On Aug. 1 at a press conference in New York, GIA formally announced the implementation plan for its new cut grade for round brilliant diamonds.  Starting on Jan. 1, 2006, every GIA Diamond Grading Report and Diamond Dossier® for a standard round brilliant in the D-to-Z color range and Flawless-to-I₃ clarity range will include a cut grade.  GIA announced the launch date five months in advance to give all interested parties sufficient time to study and learn the benefits of the new system. This system meets the high standards we have set for color and clarity and, we strongly believe, will contribute significantly to consumer confidence in diamonds.

Subscribers to the GIA Insider received this news on Aug. 2, so I won’t repeat the information you’ve already read.  Suffice it to say, we are very excited about our implementation plan and very confident in the more than 15 years of intensive research and rigorous testing – with sophisticated computer modeling validated by human observation – on which our cut grading system is based. Like a fine wine or an aged liqueur, we could not – and would not – release a cut grade for round brilliant diamonds before its time.  The trade and the public rely on GIA. We know this.  So our confidence in the accuracy and completeness of the system determined when it would be introduced, not any calendar date. Our work had to be right.

In keeping with GIA’s responsibilities as a nonprofit public benefit corporation, we have made every effort to ensure the accessibility of our new cut grading system to anyone who wants to use it. The central resource for obtaining information about the cut system – and for gaining free access to the GIA Facetware^TM Cut Estimator – is the new GIA Diamond Cut Grading System section of our website at www.diamondcut.gia.edu. This site also contains the foundational material about the system we have published in trade journals and Gems & Gemology. In addition, we are providing a standardized lighting and viewing environment, and we have embedded the GIA Facetware^TM Cut Estimator Database into the industry’s leading optical measurement devices.

We also will be incorporating the results of our research, as well as instruction on how to use the new cut grading system, into our education courses in January of next year. We believe that the GIA Diamond Cut Grading System will be adopted by the trade as another de facto standard in diamond grading, as our color and clarity grade scales have been since the early 1950s.

Our role at GIA is to set standards by conducting gemological research, to translate this research into practical education and application, to provide services that back up those standards in the laboratory, and to support people in the gem and jewelry trade with instrumentation that enhances their work and professionalism.  We are confident that the elements are in place to do that for cut grading over the months leading up to Jan. 1, 2006, and throughout the years to come.

I encourage you to study our new cut grading system and learn to use it for your benefit and the benefit of your customers and the general public. We believe that setting the record straight on the fourth “C” in round brilliants will add greatly to consumer confidence, always a key priority for GIA and the jewelry industry.

Demand for carat-plus diamonds of better color and clarity is so strong that many such stones are going straight from the wheel to retail, rather than sitting in inventory.

Diamond dealers and manufacturers note that these goods have become very scarce in the marketplace now that buyers from new retail markets in India, Russia, and China are competing for stock with U.S. retailers. This has put continued upward pressure on prices, though smaller goods remain much more plentiful.

RETAIL: The first half of 2005 brought mixed results for major U.S. retail jewelers. Zale Corp., the largest U.S. chain, reported that its fiscal 2005 same-store sales were almost unchanged from the previous year. Total sales for the fiscal year ending July 31 were $2.383 billion, 0.3% higher than 2004. Fourth-quarter sales of $472 million were 0.1% lower than the corresponding quarter of 2004.

Whitehall Jewellers reported a 5% decline in same-store sales to $139.4 million for the first half of 2005, ending July 31.

However, Signet Group, parent company of Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, continued its strong sales growth, showing an 8.8% increase in same-store U.S. sales for the first half of 2005. Total first-half sales, including its United Kingdom operations (which represent about 30% of this amount), were $1.34 billion.

Fastest growing was Internet retailer Blue Nile, which showed a 25.1% increase in second-quarter sales compared to the previous year.

