On March 15, 2005, gemology lost one of its greatest heroes. Dr. Edward Gübelin passed away peacefully in his native Switzerland only days after heart surgery. It is difficult to comprehend the enormity of a man who devoted his entire life – nearly 92 years – to our field, making contributions that may never be duplicated.

Author, educator, scientist, jeweler, collector –  Dr. Gübelin was a man for all seasons. Those of us privileged to know him were inspired by his dedication to gemology and his love for the beauty of gemstones. His fascination with inclusions in gems is legendary, as is his documentation of these miracles of nature.

For all of Dr. Gübelin’s gifts to gemology, many of us will remember most his wonderful correspondence. I have saved every letter he wrote to me – a very large file, indeed – for each is a work of art, a masterpiece of kindness, professionalism, and poetic expression. I am not alone in this. Many of my colleagues have such letters, too. They are the chronicles of a man who traveled around the globe seemingly as effortlessly as most of us travel across town. His interests, his contacts, and his reach were equally universal. He was a true Renaissance man and an inspiration to all who knew him.

In our lives, there are those few who never leave us – those who make such an indelible mark that they remain in our hearts and minds. Dr. Edward Gübelin was one such person. He will be missed, but his spirit will live on for those who were blessed to know him as a friend, and for those who choose to walk the gemological trails he blazed.

Dr. Gübelin is survived by five daughters, 12 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. Our deepest condolences, thoughts, and prayers go out to his loving family.

GIA is planning a tribute in Dr. Gübelin’s honor on Saturday, May 21, at 3:00 pm, at the Institute's world headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. A reception will follow. For more information or to RSVP, please send an e-mail to Tribute@gia.edu.

Rising energy prices have slowed some of the momentum of strong February retail sales, though analysts continue to maintain that inflation will be kept in check, and consumers will regain their healthy appetite for goods – particularly in the luxury area.

DIAMONDS: De Beers’s Diamond Trading Company (DTC) appears to have reduced its rough diamond allocations for the March 21–24 sight, following a record sight in February. Traditionally, the first three sights are the year’s largest, because jewelry manufacturers and mass merchandisers assemble their lines and catalogs during the spring. Estimates of the March sight range between $700 and $725 million, with February’s sight reportedly the first ever to exceed $800 million.

At the March sight, the DTC announced an array of “value-added services,” which include formalizing its “supply planning measures” such as Intentions to Offer (pre-agreed rough diamond allocations), guaranteed continuity and consistency of supply through sights for two and a half years, and a variety of information services. The company also formalized an obligatory fee – $180,000 on the first $15 million, with a sliding scale thereafter, according to press reports – to pay for its worldwide advertising. In the past, producers rather than sightholders had funded a portion of these campaigns. The DTC also introduced a “growth services” initiative that includes business opportunity seminars, market insight workshops, generic advertising materials, and business excellence seminars on a pay-as-you-go basis. The biggest change is that the sight tenure was increased by one year, and is now three years.

Rough remains in high demand with strong prices, especially among better-quality goods. However, retailers have continued their resistance to increased prices for polished stones.

COLORED GEMS: Gem dealers report the market has quieted since Tucson. Most of the major retailers and manufacturers have done their buying, while independent retailers will do theirs in Basel and Las Vegas. Retailer price resistance is also causing a number of dealers to stop stocking tanzanite for the time being. Margins have simply grown very thin, said dealers, who noted that this has deterred many peripheral players. By contrast, consumer demand for pink sapphire remains so strong that dealers and retailers have been willing to endure price increases.

MACRO: The National Retail Federation (NRF) said in a March 15 report that February retail sales in the United States increased 4.4% over the corresponding month in 2004. Rosalind Wells, NRF chief economist, said Super Bowl spending and Valentine’s Day gift buying accounted for $18.75 billion of the total for February and helped improve the first-quarter performance for some retailers.

A Reuters report noted that the U.S. luxury market, which has shown strong growth in the past three years, is continuing its upward trend. American “baby boomers” (born 1946–1964) have reached their peak earning years, which will cause the number of affluent households – those with earnings over $100,000 per year – to increase 32% by 2010. The report, quoting Boston Consulting Group, noted that luxury spending at retail could top $1.1 trillion by that year, more than double this year’s total.

However, increased competition and market saturation for certain products will force luxury goods producers to develop more innovative products to continue attracting consumers.

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) predicts that March retail sales will increase 3.5–4% over the previous year. Some of that increase will stem from the fact that Easter falls in March rather than April. March chain store sales have been sluggish – partly because the statistic is weighted toward mass merchandisers whose customer base is very sensitive to rising gasoline and heating oil prices. (March has been cold on the East Coast.) Chain store sales were nearly flat for the week of March 14, compared to the previous week.

