As I reflected on the past whirlwind week in Las Vegas at the JCK Show, I took stock of the enormity of issues, challenges, and opportunities facing the gem and jewelry industry. In the weeks to come, I will use this column to share some observations and insights with you.

One of the exceptional opportunities I had at the Las Vegas Show was to hear Keynote speaker Al Molina talk about the current “experience economy” and how it relates to his business and to jewelers everywhere.  He spoke about how jewelry is truly about emotions and how customers today must “experience” something unique in jewelry stores.  Indeed, Molina – a GIA Graduate Gemologist, expert appraiser, and highly successful jeweler – knows what he’s talking about.  And every jeweler who heard him speak will agree with his advice.

Related to this, I also thought about Las Vegas and how the city itself reflects our need to “experience.” We can “visit” Venice at the Venetian Hotel, Paris at the Paris Hotel, and a desert oasis at the Mirage Hotel. These theme hotels are specifically designed to satisfy our need and desire to visit exotic places and enjoy new experiences.

So too, gems and jewelry must reflect and satisfy human needs and desires. Indeed, GIA’s own marketing research shows that the younger generations – quickly becoming as influential as Baby Boomers in the marketplace – find the emotional value of a product even more appealing than the lure of seasonal sales or steep discounts.

These new emerging generations respond to marketing campaigns that focus on emotional and experiential values. All the more reason why the jewelry purchase must be made special. It must provide customers with a positive experience that speaks to a myriad of important personal needs. As Al Molina observed, jewelers do have a unique opportunity – to bring happiness, to provide a sense of well-being, and to fulfill the most fundamental desires of the customer.

And somewhere in the elegant simplicity of that observation may lie the secret to marketing success for the next few decades.

Welcome to an exciting new development at GIA!  Over the next several months, in this space, we plan to provide a series of short articles that will explain the basis of our cut research and discuss key issues in the evaluation of proportions for round brilliant cut (RBC) diamonds. 

The question of how a diamond’s proportions affect its appearance has become a major topic for discussion within the diamond trade and among some consumers.  Cut issues are complex.  A considerable amount of foundational information is needed to understand and evaluate the theories proposed and claims made in the diamond marketplace.  We plan to regularly post topical articles here, in our new series GIA on Diamond Cut, as a way to provide some of that necessary background information.

For the most part, these short articles will present information on diamond cut and appearance that has been taken from the fields of gemology, physics, optics, computer modeling, and diamond history.  Experienced gemologists are probably familiar with some of the material in these articles.  However, we feel that bringing this diverse information together will give our audience a better understanding of how the proportions of an RBC diamond affect various appearance factors (e.g., brilliance, fire, and scintillation).  These articles will also provide an introduction to—and background for—future technical articles on this general subject that will be produced by GIA.

GIA has been investigating the issue of diamond cut for decades.  The first part of our current research resulted in the article by Hemphill and others entitled, “Modeling the appearance of the round brilliant cut diamond: An analysis of brilliance” (Gems & Gemology, Fall 1998, pp. 158–183; available through subscription services at 760-603-4000 ext. 7142).  The main focus of that article was the analysis, by means of computer modeling, of light return (brilliance) in RBC diamonds.  Our next major research article on diamond cut will contain results of our work on “fire”—that is, the observable bursts of color—in RBC diamonds.  We hope that the articles in this series will educate and prepare readers, so that they may understand better the changes in appearance that result from variations in a diamond’s cut.

To read the first article in this series, “Cut–The Least Understood ‘C’,” click here.

We plan to update this series regularly, and such updates will be posted on the GIA Research New & Noteworthy web page, as well as in the Article Archive.  Updates will also be announced in the GIA Insider. 

We hope that you enjoy these articles, and invite any feedback or comments that you may have.  You may contact us by email at DiamondCut@gia.edu.

When identifying any gem material always consider that it might be assembled. Question: Can assembled stones be manufactured to imitate any gemstone? Answer: Yes. And some do it very well. Assembled stones can match any particular optical or physical property of a gem material. However, they will have only a few (not all) of the properties of the natural stones that they are trying to imitate.

We can categorize most assembled stones into two basic groups, Doublets and Triplets.

Doublet: Two pieces of gem material, fused together by heat or cemented with a very thin layer of colorless glue.

Triplet: A colored layer of cement joins two colorless pieces of gem material, or three pieces of gem material are joined with colorless and black cement (opal triplets).

There are many reasons why assembled stones have been used for many hundreds of years and continue to appear today. Doublets and triplets were very popular imitations of the highly prized gems ruby and emerald, at least until the advent of synthetics. One of the most common assembled stones, the garnet-and-glass doublet (Figure 1), was manufactured to make glass a better imitation. Garnet fuses easily to glass and, when cut, the greater hardness of the garnet, positioned as the crown, adds durability to the glass.  Interestingly, the color of the garnet crown has no effect on the color of the piece, even when the imitation is colorless; instead, the color of the pavilion (glass) dictates the color of the stone. Durability is also a motivation for assembled opals: The other gem materials used in these doublets and triplets add durability to the thin seam of opal that imparts the play-of-color to the piece.

