This past Wednesday, I spoke to members of the Independent Jewelers Organization (IJO) at their semi-annual conference, which was held in San Diego.  At their request, my presentation was titled "Branded, Pegasus and Processed: Are You Ready?"

At this year’s Tucson gem shows, Gem News editor John Koivula noticed the availability of significant amounts of demantoid garnet from Russia’s Ural Mountains. According to the dealers, this historic area is again being actively worked. Most of the stones were small (less than one carat), as is typical of demantoid, but there were a number of fine-quality gems over 5 carats. The garnets ranged from yellowish green to a bright “emerald” green.  In some of the stones, Mr. Koivula observed the characteristic “horsetail” inclusions radiating from chromite centers.

Question: Are synthetic diamonds commercially available and, if so,
can they be separated from natural diamonds?
 
Answer: Limited quantities of colored synthetic diamonds have recently entered the marketplace.  The most common colors are deep yellow and brownish orange.  This year at Tucson, some blue and a few red synthetic diamonds were also seen.  Unlike natural diamonds, the color of many of these synthetic diamonds is moderately to highly saturated.  It should be noted that the red synthetic diamonds get their color as the result of laboratory treatment after synthesis.  Typical sizes for yellow synthetic diamonds are up to 1 ct.  Other colors are occasionally seen as large as 0.75 ct.  We believe that, because of the high cost of production, very few near-colorless synthetic diamonds have entered the jewelry market to date. 

Question: Are synthetic diamonds commercially available and, if so,
can they be separated from natural diamonds?
 
Answer: Limited quantities of colored synthetic diamonds have recently entered the marketplace.  The most common colors are deep yellow and brownish orange.  This year at Tucson, some blue and a few red synthetic diamonds were also seen.  Unlike natural diamonds, the color of many of these synthetic diamonds is moderately to highly saturated.  It should be noted that the red synthetic diamonds get their color as the result of laboratory treatment after synthesis.  Typical sizes for yellow synthetic diamonds are up to 1 ct.  Other colors are occasionally seen as large as 0.75 ct.  We believe that, because of the high cost of production, very few near-colorless synthetic diamonds have entered the jewelry market to date. 

Farber, Fortunoff, Grinberg, Levy, Mayer, Mehta and Shigley Debate the Question: “Has High Tech in the Industry Led to Low Trust Among Consumers and the Trade?”
 
Industry leaders Thomas Farber of Thomas Farber S.A., Esther Fortunoff of Fortunoff, Efraim Grinberg of Movado Group Inc., Harry Levy of Levy Gems Co., Stefan Mayer of Ringexperte Heinz Mayer, Dilip Mehta of Rosy Blue and Dr. James Shigley of GIA Research are scheduled to participate on the GIA GemFest Basel 2000 War Room panel.  They will debate whether the introduction of high technology in the industry has led to low trust among consumers and the trade on Saturday, March 25, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, at the Basel, Switzerland Convention Centre.

This week, GIA announced the launch of Jewelry Essentials, the final distance education course needed to complete the Accredited Jewelry Professional (A.J.P.) diploma program.  The groundbreaking Jewelry Essentials, together with GIA’s Colored Stone Essentials and Diamond Essentials, has been produced to help sales associates translate product knowledge into easy-to-learn benefits that sell virtually any piece of jewelry.  Developed for career-oriented sales associates, GIA’s A.J.P. diploma program has been specially designed for quick learning, affordability and moneymaking results.  Now, with the availability of all three Essentials courses, students can achieve full industry recognition as a GIA Accredited Jewelry Professional sooner than ever before.

If you are an employer in the market for outstanding employees – it’s not too early to start planning for GIA’s Career Fair 2000.  Now in its 10th year, this annual recruitment and career opportunity extravaganza is slated for Friday, July 28, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.  To reserve a place as a recruiter or to find out more information about the event contact Anna Lisa Johnston, GIA’s career services manager mailto:ajohnston@gia.edu or call (800) 421-7250 ext. 4255 or (760) 603-4255.

Diamond Graders/Staff Gemologists (New York and Carlsbad)
Join our team of professionals.  The GIA Gem Trade Laboratory is the world leader in diamond grading and is looking for detail-oriented, computer-literate team players.  Microscope experience is a plus.

In the Friday, February 11, issue of GIA INSIDER (Volume 2, Issue 3), we reported in TUCSON 2000 GEM NEWS: FROM GEMS & GEMOLOGY that yellow-green gaspeite from Australia was being sold as "lemon chrysoprase." In fact, what was notable about this material was that it was being sold as gaspeite, and not under a trade name.  Much of the material that had been sold as "lemon chrysoprase" in previous years was not gaspeite but a quartz-magnesite rock; this was described on page 217 of the Fall 1996 Gem News section of Gems & Gemology. Note also that all the freshwater pearls referred to in that Tucson 2000 item were cultured freshwater pearls.