COLORED STONES: As with diamonds, dealers report that demand for top-color rubies and blue and pink sapphire (particularly untreated) continues to grow in most consumer markets. As a result, many dealers who had been serving the commercial sector are moving upscale and competing fiercely with established traders for these goods. This has likewise put strong upward pressure on prices.

DIAMONDS: Record monsoon rains brought India’s commercial center of Mumbai to a standstill, but the disaster should cause no long-term disruptions to the diamond industry.

Heavy rains during the final days of July overwhelmed the city, knocking out train service and electricity, flooding roads, and forcing closure of both domestic and international airports. The death toll was estimated at about 1,000.

Diamond manufacturers reported that many dealers and workers were stranded in offices overnight by floodwaters. However, there was little damage to offices and manufacturing facilities. Several manufacturers said that diamond processing was relatively unaffected, because most diamonds are cut in Gujarat State, several hundred miles to the north. Earlier in July, rains also flooded Gujarat’s largest city, Surat.

MACRO: High energy prices continue to dampen consumer enthusiasm, though mostly in the middle and lower market segments. For the first week of August, the International Council of Shopping Center’s retail chain store index showed a 0.8% decline from the previous week. On the bright side, sales year-to-year were up 4%. ICSC economist Michael Niemira noted that the forecast for the remainder of August looks good because the labor situation is improving. However, household debt is running at near-record levels.

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates another quarter percent, to 3.5%. Economists agree that interest rates have not yet risen high enough to cause businesses to reduce expansion or to dampen the housing market, which is one of the main driving forces for current U.S. growth. They note, however, that inflation continues to rise – largely on the heels of record oil prices – which will keep upward pressure on interest rates.

Russell Shor
Senior Industry Analyst

The Summer 2005 edition of Gems & Gemology, which mails Aug. 19, features a definitive study of natural-color yellow diamonds, plus reviews of emeralds from the Kafubu area of Zambia and tourmaline from the historic deposits at Mt. Mica, Maine.

While yellow diamonds are the most common of the “fancy-color” diamonds, relatively little has been published on their color appearance and grading. In the lead article, “Characterization and Grading of Natural-Color Yellow Diamonds,” colored diamond expert John King and a team of GIA colleagues present data on more than 24,000 samples examined by the GIA Gem Laboratory during the years 1998 and 2003. This research documents for the first time five subgroups of yellow diamonds with distinct spectroscopic properties. Also included is a tone and saturation chart that illustrates the color appearances of yellow diamonds, plus a discussion of the critical role cut plays in determining the final color grade of the diamond.

“Natural-color yellow diamonds command attention because they occur in large sizes and in some of the highest levels of saturation seen in colored diamonds,” said Alice Keller, editor-in-chief of Gems & Gemology. “This article provides a better understanding of the properties of yellow diamonds and the different factors that must be taken into consideration during color grading. It’s an important follow-up to John King’s previous G&G features on blue diamonds [Winter 1998] and pink diamonds [Summer 2002].”

Zambia is considered the world’s second-most important source of fine-quality emerald, after Colombia. In “Emeralds from the Kafubu Area, Zambia,” Dr. J. C. Zwaan and coauthors examine these gems and their associated deposits. The article concludes that although many of their features are comparable to those of emeralds from other localities, Zambian emeralds can usually be separated by a combination of their physical properties, microscopic characteristics, and chemical composition.

The first discovery of gem tourmaline in the U.S. was at the famed Mt. Mica deposit in southwestern Maine, where production began more than 180 years ago. Although mining was sporadic for several decades, recent activity has yielded gem- and specimen-quality tourmaline in a variety of attractive colors. In “Mt. Mica: A Renaissance in Maine’s Gem Tourmaline Production,” Dr. William B. Simmons and coauthors explore the gemological properties and chemical composition of these gems, with a look at the locality’s geology and mining history.

