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WEBINAR PriceScope Webinar Series - Avi Levy of IGI

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On Thursday, November 18th at 1 pm CST, our Director of Education, John Pollard, will be joined by guest Avi Levy, the President of International Gemological Institute (IGI) - North America.

Join us as they discuss the current status of natural and lab diamonds, consumer consciousness and buying trends they've seen over the last few years, and share their thoughts on what direction things might take in the future.


UPDATE:
The webinar is now available on YouTube here.


Thank you to everyone who attended.
 
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Fantastic! Registered and ready!
 
Will you be asking how much LGD volume they are seeing worldwide, 2021 compared to 2019?
 
Garry H (Cut Nut) said:
Will you be asking how much LGD volume they are seeing worldwide, 2021 compared to 2019?
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@Garry H (Cut Nut) , yes. And much more that is relevant to current/ongoing discussions seen on PriceScope as it relates to developments.

As it relates to PS, I'd say anyone who may consider buying or selling pre-owned jewelry - or consignment, or estate - will want to register for this session.

For those who don't know, IGI ownership transitioned in 2019. Our guest is the new North American president, who took the reigns in NYC in 2020 - he'll have a lot of interesting info to share, including very consumer-centric info designed for the PS community.
 
Yes John,
Avi brings a totally new approach to IGI. His attention to improving systems is light years beyond the old guard.
I have had some communications with Avi and his team and I am very impressed.

I hope lots will attend and questions.
 
Perhaps a question for Avi, if it's not already slated (and there's time for it), John Pollard?
"Regardless of the color grade, will IGI start identifying and specifically notating Type IIb diamonds to remove the confusion/worry about undisclosed blue nuance/light blue, especially in the D-E-F colorless grades grown with HPHT?" This is something that no other grading lab currently does, so I feel as if it would give IGI quite the advantage for buyers seeking a lab grown diamond that was cut and polished from quality rough.
 
I would like more cut information on the reports, mainly the stars and lowers.
I would also like to know how the numbers are treated. ie: averaged and rounded to what precision?

When I think of igi my opinion is:
1: Insanely inflated retail values on some reports.
2: Graded mounted and everything approximated in huge ranges on reports at big retailers.
3: given the lower price and lack of options hold the nose and go with them for mmd.

What is igi doing to improve their perception?
 
At one time about 15 years ago IGI graded more diamonds than GIA. I wonder if that is still true?
They do have a very large business in Asia.
And their turn around time is always faster than GIA (GIA India has been a hold up recently - rumours 1. they ranout of cert paper 2. their printer broke down)
 
DejaWiz said:
Perhaps a question for Avi, if it's not already slated (and there's time for it), John Pollard?
"Regardless of the color grade, will IGI start identifying and specifically notating Type IIb diamonds to remove the confusion/worry about undisclosed blue nuance/light blue, especially in the D-E-F colorless grades grown with HPHT?" This is something that no other grading lab currently does, so I feel as if it would give IGI quite the advantage for buyers seeking a lab grown diamond that was cut and polished from quality rough.
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I have this on the list. Thanks @DejaWiz
 
Karl_K said:
I would like more cut information on the reports, mainly the stars and lowers.
I would also like to know how the numbers are treated. ie: averaged and rounded to what precision?
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I will ask about stars and lowers. Meanwhile, the rounding information provided here should be accurate. I'll use this as an opp to verify.

Karl_K said:
When I think of igi my opinion is:
1: Insanely inflated retail values on some reports.
2: Graded mounted and everything approximated in huge ranges on reports at big retailers.
3: given the lower price and lack of options hold the nose and go with them for mmd. What is igi doing to improve their perception?
Click to expand...
For #1, I can raise the checkered history of ARs and ask what the current status is. I can also ask for the rationale behind #2 as it relates to department stores (etc.).

In the macro I don't see the nose holding you imply. As of today there are 55,000+ lab grown diamonds listed on PS. GCAL graded 717. GIA graded 1518. IGI graded 53,000+ (96%) of them. They're the go-to experts in this interesting new sector - which is why I'm excited about Thursday.
 
Question: Grading consistency between labs in different countries must be a critical issue for labs. It certainly led to the demise of EGL, and US dealers are constantly banging on about GIA India. How do you maintain consistency?
 
More sociology and psychology questions but maybe they’ll give input…. Might be different answers depending on location in the world…

1. Is IGI concerned with any particular fraudulent schemes designed to take advantage of the LGD market? Not just schemes preying on consumers but also schemes preying on vendors or cutters. E.g. Fancy color diamonds.

2. If some consumers choose earth grown diamonds over LGD because those consumers perceive EGDs to be luxury items, and assuming there really is no way to tell the difference to the non-diamond-geek’s naked eye, how does IGI predict EGD consumers who care about such things will telegraph to others the fact that the diamond is earth grown?

