Gems And Jewels

Everyone knows of the iconic Fabergé egg. They are synonymous with the name. Now Fabergé has rolled back onto the fashion-scene, returning after more than 90 years. Fabergé, the world’s most iconic jeweller, has unveiled its first new collection of high jewellery egg creations since 1917.
Paying homage to the legendary eggs (both Imperial and otherwise) created by Peter Carl Fabergé, and celebrating the Egg as a timeless universal symbol of life, Fabergé has created a range of special egg jewels.

Each group of egg jewels – wearable objects of desire – has its own story to tell, from the 18th century Rococo style favoured by Peter Carl Fabergé, through the tales of the minerals and magical stone flowers of the fabled Mistress of Copper Mountain, to the many gifts and presents that were an essential part of life at the Imperial Court.

True to their legacy, to the genius of Peter Carl Fabergé, the egg jewels fuse contemporary dynamism with age-old tradition, refined opulence with fable and folklore, old materials with new, all buttressed by superlative contemporary craftsmanship.

Many different Opals

Carlsbad, Calif.–Opal Horizon Ltd., a Brisbane, Australia-based opal mining, sales and marketing company, presented a new, comprehensive system for grading gem quality opals on at the Gemological Institute of America’s 2011 Symposium.

According to the company, the new grading system is designed to foster confidence and transparency and give jewelers and opal owners a foundation for determining market value. The launch marks the first step in a worldwide marketing and communications push by Opal Horizon designed to raise the profile of the gemstone.

Opal Horizon’s new opal grading system applies only to natural precious opal. It is based upon three quantifiable grading criteria: category, color and cut.

Category describes the opal as one of three types, each defined by the presence and degree of host rock in the opal. Color relates to the opal face, body tone, play of color, brightness, pattern, directionality and special attributes of the opal. Cut means the quality of the opal’s finish and polish, its symmetry/balance and exclusion of defects.

Each “C” is graded individually on a scale with a maximum score of 100.

The three scores then are added together and result in a final comprehensive quality score.

The opal is then classified in one of five quality grade categories:

Exceptional gem opal: score of 300 to 285; Fine gem opal: 284 to 240; Gem opal: 239 to 180; Commercial opal: 179 to 90; Promotional opal: less than 90.

All gem opals sold through Opal Horizon will be evaluated using this new grading system and a report will accompany each gemstone that describes it and provides a quality grade. The new grading system also will serve as the guide for the company’s wholesale pricing structure.

Opal Horizon said it is planning to headquarter its sales and marketing operations in North America as it continues its marketing campaign for opals.

JCK reported that the most valuable emerald and diamond tiara to appear at an auction in more than 30 years will be auctioned by Sotheby’s May 17 at its Magnificent and Noble Jewels sale in Geneva.

This highly important and rare tiara is composed of 11 Colombian emerald pear-shaped drops which total more than 500 cts. The piece is estimated to sell for $5 million to $10 million.

The tiara was commissioned circa 1900, possibly from jewelers Chaumet, by Guido Count von Henckel, First Prince von Donnersmarck, for his second wife Princess Katharina.
To everyone’s surprise the tiara actually sold for $12.76 million, the highest price ever achieved for a tiara.

The auction total reached over $89 million in sales.

Also doing well was a 10.99 ct. fancy intense pink diamond, which sold for $10.8 million. That is the third highest price ever for a pink diamond, and the ninth highest price for a diamond ever at auction.

8.66 ct. Illusion Diamond

MURFREESBORO, Ark. (KTHV) – A Colorado woman unearthed an 8.66 carat diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park on Tuesday.

Park Officials say Beth Gilbertson of Salida, Colorado became a regular visitor to the park after seeing the Travel Channel’s “The Best Places to Find Cash and Treasures” which includes a segment on the Crater of Diamonds.

On Tuesday, she was scraping gravel out of a drainage ditch on the Beatty’s Hill portion of the park’s 37 ½-acre search area and discovered the diamond while wet sifting buckets of dirt at the north washing pavilion while also helping two other visitors learn how to search, Gilbertson said, “I’d collected four buckets of dirt for me to search and two for the other visitors. The diamond ended up being in one of my buckets.”

She said, “I’ve found other diamonds at the park, but when I first noticed this one, I couldn’t quite believe that something that large could be a real diamond. I thought it was a piece of glass. So, I asked another visitor, this is a diamond, right?” Gilbertson continued, “I felt sure it was a diamond, but yet couldn’t quite believe it.” Because of this, she named her gem the Illusion Diamond. “I’ve worked very hard searching for diamonds. But on Monday while helping other visitors learn how to search, and searching in an area where I don’t normally work, the diamond showed up. The illusion materialized,” she said.

