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Scenes from GIA Symposium 2006

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JohnQuixote

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Congratulations to the Gemological Institute of America for the tremendous planning and effort that went into making their 4th International Gemological Symposium a success.

“Navigating the Challenges Ahead” was the theme of the conference, which took place August 27-29 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel on the San Diego CA waterfront. Over 1000 attendees, prominent guests, a host of trade icons and representatives of the industry’s most notable business and scientific organizations provided three days of compelling presentations, speeches and discussions. Notable speakers from outside the industry included former secretary of state Madeline Albright and author Deepak Chopra.

First Class

The Manchester Grand Hyatt was an ideal site for the conference. The hotel is beautiful and easily accessible to the San Diego airport.

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Hyatt Hotels Photo

Upon registration, Symposium guests received an attractive carry-all, detailed schedules and information. Each evening a new ‘care package’ was left in attendees’ rooms with notes about the following day as well as attractively packaged sponsor information.

Meals, libations and snacks were provided to all attendees. Pleasantly, you could find cappuccino, espresso, coffee, juice and other starter-uppers served in many different places at appropriate times. Lines at the cappucino stations were constant, but the abundance of stations and built-in time between sessions provided everyone with the opportunity to get their 'addiction' of choice
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and a nice atmosphere for conversation. Kiosks with internet-enabled computers in the registration area allowed attendees the opportunity to check email between sessions.

Enlightening

With several ballrooms adjacent to a large registration area and suitable large spaces only an escalator ride away, “Navigating the Challenges Ahead” was simple navigation for attendees wishing to move easily from one session to the next.

Special kudos to GIA for inclusive formatting that allowed time for questions and answers in most sessions and cleverly integrated audience interaction in several of the most hotly debated topics. Panel members were well-prepared, well-spoken and receptive, often staying after their sessions to field private inquiries.
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Consumer Confidence Panel

Set apart from the main ballroom area, the large Poster Presentation room included small booth space for nearly 100 separate entities. Poster presenters were scheduled to be in their spaces at specific times to facilitate discussion about their displays. It was an ideal setting for one on one interaction.

News_GIA-Symposium_Poster_Holloway.jpg

Lab Peer Review Area

Entertaining

GIA went out of their way to make each evening memorable. The 75th Diamond Anniversary Gala, the Sunset Soiree and the Italian Evening were memorable and enjoyable, featuring everything from live music and fireworks to synchronized swimming and a dazzling Italian jewelry fashion show, complete with runway models.
News_GIA-Symposium_Entertain.jpg


Congratulations

The last GIA Symposium was held in 1999. It will be several years before another is coordinated. The planning and effort that goes into such an undertaking is considerable. GIA, the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the many sponsors, employees, workers and support groups who worked tirelessly to bring an international audience and presenters together for three days of extremely useful content are to be thanked. Special gratitude to Co-Chairs Kathryn Kimmel and Alice Keller, as well as Ralph Destino, Donna Baker and the GIA Board for making this landmark event possible.
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JohnQuixote

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I have more notes and photos to come. I hope my peers that were in attendance will add their thoughts and observations.

Just a FYI for Pricescopers: Some of the sessions, including 'The Great Internet Debate' were closed-door sessions, and we agreed not to give specifics about those discussions. However, I think it is reasonable to say that the internet marketplace is only gaining momentum in the trade. This is evident by the numerous times the ability to reach consumers and educate via the internet was brought up (in a positive way) in many sessions.
 

JohnQuixote

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Former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright’s spoke at the opening session on Sunday. Her address was titled “Opportunities and Danger, the World in 2006.” It covered a range of topics from American foreign policy to the issue of conflict diamonds.

Stating that diamonds are not responsible for what has happened in Sierra Leone, Albright was fast to remind Symposium attendees that companies must take social responsibility in the countries in which they operate. This was a theme repeated by many symposium-goers over the 3 day event.

Much of Albright''s speech focused on the Middle East, and Iraq in particular. Calling Iraq what could historically be "America''s greatest foreign policy distater," she recommended the book Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks, which she believes will allow readers to better understand today''s events. Though she does not believe in a strict deadline for removal, it''s Albright’s contention that America''s military in Iraq should be brought home.