Rounding out the issue are G&G’s regular Lab Notes and Gem News International sections, which deliver incisive coverage of the latest developments in gemology. The Lab Notes section includes the GIA Gem Laboratory’s examination of two unusual fracture-filled diamonds and its investigation of treated-color “golden” freshwater cultured pearls. Gem News International reports on a range of unusual inclusions, new sources of Kenyan ruby and pink sapphire, Pakistani demantoid garnet, and more.

To order the Summer issue or 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.

Aventurine quartz is a translucent form of quartzite (a metamorphic rock made up of interlocking quartz grains) containing tiny reflective or colored inclusions of hematite, mica, or other minerals. It is a microcrystalline aggregate that is usually sold as beads, carvings, or cabochons.

Reflections from bright green chrome mica (fuchsite) inclusions cause the glittery phenomenon called aventurescence in aventurine quartz. Depending on the nature of its inclusions, aventurine quartz can resemble aventurine feldspar, glass, jade, or jade substitutes. Magnification reveals these inclusions as tiny green disk-like platelets randomly distributed throughout the gem.

Aventurine quartz with green mica inclusions can be mistaken for nephrite in appearance. It can be used as a jade substitute and has been sold as “Regal jade” and “Indian jade.” It is easily separated from both jadeite and nephrite by its refractive index (R.I.) of 1.54 to 1.55 and specific gravity (S.G.) of 2.66, as well as by magnification.

The gem has a granular fracture and lacks the grid-like structure (caused by two intersecting cleavage directions) of amazonite microcline feldspar. Aventurine quartz has an R.I. close to chalcedony, but none of the green chalcedony varieties have chrome mica inclusions. Chalcedony has a slightly lower S.G. (2.60) and a conchoidal fracture with dull luster.

Pale to colorless quartzite is commonly dyed green to imitate various green gems such as jadeite. This material also lacks the chrome mica inclusions seen in the aventurine variety and shows dye concentrations. It may show a vague band in its visible spectrum around 630 to 660 nm due to the presence of dye.

Step-by-step procedures to identify natural, synthetic, and imitation gems are taught in GIA’s Gem Identification course. Click here for information on this course and other GIA programs.

Hong Kong Jewellery & Watch Fair participants can cap off a week of show activities by attending an important diamond cut presentation given by GIA laboratory officials.

On Aug. 1, 2005, GIA formally announced the beginning of the implementation period of the Institute's new Diamond Cut Grading System. To support the transition to the new system, GIA’s GemFest Asia, to be held Friday, Sept. 23, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., will include a comprehensive review of “The GIA Diamond Cut Grading System.” The program will be held in Room 201B of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. A continental breakfast sponsored by the GIA Alumni Association will be served.

Tom Moses, the GIA Laboratory’s vice president of Identification and Research Services, Barak Green, GIA Laboratory communications manager, and Phil Yantzer, West Coast Grading Laboratory director, will present information on GIA’s new grading reports, cut software, and other support products. Further details concerning the implementation of the new system, including the reissue of reports to receive the new cut grade, will also be provided.

“We want to keep the international gem and jewelry community informed about the new GIA Diamond Cut Grading System, and how cut grade information will appear on our laboratory reports,” Moses said. “Our presentation in Hong Kong is part of our ongoing efforts to explain how the system was formed, how it will work, and how it will affect the trade.”

GIA alumni who attend GemFest Asia will receive six Carat Points. Space is limited and seats will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Please RSVP by Sept. 13 by e-mailing   events@gia.edu or giahk@netvigator.com. You can also call the Carlsbad headquarters at 760-603-4205 or GIA Hong Kong at +852-2303-0075.

June 4, 2005

From start to finish, one word echoed throughout GIA’s New York Jewelry Career Fair July 29 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center: Quality.

It was clear in the appearance and attitude of the 800 participants – GIA students, recent graduates, and those already employed – as they sought out interviews with recruiters or lined up to receive one-on-one career coaching.