Russell Shor
Senior Industry Analyst

At this year’s Tucson gem shows, James Taylor (Eureka Gems LLC, Fountain Hills, Ariz.) had some slabs and cabochons of quartz containing “veins” of gold or silver that were manufactured by a new process in a partnership with Onnik Arakelian, Todd Allen, and Gnel Gevorkyan. Several varieties were available, using gold alloys in 14K or 20K, as well as fine silver. According to Taylor, smoky quartz from Brazil is used to make “Grizzly Gold” and “Grizzly Silver,” whereas rock crystal from Arizona, or milky quartz from Nova Scotia, is employed in the “Glacier Gold” and “Silver Lightning” lines (figure 1). The material is sold in slabs that are at least 2.5 mm thick, and as finished cabochons. Opticon is used to stabilize the thin slabs and cabochons.

At the time of the Tucson show, 15 kg of each variety was being produced each month. Taylor anticipated that the production would increase to 50 kg/month by April–May 2005. The material is produced in Mesa, Ariz., using a proprietary, patent-pending process developed by Gevorkyan. He reported that the gold or silver is mobilized into fractures within the host quartz under heat and pressure; if necessary, the quartz is fractured before the metal is introduced.

The manufactured products can usually be separated from natural gold-in-quartz by the typical fracture-aligned or spiderweb-like texture of the gold, which is distinct from the blebs and irregular pods of gold that occur in natural quartz. However, Taylor indicated that some of the manufactured gold-in-quartz looks so natural that it cannot be separated by visual means. In that case, chemical analysis of the metal alloy could be used to identify it. Distinguishing the manufactured silver-in-quartz from natural material (which is quite rare in jewelry quality) is straightforward, due to the distinctive texture and the use of fine silver in the man-made product.

This entry was prepared by Brendan M. Laurs, editor of Gems & Gemology. More information on this manufacturing process, as well as additional reports on other items seen at this year’s Tucson gem shows, will be published in the Gem News International section of the Spring 2005 issue of G&G. To subscribe, click here or contact Circulation Coordinator Debbie Ortiz. Call toll-free 800-421-7250, ext. 7142. Outside the U.S. and Canada, call 760-603-4000, ext. 7142.

Until the development of modern mineralogy, tourmaline was often confused with other gemstones based on its color appearance. It is a beautiful gem that comes in a wide variety of exciting colors, more than any other gem species. The historical confusion about tourmaline’s identity is reflected in its name, which is derived from toramolli, a Sinhala (a language of Sri Lanka) term for any unidentified yellow, green, or brown stone.

Green tourmaline ranges from strongly greenish blue through green-yellow. Tourmaline is doubly refractive, and its birefringence ranges from 0.018 to 0.040, although it usually falls at about 0.020. The gem’s refractive index (RI) is 1.62–1.64, and its optic character is uniaxial negative.

Tourmaline’s dichroism is usually medium to strong and often consists of two tones of the same bodycolor, with one typically much darker than the other. Many stones absorb more light down the length of the crystal than across it. A crystal that looks pale green from the side can be very dark green, sometimes almost black, down its length. Color zoning is common.

Many green tourmalines are eye-clean; some also show chatoyancy. Characteristic inclusions can help with identification. Green tourmalines often contain irregular, thread-like, liquid-and-gas inclusions that can occur singly or interlaced in a loose, mesh-like pattern.

Tourmalines can also contain mirror-like, gas-filled fractures. Growth tubes, which are long, hollow tubes sometimes capped with minute mineral crystals, are also typical.

Some green tourmalines can be identified by their intense color and characteristically small size. Mines from Paraíba State, Brazil, yield tourmalines with an intense blue-green color caused by trace amounts of copper. Often called "neon green," the hue is more saturated and lighter in tone than that seen in other tourmalines. Green and blue-green Paraíba tourmalines larger than one carat are rare and are typically the most expensive green tourmalines on the market. Similar blue-green tourmalines that also derive their color from copper impurities have been found in Nigeria.

Fracture filling to improve apparent clarity is becoming more common with tourmaline. Another frequently seen treatment is the use of plastic to seal growth tubes, especially in chatoyant material. Dark green tourmaline may be heated to lighten the color, and the treatment is not detectable.

There are several similarly colored, less expensive alternatives to Paraíba tourmaline. One is bluish green apatite from Brazil and Madagascar, often called neon apatite. Its RI, at 1.63–1.64, is slightly different from that of Paraíba tourmaline, but its birefringence is much lower, at 0.002–0.008.

Doublets and triplets composed of various gems or gem-and-glass combinations can imitate Paraíba tourmaline. Magnification with or without immersion easily reveals such assembled stones. While hydrothermal synthetic tourmaline has been grown on an experimental basis, it has not yet been seen in the gem market because of poor quality and high production costs. Flame-fusion synthetic spinel is sometimes incorrectly marketed as “synthetic tourmaline,” but is easily distinguished by its higher RI and singly refractive nature.