On the subject of jewelry, Albright expressed a love for brooches and gratitude to the GIA: "I really have no sin except for buying jewelry, and I am grateful to GIA for showing me it''s not a sin but a sign of excellent character." She shared that as Secretary of State she would wear her brooches for specific occasions. For patriotism she would wear an Eagle. For peace she would wear a dove. When Iraq''s former leaders called her a snake she wore a snake brooch to meet with Iraqi representatives, and after the fall of Saddam Hussein she found a new brooch; a snake with a dagger through it.

After her speech she was presented with a sun-shaped brooch by session sponsor Steinmetz, upon which she announced "This is much better than the dentist''s convention."

Her session was extremely well received.

News_GIA_Albright.jpg

Photograph by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
 

JohnQuixote

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On Sunday evening GIA celebrated its 75th anniversary. Symposium-goers were shuttled to the GIA World Headquarters and Robert Mouawad Campus in Carlsbad for the event.

News_GIA_75_Campus.jpg


Singer Chris Isaak entertained the crowd of over 1000. Attendees were able to take in rare gems from the GIA's museum exhibition and the evening featured an extraordinary fireworks display.
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Carlsbad has served as the organization's headquarters since 1997. GIA's Ralph Destino (then-president of Cartier) was serving on GIA's board at the time and helped find the location. GIA has 13 worldwide facilities and the Carlsbad campus, spread over 30 acres, is home-base to approximately 70% of 1100 total employees. It is also a regular destination for GIA's average of 240 students involved in gemology, jewelry, business and design courses.

News_GIA_75_Fireworks2.jpg


Tours of the campus and museum facilities may be arranged in advance by contacting GIA.
 

JohnQuixote

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Diamonds: Mapping the Future

One of the symposium sessions featured six gentlemen who provided insight on the future of of the diamond marketplace. Eli Haas of ENH International moderated the session. Elliot Tannenbaum of Leo Schachter spoke on marketing and manufacturing challenges ahead. Glenn Rothman of Hearts On Fire spoke about the positives of branding. Martin Irving and Lawrence Ma discussed Canada and China respectively and Martin Rapaport gave a summary of prior discussion and his insight regarding the future.

News_GIA-Symposium_Panel-Future.jpg


Rothman’s message was to those developing a brand. He encouraged sellers to simply find their own voice and then stick with it. Consistency was reinforced as paramount, since consumers come to identify a set of paradigms and that set of paradigms is their expectation for the brand. A brand can be a product, a store or a name. Rothman encouraged those with proven brands to stand apart by amplifying their special qualities. He offered that simple courtesies and considerations for customers (such as replacing a lost stone for no charge) can be great value-adds to enhance brand distinction and public perception. He encouraged branders not to get sidetracked; to be constant, consistent and heed their own voices in order to stay with the concept that makes the brand identifiable and successful.

Martin Irving of Canada noted that his country is poised to become one of the world’s strongest future suppliers. Today Canada supplies 15% (by value) of rough diamonds to the trade. The Northwest Territories has been Canada’s bread and butter, but in Saskatchewan a mining operation is about to be created atop the world’s largest existing diamondiferous kimberlite field and more mining operations are in scouting and planning at this time than currently exist. By 2016 Canada’s contribution to the world supply is estimated to be considerably more significant.

Lawrence Ma addressed China’s role. It is becoming a widespread belief that his nation may soon be driving the diamond market. There are multiple cities of over 10 million people and a concentrated population center of over 30 million. The diamond tradition for engagement rings is escalating rapidly in China. Last May 1-7 (golden week) there were over 30,000 weddings in Shanghai alone. With regard to trade, VAT has been reduced from 17% - 4% for finished goods, opening supply lines for China’s vast population. Even more significant is the fact that there is no VAT on rough brought into China: There are currently 5000 processing units, 200,000 diamond cutters and some 2 million people involved in the Chinese diamond/jewelry manufacturing industry. Increasing demand from the Chinese population for diamonds is already changing the diamond marketplace, with much more significant growth anticipated.

Martin Rapaport, in classic fashion, reiterated the escalating Chinese demand as paramount, citing no shortage of future demand and maintaining that branding will be irrelevant in some cases. His message touched on the same economic and ethical issues introduced in his JCK Las Vegas address. He provided an update on the issue of conflict diamonds and the Rapaport Group's progress towards creating fair and free markets in troubled areas via a Fair Trade Diamond and Jewelry Association.
 

strmrdr

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Where is the picture of Garry and Jon having a duel in the parking lot?
IS vs LS at 10 paces! :}
 

Regular Guy

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Date: 9/1/2006 11:58:55 AM
Author:JohnQuixote



First Class

The Manchester Grand Hyatt was an ideal site for the conference. The hotel is beautiful and easily accessible to the San Diego airport.
..uuumm...is that ideal, or excellent site for the conference.

