunity to meet Rosa Maria Bresciani Buccellati, the president of the foundation.
Laurie Bailyn, GIA senior manager of jewelry manufacturing arts, said, “It is incredible that so many students managed to complete their Jewelry Design studies in 2020, despite the challenges of the global pandemic. Many of the beautiful, original designs that students created this year were inspired by themes of connection and community.”

The 2021 Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design competition is currently open to GIA Jewelry Design students who meet the eligibility requirements. For more information on entering the competition, visit gia.edu/buccellati-foundation-award-jewelry-design @topic:6


Publish Year: 2021 Title: Adapting to the Changes with Paula Crevoshay Abstract: Figure 1. This award-winning pendant featuring a 5.30 ct heated orange sapphire from Montana depicts a blooming brown-eyed Susan. Wildflowers are one of Paula Crevoshay’s favorite themes. Courtesy of Paula Crevoshay.

With the cancellation of the 2021 Tucson AGTA show, this author’s annual meeting with jewelry designer Paula Crevoshay went virtual. The conversation started with her 2020 AGTA Spectrum Award–winning piece, followed by how her business adapted to the new norm under the circumstances brought by the pandemic.
Ms. Crevoshay’s “Brown-Eyed Susan” won the Gem DIVA Award for classical wear (figure 1). This bespoke 18K yellow gold pendant features a 5.30 ct orange Montana sapphire from the Rock Creek deposit, operated by Potentate Mining. Although this stone is heated, the color saturation and size still make it a significant sapphire from this location, according to the mine owner. The center stone is accented with yellow and orange sapphires (8.69 carats total) in addition to black and cognac diamonds (1.98 carats total).
While Ms. Crevoshay has always blended the nature of the stones with her art, she also tells stories through her jewelry creations. This piece is no exception. It continues the story from her first-ever flower themed piece, inspired by the bitterroot wildflower, which thrives on the hillsides of the Rock Creek sapphire mine. By early June, the slopes are covered by bitterroot and brown-eyed Susans. Upon seeing this orange sapphire, she immediately thought to place it at the center of a brown-eyed Susan pendant. Creating these beautiful floral jewelry pieces is never easy because of the time it takes to find so many stones in specific colors. This is also why she has never reproduced any of her jewelry, unless as a replacement for a lost piece.
As a business owner, Ms. Crevoshay also felt the impact of the pandemic. With careful planning and quick adaptation, she was able to keep her employees safe so that they could continue to work. In fact, 2020 was a good year financially for her company due to the relationships built with the stone supply chain over the past several decades and the customer base she has carefully maintained. To help manufacturers downstream survive, she also intentionally diverted her work to different jewelry-making studios, most of them located in Asia.
Being able to talk face-to-face with customers and provide fashion suggestions even beyond jewelry wear is an asset; connecting with them virtually during the pandemic is also critical. Ms. Crevoshay hosts regular online gatherings with her clients, which have been quite successful in keeping people in the loop. During the 2020 holiday season, she created a digital flipbook for customers to explore at their convenience (see figure 2).

Figure 2. Paula Crevoshay’s digital flipbook for the 2020 holiday season featured more than 50 jewelry creations. Courtesy of Paula Crevoshay.
Ms. Crevoshay advises that staying connected at all times and adapting to unexpected circumstances are key for both industry veterans and newcomers. @topic:6


Publish Year: 2018 Title: Color Origin of Phenakites from the Ural Emerald Mines Abstract: Figure 1. Phenakite with beryl in mica (left) and yellow phenakite (right). Photos by Mikhail Popov; fields of view 5 cm.
Phenakite (Be2SiO4) was first discovered at Russia’s Ural emerald mines, and was chemically identified in 1833. The mineral is widely distributed in beryllium deposits, but crystals of gem quality or large size are rare. At the Ural mines, however, there are large transparent crystals that can be used in jewelry. Jewelry-grade phenakite is generally colorless or yellowish brown (figure 1; see M.P. Popov et al., “Features of phenakite mineralization from the Ural emerald mines,” Bulletin of the Ural Branch of the RMS, No. 13, 2016, pp. 105–111). The main mineral inclusions are chlorite, talc, phlogopite, actinolite, and ilmenite; fluid inclusions with a gas-liquid composition also occur.

The color origin of phenakite using optical absorption spectroscopy has not been studied in detail. Many authors agree that the coloration is associated with electron-hole centers (see A.S. Marfunin, Spectroscopy, Luminescence and Radiation Centers in Minerals, 1975, Nedra, Moscow). This is indicated by the disappearance of color when phenakite is exposed to either ultraviolet radiation or high temperatures. According to one theory of absorption, this is related to the oxygen vacancies that have captured electrons (again, see Marfunin, 1975). Other researchers believe that the absorption features are associated with bridging electronic centers such as Al-O-Al, which are formed by isomorphous replacement of silicon by aluminum ions in the crystal lattice, in amounts up to 0.5% (see A.N. Platonov, Nature of Coloring of Minerals, 1976, Naukova Dumka, Kiev).

Figure 2. Absorption spectra of colorless phenakites (blue trace) and yellow-brown phenakites (black trace).
To determine the color origin of yellow-brown phenakites, we obtained optical absorption spectra of colorless and yellow-brown phenakite from the Mariinsky deposit. These spectra were collected in the 185–700 nm wavelength range, at room temperature, on a specialized Shimadzu UV-3600 spectrophotometer. A broad absorption band was noted in the 225–325 nm range of the yellow-brown phenakite spectrum, with a maximum at 268 nm. Absorption in the ultraviolet range of the optical spectrum was not detected in transparent colorless phenakites (figure 2).

Figure 3. Phosphorus ions replace silicon ions in a tetrahedral structure to form a [PO4]4– complex in yellow-brown phenakites. This complex is paramagnetic and gives several signals in the range of 320–340 mT. Splitting of the hyperfine structure of the signal occurs; lines 1, 2, and 3 appear and indicate the existence of the [PO4]4– radical. When the crystal rotates along its c-axis, it changes the intensity of these lines.
To study electron-hole centers and to reveal color centers in phenakite, crystals were examined using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). EPR is an informative method for studying dissymmetry of crystals, the role of the symmetry elements of the spatial group, and the distribution of impurity ions and point defects in the bulk of the crystal. Dissymmetry of crystals, as a result of the uneven distribution of point defects in the process of crystal growth, is a widespread phenomenon (see G.R. Bulka et al., “Dissymmetrization of crystals: Theory and experiment,” Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, Vol. 6, 1980, pp. 283–293; R.A. Khasanov et al., “Derivation of the conditions for equivalent positions in crystals: The dissymmetrization of barite by electron spin resonance,” Crystallography Reports, Vol. 57, No. 5, 2012, pp. 751–757; J.M. Hughes et al., “Dissymmetrization in tourmaline: the atomic arrangement of sectorally zoned triclinic Ni-bearing dravite,” The Canadian Mineralogist, Vol. 49, 2011, pp. 29–40). We used an Adani CMS8400 spectrometer (frequency ν=9, 4 GHz) at room temperature to perform EPR on our samples. During an experiment on the EPR spectra of the impurity radical [PO4]4– phenakite of deposits in Volynskii (see A.I. Novozhilov et al., “Electron paramagnetic resonance in irradiated phenakite Be2SiO4,” Journal of Structural Chemistry, Vol. 11, 1970, pp. 393–396), we found a difference in intensity of the lines of three magnetically nonequivalent centers for the impurity radical. The paramagnetic center [PO4]4– was only detected in the yellow-brown crystals (figure 3), and active centers were absent in colorless specimens. From this we concluded that the origin of the yellow-brown color of phenakite is associated with a paramagnetic complex [PO4]4– that produces absorption bands in the ultraviolet region, which in turn leads to the formation of this color in the mineral.

These results can be used in gemological identification of phenakites from the Ural emerald mines.

This study was performed in the context of the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University, “Paleogeodynamics and evolution of structural-material complexes in the formation of the continental-type crust ...,” theme no. 0393-2016-0019. @topic:3


Publish Year: - Title: 3-D Printing: GIA Equips Students for a ‘Technology Revolution’ Abstract: Michelle Loon, a recent graduate of GIA’s Jewelry Design Technology program, holds the build platform containing the 3-D-printed resin prototypes of her jewelry design. Photo by Kevin Schumacher

                      Robert Downey Jr. presents an Iron Man-inspired, prosthetic 3-D-printed arm to a young fan. The “Pancake Bot” prints intricate, customized breakfast treats directly onto a griddle. Chinese construction company WinSun creates a five-story apartment building in Shanghai with a 500-foot long 3-D printer.

