Category Archives: gemstone investment

Colored Diamonds; Really The Blues Part II

by Richard W. Wise, G.G.

Fancy diamonds are back in the news, another auction record broken This time its blues. At Bonhams of London, a 5.30-carat fancy deep-blue diamond set a world auction record for price per carat when it sold for approximately $7.3 million, or $1.8 million per carat bettering the previous record of 1.68 million per carat. I recall a 5+ carat Fancy Deep blue emerald cut I viewed at the Las Vegas show some five years ago with an askiing price of 1 million per carat, quite a nice appreciation.

Some might argue that auction prices do not reflect actual market prices, but in the case of fancy colored diamonds and colored gems such as important ruby and sapphire, auction prices set the market. This is a pattern that began to emerge in the 1990s and accelerated in the early 2000s as retail buyers became a larger factor in the auction market. Online auctions also have helped spread the word about important gem sales and in many cases, auction prices actually lead the way.

Update on The Wittelsbach:

Another famous blue diamond is The Wittelsbach, the largest blue diamond ever sold at auction. I wrote about this gem previously, After being recut and regraded from Fancy Deep Grayish Blue to Fancy Deep Blue and exhibited at The Smithsonian Institution side by side with The Hope, London dealer Lawrence Graff reportedly sold the gem for $80,000,000 or something over 3.3 million per carat.

The Wittelsbach-Graff after recutting. Note the distinct grayish hue. Most published and Photoshopped images show the diamond as a rich pure medium hue, the reality is somewhat different; Photo: Gary Rossman

Of course there are a number of Fancy Deep Blue diamonds over five carats but no others over thirty excepting The Hope. Weighing in at 31.06 carats, The Wittelsbach commands a price based on the extreme rarity of a colored diamond of this size.

Natural Heliodore, Golden Beryl from Connecticut

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10986: 2.11 Carat pear shaped brilliant cut with exceptional vivid color and crystal.

by Richard W. Wise, G.G.

10987 A 1.74 Carat ovall brilliant heliodore from the Roebling/Merryall MIne, Litchchfield, Ct. The gem exhibets an exceptional vivid medium toned golden hue.

10987 A 1.74 Carat oval brilliant heliodore from the Roebling/Merryall Mine, Litchfield, Ct. The gem exhibits an exceptional vivid medium toned golden hue.

Golden Beryl; An American Gem

In the 19th Century, the state of Connecticut was known as a major source of golden Beryl.

In the past few years a fair amount of golden beryl a.k.a. heliodor has entered the gem market. Material currently in the market is coming from Pakistan, Brazil and Ukraine and although there is no reliable gemological test that will prove irradiation, much of this material is thought to be enhanced by gamma radiation, a method that leaves behind no footprints. Of late there have been misguided attempts to cash in on the gem's more famous sibling by re-labeling the gem as "yellow emerald."

The continental United States is not known for its gem wealth though historically both California and especially the New England states have produced some exceptional gems. In the 19th Century, Maine was known as a repository of gem quality tourmaline, some beryl and amethyst. Most of the gems found in New England are of pegmatic origin the result of long super-hot magmatic fingers working their way up through cracks into the country rock causing localized melting into a chemical stew and its constituents, where beryllium oxide was present, might reform into beryl crystals. Many of the most important strikes were found in Maine including the famous Mt. Mica Mine which resumed operations in 1990 after a long hiatus. Pegmatites are found in all the New England states excluding Rhode Island and are particularly numerous in Maine and New Hampshire. Gem mining was in most cases simply a byproduct. The mines were mainly exploiting mica, Beryllium and feldspar.

Beryl is a family name whose best known offspring are emerald and aquamarine. If a beryl is pink it is known as morganite if red it is called bixbite or simply red beryl. In the 19th Century, golden beryl was quite rare and Connecticut was considered a major source. The term heliodore, from the Greek meaning "gift of the sun" was originally a trade name made up to describe yellow beryl from Southwest Africa.

"A Gift from the Sun," Gem Mining in Connecticut:

Few realize that the George Roebling or Merryall Mine located in Litchfield County, Connecticut was, historically, one of the most productive and commercially important gem mines in the United States. This mine opened in 1880 as a feldspar and mica mine and worked intermittently until 1955 when it was closed. According to the late John Sinkankas, Merryall is known to have produced particularly fine beryl in shades of blue, yellow and green including a 40.44 blue-green heart shaped gem that now resides in the Smithsonian. The mine produced some sizable aquamarine, but most of the heliodore production was limited to very small faceted gemstones.