Looking forward to reading this later...but I''d been missing seeing something. Thanks, John, for taking the time to report in.
 

JohnQuixote

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Date: 9/1/2006 2:14:57 PM
Author: strmrdr
Where is the picture of Garry and Jon having a duel in the parking lot?
IS vs LS at 10 paces! :}
Sorry Strm. All was peaceful. Maybe it was the presence of Deepak Chopra.

I did hear rumors about trouble with 'Hyatt' Earp & 'Diamond Doc' Holliday at the GIA corral. Something about a shooting...or photo shoot (?)

That was all before Deepak arrived, and not a moment too soon.
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JohnQuixote

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Date: 9/1/2006 2:35:19 PM
Author: Regular Guy


Date: 9/1/2006 11:58:55 AM
Author:JohnQuixote

First Class

The Manchester Grand Hyatt was an ideal site for the conference. The hotel is beautiful and easily accessible to the San Diego airport.
..uuumm...is that ideal, or excellent site for the conference.

Looking forward to reading this later...but I''d been missing seeing something. Thanks, John, for taking the time to report in.
Touche'' Ira. It was Ex, but in the spirit of our hosts I''m rounding up to Ideal.
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JohnQuixote

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The Changing Tides in Distribution Channels

On Tuesday morning Nancy Brewer, president of Nancy B & Co moderated a symposium panel consisting of Catherine Coquillard from QVC, Grag Fant from eBay, Beryl Raff of JC Penney and Ofer Azrielant of Jewelry.com. Discussion centered around new philosophies and observations now that manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and e-tailers are all able to reach customers via the internet.

Catherine Coquillard of QVC told the audience that QVC, which reaches approximately 140 million homes worldwide, is not a foe to retailers. She offered that for every 5000 orders placed there are 1.5 million people watching during that portion of an hour who do not order anything. She says those people are window shopping, and have the potential to be driven to stores for similar products. Ms. Coquillard observed that QVC is combining sales and pop culture because pop culture and celebrities dictate fashion.

Beryl Raff of JC Penney encouraged people not to view the internet as new medium, but rather as a retail innovation which has increased shopping transparency for all consumers. She warned retailers that the internet is here to stay, predicting 71% of all households online by 2010. Raff further advised that 80% of consumers under the age of 35 are already online today. With only 3.5% of market share, the jewelry market is one of the late online bloomers with a very high future ceiling (estimates at the Symposium varied from 3.5 - 5.5%).

Raff cited the '3 Rs' of online consumer use as "Research, research and research." She said the normal consumer journey entails pre-shopping, narrowing product options, selecting stores to visit, comparing prices and then, possibly, making the purchase online - though that result is not always the intent. She showed a video presentation featuring a couple who used 'The Knot' as a jumping-off place for research. From there they discovered Blue Nile, weddingring.com, the Diamond Exchange and Dallas Gold & Silver online. The couple said "We learned the color cut clarity thing, got an idea of price range and found what we were looking for." Raff says, 27% of all retail sales are currently influenced by websites and 55% of consumers have cross-channel shopped.

In developing a website Raff encouraged retailers to advertise their level of expertise and authority (this was reinforced by many of the presenters). She closed her presentation, saying "The bottom line is that if you are a retail jeweler, a jewelry supplier or a jewelry manufacturer you need an online presence. If you can’t beat ‘em maybe you can join ‘em."

Ofer Azrielant of Jewelry.com came to America in 1981. He said he got the ‘lay of the land’ and saw that independents made up the largest share of market. He watched in the mid 1980s as CVN, QVC and HSN started up. In the 1990s a number of online stores started up and in 2000 he launched the company. Azrielant believes the internet is more about "facilitating commerce than transacting commerce." His figures were similar to Raff's; jewelry sales are up to 3.5% in 2005 (figures vary), grown from 1.4% in 2000. For every $1 spent online he said another $6 are spent offline that are influenced by the internet and anticipates that by 2010 almost half of all retail sales will be influenced one way or the other by the internet.