The incredible potential of 3-D printing is all over the news and our social media feeds. The applications are mind-boggling and their benefits game-changing for industries ranging from medicine to food to architecture – and to jewelry design and manufacturing, where time, precision and cost-effectiveness are highly valued.

These 3-D printing applications are part of a larger movement that has already begun to change the status quo, says Steve Workman, an instructor who uses the printers in GIA’s Jewelry Design and Technology (JDT) program.

		It’s [3D printing] the way the industry is going and it’s what every company wants, from huge manufacturers to the mom-and-pop stores.

		Kimberly Overlin, GIA’s dean of students

“Something remarkable happened to jewelry design and manufacturing in the past few years,” he says. “It underwent a technology revolution powered by Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) hardware, such as 3-D printers.”

3-D Printing: What is It, Exactly?

As much as 3-D printing has made headlines, many people still don’t understand what it is or how it works. It can be helpful to consider the broader context of 3-D printing through the terms subtractive and additive manufacturing.

Imagine a Renaissance artist gazing at a huge slab or marble, considering how he might create art out of the rough stone. That’s how Mike Magee, the manager of GIA’s Jewelry Manufacturing Arts (JMA) program, likes to explain subtractive manufacturing.

“If you think of it as starting with a big block of something and whittling away until what you want is revealed – like Michelangelo looking at that marble and seeing what is living inside of it – that’s subtractive manufacturing,” he says.

Additive manufacturing, including 3-D printing, starts with nothing at all: It involves creating a piece of jewelry, a pancake, a prosthetic arm or an apartment building from the ground up, one tiny layer at a time.

“These layers are down to 30 microns thick, typically,” Magee says. “That’s 3/100ths of a millimeter, for perspective.”

The 3-D printers, a type of CAM hardware, use additive technology to print objects like chains or mesh directly into 18K gold.

“That’s still pretty rare in our industry, though,” Magee says. “In other industries it’s more developed, but this is still very new to the jewelry world. Most of the time with 3-D printing, we’re creating a model – an object that’s going to be cast – like a ring or larger object that doesn’t have quite so many moving parts, and we’re creating it in a material that works reasonably like wax when it comes to the casting process.”

GIA Instructor Steve Workman assists Jewelry Design Technology students in supporting their CAD models as they prepare them for building on the 3-D printer. Photo by Kevin Schumacher
More Efficiency and Accuracy, Less Waste

There’s no doubt that Michelangelo’s famous David is an artistic masterpiece, but the artist also wasted a lot of costly Tuscan marble every time he took a chisel to the block.

That’s one of the greatest benefits of utilizing 3-D printing or any additive technologies - there’s less material waste. CAD technologies already make it possible to more quickly create proofs of concept, precise mirror images, modifications and customizations. The new 3-D printers only enhance that.

“In the past, manufacturers used rubber molds to make duplicates of the original master model,” Workman says. “If variations on that model were needed, the model maker would have to create a whole new model. With CAD software, changes can be made with clicks of a mouse, and the new model can be printed on demand on a CAM machine such as a 3-D printer. These printers enable manufacturers to print resin prototypes of the CAD model that can be easily cast.”

Michelle Loon removes the build platform from the 3-D printer. Photo by Kevin Schumacher
Kimberly Overlin, GIA’s dean of students and an alumna of the Institute’s graduate gemology and graduate jeweler programs, notes that it makes the consumer trend of wanting to “customize everything” possible.

“What was once potentially cost-prohibitive is now affordable and easy for us to do,” she says.

Magee adds that a “much more effective economy of scale” is another significant benefit. Since a 3-D printer typically allows printing more than one object at time, a manufacturer could potentially print 16 rings in six to eight hours instead of one in the same time period.

As a form of additive manufacturing, 3-D printing also “has the advantage of being able to create much more complicated geometry than you get with subtractive manufacturing,” he says.

“You can create hollow spots much more easily. On most 3-D printers, you are not limited by the geometry of the piece itself - there are no tools to get into a hollow spot, there is no drill you have to get into a weird angle.”

Jewelry Design technology students compare the visual communications of their designs to the 3-D-printed and cast prototypes. Photo by Kevin Schumacher
Equipping Students with In-Demand Skills

GIA utilizes 3-D printing in its 26-week JDT program, offered in Carlsbad and, in 2016, at the Institute’s New York campus. The program, which teaches design, engineering and jewelry manufacturing concepts, gives students hands-on experience in the creation, rendering and prototyping of designs with CAD software and CAM hardware, including 3-D printers.

Instructors, including Workman, Shaun Peterson, Darla Alvarez, Doug Hall and Kelly Borrello begin with the basics.

“We start off with a very simple ring,” Magee says. “Students create very simple geometry and supports for that, and gradually create more and more complex geometry and have to support it and print those pieces, as well. Eventually, they’re designing their own pieces, and by the end of the program they’ve got the skills to look at any object and figure out how they’re going to get it to successfully print and cast.”

Laurie Bailyn, GIA’s manager of JMA research, development and production, says new markets are opening up all the time for these technologies.

“Some large corporations, like Hewlett-Packard and Autodesk, that weren’t previously in this market are expressing interest in developing hardware or software for 3-D printing in jewelry,” she says.

Overlin concurs.

“CAD/CAM technologies like 3-D printing have been moving into jewelry for the past several years,” she says. “It’s the way the industry is going and it’s what every company wants, from huge manufacturers to the mom-and-pop stores. There is a much greater need for qualified people who can utilize them – the more graduates know and the more marketable they are, the better.”

Magee expects that GIA graduates will be well-equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities of the ever-evolving design and manufacturing market.

“The jewelry design technology class is going to give you a front-row seat to the tremendous change that’s going on in our industry,” he says. “It’s going to give you experience with the latest 3-D printers, the latest in technology – and how that is changing the entire marketplace.” @topic:6


Publish Year: - Title: Sapphire Quality Factors Abstract: This sapphire from Kashmir has an intense velvety blue color. – Photo: Robert Weldon/GIA.

Sapphire is one of the Big three of jewelry colored gemstones—the other two are ruby and emerald. A durable stone that’s designated as a birthstone for September, it captures jewelry buyers with its practicality and aura of romance.

Corundum is the mineral species that includes both sapphire and ruby as varieties. Red corundum is known as ruby and all other colored corundum (including colorless, or white sapphire as it is known in the trade) is sapphire, although blue is the most well-known.
Colors of Sapphire
Sapphire is generally known as a blue gemstone but surprisingly it comes in a wide range of colors and quality variations. In general, the more intense and uniform the color is, the more valuable the stone.

Sapphires that are not blue are known as fancy sapphires, and may be any color—except red (which is a ruby). The fancy sapphire colors are: pink, orange, yellow, green, purple, and violet. There truly is a different color of sapphire to suit anyone’s taste!
Blue Sapphires
Color has the greatest influence on a sapphire’s value, and preferred sapphires have strong to vivid color saturation. The most valued blue sapphires are velvety blue to violetish blue, in medium to medium-dark tones. Sapphires with these qualities command the highest prices per carat. Less valuable blue sapphires might also be grayish, too light, or too dark.

Madagascar is a relative newcomer as a major sapphire source, but its stones can have an intense blue color that rivals the finest from more traditional sources. - Copyright: GIA & Tino Hammid
What is a Padparadscha Sapphire?

An extremely rare and collectible variety that is a mix of pink and orange is known in the trade as padparadscha. Such gems typically have a high value—much higher than many other types of fancy sapphires. Their color can be hard to describe. Some people say padparadscha sapphire colors should be called salmon or sunset. But the word padparadscha itself derives from the Sanskrit language and refers to the rich color of a lotus blossom.

Those who deal in these gemstones usually agree that padparadscha sapphires should range from light to medium pinkish orange to orange-pink.

