Grading

[oldminer]

http://www.imageminc.com/about/DavidAtlas.html

Here is a link to a site where automated diamond grading is becoming a reality for 2004. I hope to offer this service to the trade and the public next year.

 

[pricescope]

Thank you for the link, David.

I'm anxious to see how it works. Can you please let us know when one can try it?

 

[oldminer]

I will inform people, as the time for demonstrations to important potential users has already commenced. It is still very carefully guarded and not open for general examination. No doubt, this will all change in the coming months. There is an Imagem contact that will make private arrangements that they deem proper.

 

[flyingharp]

Hmmm... this is interesting. Does this mean the end of human "grading" as we know it? I can see this will mean a consistent standard across the board if this machine is implemented, but I thought the consensus was(from answers to a previous post on eye vs calorimeter) that, certainly in terms of grading colour, the experienced eye was far better. It will be interesting to see how things develop as far as grading VS and better on this machine goes.

Dave, this new machine sounds like an all-in-one calorimeter, binocular microscope and sarin. (Does it make tea?) Is this to complement the present grading systems or will it one day do away with them?

Don't suppose this will affect appraisers, 'cos at the end of the day you still need someone's experienced eye to determine value, but I suppose a machine like this will ease the workload somewhat?

Very curious about this new development...

 

[oldminer]

Everyone who works in the diamond business will be curious about this. How the business wil e affected by more reliable and simply more information remains to be seen. There will still be gemologists and appraisers, but how they approach the subject may well change over the coming months and years. Change is not something to be feared, but it may create issues that are not even imagined at this time.

It will be new and exciting to those who have a interest in the subject.

 

[Rank Amateur]

Any insight as to how they "measure" brilliance, intensity, and scintillation? And why not "fire"?

 

[oldminer]

Well, it is measured, but "insight", no. I am no scientist and the device is very scientific. It is proprietary information as to how the collection of data is done and how it is returned to the users. The big thing in my mind is the degree of repeatability and reliability of this data. Without credible and repeatable results there is little useful information and "information" is the kkey to this process.

From my perspective, the results are more than compatible with visual reality and with a gemologist's approach to proving data that means something to dealers and consumers. These things have been verified by statistically accurate testing, so it is not just my guesswork.

I believe consumers will appreciate the data on light return that this new technology will give them. There will be some issues on terminology and some new things to get used to. We'll accomodate to them, in time.

 

[valeria101]

Has this been attempted before? There seem to be a few kinds of grading machines out churning out stats of color, clarity and cut... I am not very familiar with their story, so I would really appreciate a slight hint where to get some info on such issues, if it is not too much to ask. Of course, as answer to the effect of 'there is no one good record available' would be equally useful.

Thank you very much!

 

[oldminer]

There have been past and mostly unsuccessful attempts at doing each component of what the new Imagem product will do as a single unit. Technology and investigative effort has been put to the test here and the development has been very slow, careful and thorough. This is directly opposite to the majority of products jewelers and gemologists get which seem to work, but have problems....Many of these problems are because the effort was poorly financed and the ruch to market a device superceded the need to be sure it was 100% ready.

We do have products in common use that work pretty well for what diamond dealers ask of them, but they are not really as accurate as they could be. We just make the best use of them and accept a little innaccuracy.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

We are all very interested in the events onfolding.

I have a few questions already - like the idea of grading inclusions under immersion?
The patent seems to cover every part of diamond grading and it seems amazing that it has been accepted, but I do not know a lot about these things.

Certainly it is an exhaustive work thet Mr Aggarwal has conducted.

I might add that Dave himself has been involved as a consultant and has managed to keep very tight lipped about it for years

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F6020954

 

[Rhino]

Hi Dave,

If it's possible I'd love to come and run some stones under it whose performance I already know and see how the machine compares to other technologies I am familiar with. Let me know when I can do this... perhaps after the holiday season (and my vacation

).

Peace
Rhino

 

[sojkara]

have you ever heard of Gem-Vid, which was invented by Gary Smith, the appraiser and gem expert in Pennsylvania? it was in JCK and at a NY jewelry show as well. how is this ImaGem different or did they or you copy it?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

----------------
On 1/29/2004 11:20:37 PM sojkara wrote:

have you ever heard of Gem-Vid, which was invented by Gary Smith, the appraiser and gem expert in Pennsylvania? it was in JCK and at a NY jewelry show as well. how is this ImaGem different or did they or you copy it? ----------------

Can not find much with a google search - sound recodrding studio and court case testimonial ???

Would love to know more.

 

[mdx]

This instrument certainly looks interesting and hopefully it will turn out to be an effective gemological tool. I assume the patent link that Garry (cutnut) posted is this device

While it is not possible to make any assumptions from the basic information included in the abstract (preamble) to the patent, I am a bit concerned about the suggestion that the device will analyze pixel data from an imaging device. I fear if this is the case it may have some acceptance problems from the industry. Anyway lets wait and see; hopefully it’s the mother of all tools.
Johan