North Carolina Chapter: Exotic Gems with Renée Newman, GIA GG

Gems that were once only bought by collectors are becoming increasingly popular in jewelry stores and designer boutiques. New finds have made these non-traditional gems more available, and retailers are using the stones to set themselves apart from their competition by creating unusual items to wear and give as gifts. This increasing interest in exotic gems prompted author Renée Newman to write five books on them – Exotic Gems: Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4  and Rare Gemstones.  Her presentation will help you evaluate the quality of unusual gem materials and show you how they can be used to create distinctive jewelry. The session will include photo examples and information on unique jewelry designs with non-traditional gems, value factors that can be more important than color, care tips and appropriate setting styles for fragile gems, and pricing including the highest-priced non-traditional gems and geographic sources.

Renée Newman, GG, learned to appreciate fine gemstones when she directed tours to Asia and South America in the early 1980's. Her passengers wanted details on how to evaluate the quality of the gems they were exposed to, so she signed up for courses on colored stones at GIA. She was so impressed with it that she decided to take the other courses required to become a GIA Graduate Gemologist. Newman noticed that the more information she gave her passengers, the more they were willing to spend on gems.

After obtaining her GG, she got a job as a gemologist at a wholesale firm in downtown Los Angeles. Armed with trade experience and gemological credentials, Newman decided to create books that showed readers how to visually evaluate the quality of gems. Her first book, the Diamond Ring Buying Guide, was published in 1989. Since that time, she has written twelve more books on gems and jewelry.  Newman’s books are used worldwide as buying guides, sales-training tools, gemology course texts and references for jewelers, dealers and appraisers. Her latest books have focused on unusual gem materials such as apatite, fire agate, fluorite, kyanite, matrix opal, multicolor and Paraiba tourmaline, tanzanite, rhodochrosite, rhodonite and abalone pearls. Her presentation will help you evaluate the quality of unusual gem materials and show you how they can be used to create distinctive jewelry.

All are welcome to attend; whether you're a GIA graduate, student, industry associate, hobbyist or guest. Please share this invitation with any others you feel would be interested.