Pink and Purple Sapphires

Pink sapphires range from light red (pink) to light purple with weak to intense color saturation which fall out of the color ranges for ruby or purple sapphire. Purple sapphires always have purple as the dominant color. They range from medium to dark reddish purple to violetish purple with weak to vivid color saturation.The major fancy sapphire color categories are padparadscha, pink and purple, orange and yellow, green, and colorless and black. Each category has its own color range, causes of color, and market.

Some pink sapphires have intensely saturated color. -- Photo: Lydia Dyer, gem courtesy of John Dyer & Co.
Yellow to Orange Sapphires

Yellow sapphire is also available in a variety color saturations from yellow to orangy yellow and in light to dark tones, while orange sapphires have deep golden, to mandarin, and deep orange colors.

Yellow sapphires may be affected by other colors within the same gem and can range from light to dark greenish yellow to orangy yellow with weak to intense color saturation. The finest yellow sapphire is yellow to orangy yellow with vivid saturation.

Orange sapphires range from yellowish orange to reddish orange. The finest orange sapphires are strong, pure orange to red-orange with medium tone and vivid saturation.

These sapphires range from yellow to a deep yellow-orange color called golden to highly saturated reddish orange. - Copyright: GIA & Tino Hammid. Courtesy: Varujan Arslanyan
Green Sapphires

Commercial-grade sapphires may contain a less desirable greenish blue color or strong greenish blue that is visible as you view the gem. Uniformly green sapphires that are saturated in color are actually rare and many collectors prize them. In green sapphires, a mix of yellow and blue sapphire accounts for the color a person sees.

Color Change Sapphires

Color-change sapphires are corundum’s chameleons—stones that change color under different lighting. Under daylight equivalent (fluorescent or LED daylight-balanced) light, the typical color-change sapphire’s basic color ranges from blue to violet. Under incandescent light, it ranges from violetish purple to strongly reddish purple. Some rare color-change sapphires change from green in daylight to reddish brown in incandescent light.

When gem experts judge color-change sapphires, they describe the color change as weak, moderate, or strong. The strength of the stone’s color change is the most important quality factor affecting its value.

The color of star corundum has a great effect on its value, though it is understood that miniscule inclusions are the cause of the asterism. They can affect transparency and color, and only very rare, exceptional gems exhibit transparency, depth of color and asterism. As such, the best star corundum has a crisp, distinct star against strongly saturated color. If the color is too light, it doesn’t provide enough contrast for the star’s rays, and the star will be less visible.

Star corundum can be red, pink, blue, black, gray, brown, purple, or yellow—practically every color under the sun. The term “star sapphire” encompasses all colors of star corundum except red, which is called star ruby.

Naturally, some colors of star corundum are valued more highly than others. In general, the most prized colors are the same as the colors most valued in non-phenomenal corundum: red and blue.

Trade terms based on sources can represent certain colors and qualities that are associated with a stone’s source, generally they refer to the finest stones from that source. But a single source never consistently yields gems that are all the same color and quality. In fact, the descriptive term might represent only a small percentage of its production.
New sources can produce material that is very similar to gems from classical sources or with a slightly different, but just as beautiful, appearance.

Sapphire Clarity
Blue sapphires typically have some inclusions, but they generally have better clarity than rubies. Blue sapphires with extremely high clarity are rare, and very valuable.

Several types of inclusions are found in sapphires. Among these are long thin mineral inclusions called needles. Fine needles are called silk when they occur as the mineral rutile in intersecting groups. Other clarity characteristics in sapphire are included mineral crystals, partially healed breaks that look like fingerprints, color zoning, and color banding.

These long, thin, intersecting inclusions of the mineral rutile are called silk. This arrangement can produce the star effect in corundum.

Generally, inclusions make a stone less valuable. Price can drop substantially if the inclusions threaten the stone’s durability. Even so, inclusions can actually increase the value of some sapphires. Many of the most valuable Kashmir sapphires contain tiny inclusions that give them a velvety appearance. They scatter light, causing the coveted visual effect without negatively affecting the gem’s transparency.
Star Sapphire

Star sapphires and star rubies belong to the phenomenal corundum category. The star effect is called asterism. It’s caused by reflections from tiny, needle-like inclusions that are oriented in several specific directions. Stars are usually made up of 2, 3, or 6 intersecting bands, resulting in 4, 6, or (rarely) 12 rays.

Tiny inclusions create magnificent reflections of light known as the star effect. - © GIA & Tino Hammid, courtesy Benjamin Zucker

Star sapphires usually have stars have 6 rays, and 12-rayed stars are quite rare. Two different sets of inclusions—one of rutile and one of hematite—oriented in slightly different directions can cause a 12-rayed star.

Hematite inclusions cause asterism in black star sapphires. The sapphire’s color is actually yellow, green, or blue, but the inclusions make it appear dark brown or black.

The finest star is distinct, centered on the top of the stone, and visible from a reasonable distance, about arm’s length. The star’s quality should be the same when viewed from all directions.

Ideally, the rays should be uniform in strength, reach from girdle to girdle on the cabochon, and intersect at the top center of the stone. The best stars are straight, not fuzzy, wavy, or broken. The reflective stars should contrast strongly against the gemstone’s bodycolor. The star should also have elegant “movement.” This means that, as you rock the stone, the star should appear to move smoothly across the surface.

The best and most expensive star corundum is semi-transparent, with just enough silk to create a well-defined star. Too much silk can harm transparency and also lead to poor color, lowering the value of the stone considerably.
Sapphire Cut

Oval shapes with triangular and kite-shaped facets on the gem's crown (top portion) and parallel rectangular facets on the gem's pavilion (bottom portion) are very common for corundum of all colors. Photo: Robert Weldon/GIA. Courtesy: Lewis Allen
The shape of a rough sapphire crystal influences the finished stone’s shape and size. Rough sapphire’s most common crystal form is a barrel- or spindle-shaped hexagonal pyramid. To achieve the best overall color, maintain the best proportions, and retain the most weight possible, cutters focus on factors like color zoning, pleochroism, and the lightness or darkness of a crystal to best determine how to orient the gem during cutting.

These sapphires are miniature works of art that have been expertly cut into custom designs. – Photo: Robert Weldon/GIA. Courtesy: Mark Gronlund, Umatilla, Florida
Color zoning—areas of different colors in a stone—is a common sapphire characteristic. Blue sapphire often has angular zones of blue and lighter blue. To accommodate color zoning in some sapphires, cutters orient the concentrated color in a location that offers the best visible color in the cut stone.

In Sri Lankan sapphires, the color is often concentrated close to the surface of the crystal. If a cutter can orient the culet within the concentrated area of color, the stone will appear entirely blue in the face-up position.

Pleochroism refers to different bodycolors in different crystal viewing directions. Blue sapphires often have greenish blue and violetish blue pleochroism. It’s most desirable to orient the cut so the stone shows the violetish blue color when it is set in jewelry.

Besides coming in all colors, corundum also comes in all cutting styles. – Photo: Jeff Scovil. Courtesy: Ballerina Gems
Star Sapphire Cut
Star corundum must be cut as a cabochon to display asterism. A finished stone’s attractiveness depends on the star’s orientation and the cabochon’s symmetry, proportions, and finish.

The cabochon must have an appealing appearance, with the star properly centered when the gem rests on its base. The stone’s outline should be symmetrical.

For most stones, the dome should be fairly high—about two-thirds of the stone’s width—to focus the star sharply. If it’s too high, the phenomenon loses its graceful motion when the stone is tilted. Excessive height also makes the stone difficult to mount.

If the dome is cut too shallow, the star will be visible only from directly above. Black star sapphires, however, are prone to parallel breaks, so they’re usually cut very flat to reduce the risk of damage.

A stone should not have excess weight below the girdle that doesn’t contribute to the optical effect or reinforce color.
Sapphire Carat Weight
Blue sapphires can range in size anywhere from a few points to hundreds of carats, and large blue sapphires are more readily available than large rubies. However, most commercial-quality blue sapphires weigh less than 5.00 carats.

Fine-quality blue sapphires in larger sizes are rare, but they’re still more available than ruby. The incredible blue sapphire in the center of this ring weighs 18.79 carats. - Vagabonde Bleue Ring © 2011 Fabergé Ltd
Large commercial-quality blue sapphires are rare, but more available than large fine-quality ones. As a result, size makes more of a difference in the price of fine-quality sapphire.