A step-by-step procedure to identify natural and synthetic gems is taught in GIA’s Gem Identification course. Click here for information on this course and other GIA programs.

Authors of the Fall 2004 Gems & Gemology article on diamond cut, “A Foundation for Grading the Overall Cut Quality of Round Brilliant Cut Diamonds,” have created a list of common technical questions and answers related to the article and the fundamental research used in creating the upcoming GIA Diamond Cut Grading System. This list is based on comments and questions that were submitted over the past few months by Laboratory clients, Gems & Gemology readers, and others in the trade.

This list of scientific and technical FAQs is now available in the GIA on Diamond Cut section of GIA's website, and will be updated periodically as needed. To view the FAQs, click here.

The public can explore the world of emerald, aquamarine, and other varieties of the mineral beryl on April 23, when the San Diego Mineral and Gem (SDG&M) Society and GIA host the third annual John Sinkankas Beryl Symposium. Named in honor of the renowned gemologist, author, and lapidary, the event will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at GIA’s world headquarters in Carlsbad. Presentations will cover a wide range of topics at levels suitable to novices as well as gem and mineral connoisseurs. Specimens of emerald and other beryl varieties, books on beryls, and hand-painted pictorials will be on display.

A number of highly respected mineral and gem experts are scheduled to address the symposium, including Dr. George Rossman, a professor of mineralogy at the California Institute of Technology; Dr. William B. (Skip) Simmons, a professor of mineralogy at the University of New Orleans; Si Frazier, and Meg Berry. They will cover theories on beryl formation, worldwide localities, crystallography, lapidary techniques, literature, history, and photographic techniques.

Tickets are $55 for SDG&M Society members, GIA students and alumni, and past participants of the symposium. Coffee, doughnuts, drinks, sandwiches, and a handsome beryl publication will be provided. Early registration is advised, as another sellout event is anticipated.

To attend, e-mail Anne Schafer, or call 858-586-1637 to verify seat availability. Checks must be sent to Anne Schafer, 8473 Hydra Lane, San Diego, CA 92126-1854, by April 1, and there will be no registration on the day of the event.

March 22, 2005

GIA has placed first in the International Colored Gemstone Association’s (ICA) third annual poster contest. A GIA team led by Graphics Manager Faizah Bhatti produced the winning design, depicting ocean, sky, and sunset highlighted with colorful gemstones and the tag line “Color is the Passion of Life.”

The competition, held in conjunction with ICA’s annual Congress, took place this year in Bangkok, Feb. 18–21.  Each of the posters incorporated ICA’s slogan of “Go Color.” ICA Congress attendees voted on the posters, and the winning designs were announced Feb. 21.

Bhatti, who works in the Institute’s Course Development department, said she created the poster with nature’s beauty in mind. “Beauty in any form of nature has always inspired me, and colored gemstones are a very important part of nature,” she said.

Bhatti acknowledged the encouragement of GIA President William E. Boyajian and the support of  Duncan Pay, GIA’s director of Course Development, and Alice Keller, editor-in-chief of Gems & Gemology. She also gave credit to the GIA artistic team that worked with her, especially Peter Johnston, GIA’s senior illustrator, who Bhatti says has guided her through the years. “Winning didn’t matter to me. As a designer, I love working with nature, beauty, and colors.”

According to contest coordinator Yehuda Kassif, there were 63 poster entries from many countries, including India, Portugal, Thailand, Brazil, Denmark, Israel, and the U.S. “The organizing committee was impressed by the high level of creativity and professional approach that was shown in this competition,” Kassif said.

The ICA works to increase the understanding, appreciation, and sales of colored gemstones worldwide. This year’s ICA Congress marked the organization's 20th anniversary.

In other GIA participation at the ICA Congress, Boyajian and Andy Lucas, GIA Education product manager, joined Gemewizard’s originator, Menahem Sevdermish, in presenting an overview and live demonstration of the Gemewizard system to the estimated 200 international attendees.

Gemewizard, a computer-generated color communication system, was incorporated into GIA’s colored gemstone educational programs earlier this year. The system enables students to easily and intuitively navigate through GIA color space and assess an overall description of the color of a gemstone.

In addition, Shane McClure, director of West Coast Identification Services for the GIA Gem Laboratory, and Christopher Smith, director of Identification Services in New York, gave an update on the Institute’s research into rubies that have been clarity enhanced with a glass filling. Rubies with the filling have recently been seen in the market. They said the treatment can dramatically improve the apparent clarity of rubies and that it can be difficult to detect because the glass filling’s high refractive index is similar to that of corundum. “Although evidence of this treatment is easily detectable in a microscope and through EDXRF [energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence], we are continuing our testing,” said McClure, who added that the laboratory is currently focusing on testing the filler’s durability.

March 18, 2005