We recently acquired a few particularly fine rough examples of natural unenhanced heliodore, portions of a single large crystal, sourced at the Roebling/Merryall Mine site from a pile of unsorted mine run material in the early 1980s. The crystal was inside a large boulder. This material has been precision cut into a few lovely heliodore gems. These gems are flawless to the eye, exhibit a particularly fine crystal structure, a high degree of transparency and a vivid pure yellow hue and perfectly cut by our lapidary.

10987 Rough material from which the 1.74 carat oval, 10987, was cut.

10987 Rough material from which the 1.74 carat oval featured at the beginning of this post, 10987, was cut.

As Sinkankas points out, very little of the material sourced from this location is of gem quality never mind eye-flawless material. Mine run material containing 1% Beryllium is considered a rich deposit. Gems from this site have not been on the market in many years. For the gem collector, this is an or for the jewelry lover looking for a lovely vivid yellow gemstone, this is an opportunity to buy American and acquire a particularly fine gem from a truly rare source.

Gem Cut Grading; Distinctions Without A Difference

A Non-Issue:

This is a good example of a non-issue. Non-symmetrical cuts, rectangle, oval, pear viewed under a single beam light source will always show brilliance across half the face of the gem when the stone is tilted away from the perpendicular. Why, because the gemstone is not symmetrical and therefore treats light in a non-symmetrical fashion. In the cuts just mentioned, some facets particularly the pavilion facets which are responsible for delivering brilliance, cannot be uniform. Some are larger, some are longer therefore light hitting these facets will refract in an irregular fashion. Symmetrical cuts, rounds and square cushions, by contrast have uniform facet patterns and do not suffer this phenomenon.

For this reason, asymmetrical gems are graded under a single light source, viewed at at a 45 degree angle away from the light source angled toward the eye. At this viewing angle, half the gem, the bottom half is potentially brilliant. The percentage of that half is then compared with the other half when the gem is rotated 180 degrees and viewed a second time. Add the relative percentage of each half and voila you have the total percentage of brilliance. In colored gemstones, 80% brilliance is considered excellent which means that at any given time, 20% of the gem will exhibit extinction.

One trick for viewing the brilliance of the entire stone at once is the use of sky light. Turn your back to the sun and view the gem at the same 35 degree angle toward the eye. In this position the light filtering around the body of the viewer should light up the 100% of the gem. Any lack of brilliance in this position is a fault and should be subtracted from the theoretical 100% to arrive at the percentage of brilliance. In most cases, gem photographers correct for this phenomenon by photographing gems with non-symmetrical outlines by using multiple light sources.

A Little Extinction Contributes To A Gem’s Beauty

Extinction is another much misunderstood phenomenon. I am often asked, particularly by members of this forum, if a particular gem shows extinction. First lets define our terms, what is extinction. This phenomenon is caused by off-axis refraction. When light enters a gemstone, it enters the crown and reflects internally off the pavilion (back) facets and eventually back through the crown to the eye. Inevitably some light refracts at an angle that is not toward but rather away from the eye, the greater the angle the more extinct it becomes, in a tonal continuum from gray to black.

All faceted gemstones without exception exhibit extinction, no extinction, no scintillation. the great German philosopher Hegel said determinatio est negatio. which when reduced to simplest terms means g all positive requires a negative. Sweet has no meaning without salty, good does not exist without evil, etcetera. So too with gems. Scintillation, sparkle is the result of light being broken up into pieces, tiny scintillas of light that are refracted back to the eye in little pieces. Between those pieces is darkness, extinction. Want a gem to light up like a flashlight with no sparkle, eliminate extinction. Some degree of extinction is therefore required as contrast.

Extinction As A Fault:

Extinction can have other causes as well, dark is the absence of light. Gems lacking transparency will often show what one of my clients once called a “heart of darkness” at the center of the gem beneath the table. This is particularly prevalent in sapphire and the cutter will often cut a window to let in light through the culet, the apex of the cone shaped pavilion of the gem. So while some extinction is desirable, in fact necessary to the beauty of the gem, large areas of extinction are a definite and definable fault.