Sapphires are available in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Photo: Robert Weldon/GIA, Dr. Eduard J. Gübelin Collection. @topic:2


Publish Year: 2014 Title: Red Beryl – Tucson 2014 Abstract: Figure 1. This matched suite contains 27.35 carats of faceted oval red beryls. Photo by Eric Welch; courtesy of Equatorian Imports.

              At the AGTA show, Ray Zajicek (Equatorian Imports Inc., Dallas) displayed matched red beryls—originally mined from Utah’s Wah Wah Mountains—as suites of jewelry and in loose stone form. According to Zajicek, these gems represent newly marketed inventory cut by Colombian cutters in Gibraltar between 1998 and 2000. Each suite contained 25–30 carats of matched red beryls as emerald, marquise, or oval cuts (figure 1).

Zajicek, who began working with red beryl in the 1980s, said the average faceted gem is approximately 0.08 ct. A 0.50 ct sample would be large, and anything above a carat would be exceptionally rare. This made the matched suites at his booth unique and potentially irreplaceable. Like emerald, red beryl has a range of hues and tones, as well as a typically uneven color distribution that makes it a challenge to match.

Zajicek said there is more red beryl in the ground, but the difficulty of mining makes future production cost-prohibitive. Previous operations had to move more than a ton of hard rock to recover a carat of rough. A carat-sized rough stone is not necessarily cuttable; yields are low, averaging between 8% and 15%.

	Figure 2. Here, red beryls are mounted with benitoite from California in a pendant (left), and with 28.59 carats of unheated Yogo sapphire from Montana in a spectacular necklace (right). Photos by Eric Welch (left) and Robert Weldon (right); courtesy of Equatorian Imports.
Zajicek described red beryl as a beautiful, uniquely American product that is still relatively unknown. Intriguing combinations included a pendant comprised of red beryl mounted with benitoite (figure 2, left), and a red, white, and blue necklace featuring red beryl, Montana blue sapphires, and colorless diamond (figure 2, right).

If there were more viable red beryl mining locations in Utah, the increased production would boost demand and allow greater promotion. As it stands, few would spend money to promote a gem they probably would not be able to obtain in any quantity. @topic:3


Publish Year: 2018 Title: Designs from Erica Courtney Abstract: Figure 1. Left: Erica Courtney’s Victoria pendant showcases a 114.56 ct colorless topaz with a 2.76 ct Mahenge spinel set above it, surrounded by 86 Mahenge spinels, 20 rubellites, 10 Mandarin garnets, and 558 diamonds. Right: The Autumn pendant contains a 47.16 ct Malaya zircon accented with 3.91 carats of Tanzanian peach spinel, 7.00 carats of peach topaz, 1.31 carats of yellow sapphire, and 1.68 carats of diamond. Photos by Kevin Schumacher.
Erica Courtney has been adorning Hollywood stars for the red carpet for decades. Her eye for color and bringing out a stone’s beauty are immediately apparent. In talking to her at the AGTA show, we discovered that she is the only jeweler in her family. She was introduced to jewelry making at the age of 11 through a Catholic Youth Organization class. This multiple AGTA Spectrum Award winner has always done things her own way, not following trends when choosing stones or creating designs. In fact, she confided that she does not plan what stones she will purchase, but lets the gems pick her. She likened the jewelry design process to a movie going through her head—designs start forming and keep changing until she settles on the final one.

A Closer Look at Erica CourtneyErica Courtney discusses her entry into the jewelry business and her design philosophy, and displays several notable pieces.
Courtney’s work pulls the viewer in to study meticulous details—the more you look, the more you see. Her attention to detail does not stop at the outward-facing front of her pieces. You need to turn the pieces around in all directions to appreciate the designs that spill over the edges and cover the sides and backs of her work. Returning to her point about the gems picking her, she stated that once a gem seduces you, “if you buy for love, you can’t make a mistake.” This is evident in the centerpiece stones in four of her creations. The Victoria pendant (figure 1, left) contains a 114.56 ct colorless topaz accented with a Tanzanian spinel from Mahenge and surrounded by more spinel plus rubellite, Mandarin garnets, and diamonds in an intricate gallery work. In the Autumn pendant (figure 1, right), a 47.16 ct Malaya zircon is surrounded by Tanzanian peach spinel, topaz, yellow sapphire, and diamonds. The Etoile ring’s green African Paraíba-type tourmaline is flanked by blue Brazilian Paraíba tourmalines and diamonds (figure 2, left), while the Imperial earrings (figure 2, right) contain perfectly color-matched Mandarin garnets flanked by pink spinel and diamonds. She confided that the electric orange and pink in the Imperial earrings was her favorite color combination of these four pieces.

Figure 2. Left: Courtney’s Etoile ring has a 7.71 ct Paraíba-type tourmaline accented with 12 Paraíba tourmalines and 370 diamonds, all set in 18K yellow gold. Right: The Imperial earrings feature a pair of Mandarin garnets (21.25 total carat weight) accented with 1.87 carats of pink spinel and 0.71 carats of diamond in 18K yellow gold. Photos by Kevin Schumacher.
Courtney’s desire to understand the entire gem cycle from unmined rough to polished stones set in finished jewelry has taken her backpacking across far-flung locations. She described the experience as giving her an appreciation of how difficult it is to find real gems. She also took notice of the passion of the miners, each wanting to be “the one to have found it.” @topic:6


Publish Year: 2019 Title: Tagua Nut as a Sustainable Botanical Alternative for Ivory Abstract: Figure 1. These teardrop earrings show the kayonan, or tree of life, carved into the tagua nut and the lotus flower in sawo wood. Two brilliant-cut diamonds totaling 0.11 carats are at the center of the earrings. The gold work shows designs usually seen on Balinese temples. Photo by Russell Starr, courtesy of Alexandra Mor.

Award-winning haute couture jewelry designer Alexandra Mor considers sustainability a way of life. When designing her one-of-a-kind pieces, she is mindful of her client’s lifestyle and interests while also thinking of the environment and of the culture and well-being of the artisans who bring each object to completion. It is in this spirit that she created the Tagua Collection, which uses the endosperm of the ivory palm tree—also known as the tagua nut or tagua seed—as an elephant ivory substitute. Now she is expanding into 3D printing using tagua nut specimens.
Mor, who believes that “designers are the new activists,” is not new to ethical or sustainable jewelry design. In 2013, she created a ring (later modeled by actress Mila Kunis) using ethically sourced emeralds, the same year she won the Fashion Group International Rising Star Award. But Mor wished to create a more meaningful, spiritual, and eco-conscious practice of her own. Concerned about the plight of elephants and the continued use of ivory in jewelry, she was inspired to use the tagua nut as a botanical alternative. Mor, who was influenced by Balinese philosophy, chose to ethically source the tagua nuts from Ecuador and Colombia and create the collection in Bali. She worked for 10 months with carvers and master goldsmiths to create the pieces, which are rich in local cultural motifs and Buddhist symbolism. Balinese designs found in this collection include the vines, leaves, and tendrils seen in the gold work of the tagua seed, wood, and diamond earrings (figure 1); these are often seen on the island’s temples. The kayonan, or tree of life, motif is carved into the tagua nut sections of the earrings in figure 2.

Figure 2. These hoop earrings measure 57 × 42 mm, and once again show the kayonan motif carved into the tagua seed surface. The areng ebony wood rim shows off the tagua’s color. The earrings are set on 22K gold. Photo by Russell Starr, courtesy of Alexandra Mor.
The Tagua Collection has been well received among collectors and in the trade. The introduction of a new and sustainable fine jewelry material, at a time when clients seek out such goods, has been an inspiration to others, and Mor was named Town & Country’s Fine Jewelry Innovator of the Year for 2018. Since 2016 she has directed Vogue Italia’s The Protagonist at Christie’s New York, a competition in which 14 designers use sustainable materials such as reclaimed gold and wood, vegetable leather, and responsibly mined gemstones alongside the tagua nut. Mor’s work has also drawn attention outside the industry, allowing opportunities to expand her work. At the 2018 Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) meeting in Mumbai, she met Kamlesh Parekh of Imaginarium, India’s largest 3D printing company. After touring their facilities with Parekh, Mor believed she had found a way to overcome the small size of the tagua seed, a major limitation. She gave Parekh three seeds to test, and Imaginarium has produced the first 3D-printed tagua nut. Such production will allow for larger, more plentiful tagua pieces in the future.
Mor’s next collections will continue to use tagua seeds, as well as sustainably sourced precious metals and conflict-free diamonds, and she will continue to collaborate with Colombia’s Muzo mine due to their social and environmental commitment (figure 3). She supports Space for Giants, a conservation organization dedicated to protecting elephant habitats. She has also launched the Tagua Foundation, which is dedicated to inspiring young designers and leaders, as well as students of all ages, to create sustainable jewelry. Mor explained, “As designers, we have a responsibility to what materials we are using, and as collectors of fine jewelry, we have a voice and can make a difference in how we purchase. I have decided to use my voice to lead and inspire the fine jewelry industry to take the necessary steps to care for our planet and its people through grace and education. It doesn’t matter what we choose to do, what matters is that what we choose will make a difference.”