He attributed Jewlery.com's siccess to education, knowing celebrity fashion trends, and his partnership with national mall retailers (JCP, Zales, Sears, etc.). For instance, at Jewelry.com if you ID a piece you can either go to the Zales store and buy it or just buy it from the sales page. He highlighted the effectiveness of 'Idea Branding,' which makes use of timely slogans. For instance, 'May is Gold Month,' or 'October is RHR Month.' Using the RHR campaign as an example he said that Idea Branding via celebrity endorsements and in-store advertising with partner stores increased sales among participating retailers from 16-53% and consumer awareness grew from 40-70%. With regard to competition, Azrielant said that it should not be a battle between online and offline. He said the collective goal should be to harness the magic of the internet to increase jewelry market share within the luxury world.

Azrielant was asked several questions at the end of the session. Among them; 'how does Jewelry.com make money if selling others' jewelry?' He said his company benefits from peripheral sales. Another question concerned Google rankings, where Jewelry.com used to be in first or second place but has now vanished. Azrielant said he was not aware of that statistic and said most of his current traffic does not come from google, but through other retailers.

Greg Fant of eBay discussed that company's progression. Beginning in the US in 1995, the company offered simple items at first and expanded categories and coverage of the years, acquiring PayPal and Skype as sister companies. Now eBay is in 24 countries and over 1.5 million sellers worldwide use the platform as their primary or secondary source of income. Fant said eBay is the #1 jewelry site in terms of unique visitors and page views. 2 watches sell each minute and a diamond ring sells every 2 minutes.

The majority of questions at the session's end were addressed to Fant and concerned misrepresentation of products, fraud and usage issues with eBay. Noted appraiser Richard Drucker stated that his company appraises many online-purchased items with great success but has constant problems with misrepresented eBay-purchased jewelry. Other attendees added concerns about such misrepresentation and expressed frustration as entrepreneurs on the site trying to find a live person at eBay to assist them. There was an additional question about eBay drop-off stores. Fant said these drop-off stores are not eBay sanctioned; people have just started 'doing it.' Regarding misrepresentation, he said the answer is active policing. To that end, eBay is planning to increase the investment in such policing, will be putting more resources into it and focusing on specific categories like jewelry. He admitted it is an area eBay needs to learn more about.
 

canuk-gal

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HI:

OKOK; This was no dental convention: M. Albright, C. Issac, Fireworks/Hyatt, D. Chopra? What could be decided other than what (vintage) to drink?

In all seriousness, how was the poster presentation/research proposal received? Lots of interaction--positive traffic and comments? What did you "sense" from the outcome?

cheers--Sharon
 

JohnQuixote

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Date: 9/1/2006 9:01:35 PM
Author: canuk-gal
HI:

OKOK; This was no dental convention: M. Albright, C. Issac, Fireworks/Hyatt, D. Chopra? What could be decided other than what (vintage) to drink?

In all seriousness, how was the poster presentation/research proposal received? Lots of interaction--positive traffic and comments? What did you 'sense' from the outcome?

cheers--Sharon
Hi Sharon. I'm preparing a bit about the Poster Session right now and have a few other things I can share as well, time permitting. I'm dragging a bit this week. What I miss I hope my esteemed colleagues volunteer. I'll let Garry address the DGL Peer Review proposal, since he was manning the booth whilst others were being Chopra'd or listening to complaints about eBay. More to come.

What were your impressions about the observations made in the Mapping the Future and Changing Distribution Channels discussions? I think much of the content reflected subject matter discussed on PS - but some important peripheral discussion not touched on much here was introduced as well (China specifically). Interested in your thoughts - and those of others.
 

Rhino

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Hey John,

Thanks for putting this thread together. It was great to see and talk with you during the trip. I have some shots to share too which I''m in the process of resizing. I''m still adjusting to the NY timezone as we just got in late last night. What a heluva show eh?
 

Garry H (Cut Nut)

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Yes excellent wrap up John - I can just copy and paste it ( with attribution of course
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) for my staff
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Re the diamond grading peer review - the CEO of the Israel EGL dropped by - he talked a lot, and suggested that he had about 100 copies of GIA certs where they were more strict - I asked him to get his staff to fax them over and we would put them on display for discussion. Result - zippo.