Kashmir Sapphire, Another Auction Record

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Dateline: Hong Kong

Current world record holder, 26.41 Carat Kashmir Sapphire Courtesy: Christie's

A New World’s Record:

November 29th, Christie’s Auction House, Hong Kong, sold a 26.41 carat Kashmir sapphire for 3,838,508 or $145,342.00 per carat. This sale establishes a new world’s record price of Kashmir sapphires sold at auction, besting the former world’s record also established at Christie’s (New York) for the 22.66 carat Hill Sapphire which sold in April 2007 for $3,064,000 or $135.216.00 per carat.

Kashmir sapphires were originally found on a small hillock 13,000 feet up in the mountains of the now disputed Indian state of Kashmir in 1881-1882. The harsh conditions at this altitude meant that the mines could only be worked about one month per year. By 1887 the output of the mines had diminished substantially. The original lessee abandoned the diggings in 1905. Four other groups had a go at it with little success and the sites were more or less abandoned in 1928. A bit of material is still occasionally found, alluvial material at the bottom of the ridge, but the major production of Kashmir sapphire lasted a mere six years.

Kashmir stones are highly esteemed for their color, a vivid purplish blue, a hue often described as “cornflower blue.” Others, most notably Richard W. Hughes, author of the seminal book Ruby and Sapphire, describe the finest color as a Pepto Bismol bottle blue. The problem with this characterization is that Pepto Bismol bottles are now pink—but there are those of us who are old enough to recall when the bottles were a bright medium blue. I recall seeing only one stone of this description and it hailed from Sri Lanka.

Kashmir’s famous characteristic, however, is the silky, milky or fuzzy texture that somewhat diminishes the diaphanity (crystal) of the stone. Myriads of tiny inclusions that resemble dust caught in a ray of sunlight or a sub-microscopic milky way, will, when present, diffract and refract the light, causing the stone to take on a velvety glow. Similar inclusions are sometimes found in gems from Madagascar and Sri Lanka, but absent geographical certainty, these “Kashmir type” sapphires do not command nearly the price of those with old mine provenance. The current record holder was accompanied by four laboratory reports certifying Kashmir origin. This, of course, begs the question: If gems are all about beauty and sapphires from other locations have all the characteristics of the finest Kashmir, why does anyone care where the stone is from? The short answer is branding. The market recognizes a value in stones from the original mine. It is also fair to say that although stones can be found with the characteristic glow, very, very few approach the pinnacle of Kashmir color. I have only seen two stones that can be described as #1 Kashmir color and both were from the old mine.

What a difference a light makes, record breaking sapphire before re-cut, note the large culet visible through the table. Photo courtesy Stone Group Labs.

What a difference a light makes; the current record holder before a re-cut shaved a single carat. Note the large culet visible through the table and the characteristically velvety texture or crystal. Photo courtesy Stone Group Labs.

Rapidly Escalating Prices:

Kashmir prices have been increasing steadily since the late 1980s. According to connoisseur and author Benjamin Zucker, a twenty carat fine quality Kashmir sapphire was worth $25,000 per carat in 1976, though I recall an exceptional stone that sold at auction in the early 1980s for $12,500 per carat. By the turn of the last century prices for extra-fine examples at auction passed $100,000 per carat. Pricing must be taken with a grain of salt. Given varying qualities, the vicissitudes of auction houses, and the lack of any real standardized grading system, it is difficult to compare stone to stone.

Prices for premium gemstones, fancy color diamonds, type IIa colorless diamonds, ruby, sapphire, emerald and lately spinel, have all increased markedly since the 2008 bust. This can be traced to a lack of confidence in paper currencies, generally, and the dollar and Euro in particular.

Connoisseurship–Opinions Vary:

Bear Williams of Stone Group Labs, the first gem laboratory to evaluate the new record holder, was impressed. “My hair kinda stood up on end, it had some sort of magic,” he said describing his first look at the sapphire. When Williams saw it, the stone weighed over 27 carats before it was re-cut slightly and re-polished. From all indications the stone is quite superior to the Hill Sapphire, which American Gem Labs President Christopher Smith described as a “nice stone.” in 2007. Smith rated the former record holder, the Hill Sapphire, at an 8-8.5 on a 1-10 scale. Williams puts this new one well into the 9s, “maybe a 9.8” he says. Chris Smith at American Gem Labs, who did a full quality evaluation, gives the stone an overall Total Quality Integration Rating (TQIR) of Exceptional and a color grade of 2.5 (1-10 scale). Note that AGL’s TQIR factors in rarity, together with quality factors. A five carat Kashmir or the same quality would be graded Excellent.