Park officials say this diamond is the third largest diamond of the 27,000 diamonds found by park visitors since the Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas state park in 1972. Gilbertson’s diamond is only topped in size by the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight found in 1975 by park visitor W. W. Johnson of Amarillo, Texas, and the 8.82-carat Star of Shreveport found by Carroll Blankenship of Shreveport, Louisiana, in June 1981

According to Park Superintendent Justin Dorsey, “It has been almost 30 years since we’ve seen a diamond of this size found at the park.”

When people think of garnets, the often think inexpensive and plentiful. They don’t give them a second thought.

This Demantoid Garnet ring, described as “centering on three cushion-shaped demantoid garnets together weighing approximately 10.05 carats, to shoulders decorated by brilliant-cut diamonds, mounted in 18 karat yellow gold,” recently sold at the Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale for $437,500.

Kinda makes one rethink garnets, doesn’t it!

The 110-carat vivid yellow Cora Sun-Drop diamond is on loan to the Natural History Museum in London and the museum decided to promote it with a photo shoot with former model Jerry Hall. The unusual gem, the largest vivid yellow pear-shape diamond, belongs to Cora International. The Cora Sun-Drop was mined in Africa and polished by Cora International, a company that specializes in very large and fancy color diamonds. The diamond is on display until August.

Monday, Feb 28 2011  by Stockopedia News Tanzanite One (LON:TNZ) , the AIM listed gemstones producer and developer, today reported that it had recovered the third-largest high quality gemstone ever mined in the 10 year operating history of its tanzanite project. The 12,100 carat (2.42 kg) rough tanzanite stone was discovered recently at the company’s flagship tanzanite project in the Simanjiro district of Tanzania. The exceptional stone was recovered from Main Shaft, located in the centre of the company’s licence at a vertical depth of just over 450m. The stone was mined from a newly intersected fold structure, with initial indications suggesting an exceptionally high potential grade and quality yield profile from the structure.

Initial examinations have indicated that it is the third largest tanzanite gemstone recovered by TanzaniteOne and thought to be the third largest tanzanite stone ever found worldwide. The gemstone will now undergo analysis, including colour and clarity grading. The stone is expected to contain a significant ‘A’ grade component under the tanzanite classification system. It will most likely be divided into smaller but still exceptionally sized pieces to be cut and polished at the company’s own state of the art, in-house cutting facility which was commissioned in December 2010 at the TanzaniteOne mine site.

Bernard Olivier, TanzaniteOne’s chief executive, said: “This is an extremely exciting discovery for TanzaniteOne and is further evidence of the continued quality of gemstone that is to be found at depth in this unique part of Africa and indeed the world. Whilst we await the results of expert analysis on this significant discovery, we will continue to realise the potential of our mine, which produced a total of US$15.8 million in sales for 2010.”

Sales at TanzaniteOne increased in 2010 to US$15.8 million from US$12.5 million in 2009 with total production up to 2.2 million carats from 1.9 million carats previously.

78 carat Diamond named the Ekati Spirit

RAPAPORT… BHP Billiton will soon auction what it calls its “most significant gem-quality diamond” from the Ekati mine. This rough, 78-carat diamond will be presented for a Valentine’s Day sale in Antwerp and could be the most valuable stone in the mine’s 13 year history.

The rough diamond also comes with a name: The Ekati Spirit. In late 2010, BHP Billiton offered its employees and contractors a chance to be part of the diamond’s journey by giving the stone (pictured) a name.

Terry Marshall, a warehouse technician from the Ekati truck stop, won the naming competition with his suggestion of Ekati Spirit. The name incorporated the mine as well as represented the spirit of all people in Canada’s north country.

The buzz in the business today is all about the Gem & Mineral show in Tucson, one of the largest markets in the world every year.

The World’s Largest Treasure Hunt
January 29 – February 13, 2011

For two weeks every winter, the world meets in Tucson as it becomes a bustling, international marketplace of buyers and sellers at the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase.

The “Gem Show” is much more than a single event at one location. Rather, there are thousands of participants and attendees at more than 40 sites around town. Dozens of shows take place at the same time – in giant white tents, at hotels and resorts and at exhibit halls.

There’s something for everyone at the many open-to-the-public shows – from gold and diamonds to granite bookends and glass beads, and from fine specimens of dinosaur fossils to opals dug from the Australian Outback.

The main event of this two-week showcase is the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show™ which packs downtown’s Tucson Convention Center over the final weekend. This show attracts thousands of treasure hunters from every corner of the globe and is open to the public. There are displays from renowned museums and private collections along with over 250 mineral, gemstone, jewelry and fossil retail dealers. It also features hands-on exhibits only for school children.