3. How does IGI think LGDs might impact women’s spending habits now that 2 carat diamonds cost less than purses and shoes that professional women buy on a regular basis?
 
oncrutchesrightnow said:
More sociology and psychology questions but maybe they’ll give input…. Might be different answers depending on location in the world…

1. Is IGI concerned with any particular fraudulent schemes designed to take advantage of the LGD market? Not just schemes preying on consumers but also schemes preying on vendors or cutters. E.g. Fancy color diamonds.

2. If some consumers choose earth grown diamonds over LGD because those consumers perceive EGDs to be luxury items, and assuming there really is no way to tell the difference to the non-diamond-geek’s naked eye, how does IGI predict EGD consumers who care about such things will telegraph to others the fact that the diamond is earth grown?

3. How does IGI think LGDs might impact women’s spending habits now that 2 carat diamonds cost less than purses and shoes that professional women buy on a regular basis?
Click to expand...

I love these angles. The first section (after introductions) will be trends. I'll try to fit questions #2 and #3 in that section.

We're also addressing concerns/misconceptions in a next section, so will visit #1 there - or keep it in the queue for the end.

You may already be aware that IGI was the first institute to uncover large-scale fraud in 2011 - hundreds of LGD submitted as natural in Antwerp - the subject of a famous industry trade-alert.

Diamonds.net - IGI Finds Hundreds of Undisclosed Synthetic Diamonds at Labs

RAPAPORT... Several hundred man-made diamonds were sent to the International Gemological Institute ‎‎(IGI) in Antwerp and Mumbai to be certified as natural diamonds, raising concerns that a large ‎volume of these undisclosed CVD synthetic stones may have entered the market already.‎Roland...
www.diamonds.net

I recall a number of other times they've alerted the industry to capers. This might be the latest - a 6ct lab grown diamond of matching color-clarity which was also polished to match the proportions of one with an existing report.

Diamonds.net - IGI Identifies 6ct. Lab-Grown Submitted as Natural

The International Gemological Institute (IGI) has discovered a 6.18-carat synthetic diamond that fraudsters had misrepresented as natural by falsely pairing it with a mined-diamond grading report.“This is the largest lab-grown diamond ever certified by a leading gemological laboratory where the...
www.diamonds.net
 
Thanks, all, for the pre-submissions. Looking forward to the session.
 
Is there an easy way to find the login link John?
I am old and struggle with hundreds of emails and a lot of webinars links every day.
 
If you click here and enter your name + email address you should receive a link to join the webinar via email.

I realize that doesn't defeat the email-avalanche so, upon receipt, I immediately add any webinar link to my Outlook calendar with 30m warning.

P.S. What happened to older = wiser? - or should that be "why?"ser

=)
 
Just a friendly reminder that the webinar is tomorrow - register now and leave any questions you have for John or our guest, Avi Levy, below. We look forward to having you join us!

@Garry H (Cut Nut) - Everyone that has registered will receive an email with the link one hour before the event.
 
psadmin said:
Just a friendly reminder that the webinar is tomorrow - register now and leave any questions you have for John or our guest, Avi Levy, below. We look forward to having you join us!

@Garry H (Cut Nut) - Everyone that has registered will receive an email with the link one hour before the event.
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hahahaha at 5am for kangaroos and koalas
 
Excellent webinar! Thank you very much for putting this together!
 
DejaWiz said:
Excellent webinar! Thank you very much for putting this together!
Click to expand...
I agree it was beyond expectations and am looking forward to a tour video if one can be done.
Most of the time my thoughts were this guy gets it.
The weakest point was the defense of appraisals/valuation reports. I have seen them misused in person and online by retailers.
 
Oh ye of little faith!

This was not the man in the moon doing the interviewing, this was John Pollard. If you expected less, then you got much more than you were expecting.

I expected fantastic and I especially enjoyed the part when John kept badgering Avi about how he compared to some of the other labs and Avi kept saying they were on par, but would not clearly say with whom.

Well done, John.
 
Man, I had a conflict so I missed this, will there be a link for the recording? Thanks!
 
Thank you to all who attended. We had a great crowd.

Yes - We will make the session available on our YouTube channel soon.
Also - I have sent Avi the Qs we didn't get to and will post the answers here.
 
John Pollard said:
Thank you to all who attended. We had a great crowd.

Yes - We will make the session available on our YouTube channel soon.
Also - I have sent Avi the Qs we didn't get to and will post the answers here.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I would love to have been able to join live, but since it's in the middle of the day, it is tough for me, so being able to watch the video after work hours would be awesome!
 
Wink said:
I expected fantastic and I especially enjoyed the part when John kept badgering Avi about how he compared to some of the other labs and Avi kept saying they were on par, but would not clearly say with whom.

Well done, John.
Click to expand...
We sent questions that we didn't have time to ask during the session. A couple of those Qs asked for more specifics - we will post them when we receive the answers.
 
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