Foreign Investment Scams, Slouching Toward Disaster II

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by Richard W. Wise, G.G.

Of Dentists and Doughboys:

What is it about gemstones that gives buyers the idea that somewhere, somehow they can get something for nothing? Why are dentists particularly vulnerable? Over the course of my career I have spoken to not less than five members of that gullible fraternity who “invested” in gems. One salesman told my dentist that Japanese investors were eager to pay twice the price for low grade aquarium gravel contained in that little sealed packet. “Why didn’t you suggest that the salesman board a jet to Tokyo and reap those high profits”? I asked Dr. Pain. He shrugged, smiled sheepishly and looked down at his shoes.

Did you hear the one about the smart New York lawyer who, after I told him about a buying trip to Thailand and Burma, blithely asked, “Yeah, but do they know what they’ve got?” Well, yes Virgina, these folks have have been mining and marketing gems since the Bronze Age, I think it’s fair to say that they have finally figured it out.

A Potentially Explosive Investment:

I suppose the neophyte gem investor is really no different from the clueless homeowner who believed those friendly folks at Country-Wide when they told him he could support his lifestyle by the continued plundering of the equity in his home and is now so far underwater he can’t even draw breath through a snorkel—a fool and his money…I remember another occasion, a young couple, yoga students who had spent time in an ashram in India. They met an Indian fellow who’s father owned a ruby mine. Despite my warnings they returned to India and sunk $10,000 into dyed and oiled ruby bead made from low-grade East African rough that originally sold for $150.00 per kilo.

Emerald Mine, Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan: Photo courtesy Vincent Pardieu

More recently I was approached by two army officers currently serving in Afghanistan to appraise gemstones that they had bought for investment. One of the men, a lieutenant who seemed particularly eager to buy, told me he was a specialist in the very dangerous profession of mine clearance. I advised him to stop buying and volunteered to take a look at his purchases. After vetting his collection which included lead-glass filled ruby and low end tanzanite, I suggested that purchasing gems for investment on the open market in Afghanistan could very likely have a more explosive impact on his finances than his current day job.

Our service members should be aware that there appears to be an entire industry in Afghanistan, similar to the one that existed in Pattaya, Thailand during the Vietnam War, dedicated to fleecing members of the American military. According to Gary Bowersox, a gem dealer who travels frequently to Afghanistan and co-author of Gemstones of Afghanistan: “The Afghanistan market is flooded with treated and synthetic gems where uneducated Afghan gem dealers are selling volumes of gems to foreign soldiers who are also uneducated in gemology.”

Professional appraiser, Charlene Bradbury, G.G. has appraised 50-100 stones brought back by approximately ten servicemen from Afghanistan over the past two years. she notes that 90% were either synthetic with a fairly large proportion of lead glass filled rubies. Most others were low grade, lead glass filled rubies.

Getting The Lead Out: (above)Lead glass filled ruby after heating that removed some of the glass. Below: Same ruby under magnification. Photo: Shane F. McClure

Our Responsibility:

I know that I promised more on the topic of Online Gem Evaluation and I will, but I really feel that my experience with the two army officers is a cautionary tale that needed to be told. Our boys in the military are doing a dirty and very dangerous job for us in Afghanistan and I believe that we, as members of the gem fraternity, have a responsibility to protect them in whatever small way we can.

Countdown To Tucson:

The annual free-for-all smorgasbord known collectively as the Tucson Gem Shows will begin at the end of this month. I have been attending the shows for over twenty-five years and have watched awestruck by the spectacular growth of this annual event. My wife and I spend two weeks and work every day and still find it impossible to take in all of the shows. As always, I enjoy the hunt. It can be frustrating but there is nothing more satisfying than the thrill of sourcing a particularly fine gem at an out of the way booth, tucked into some back alley show.

Investing in Gemstones, Part II; A Strategy:

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Avoiding the Con:

There were a number of phony gemstone investment schemes in operation during the hard asset investment craze of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Until Congress put a stop to it, investors were purchasing, gems, antiques and Shaker rocking chairs as part of their IRA portfolios.