It was apparent in the inspiring remarks by four notable guest speakers in the opening session: Mary Forté, CEO and president of Zale Corp.; Ofer Azrielant, CEO and chairman of Andin International; Rahul Kadakia, senior vice president and head of the jewelry department of Christie's; and Glenn Rothman, CEO of Hearts On Fire.

And it continued with the panels of industry experts who provided career advice and those who volunteered their time to give one-on-one coaching to the enthusiastic candidates.

A sampling of recruiters’ comments leaves no doubt about the caliber of candidates at Career Fair. “A vast group of talent, ready to go to work,” noted Kenneth Conn of Gem Pawnbrokers.  “Knowledgeable gemologists interested in a broad range of opportunities,” said Alex Twersky of Finesse Diamonds. “We were able to meet a number of qualified applicants in one day,” said Catherine Berey of Lux Bond & Green. And Michael Martin of Michael C. Fina Jewelers said simply, “Quality potential employees.”

GIA's 2005 New York Jewelry Career Fair was highlighted by 800 participants and 47 firms recruiting, along with panel discussions and one-on-one career coaching sessions.

Kathryn Kimmel, GIA’s vice president of Marketing and Public Relations, and co-founder of Career Fair, said this year’s event fulfilled all expectations. “We designed Career Fair to be the best possible occasion for the hundreds of job seekers as well as the dozens of companies with jobs to fill, and I think it’s clear that this year’s New York Career Fair lived up to that goal.”

She added, “I received many comments from recruiters, panelists, and coaches about the high quality of participants across the board, and how well prepared and motivated they were.”

Panel discussions provided job seekers with insights from experienced industry professionals. In How to Find Your Dream Career, Richard Aron, president of InsideOut Consulting, said it is important to understand what you can offer an employer. “Write down your skills, what you do best, and determine the company that best fits you,” he said. Another panelist, Linda Zimmer, a consultant and business coach with Strategies and Connections, stressed networking as a key to any job search. “The people who know you best sometimes distinguish you better than you can,” she pointed out.

A new panel this year was What Happens After “Your Hired!” Young professionals discussed their early experiences in maximizing their skills to achieve success. One of the panelists was Carly Gerrity, director of product development for New York designer Robert Lee Morris.

Addressing a big concern of the job seekers, Gerrity said, "When you are new in the industry, it is very difficult to meet people, or even know who to meet. I recommended to several students that they try to get more involved with GIA alumni events, as well as join the WJA (Women's Jewelry Association), to network and try to get to know people who can guide you."

Career Fair was founded by GIA and The Jewelers 24 Karat Club of Southern California. Prime sponsor for the New York Career Fair is The VNU Jewelry Group, and the JCK Publishing Group is the prime sponsor for the Carlsbad event on October 7. Job seekers can call GIA’s Jewelry Career Fair hotline at 800-421-7250, ext. 4100, visit www.gia.edu, or e-mail careerfair@gia.edu. Employers interested in recruiting can contact GIA’s Career Services office at 800-421-7250, ext. 4195, or e-mail kimberly.northup@gia.edu.

Aug. 12, 2005

In front of about 600 jewelry industry members, GIA President William E. Boyajian received the Ben Kaiser Award from the Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA) July 31 in New York City.

Given only two other times in the organization’s history, the Ben Kaiser Award honors men for their support of WJA and women in the industry.

Several other industry leaders and luminaries were also honored as members and supporters celebrated at the 22nd annual “Awards for Excellence” dinner at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

“Bill Boyajian exemplifies the visionary spirit of the Ben Kaiser Award,” said WJA President Anna Martin. “He has been a strong advocate for the advancement of women at GIA, and a longtime supporter of WJA’s goals.”

In accepting the honor, Boyajian expressed his appreciation for WJA’s contributions to the industry and the respect he has for the organization. He also thanked the women at GIA, and noted how the industry has changed since WJA’s inception in 1983.

“In 1988, I declared that our success in the 1990s would be largely the result of our ability to attract and retain great women,” Boyajian said. “Today when I speak, I say that the key to GIA