Mybe that is all we need to have done? Maybe the message has been delivered - and maybe they do have examples of grading differences the other way around? In that case then the idea should be an incentive for ISO standardization etc - a project attempted and failedd during the 1990''s
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/diamond-grading-labs-%E2%80%93-a-plan-for-peer-review.49802/= here is a link to discussion and the journal article
 

JohnQuixote

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Date: 9/1/2006 10:14:36 PM
Author: Rhino

Hey John,

Thanks for putting this thread together. It was great to see and talk with you during the trip. I have some shots to share too which I''m in the process of resizing. I''m still adjusting to the NY timezone as we just got in late last night. What a heluva show eh?
You''re welcome - and likewise, Rhino. I''ll enjoy seeing the photos you took with your souped up camera. I have a shot of you preparing for the Internet Debate. Which other presentations were you able to see?
 

JohnQuixote

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Date: 9/2/2006 12:07:08 AM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)

Yes excellent wrap up John - I can just copy and paste it ( with attribution of course
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) for my staff
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Thanks for telling me. It's cool knowing when they flush it - it'll swirl the opposite way from when someone flushes something I wrote here in the states.
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Re the diamond grading peer review - the CEO of the Israel EGL dropped by - he talked a lot, and suggested that he had about 100 copies of GIA certs where they were more strict - I asked him to get his staff to fax them over and we would put them on display for discussion. Result - zippo.

Mybe that is all we need to have done? Maybe the message has been delivered - and maybe they do have examples of grading differences the other way around? In that case then the idea should be an incentive for ISO standardization etc - a project attempted and failedd during the 1990's
Not sure of that Garry. It's hard to deliver messages proposing change (even if altruistic) when the organizations are solvent as-is.

Considering that - it was refreshing to meet Marc Brauner from Hong Kong. I don't know how much interaction you had with him, but I'm inclined to think he would be receptive.
 

JohnQuixote

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The GIA Symposium “Poster Session” was held on the Hyatt’s lower level. Nearly 100 spaces hosted experts willing to interact with symposium attendees one on one. Colored stones, treatments, analysis, geology, education, marketing, jewelry design and other topics had representation. Poster presenters were on hand at specified times to discuss their displays. I snapped photos of 5 displays I thought I’d share with PS.
 

JohnQuixote

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Jason Quick of AGS laboratories was the host in a space featuring detailed analysis of components of the AGS performance-based cut grading system.

News_GIA-Symposium_Poster_AGS.jpg
 

JohnQuixote

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One of Jason’s graphics was examples of different components incorporated into (or being researched for) AGSL’s light performance metric: Grayscale 30 and 40, ASET 30 and 40, forward and reverse fire maps, refraction/virtual facet modeling and an angular spectrum diagram.

News_GIA-Symposium_Poster_AGS1.jpg
 

JohnQuixote

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In the ‘How cool is that!?’ category, this has topped my list for some time.

I’ve discussed VLVF (Very Large Very Fine) matrices in other threads. In brief, the 2 large ‘modern art’ seeming murals are actually mosaics, each composed of 62,500 individual ASET (L) or fire map (R) images. The zoomed relief shows a rectangle of individual images near Tolkowsky’s diamond. In addition to being technically interesting these matrices are beautiful and colorful and have been nicknamed ‘The DNA of diamond design.’ In my opinion they are more aesthetically pleasing than analytically meaningful. In fact, if AGS has not already considered reproduction of these mosaics on an art-quality level I suggest they should. They’d have at least 1 customer.

Check that. 3 customers (I’m counting Wink twice since he’ll want them for home AND office).


News_GIA-Symposium_Poster_AGS2.jpg
 

JohnQuixote

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Nikolai Kouznetsov’s space featured information on the demantoid, the most brilliant variety of green garnet. It is the “chromium-green variety of androdite discovered in the Central Ural mountains of Russia in the mid 19th century.” It's hardness is almost 7, refractive index is 1.89 and dispersion is .057 (diamond is .044). Many people are not aware of the demantoid, which is one of the most brilliant gemstones in the world - and quite affordable, ladies & gents.

News_GIA-Symposium_Poster_Demantoid2.jpg
 

JohnQuixote

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Sergey Sivovolenko’s space - we all know him as Serg - was a reiteration of the presentation he and Yuri Shelementiev gave for the GRC on “Fancy-Color Diamonds: Better Color Appearance by Optimizing Cut.” In addition to the process of rough planning, they showed several configurations (actual and modeled in DiamCalc) under different illumination conditions to demonstrate brightness, saturation and contrast appearances.