To avoid prosecution many gem investment scammers set up boiler room operations in Canada, but sold mostly to gullible U. S. investors. The pitch was simple and ingenious. To keep buyers from seeking an outside appraisal, the gems arrived in sealed packets with a microfilmed “certificate of authenticity”. Buyers were warned that breaking the seal would invalidate the certificate and negate affect potential resale.

Over the years, several victims have sought me out to appraise their purchases. In all cases, the gems were wildly overpriced stones and of a quality best described as Continue reading →

Investing In Gemstones, Part I: The Market

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Richard W. Wise, G.G.
© 2009

Bye, Bye Bling:

Perhaps it’s the tenor of the times. Increasingly I find myself fielding questions about gems as an investment. With government printing presses working 24/7, many people are concerned that deficit spending, coupled with Government stimulation of the credit markets in the U. S., Europe, China and Japan, will eventually lead to hyperinflation. With stocks, bonds and real estate in the tank and currencies at risk, people are thrashing about looking to find a safe financial haven. In uncertain times, investors turn increasingly to hard assets. Luxury per se is out, but investment is definitely in. (pictured above left a 1.01 vivid pink diamond from the 2008 Argyle tender)

The Problem:

Stocks and bonds trade in an orderly market. One share of General Electric common stock is just like another. Stock Exchanges guarantee that their members can trade stocks at the going price anytime the exchange is open. This gives stocks the advantage of liquidity. Stocks and bonds trade at established prices and these prices are Continue reading →

Asking to see the Pigeon’s blood is like asking to see the face of God"

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About once a month on one of the gem forums someone asks the question:

"What color is pigeon's blood."

by Richard W. Wise, G.G.

The real question is, of course, "what is the best color in ruby." Although I cover the question in some depth in my book; Secrets of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide to Precious Gemstones, it appears that a few people have yet to read the book. (pictured above a gem quality 2.09 carat natural old mine Burma ruby with a GRS "pigeon's blood certificate)

The short answer is simply that rubies should be red. Problem is there are almost no visually pure color in nature so, we speak of a mixture of colors. In gems, we normally speak of a primary and a secondary color or hue. Gems may have more than two hues but it it is difficult for even the most discerning connoisseur to see more than two. Still a ruby must be predominantly red, that is, have a primary red hue. Put another way in the color mix, red must be at least 51% of the hue mixture. If its not red its not a ruby. Any member of the gem family corundum that is any color other than red we call sapphire.

Ruby may exhibit one of a few possible secondary hues. These are: pink, purple and orange. Purple and orange are the hues immediately adjacent to red on the color wheel. You will never find a ruby with a green secondary hue. Pink, a paler less saturated red is also possible. The finest color or pigeon's blood exhibits a purple secondary hue. Why purple, there are two good reasons; one historical and the other based upon color science.

This historical explanation I owe to Vincent Pardieu. Vincent began by studying gemology in Burma and he found a dealer who explained "pigeon blood" to him. The Burmese coined the term. Purple is a hue that falls between blue and red on the color wheel. It is known scientifically as a modified spectral hue.

The Burmese set gems in pure gold which is a a very rich yellow color. Blue is the compliment of red. Complimentary colors are those that cancel each other out. So when a purplish red ruby is set in yellow, the yellow of the metal cancels out the blue in the purple leaving behind, guess what an almost visually pure red.(pictured above a 1.63 carat gem quality old mine Burma ruby with a GRS "pigeon's blood certificate). So the goal for the Burmese is red, pure red! See more!

I wrote my book several years before I met Vincent in Bangkok. However, I reached the same conclusion by applying a logical analysis. My reasoning goes something like this. Color Science teaches that the color red reaches its optimum saturation (brightness) at a fairly dark tone, somewhere about 80%. This is not opinion, it is measurable scientific fact. If you consider that 100% tone would be pure black, 80% is pretty dark. Pink and orange on the other hand reach their optimum saturation at fairly light tones. Pink obviously as it is by definition paler (less bright). Orange reaches its optimum saturation at between 30-40% tone.

