AGS Conclave - Atlanta, GA

[dimonbob]

American Gem Society Conclave – 31 Mar to 3 Apr 2004

It was my pleasure to attend the AGS Conclave again this year in Atlanta, Georgia. Attendees were AGS jewelers throughout the United States and Canada. As usual there were many educational speakers to educate the AGS jeweler.

Many of the speakers included GIA instructors, Peter Yantzer (Dir of the AGS Labs), Gabi Tolkowsky, John Koivula (author), Bill Boyajian (Dir of GIA), Maurice Templesman of Lazare Kaplan, Martin Rapoport and many other big names in the jewelry industry. There were three promotional speakers; Howard Putnam (CEO of SW Airlines), Michael Fortino with a presentation about the future of the internet, and Michael Gerber a visionary on small business revolution.



As usual when you attend a smorgasbord, you want to eat it all but not enough room. In this case there were many many educational sessions but there is only enough time to attend what each person considers important to them.

Peter Yantzer and Mark Moeller (an AGS jeweler in Minnesota) gave a presentation with pictures about the study of fancy cut diamonds. This is an ongoing study that the AGS Labs has been working on for a few years. Peter has been getting help from Sergey of the MSU (Moscow State University). As we all have seen Sergey has some great knowledge of diamond cut that we here on Pricescope have had the pleasure of reading. Mark also talked about the internet diamond sales vs the AGS jeweler. He was correct in saying that if the retailer is educated about diamonds and other gems the internet impact will be far less. The internet is taking sales from the stores with only clerks behind the counter with next to no knowledge about diamonds.

Gabi Tolkowsky is a relative of the Mr. Tolkowsky that first wrote the standards that we now know as the AGS Ideal cut. He is artist at cutting diamonds and has come up with many different diamond cuts. He gave a slide show that would make your mouth drool.

Many of the top manufacturers were there showing their wares, pumping hands, and drumming up business. There were booths for the AGS, AGTA, GIA, Isee2, and all the magazines, Jewelers Mutual, GemVision and others. It was great.

This was my 20th AGS Conclave and I got to see and talk with many of my AGS friends.

Conclave is always a great learning experience that is invaluable to someone with an open mind about the changing world of the jewelry industry.

Here are some pictures …………………..

 

[dimonbob]

This picture shows contrast in diamonds. The first one on the left shows a diamond with all brilliance and almost no contrast…not very interesting. The second one shows contrast but centered near the center which makes the diamond a “poor” cut. The one on the right shows the contrast scattered around the diamond. You can tell by the arrows that it is a very well cut diamond.

 

[dimonbob]

This picture speaks for itself. It is the AGS Labs booth. They had people there to answer questions about the Labs services. They had many handouts (no diamonds). Peter Yantzer, the Director, also was there to help his staff man the booth and answer questions.

 

[dimonbob]

On the screen it says “The Internet – Friend or Foe?” Of course I had to sit in on this session. Mostly what they tried to impart to the attendees was to also be on the internet. It is an inexpensive way of advertising and you can separate yourself from other jewelers.