Figure 3. This one-of-a-kind ring is part of a collaboration between Mor and Colombia’s Muzo emerald mine. The ethically sourced emerald beads, weighing a total of 18.15 carats, are set with a 16.80 ct wild tagua seed bead. The 1.15 carats of diamond melee are in platinum set on 18K yellow gold. Photo by Russell Starr, courtesy of Alexandra Mor. @topic:6


Publish Year: - Title: Translating Passion into Success: What “Job Success in Today’s Market” is All About Abstract: The opening panel, "Job Success in Today's Market," at GIA's Carlsbad Jewelry Career Fair held on Oct. 11. From left, moderator Jennifer Wilson, senior vice president and general counsel for GIA; Douglas Hucker, CEO of the American Gem Trade Association; Meghan Simmons, director of operations for Omi Privé; Cathy Calhoun, owner of Calhoun Jewelers and Mitchell Binder, president of King Baby. Video Duration: 1:18:36
“It’s not like you can go out and buy passion. You’ve got to build passion. You’ve got to learn passion,” said Douglas Hucker, CEO of the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA), a panelist at the opening of the 2019 GIA Carlsbad Jewelry Career Fair.
Career Fair, which is in its 28th year, featured 10 speakers, 25 career coaches and 42 jewelry company recruiters ‒ including Tiffany & Co. and Signet Jewelers ‒ and was attended by more than 600 students, visitors and job-seekers. The opening panel, “Job Success in Today’s Market,” featured four industry leaders who spoke about how their passion led them to where they are today.
According to Hucker, passion is acquired through education, perseverance and experience ‒ and is strengthened through networks built at industry organizations such as GIA. “You’ve got to find the things that attract you and be with them, make them a part of your lives,” he said.
For Meghan Simmons, director of operations at Omi Gems and Omi Privé, passion means communicating the provenance of gems and seeing “your own legacy [begin] to imbibe itself into those gems and jewelry.”
For Cathy Calhoun, owner of Calhoun Jewelers, a retail jewelry chain, passion means communicating the beauty and value of jewelry to your clients and to “have fun” while doing it.
To Mitchell Binder, president of the rock ’n’ roll jewelry brand, King Baby, and “go-to” jeweler for the likes of Johnny Depp, Bruce Springsteen, Slash and Aerosmith, passion means changing the world through jewelry, from the United States to Japan and China.
Each speaker shared their backstory and offered tips and advice to attendees. This overview of the panel includes time stamps that will take you to each speaker’s spot in the video.

Mitchell Binder, president of King Baby, coaches a prospective job seeker during Career Fair. Photo by Emily Lane
Douglas Hucker (Begins at 13:37)
Hucker launched a career in colored gemstones because he loved color.
With diamonds, he says, you have to explain the 4Cs, but “when you show your customers five rubies, you don’t have to tell them which one is the best one … It just jumps out at you. It attracts you.”
He also spoke about marketing to today’s generation and finding a mentor.
Meghan Simmons (Begins at 26:07)
Meghan Simmons found her path while helping out with the Elizabeth Taylor jewelry auction at Christie’s. It made her realize that, “your own legacy begins to imbibe itself into those gems and jewelry.”
That experience inspired her to ask: “What would it take to become a jewelry specialist?” The consensus was to get her Graduate Gemologist® diploma at GIA.
She connected with an employee from Omi at the 2015 GIA Career Fair while she was still a GG student.
“I introduced myself and he promised to keep me in mind. A few weeks, after I graduated, I got a call from Adam Graham. They were going to be operating two booths in Las Vegas and they needed help. I knew it would be an invaluable learning experience,” she said.
Simmons was hired by Omi right after.

A prospective job seeker meets a recruiter at GIA’s 2019 Jewelry Career Fair in Carlsbad. Photo by Emily Lane
Cathy Calhoun (Begins at 33:07)
The world of gemstones and jewelry opened up for Calhoun in a surprising way—her jeweler boyfriend had a heart attack on Thanksgiving, the start of the holiday selling season.
“He’s in the hospital and he says to me ‒ you’re going to have to go run my jewelry store,” she said.
Calhoun, not understanding why diamonds of the same carat weight had different prices, started labeling and selling same-sized diamonds all at the same price, almost giving her boyfriend another heart attack.
But “just by sheer luck,” GIA was in town that weekend to do a two-day education symposium on gemstones and Calhoun said attending it changed her life.
“I knew what I was going to do for the rest of my life,” she said, so she immediately enrolled in GIA’s Graduate Gemology program.
Calhoun shared many of the fun and interesting events she has held at her stores, including her Carat Club for self-buying women, hosting car shows and Hippy Day and setting up a bar in her store.
Mitchell Binder (Begins at 45:57)
Binder started out by hand-making jewelry for the Hell’s Angels: They were “not your classy diamond types,” he said.
His jewelry took off when Japanese buyers started bidding wars over his jewelry on eBay and two Japanese businessmen arrived at his small, 400 square-foot studio with briefcases full of cash, buying everything he had.
“It was like a drug deal,” Binder said. “I sold the jacket off my back. With the cash, I started King Baby.”
His next big break was when he was invited to pitch his jewelry at Neiman Marcus.
“You wouldn’t think that a guy like me and my designs would fit at Neiman Marcus…I had the biker rings and the skulls,” he said.
But the Neiman Marcus order quickly grew to over a million dollars and was on its way to two million before Binder stopped them and said he needed to figure out a way to hand-make all that jewelry.
Binder said his mother, who is a painter and a writer, always told him to “change the world,” and he has, by reaching the corners of the world through his jewelry. Not only does he have stores all over the U.S., but also 20 stores in China.
“I went from the black sheep of the family to the patriarch,” he said.
Future Forecast
Hucker painted a hopeful picture of where the gem and jewelry industry is headed:
“You guys have an opportunity in making this industry better, cleaner, more giving and more loving because you have access to data that 10 years ago, none of us had. Don’t think that just because you know where a gemstone came from, that you’re OK. Find out what’s happening, where that gemstone came from,” he said “You’re going to become a part of the family, and you need to take care of that family.”
Read about and watch the Creative Careers panel from the 2019 Jewelry Career Fair in Carlsbad. @topic:12


Publish Year: - Title: Designer Kara Ross Featured in First “Aluminati” Exhibit Abstract: View Gallery

The GIA Museum is launching “Aluminati: Students to Stars,” a new exhibit series that will highlight the talents of GIA alumni who have made waves in the gem and jewelry industry. The first exhibit in the series, featuring designer Kara Ross, will debut in April at GIA’s world headquarters in Carlsbad, California.
“We’re thrilled to be able to shine a spotlight on the incredible work of our alumni,” said Terri Ottaway, GIA Museum curator. “So many talented students have emerged from GIA, and we are so pleased to share their success with the public. We are fortunate to have Kara Ross and her uniquely creative pieces as our premier Aluminati exhibit.”

Ross, a GIA Graduate Gemologist (GG), is a world-renowned jewelry and handbag designer who works with all types of gemstones (often in their natural state), crystals, wood and other organic material. Her designs are favored by celebrities and public figures, including U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, who wore pieces from Ross’s “Pyramid” collection, including earrings and cuffs made with sterling silver, mother of pearl and colorless sapphires, to the 2011 State of the Union address. Dr. Jill Biden, wife of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, wore a pair of hand-carved mother of pearl and white sapphire earrings by Kara Ross during this year’s inauguration ceremony.