News_GIA-Symposium_Poster_DiamCalc.jpg
 

JohnQuixote

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GIA laboratories’ Al Gilbertson is one of the pioneers of modern reflector technology, and among the first to develop multi-colored analysis. In addition to discussing aspects of the new GIA cut grading system he hosted a fantastic space on “The Evolution of the American Round Brilliant Diamond.” The information is to be published and I believe I’m on safe ground stating that any diamond purist/enthusiast will want a copy.

News_GIA-Symposium_Poster_GIA.jpg
 

JohnQuixote

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Another pioneer of reflector technology, the gent who created Ideal-Scope and popularized it via the internet, was not advertising his product. Instead, Garry Holloway’s space proposed a plan for peer review of diamond grading labs, maintaining that unification of standards, particularly among softer labs, could improve reputability and consumer confidence in the industry.

News_GIA-Symposium_Poster_Holloway.jpg
 

kenny

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Wow
Thanks John
What a great write up. (Where do you find the time?)

And Garry, once again you''ve zoomed in on something that will raise the bar for diamond customers worldwide.
I wish ethics was as important as money is to these soft labs, and good point on solvency John.
 

JohnQuixote

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More notes.

I was able to see Sergey Sivovolenko and Yuri Shelementiev give their presentation for the Gemological Research Conference which took place prior to the Symposium.

Their topic was "Fancy-Color Diamonds: Better Color Appearance by Optimizing Cut."


News_GIA-GRC_Yuri-Shelementiev.jpg

Yuri Shelementiev

Yuri was the primary speaker. He discussed the premise that for every particular rough diamond piece there are restricted choices of possible shapes that can be used to obtain the fancy color grade, depending on size and spectrum. The process for the best balance of yield and color involves scanning rough and recording its absorption through pairs of parallel windows. Prospective shapes are then considered using average light path and photorealistic images, generated in special software called DiamCalc, produced by OctoNus. These images allow the user to see the level of brightness, saturation and contrast in different lighting conditions, allowing optimization of the subject rough.

News_GIA-GRC_Sergey-Sivovolenko.jpg

Sergey Sivovolenko

Both Sergey and Yuri emphasize that it is advisable to use several controlled lighting conditions when designing and optimizing new cuts. In addition to the process of rough planning, they showed different configurations (actual and modeled) under magna colorscope illumination and without illumination to demonstrate brightness, saturation and contrast levels. Five shapes were considered; round, princess, radiant, oval and triangle, and modeled in special edition of DiamCalc geared for cut optimization which uses a specialized color metric for brightness, chroma & saturation.
 

JohnQuixote

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Date: 9/3/2006 12:30:29 AM
Author: kenny
Wow
Thanks John
What a great write up. (Where do you find the time?)

And Garry, once again you''ve zoomed in on something that will raise the bar for diamond customers worldwide.
I wish ethics was as important as money is to these soft labs, and good point on solvency John.
I''m putting the notes together as I have a moment here and there. Thanks for the comment Kenny - I appreciate it.
 

belle

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great write up sir john!
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we can always count on you to keep us up to date with what's going on in the industry and it is much appreciated!
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thanks for taking the time to gather this info and post.

was martin rapaport as talkative on 'mapping the future' as he was in garry's interview?
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Rhino

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Ok... here are some shots I took while at Symposium.

This first one is of PS''s own John P (far right), Jim Caudill director of AGS Advanced Instruments Division and moi. Jim is also the inventor of the ASET and is one of the coolest dudes in the industry.
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Rhino

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This next one is at the GIA presentation booth where they have all their instruments setup. From left to right: Robin & Howard from GIA, me and Avi who is the OGI rep. The new GIA FacetScan non contact measuring device uses a new high definition camera Howard was demonstrating to me and explaining many future uses of and I have to tell ya'll ... Avi gave me new updated software for our OGI while I was at the show. I'm still working through some glitches in the software but I was comparing the models produced from the OGI scanner we have here and the models, at least on stones I have scanned so far... dare I say it ... look as sharp as a Helium model with regards to meet point faceting. I still want to test more stones on it as I've had limited time to experiment since I've been back. On my machine it still has probs resolving painted facets due to the low contrast in angles from upper halves to mains but on all other stones the models look outstanding. I hope to get hold of hte new FacetScan so I can give a thorough test and review of it. Once I find some time I'll show some comparisons between the model making between the 3 scanners.

symposium12.JPG
 
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