Salvador Assael, of Assael International, distinctly remembers the process he went through with G. Robert Crowningshield, the head of GIA’s Gem Trade Laboratory in New York, to prove his Tahitian cultured pearls were natural colored, not treated.

“It lasted almost a year. We went back and forth and back and forth,” Assael said. “But he [Crowningshield] was very understanding. He knew this was something natural. He knew it in his heart.”

Crowningshield cut and tested dozens of samples, Assael said, and finally GIA agreed to certify them as cultured pearls, natural color.

“The moment we got the certificate, that’s what made the pearl,” he said. He took them to Harry Winston, who bought the entire crop and dressed them with diamonds to introduce them at the Academy Awards.

This is just one example of the role GIA has played in the world of pearls. There are many others, including:
     •  Two of the West Coast Laboratory’s first permanent donations in the early 1930s were a pearl endoscope and some pearl testing equipment.
      •  The New York Gem Trade Laboratory was created as an extension of a previously established (1940) Pearl Associates lab, which was run by A.E. Alexander, one of the best-known pearl experts at the time. Alexander developed techniques to differentiate between natural and cultured pearls, which the Institute acquired when it bought the lab in 1949. Pearl identification was the Gem Trade Lab’s primary business until 1953.
     •  The first pearls course, offered in 1970, focused on saltwater cultured pearls from Japan and the South Seas. It included tips on lighting and display and introduced a pearl grading system based on color, luster, quality and value. GIA helped revise the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed pearl guidelines for the jewelry industry.
     • The pearls course was again updated in 1998 to reflect dramatic changes in the pearl industry,  including saltwater cultured pearls from Tahiti and the South Seas and freshwater cultured pearls from China. It covers production, identification of pearl types, factors of pearl value and enhancements. It also includes GIA’s Seven Pearl Value Factors – size, shape, color, luster, surface quality, nacre quality and matching – which is used as a teaching tool to provide a consistent way to talk about natural and cultured pearls.