Some assembled stones – such as natural sapphire and synthetic sapphire doublets and sapphire and synthetic ruby doublets – can be very convincing imitations, especially face up.  They also may be quite tricky to identify. The natural inclusions in the (usually green) sapphire in the crown may stop someone from looking further into the stone to notice the inclusions in the flame-fusion-synthetic-corundum pavilion (Figure 2). As another example, green beryl triplets (colorless beryl triplets assembled with a green cement layer to give them a green color face-up) may look like fantastic emeralds. When tested, the RI and inclusions may make you think it could be an emerald. As shown in Figure 3, however, the green-colored cement layer between the two pieces of natural colorless beryl should be detectable. In the early 1900’s, green quartz triplets known as soude (solder) emeralds were a popular emerald substitute (see, e.g., Gems & Gemology (G&G) Spring 1996, Lab Notes, pp. 44 - 45).

Imitations have a place in the gem and jewelry market, as long as they are identified correctly and properly disclosed.

To identify assembled stones, here are some basic observations:

1. Identify the different materials: You can do this by determining the refractive indexes of the materials and identifying the different inclusions in each. (Figure 1 and Figure 2). In the case of a natural sapphire and synthetic sapphire doublet, observation of the stone in profile with a point source of light behind it might reveal the two different materials. With immersion, you might also see differences in relief between the crown and pavilion.
2. Locate the separation plane: Usually, there are gas bubbles trapped in the separation plane. Immersion can help reveal the separation plane around the girdle. (Figure 3).
3. The tested properties do not indicate one material: After doing all your testing, if your findings don’t add up to a logical conclusion, consider that the stone might be assembled.

Note: Assembled stones may come in any combination of materials. Listed below are some unusual ones that have been seen in the East and West Coast offices of the Gem Trade Laboratory.

• Imitation emerald: Consisting of a colorless beryl crown and a green glass pavilion joined by a colorless cement layer. (For more information, see G&G Spring 2001, pp. 57-59.)
• Mosaic ammonite triplet: Made of tiny flakes of fossilized ammonite shell encased in plastic that is sandwiched between a glass cabochon top and a black opaque backing material. (See G&G Fall 2000, pp. 261-262.)
• An unusual assembled emerald: This assemblage consisted of a fully faceted natural beryl with a shallow pavilion over which a green plastic had been added to impart color and add apparent depth. (See G&G Summer 1997, pp. 136-137.)
• Tanzanite imitation: This was a synthetic spinel triplet. The synthetic spinel crown and pavilion layers were fused together in the middle with a cobalt- and neodymium-colored glass. (See G&G Winter 1996, pp. 289-290.)
• Imitation star ruby: An assemblage consisting of a synthetic ruby top and an unidentified back with a central engraved foil layer, which produced the asterism. (See G&G Winter 1996, pp. 280-281.)
• Imitation spinel: This assemblage was made with a synthetic spinel crown and a synthetic ruby pavilion. (See G&G Winter 1996, p. 281.)
• Imitation Paraiba tourmaline: A triplet composed of a colorless topaz crown and pavilion, held together by a greenish blue cement. (See G&G Winter 1995, pp. 272-273.)

Refer to the issues of G&G listed above and GIA’s Graduate Gemologist program for information on assembled stones and how to identify them with gemological equipment.

Recently, the West Coast GIA Gem Trade Laboratory received an eight-millimeter black faceted pearl (shown in photo) submitted for an identification report. The client had noticed unusual “color spots” that made him question whether it was indeed a natural-color Tahitian cultured pearl. Although we cannot determine a pearl’s provenance, we can determine its identity, whether it is natural or cultured, and whether or not it has been treated.

The item had an attractive black bodycolor with strong purplish pink overtones. Most of the polygonal facets had been well placed and polished. X-radiography revealed a fairly large bead nucleus, which confirmed that this was a cultured pearl. Using 10x magnification with strong overhead illumination, we observed that the nacre was actually dark brown. This color was unevenly distributed, and concentrations in some areas gave the surface a slightly spotted appearance. Magnification also revealed that on some facets the top nacre layer had been removed, exposing an almost colorless layer of nacre. Along the rims of those exposed areas was an opaque, light brown deposit of unknown identity.