“I’m honored to kick off this exciting new exhibition series. Through GIA, I developed my passion and knowledge for gemstones, and these inform and enhance all the designs I create today,” said Ross.

The Kara Ross Aluminati exhibit will run from the beginning of April through mid-October 2013. Ross’s trendsetting and inspired designs will fill the atrium cases at GIA’s Carlsbad campus. Highlighted in this exhibit are custom pieces Ross created for Michelle Obama out of wood from a fallen tree near the White House.

Ross and her work have appeared in numerous national and international magazines, and she was honored in 2012 as the Design Award Winner by the Women’s Jewelry Association.

The Aluminati series will feature GIA graduates from various parts of the gem and jewelry industry, from miners and gem carvers to gem dealers, designers, jewelers and more.

The GIA Museum is free and open to the public by appointment.  For more information or to arrange a campus tour, go to www.gia.edu/gia-museum @topic:6


Publish Year: - Title: Trade Hopes for a Bright 2019 Vegas Show Abstract: Business at the May 9-12 GemGenève show was soft reflecting a slowdown in the luxury market. Photo by Russell Shor/GIA

All eyes are on the upcoming jewelry sales events in the U.S. – the Luxury and JCK shows in Las Vegas – as business slows in other parts of the world.
Diamond dealers and jewelry manufacturers are expecting decent sales, based largely on demand this spring from diamond and gemstone wholesalers. U.S. retailers have been buying diamonds up to 1.5 ct and colored gems in the under-$1,000 range, and dealers expect this to continue in Vegas.
A strong turnout will help the middle of the diamond pipeline, which has been beleaguered by high inventories (causing prices to soften in most size and quality categories, especially at the lower end) and ever-tightening credit. Some dealers expect a larger-than-usual pre-show deal dash from those buying bargains from other exhibitors who need cash to pay bankers before the show opens. Colored stone dealers said demand has been improving for popularly priced stones that offer a distinctive look without an extremely high price tag.
Buyers attending the Las Vegas shows will likely see additional suppliers of laboratory-grown diamonds. The number of producers has expanded and demand has reportedly grown – with a number of mainstream jewelers offering them – and prices have reportedly dropped significantly since last year’s show.
Dealers base their optimism on the strong U.S. economy, but there are significant issues affecting the retail business: lack of wage growth among large numbers of consumers; competition from online sales; trends away from luxury items among younger buyers; and the decline of shopping centers, which have depressed sales to the point where some major retailers are in financial difficulty. Of the publicly traded retail jewelers, Tiffany & Co. reported that same-store sales were up 5%, while Signet Corp. (Kay, Zales, Jared, Piercing Pagoda) posted a sales decline of 2% in their most recent quarters.
China, however, continues to slow and the country’s government is trying to reduce the flow of funds out of the country as it grapples with the U.S. trade war. Dealers say the move has deterred many Chinese buyers from acquiring high-ticket luxury goods, including large diamonds and major gemstones. It is also hampering Chinese wholesalers who buy significant numbers of diamonds, gems and jewelry pieces from overseas suppliers.
In addition, Hong Kong banks are adopting stricter credit and money transfer regulations, according to traders based there. They say that these rules, coupled with the general slowdown, have caused a number of large gem companies to downsize and have forced some smaller ones out of business.
Exhibitors at the May GemGenève show, which was geared mainly toward the luxury market, found these headwinds in evidence. Few Asian buyers attended the show and demand came mostly from other dealers looking to acquire large diamonds, fancy colored diamonds and major gemstones.
Despite the slow market, dealers maintained they could afford to hold the line on prices, especially for fancy colored diamonds.
The impending closure of Australia’s Argyle mine, an important source for fancy pink diamonds, is giving dealers of these goods an added incentive to keep prices high.
“Once we sell them, we know we’ll never be able to replace them,” said one dealer, who believes it will bring a fundamental shift in the fancy colored diamond market. “In the past 15 years or so, we have seen many new people come into fancy colors, despite their rarity. But as this source disappears, a lot of these new people will have to change their business model or disappear.”
The increasing numbers of larger, fancy yellow diamonds from Russia and Canada is another worrisome trend for fancy colored diamond traders.
“These always provided a good cash flow (from retailers and consumers), which has allowed us to hold on to the really rare colors,” explained one exhibitor. “But with prices softening for the yellows, we may have to sell the rarer colors.” @topic:7


Publish Year: - Title: A Glittering Garden: A Menagerie of Designs from Mother Nature Abstract: Sapphires, diamonds, garnets, rubies and emerald come together in a glittering insect pin. Photo by Robert Weldon/GIA

A flower garden may seem like a quiet meditative space, but it’s actually abuzz with activity.

Butterflies, dragonflies and hummingbirds flitter about, while earth-bound spiders, caterpillars and lizards keep a slower pace. Flowers reign as the garden’s crowning jewels.

Never ceasing to fascinate, these delightful garden creatures and the flowers they visit are favorite subjects that transform beautifully into Victorian, Art Nouveau and modern jewelry designs.

Victorian jewelry in the early 19th century was influenced by a heightened interest in botany and zoology that stemmed from the scientific classification of plants and animals. These designs followed accurate representations of the natural world of insects and flowers. Fashion-conscious women pinned jeweled insects to their hairdos and gowns and a Victorian enamel spider brooch with articulating legs may have graced a coiffure.

Green enamel lends color to the clover design of this crescent brooch set with pearls. Tiny diamonds at the center of each cloverleaf add a dash of sparkle. The brooch is late Victorian or late 19th century, by Krementz. Courtesy of Mary Matthews. Photo by Valerie Power/GIA
Diamonds, discovered in South Africa in 1867, were used in pins and brooches to add sparkle to insects, animals, crescent moons and stars, as well as mythical creatures, such as dragons and griffins. Seed pearls were also used as accents in floral and natural motif Victorian jewelry.

Snakes became popular in early Victorian jewelry as a symbol of love. Their popularity was influenced by Prince Albert’s engagement ring to Queen Victoria, which featured a serpent with an emerald set in its head. British royalty continues to set trends in engagement jewelry.

In contrast, Art Nouveau, which developed in France and Belgium in the mid-1880s, also focused on the natural world, but with a tendency to interpret, rather than imitate nature. This is due in part to the influence and popularization of Japanese art, which is credited as the single most important contributing factor to the development of Art Nouveau. This new style flowed through Europe and reached as far as Russia and the Americas, a refreshing change from the more austere Victorian designs.

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Enameling, popular in both Victorian and Art Nouveau jewelry, was the perfect technique for representing both the movement and the delicate colors and designs of flowers, leaves and insects, which in many cases could not be conveyed with gems alone. Plique à jour, an enameling process constructed in such a way that light transmits through the enamel, making it appear translucent, is well-suited to represent winged insects such as dragonflies or butterflies. Art Noveau jewelers were also attracted to opal, especially for its play-of-color.

George Fouquet, a leading jeweler of the Art Nouveau movement, created lavish, jeweled wings adorning the female figures and heads of butterflies and dragonflies, in the 1880s. He used flowing, graceful lines sometimes referred to as “whiplash,” to suggest movement.

The natural blister pearl pin, with green enamel leaves and diamond accents, is in the style of George Fouquet, a leading jeweler of the Art Nouveau movement. Photo by Robert Weldon/GIA
The natural world of flowers and insects continue to inspire modern designs. Hints of bygone eras, and new representations of flower gardens, can be seen in today’s jewelry. Colored gemstone materials are often more available than they once were, and are faceted with precision, or carved with great artistry. Pearls, still popular, are paired with colored gemstones, diamonds and enameling to help render a design.

So before you swat a caterpillar from your best friend’s shoulder, check to make sure it is not a jeweled insect! @topic:6


Publish Year: - Title: 10 Tips to Boost Your Career Abstract: Joel Schechter, CEO of Honora, shared the key attributes his father, Stanley Schechter, taught him to look for in an exemplary employee – loyalty, honesty, respect and attention to detail – at GIA’s 2009 mini Jewelry Career Fair held in Las Vegas. He said demonstrating them is critical to establishing yourself as a standout candidate, especially in a competitive job market.