Purple reaches its optimum saturation at around 60% tone. Now, if you add a light pigment to a dark paint you would obviously lighten the overall effect. Same is true in transparent media. The optimum tones of red and purple mix fairly well both being both dark in tone. The purple unlike the pink does not dilute the red. Pink and orange would lighten the red thus reducing the overall saturation of the pinkish-red or orangy-red color. Purple reinforces the red, orange and pink dilute. Make sense? Not everyone agrees. Some connoisseurs like a bit or orange. They feel it frames and pumps up the red hue. A good point if you consider the effect of orange in red spinel. Be that as it may, for good historical as well as scientifically verifiable reasons, orangy red is not pigeon's blood.

The first image above is of a 2.09 carat Burmese natural ruby from the old min at Mogok. This stone has a bit purer red, exhibits less purple than the second stone, a 1.63 carat gem from the same mining area. Both, however, have been grading "Pigeon's blood" by GRS, Swiss Lab, Bangkok. As you might imagine this lab sees an awful lot of rubies. Both stones are from the Mogok Valley, this is the place, going back to the Bronze Age, where the original stones were mined back when the term pigeon's blood was coined. A lot of the gems currently in the market are from a new mining areas Mong Hsu that is about half way between Mogok and the Thai border. Mong Hsu stones can certainly be pigeon's blood color but since we are talking about a historical term I thought it best to use illustrations from the old mine.

With the discovery of new sources of ruby in Africa a controversy has arisen over use of the term pidgeon's blood to describe the color of gems most specifically from Mozambique. The Chinese have outright banned the use of the term for ruby other than those of Burmese origin.

At the 2012 Hong Kong show I purchesed two exceptional unheated gems from Mozambique that were described in a GRS report as "vivid red" with a color identical to Burmese stones with GRS Pidgeon's Blood certificates. If, as I have suggested here and in my book, pigeon's blood is a definable hue then it seems to me that any ruby that meets those criteria can and should be labeled the same.

Want to Learn more?

Follow me on gem buying adventures to the old Burma ruby mine at Mogok. Learn how to judge the quality of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, garnets and 31 other gems. 120 carefu
lly selected photographs showing examples of the highest quality gems to educate the eye, including the Rockefeller Sapphire and many more of the world's most famous gems. Consider my book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones.

“Wise is a renowned author… He’s
done a marvelous job of this first book, monumental work, a tour de force…My recommendation: Buy this book”.

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whether you like to know what the best colour is in Tanzanite, or how to grade a Diamond, you will find it in this book. No other book I read before dealt with this topic is such detail as Richard Wise's masterpiece."

A. Van Acker, FGA
Amazon June 2005

"Secrets Of The Gem Trade: The Connoisseurs Guide To Precious Gemstones by Richard W. Wise is an impressive new reference for dedicated dealers and collectors of gems, gemstones, and … pearls. Introducing and descriptively exploring each and every gem covered in the easy-to-use reference, Secrets Of The Gem Trade contains an illustrated summary of each stone inclusive of its history and general information, hue and tone, saturation, which may be noticed as the finest, an understanding of the particular gems rarity, and the caution for synthetics and how to depict them, however depending upon the stone there may be description of clarity, color fading, multi-color effect, etc. Secrets Of The Gem Trade is very highly recommended to anyone interested in gemology as a superbly organized, authoritative, comprehensive, and easy-to-follow reference."

Midwest Book Review
April 2006

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Labels: gem prices, gemstones, new gem strike, spinel prices, Tanzania gems, Tanzanian Spinel

Rocky Road II; Grading The Colorful

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Rocky Road II; Grading The Colorful

By Richard W. Wise, G.G.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who will be the biggest of them all? An Interview with Michael Haynes

After several near misses last Saturday I spent a bit of quality phone time with Michael Haynes, President of Collector’s Universe (CU). First a little background: You will recall from Part I that CU has acquired American Gemological Laboratory (AGL) the only major gem laboratory that quality grades colorful gemstones. The acquisition that took place in early 2006, with a 3.5 Million upfront payment to AGL President C. R. Beasley with an additional 3.5 million payable in five years.

Collectors Universe is a public company traded on NASDAQ with a market capitalization of 120 million dollars. The company bills itself as “the leading provider of value added authentication and grading services of high-value assets”. According to Haynes; last year CU certified 1.8 billion dollars worth of collectables including 65% of all stamps certifed, 85% of sports cards and perhaps 45% of all coins.