The reaction to long-wave UV radiation was quite peculiar. The exposed near-colorless nacre layer fluoresced chalky yellowish white, similar in appearance to natural-color light nacre shell layers. The black nacre surface, however, did not show any fluorescence. Natural-color black nacre fluoresces either reddish brown or red to long-wave UV. The absence of this type of fluorescence in the top nacre layer proved that it had been treated. EDXRF chemical analysis revealed the presence of silver, which further substantiated our conclusion that the cultured pearl had been treated to attain its black color. As for the brown deposit around the rims of exposed areas, we could only speculate that it was a by-product of the faceting and treatment process.

Gem Trade Lab Notes contributing editor Karin Hurwit, senior research gemologist at the GIA Gem Trade Laboratory in Carlsbad, provided this report. Photo by Maha Tannous.

For more reports from the GIA Gem Trade Laboratory, see the Lab Notes section of the upcoming Summer 2001 issue of Gems & Gemology.  To obtain this issue or to subscribe, visit www.gia.edu/gandg, or contact subscriptions manager Debbie Ortiz at dortiz@gia.edu. Call toll-free 800-421-7250, ext. 7142. Outside the U.S. and Canada, call 760-603-4000, ext. 7142.

Now when you order GIA’s GEM Instruments GemoLite®, the industry’s benchmark in microscopes, you can both read about the product in the catalog and learn about Galileo Galilei, the Italian mathematician whose work with telescopes paved the way for some of today’s most superior microscopes.

That’s because the theme of GIA’s recently-released product catalog is “inventors,” and it is not only packed full of the latest in GIA GEM Instruments, but it also includes historical insights into many of today’s top gem instrument products. “It’s all about the continuation of knowledge and discovery,” said Gaston Lopez, general manager of GIA GEM Instruments. “Now when you browse through the catalog and order our products, you can learn the origin and brief history on them, as well."

In addition to the myriad of sidebars about inventors and their inventions, the 2001 Product Catalog offers the very finest equipment for work in gemology, metallurgy and jewelry. From sophisticated microscopes and diamond lamps, to loupes, and other jeweler’s accessories, including the world’s finest diamond papers, the 72-page catalog is brimming with the finest in gemological equipment.

Earlier this year, GIA GEM Instruments became one of the first in the world to receive certification of a new quality standard, ISO 9001:2000. This is the most stringent quality certification of its kind and is the latest revision of the international standard focusing on total quality management.

GIA brings together scientists, researchers, educators, and engineers who design, build, and test the products offered by GIA GEM Instruments. Products are tested, analyzed, and refined continuously. GIA GEM Instruments is so confident in its products it offers one of the most comprehensive warranty policies in the business on most of its items, said Lopez.

To receive a catalog, call GIA GEM Instruments at 800-421-8161, or fax at 760-603-4262. GIA GEM Instruments can also be found on the Internet at www.giagem.org.

GIA President Bill Boyajian discussed GIA Education, Research, and Diamond Grading in a live interview on the “Business Highlights” segment of the Inside Business Radio program broadcast June 6 on San Diego’s KCEO, AM 1000. Boyajian answered a variety of questions from the program’s host, Bob Ryan, covering GIA’s origins, creation of the international diamond grading system, diamond buying, how GIA education professionalizes the jewelery industry, and the role of GIA Research in protecting consumers.

“It was a pleasure to be a guest on this program and to talk to a large audience in our local community about what GIA can do for them, both in education, and as consumers,” said Boyajian. “ Inside Business Radio has been on the air for eight years and has an average audience of 80,000. It features presidents and CEOs from the greater San Diego area.

Ryan mentioned GIA’s Web site several times during the program, and he encouraged listeners to try the “How to Buy a Diamond” tutorial on GIA’s Web site. Ryan also announced GIA’s toll-free phone number for more information.

The Gemological Institute of America has appointed Tawfic Farah, Ph.D., as director of the Endowment for Education and Research. “This newly created position was established to help secure the future of GIA’s nonprofit programs and services,” said Linda Ellis, chief Development officer for GIA.

Keep your skills up to date, or fulfill diploma requirements by attending GIA Extension classes and seminars. In Columbus, OH, the Diamond Grading Extension class is full, but there are still seats available for the Gem Identification class June 18 – 22 and the Colored Stone Grading class June 25 – 27.

Get hands-on Jewelry Manufacturing Arts experience in Kansas City, where some spaces are still open for Extension classes in Intermediate Repair and Setting of Jewelry June 11 – 15, and for Advanced Stone Setting on June 18 – 22.

There are also still openings for Gem Identification Extension classes in Toronto June 11 – 15 with the Ellis-Riley Group, and Colored Stone Grading on June 18 – 20. Contact the Ellis-Riley Group at 416-593-7352 or, from Canada only, 800-360-0493.

To enroll, or for more information about these or GIA Extension classes in other U.S. cities, call 800-421-7250, ext. 4001, e-mail eduinfo@gia.edu or visit GIA’s Web site, www.gia.edu, and click on Education.