These are his father’s top 10 tips:

1. Love Mondays. You may not know what your passion is now, but if you care about your work, you may gain passion for it.

2. Sweat the small stuff. You may not be able to control the economy, a lawsuit or losing a major account. But you can control how many paper clips you order if you care about that.

3. Tell the truth. There are no white lies, only white liars. The check is never in the mail. The late piece is never at the polisher. An employee never has a "stomach virus" - you just need a day. Honesty is the ultimate independence.

4. Be willing to do anything. There is no task beneath you, and on an interview profess that. It will mean more than any line item on your resume.

5. Be loyal. Loyalty is a prized commodity. Let your boss know at every opportunity that you have his/her back.

6. Embrace mistakes. Accepting blame allows you to learn to do things differently, and gives you the opportunity to grow. Employers hate every minute someone spends explaining how someone else screwed up.

7. Take risks. Every success you attain can be associated with a frightening risk. We need to take calculated risks, and never believe the only way to do things is the way we've been doing them forever.

8. Respect others. No one has more value because they have more wealth, or is above or below you because of cultural differences. Treat everyone the same until they give you reason not to. Getting along with others is important both for company harmony and increasing the performance of those around you.

9. Give back. It's not all about you. If you don't have money, you can give time, and if you have money, give both.

10. Stand up for your beliefs. Don't wait for a popular consensus that you can agree with or tell an interviewer what you think they want to hear. Let them know at the end of the day you're still a team player, willing to get behind the group decision. @topic:12


Publish Year: - Title: Marie Antoinette’s Jewels: ‘How Can You Put a Price on Such History?’ Abstract: A natural pearl drop with a diamond bow that belonged to Marie Antoinette brought $36 million at Sotheby’s Nov 14 auction. The oval cut diamond was added later. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s

As the French Revolution engulfed the nation in 1791, the uneasy arrangement that allowed French King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette to remain on the throne began to unravel, and the royal family prepared to flee into exile.

In March, Marie Antoinette entrusted her favorite jewels to a loyal retainer, Count Mercy Argentau, who packed them into a wooden chest and spirited them to Brussels for safe keeping. By the end of June, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were imprisoned and her jewels – natural pearls and diamonds – were on a tortuous journey from Brussels to Austria and finally Parma in northern Italy where they would remain for over two centuries. Until 2018.

Ten of those pieces belonging to the French queen, along with 90 other jewels from the Bourbon-Parma royal family, brought astounding prices at Sotheby’s Nov. 14 Geneva auction. Valued at $7 million before the sale, the extraordinary history and provenance of the collection sent bids soaring to a total of $53 million.

Daniela Mascetti, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Jewelry Europe and senior international specialist, said it was one of the most important royal jewelry collections ever to appear in the market. “Every piece is imbued with history,” she said. “They offer captivating insight into the lives of their owners going back hundreds of years.”

“No one knew of this collection’s existence for a century or more, apart from the family. [They] contacted us 10 years ago about selling the collection, but we had to do much research on every piece before any of them could be put up for sale.”

- Olivier Wagner, senior specialist at Sotheby’s

The signature piece (lot 100) was Marie Antoinette’s natural pearl and diamond drop pendant featuring a slightly baroque drop pearl (15.90 x 18.35 x 25.85 mm) probably from the Persian Gulf, attached below a diamond-set bow with an oval cut diamond of about 5 carats. According to a 1907 inventory of the collection, the pendant was a parure originally suspended from a three-strand pearl necklace owned by Marie Antoinette, but offered separately at this auction.

David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s international jewelry division, began the auction of the pendant at 900,000 Swiss francs. Bidding proceeded methodically up to 6.5 million francs, then quickly escalated past 30 million to the final bid of 32 million, where he brought the hammer down to the applause of the room. The winner, noted as a private European buyer, paid a total price of 36 million francs ($36.1 million), after the auction house commission. (At the time of the auction, the U.S. dollar and Swiss franc were nearly equal.)

A three-strand natural pearl necklace owned by Marie Antoinette brought a winning bid of more than $1.9 million at the Sotheby’s auction. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s

The three-strand necklace the pendant had been attached to (lot 97) started at 160,000 francs, half the pre-sale estimate. Again, bidding proceeded slowly until the 1 million franc mark, when it picked up and quickly reached 1.9 million francs when Bennett lowered his hammer.

One of the most personal items in the collection was a small ring containing a lock of Marie Antoinette’s hair, with her initials MA in small rose cut diamonds. The pre-sale estimate of 8,000-10,000 Swiss francs was surpassed within a few seconds of the opening and escalated rapidly to over 447,000 francs before closing. Also, a ring with a miniature portrait of Marie Antoinette in profile framed by small, round-cut diamonds, sold for 250,000 francs against a pre-sale estimate of 8,000 to 10,000 francs.

The 10 pieces from Marie Antoinette’s collection sold for 43.1 million francs, against a pre-sale estimate of 1.6 million francs.

A week before the sale, Mascetti explained that the estimates were based on the values of the pieces without their history. “How can you put a price on such history? It’s impossible to have a true estimate,” she noted with a shrug.

Although the jewels were centuries old, there was no doubt about their provenance, said Olivier Wagner, senior specialist in the auction house’s Geneva branch. The collection was in the hands of an Italian family, descendants of the Parma-Bourbon royal houses, which had branches in France, Spain, Austria. Sotheby’s spent a full decade tracing the lineage of each of the 100 lots in the auction.

“No one knew of this collection’s existence for a century or more, apart from the family,” he said. “The family contacted us 10 years ago about selling the collection, but we had to do much research on every piece before any of them could be put up for sale.” The family kept extensive paperwork in the form of inventories and bequests but some pieces had been altered or broken up completely with the diamonds being set into newer jewels.

This monogrammed diamond ring contains a woven lock of Marie Antoinette’s hair and brought more than $447,000. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s

The research was often difficult and complex because of the complicated lineage of European royal families, and tracing the paths of gems after the pieces had been altered, Wagner explained

The signature piece, the $36 million parure natural pearl and diamond pendant, for example, went to her eldest and only surviving daughter, Marie Therese’ (1778-1851), who was imprisoned with her other family members on Aug. 13, 1792. During her three years of captivity, her father, Louis XVI was executed Jan. 21, 1793, and her mother, Marie Antoinette was led to the guillotine on Oct. 16, 1793.

Marie Therese was released from prison in December of 1795, just as she turned 17 years old, and was taken to Vienna. While she lived in other European capitals through much of her life, her jewels, including those she inherited from her mother, remained on deposit in the Imperial Treasury of Vienna.

After she died in 1851, she left one-third of her jewels, including the pendant, to her niece, Louise de Bourbon-Parma the Duchess of Parma, in what is now Italy. The will stated that her jewelry collection would be divided between her nieces and nephew: Louise, Marie Therese and Henri.

At that time, Italy was in upheaval with the armies of King Victor Emmanuel battling to form the various principalities into a unified nation, causing Louise de Bourbon-Parma to flee to Venice with the collection of jewels. After Louise died in 1864, the jewels were passed to her children, then through their descendants, until 1907 when Prince Elie de Bourbon-Parma ordered a full inventory, including photographs of each piece. By this time, an approximately five carat oval cut diamond had been attached to the top of Marie Antoinette’s pearl pendant and the collection had grown considerably from pieces belonging to other branches of the family.

These other pieces also sold well above their pre-sale estimates:

A fleur de lis diamond tiara, which by Vienna jeweler Hubner created in 1912 from diamonds that belonged to Charles X of France (1757-1836), sold for 975,000 francs, about double its pre-sale estimate.
A diamond and emerald badge of the Order of the Saint-Esprit, which belonged to Louis-Antoine de Bourbon (1775-1844), Duc of Angouleme, realized a price of 1.6 million francs against a pre-sale estimate of 100,000 to 150,000 francs.
A ruby and diamond bow brooch, given by Archduke Frederic of Austria (1856-1936) to his daughter Anne Marie in 1909, realized 375,000 francs against a pre-sale estimate of 200,000 to 300,000 francs.
A 2.44 ct Fancy orangy pink diamond, owned by the Archduke, graded by GIA, sold for 579,000 francs, four times its pre-sale estimate.