AGL is CU’s third acquisition on the road towards its publicly stated objective of becoming the major purveyor of gemstone quality reports “maybe not tomorrow, or next year, but within the foreseeable future. As part of its strategy CU had previously acquired GCAL a diamond grading laboratory and Gemprint the company that has patented a method of taking an identifiable “fingerprint” of a cut diamond.

Michael Haynes is a passionate pitchman. He sees CU’s coming dominance of the certification business as a win-win for everyone. Why he asks isn’t the fine gemstone business experiencing similar growth levels as other luxury products? According to CU’s president, it’s a matter of consumer confidence or the lack thereof. He contrasts the experience of buying a Hermes scarf with that of buying a ruby necklace. You go to a Hermes store. There is no question of authenticity or value; it is only a question of price. You go to the jewelry store and you enter a world of doubt. Is it real? What is it really worth? “Money”, says Haynes, “travels the path of least resistance.” Buying an expensive piece of jewelry, all you have to rely on is the seller and he is after all the seller. Independent third party certification by a publicly traded company will end the doubt and level the playing field, Haynes puts it succinctly: “remove doubt, increase sales”.

As any professional will attest, much of what Haynes says is spot on. Consumer doubt is a component of a large majority of missed sales opportunities particularly high-end sales. Doubt coupled with professional ignorance and competitive low-balling have made gem and jewelry selling a competitive mine field (read: my blog post: Getting an Appraisal; Some Do’s and Don’ts.)

Next I asked Haynes how he foresees CU succeeding where so many have failed? “By establishing an promoting a consistent standard.”

How about competition from GIA? Haynes barely skips a beat. “That’s a question”, he suggests, “you should be asking GIA”. With CU’s triumvirate of acquisitions Haynes appears confident that CU has covered all the bases. If the Gemological Institute of America wishes to compete in colored stone grading game, it is GIA that will be playing catch-up.

Laboratory One-upmanship:

At the season opener, Tucson 07, CU will throw out the first ball of the season. Its AGL subsidiary will announce a plan to offer a range of gem certificates. From being one of the most expensive labs, AGL is about to become the least expensive offering a range of modestly priced grading reports. In a separate conversation last week, AGL President Cap Beasley outlined the new program. The Lab will offer certification on a series of levels called Fast Track. For $25, Fast Track I will offer a credit card sized report providing just authentication and enhancement. Fast Track II will add the 4 C’s for $50 and for $75 Fast Track Premier will add type as in Burma-type, Paraiba-type, etc.

Collectors Universe is aiming at the consumer. The aim is to produce a document that is easily understood by the retail buyer. Perhaps this new format will accomplish that. AGL’s current offerings are not all that easy to understand. Though in recent years the lab has added a Total Quality Integration Rating (TQIR) to summarize all of the various grading factors and give the gem an overall quality grade.

Book Review

The Sancy Blood Diamond

In this historical potboiler, author Susan Ronald traces the history of the Sancy Diamond from the mines of Golconda to its current tranquil resting place in The Louvre. As the largest and most famous diamond in Europe from the Fourteenth through the Seventeenth Century, The Sancy had many admirers and several owners; from Charles the Bold through Napoleon, kings, queens, cardinals and dukes, some of them major players on the stage of European history.

Ronald does more; she is a knowledgeable political-historian and along the way she weaves the Sancy’s chronology into to woof and weft of European political history.

As Ronald shows, The Sancy and by extension other famous gems did more than add luster to the crowns of European Monarchs. Goldsmiths were Europe’s first bankers. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that long before the present conflicts in Africa, large and famous gems provided the bloody collateral of choice, pledged by Europe’s crowned heads to the financiers who bankrolled Europe’s major conflicts.

Ronald’s account is authoritative, fast paced and reads like a Machiavellian analysis of history. From the killing fields of Nancy, to Charles I’s beheading, to the court of the Sun King, Ronald shows how sex, power and greed as represented by The Sancy, fueled the politics of Europe. The book was published in 1995, don’t know how I missed it. The book is particularly relevant given the present interest in conflict diamonds. Highly recommended. For more on the stone and the author: www.thesancydiamond.com

Ronald, Susan, The Sancy Blood Diamond, Wiley & Sons, New York, (hardcover) $27.95, $18.45 on Amazon.