Coincidentally, a 24.04 ct Fancy yellow diamond named the Moon of Baroda, which had been in the collection of Marie Therese of Vienna (1717-1780), went up for auction at Christie's in Hong Kong on Nov 27. Marilyn Monroe wore this diamond when she was publicizing the film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” It sold for $1.3 million, almost double its pre-sale estimate.

Why did the owner want to sell this historic collection?

“It’s a question Sotheby’s never asks its clients. We feel it’s an intrusion,” Mascetti explained. “Usually they volunteer this information only when selling their pieces for charity.”

As the will of Marie Antoinette’s daughter stated, the majority of the queen’s jewels went to other members of this extended family, so there is the enticing possibility that additional treasures may reach the market.

Of the possibility that Sotheby’s may be planning another sale in the future, Mascetti smiled and replied: “We cannot say.” @topic:7


Publish Year: 2017 Title: Impregnated Amazonite Abstract: Figure 1. In this high-quality translucent amazonite bracelet, the average bead diameter is 12 mm. Photo by Kevin Schumacher.

A type of high-quality translucent blue amazonite feldspar (figure 1) has recently appeared in the jewelry market. Its vivid blue color and unusually high translucency are rarely seen in untreated mineral specimens and rough materials. A rough piece of this material and five beads with different quality grades were obtained for detailed examination at GIA’s Carlsbad laboratory.

To induce the blue-green color in amazonite (KAlSi3O8), the potassium feldspar must contain structurally bound water in addition to lead, and then undergo irradiation (A.M. Hofmeister and G.R. Rossman, “A spectroscopic study of irradiation coloring of amazonite: structurally hydrous, Pb-bearing feldspar,” American Mineralogist, Vol. 70, 1985, pp. 794–804).

FTIR spectroscopy revealed resin impregnation. A thin section cut from the middle of the rough (top of figure 2) was prepared to investigate the depth of impregnation and the origin of the vivid blue color. By performing FTIR in the middle of the section, we confirmed that the impregnation completely penetrated the material. Chemical analysis was obtained with a Thermo Fisher iCAP Q ICP-MS coupled with a New Wave Research UP-213 nm laser ablation unit. A line of 27 ablation spots crossed the whole section. Analysis revealed a microcline feldspar composition with a very minor albite component (figure 2). Pb concentration was irregularly distributed from one rim to the other, eliminating the possibility of Pb diffusion treatment (figure 2, violet data set). The concentration range of Pb was 11.7–44.6 ppma, or 120–432 ppmw. Albite portions contained higher Sr (red data set) and no Rb (blue data set) or Cs (green data set). In contrast, microcline portions contained higher Rb and Cs, and almost no Sr.

Figure 2. The amazonite’s concentration vs. position profile revealed that it was mainly composed of microcline with minor albite. Spots laser-ablated from albite regions contain higher Sr and no Rb and Cs, while spots laser-ablated from microcline regions contain higher Rb and Cs and almost no Sr. The Pb concentration profile is irregularly distributed across the entire thin section (center image, field of view 19.27 mm). Photomicrograph by Jonathan Muyal.
To test their chemical stability, the five beads were immersed in water, reagent alcohol, and then acetone for an hour apiece (figure 3, B–D). The quality of the beads increases gradually from left to right in figure 3. Neither water nor reagent alcohol affected the beads’ appearance (figure 3, B–C). Many whitish fractures became evident on the surface of the smallest, third-largest, and largest beads after immersion in acetone for an hour (figure 3D). Their transparency diminished significantly, and they took on an unsightly mottled appearance. In contrast, the second-smallest and second-largest beads seemed largely unaffected. After 24 hours of immersion in acetone, more whitish fractures became visible in the smallest, third-largest, and largest beads, revealing the true quality of the original material used for impregnation (figure 3E). Very minor whitish fractures were observed in the highest-quality bead (figure 3E, far right). During normal wear, consumers should avoid exposure to solvents that contain large portions of acetone, such as nail polish remover.

Figure 3. Amazonite beads without any post-treatment (A) and after immersion in water for an hour (B), reagent alcohol for an hour (C), acetone for an hour (D), and acetone for 24 hours (E). In all five rows, the bead quality increases gradually from left to right. Photos by Kevin Schumacher. @topic:3


Publish Year: - Title: More is More: The Artistry of Tony Duquette and Hutton Wilkinson Abstract: "Pond Scum" Courtesy of a Private Collector and Mona Lee Nesseth. "Super Nova" Courtesy of a Private Collector.

Tony Duquette and Hutton Wilkinson count as two of the most inventive jewelry designers in recent memory.

Duquette first found fame creating costumes and sets for musicals during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He and Wilkinson, his longtime business partner and design collaborator, also designed for theater and dance productions, as well as the homes of their private clients.

Duquette brought that same design sensibility to the jewelry he created for his mother, aunts, wife, and later, private clients. He was famed for using anything that helped him capture the quality he was seeking: what he found in the streets, in the attic, in the desert, in the garden, and in the sea.

"Petal Dance" earrings are made of pink tourmaline (approx. 16 ct.) carved yellow-green tourmaline (approx. 64 ct.), and set in 18K gold. Courtesy of a Private Collector and Mona Lee Nesseth.

He had a life-long fascination with jewelry and bright, shiny things.
Hutton Wilkinson

"Barriera Corallina" is made of coral, cultured pearl, peridot, and 18K gold. Courtesy of a Private Collector.
Wilkinson and Duquette officially became business partners in 1994. Although Duquette passed away in 1999 at the age of 85, Wilkinson continues to create pieces for the Tony Duquette Collection using their favorite materials: malachite, pearls, emerald, and coral.

Wilkinson has since devoted much of his time to the design of unique jeweled creations under the Tony Duquette trademark. His work has been worn by Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway, Sharon Stone, Liza Minnelli, Ellen Burstyn, Mandy Moore, Drew Barrymore, and Reese Witherspoon, to name a few.

Wilkinson also authored three books about Tony Duquette – his design philosophy, creative process, and jewelry.

Fashion designer John Galliano wrote in the forward to More is More, the second volume written by Wilkinson about Duquette, “Tony Duquette had the eye, lived the dream, created the ultimate setting. He mixed glamour with the glittering social scene like others would hang decorations on a Christmas tree. He applied these baubles of beauty to real life in his designs, and later in his jewelry line, and made everything beautiful.”

Duquette created his early jewelry pieces at the same time he was designing ballroom scenes, fashion, and dream sequences for MGM studios, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Studios. His film work included The Ziegfeld Follies, starring Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer; Lovely to Look At, with Zsa Zsa Gabor; and To Catch a Thief, with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Legendary directors Vincent Minnelli and Alfred Hitchcock sought out the freelance designer for his ability to bring his bold, fantastical creations to their sets.

He won a Tony award for Best Costume for the original Broadway production of Camelot and was the first and only American to be honored with a one-man show at the Louvre in Paris. Another highlight of Duquette’s career was creating a commissioned necklace of citrine, tourmaline, and cultured mabe pearls for the Duchess of Windsor.

"Mariposa" is made of amethyst, rock crystal quartz, kunzite, diamond, enamel, and 18K gold. Courtesy of The Anthony & Elizabeth Duquette Foundation for the Living Arts.

"Sunburst Monstrance" votive cross brooch/pendant is made of rhodochrosite, cultured pearl, enamel, and 18K gold. Courtesy of The Anthony & Elizabeth Duquette Foundation for the Living Arts.

Duquette presented her with an 18K gold wreath of vines and flowers and she wore the necklace often, according to Wilkinson. By wearing it to evening events – even though most wore platinum at the time – she started the trend of wearing gold jewelry after five o’clock.

"Floral Wreath" is made of citrine, tourmanline, cultured mabe pearl, and 14K gold. Designed for the Duchess of Windsor. Courtesy of The Anthony & Elizabeth Duquette Foundation for the Living Arts.

If it's not fabulous, it's meaningless.
Hutton Wilkinson

More is More, an exhibit of Duquette’s and Wilkinson’s masterpieces, is on display at GIA’s Museum from Oct. 10, 2013 through March 2014 at GIA in Carlsbad, CA. If you are planning a visit to Carlsbad, schedule a tour to see the exhibit yourself. Contact Guest Services at 800-421-7250 ext 4116, or 760-603-4116 (if outside the U.S. or Canada). @topic:6