Into Africa:

For the first time in twenty years I will miss the Tucson Gem Shows. I will be in Brazil and cruising the coast of West, South and East Africa until mid-February. Meanwhile the contest goes on. (see the previous post, Rocky Road I) Guess the value of the French Blue diamond in 1698 and win a free copy of my book, Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur’s Guide To Precious Gemstones. The Secrets website will also not be functioning for orders. If you need it right away order it on www.Amazon.com. (See below)

Interested in reading more about real life adventures in the gem trade? Follow me on gem buying adventures in the exotic entrepots of Burma and East Africa. Visit the gem fields of Austrailia and Brazil. 120 photographs including some of the world’s most famous gems. Consider my book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur’s Guide To Precious Gemstones. Now only $26.95. You can read a couple of chapters and order online: www.secretsofthegemtrade.com.

Buy it on Amazon: www.amazon.com

Light Up Your Life; Lighting and Grading Gemstones, Part I

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LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE

Lighting and Grading Gemstones Part I

©2006

Richard W. Wise, G.G.

It used to be so simple, the brighter the light the better the light. You had the light from a fire and the light from the sun, that was it. In those good old days it was easy to figure out watt was watt! Today we have a myriad of options, “warm light”, “cool light”, “daylight.” Gem dealers are beginning to discover that the lights that make his rubies look like a pigeon’s blood may make his tourmaline look like a dog’s poop. As for the buyer, caveat emptor baby, check the bulb!

We are all familiar with the daylight standard: diamonds and colored gemstones are supposed to be judged in north daylight. Why?, because north daylight, specifically north daylight at noon is white light balanced between the red and blue spectrum. Sounds simple, but wait a moment! Dealers have long realized that the quality of daylight differs in locations throughout the world. North daylight at noon in Bangkok is qualitatively different from north daylight in New York.

The quality of natural daylight is affected by several factors, including latitude and air quality. In addition, the relative strength and color composition of daylight changes as the day progresses. “Don’t buy blue sapphire after 2:00pm“. That was the advice my Bangkok broker gave me on my first trip to Thailand. This dealer’s truism teaches a basic fact that as the day progresses the color composition of sunlight moves from yellowish into the blue range then toward red at sundown.

Color scientists measure color as a function of light temperature and express it in units called Kelvin (K). a light filament heated red will have a Kelvin temperature of 1000-1500K, orange like a candle flame has a color temperature of 1500-2500K, yellow between 2500-4000K, white as in daylight is defined as a range; 4000-10,000K. In practice, increasing Kelvin temperature reduces yellow and adds blue.

If we wish to get a true color rendering using the daylight standard we will want a bulb that produces average noon sunlight with its relatively balanced color spectrum with a color temperature between 5500-6500 Kelvin. Unfortunately, the Kelvin temperature of an incandescent lamp falls between 3000-3200. The new low-volt quartz halogens have a color temperature of only about 3200K. Light in this temperature range is distinctly yellowish and will enhance the look of stones in the yellow, orange and red range. It will add an attractive bluish hue to chromium-vanadium colored gemstones like emerald, chrome tourmaline and tsavorite garnet. However, some Emerald, particularly Zambian emerald, can look distinctly overblue in this type lighting and 3000k light tends to muddy the crystal (reduce the transparency) of iron colored green and blue stones such as tourmaline and sapphire.

Daylight equivalent lighting does exist in fluorescents but not in incandescent single point spot and flood lighting that is used by most dealers and jewelers to bring out the brilliance of a gemstone. Daylight fluorescent bulbs with Kelvin temperatures between 5500-6500 are available. These lamps are marketed, usually as “daylight” lighting by several companies under various trade names. Unfortunately fluorescent lamps generate a diffused light and produce insufficient punch, what scientists call lumens, to bring out the best sparkle in your gems. To further complicate matters, there is no recognized international standard for a daylight bulb. Each manufacturer decides for himself what to consider “daylight”.

Coming next: Part Two, Learn what types of lighting the experts favor, Stay tuned…

So, you want to learn more about lighting and judging gemstones? Read the book:

“Secrets Of The Gem Trade is very highly recommended to anyone interested in gemology as a superbly organized, authoritative, comprehensive, and easy-to-follow reference.”
Midwest Book Review
April 2006