Most of the gem and mineral shows around Tucson are free and hours vary. For more information, please use the Search for Shows function in the right column of this page.

Show listings, Tucson accommodations, transportation information, Showcase history and the answers to frequently asked questions can be found at JewelryShowguide.com.

This post was made by Robert James of the International School of Gemology and it needs to be seen by as many people as possible particularly in this time of giving so I’m including it in its entirety. Please be careful what you buy!!

Just a few years ago Canadian Diamond mining was the latest news in the gemstone universe. After many years of exploritory trips even down into states like Montana and Wyoming, several mining operations were begun reportedly producing more diamonds than South Africa. Mining leader ABN Amro even began a marketing campaign calling the diamonds they produced “Polar Ice.” However, now it appears that operation is having some difficulties and is out of business according to this report from industry hallmark Rapaport which gives this article in their Novermber 19, 2010, TradeWire edition:

“ABN Amro Places Polar Ice in Receivership

ABN Amro filed an insolvency action in Canada — equivalent to U.S. Chapter 7 bankruptcy— against Polar Ice Diamonds of Canada and its subsidiaries on November 3. The diamond wholesaler reportedly owes the bank $21.849 million in loans and creditors in the trade a total $20.655 million. RSM Richter who is acting as the receiver, listed company “book value” of company assets at $13.5 million, which included diamond inventory of $7.7 million. ABN told the court that Polar Ice president Ronen Basal allegedly held $4.5 million in diamonds on memo, however he had failed to disclose the goods or their location. RSM Richter confirmed that Polar Ice was no longer an operating company and it failed to see how the outstanding debt could be repaid in full.”

There IS red Andesine in Tibet. Check out these links and read the reports:

Richard W. Hughes in Tibet

The gemological report

The GIT report

Don’t miss the latest rebuttal by Robert James; he makes very valid conclusions about the reports above.

Robert James’ Report

The Cullinan Diamond Necklace has just been added to the National Gem Collection at the National Museum of Natural History and will join the other blue diamond draw there, the Hope.

The Cullinan Diamond Necklace has just been added to the National Gem Collection at the National Museum of Natural History and will join the other blue diamond draw there, the Hope.
The large bow motif, typical of the 1910 Edwardian era in which it was created, has 251 diamonds. Theoval-shaped pendant is a 2.6 carat blue diamond drop that is part of a total 5.32 carat of blue in this necklace.
Jeffrey Post, the curator of the National Gem Collection, describes the history thus:
After Thomas Cullinan, the famed South African explorer, bought the Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa, his workers discovered a humongous diamond, which had a total weight of 3,106.75 carats before it was cut and polished. “It was the largest rough diamond ever discovered,” Post said. Cullinan presented the massive diamond to King Edward VII for his birthday.
In honor of his own knighthood in 1910, Cullinan commissioned the necklace for his wife, Annie, and the nine blue diamonds represented the nine pieces that were cut from the original stone. Parts of the huge diamond were placed — in various settings (scepters, rings, crowns, what have you) — in the jewelry trove of the British royal family.
The necklace was bequeathed to each first daughter in each generation. “In the early 1980s, the great-granddaughter, Anne Robinson, got in touch with Stephen Silver and sold him the heirloom. Then Silver sold the necklace to another owner, who is donating it to us,” Post said.

GemstoneTreatmentReport.com website becomes free information resource for gemstone industry.

ISG opens the GTR database to assist the world wide industry.

San Antonio, TX, September 1, 2010: Realizing the need for a free information clearing house for gemstone treatments and lab created gemstone identification, the International School of Gemology announced today the restructuring of their Gemstone Treatment Report website to become the industry’s only complete, open-sharing internet database of gemological research and reporting on gemstone treatments.

Located at GemstoneTreatmentReport, this website is now available as a free service to anyone in the gemstone industry for the study, reference, and sharing of gemological information relating to the research and reporting of the latest in gemstone treatment identification methods. This information clearinghouse is being made possible by members of the world wide ISG Community who are responsible for the research and identification of the dyefusion treatment of gemstones such as andesine, tourmaline, and others. The GTR data base currently covers the identification of over 50 of the most often seen gemstone treatments as well lab grown gemstones with ongoing research to provide the industry with the latest updates available free through this single source website.

The Gemstone Treatment Report actively seeks sharing and information contributions from other gemological organizations, laboratories, schools, dealers, retail jewelers, consumers, and any other interested party who has information to share and contribute to the information database.

The Gemstone Treatment Report was originally a production of the International School of Gemology’s Registered Gemologist course program titled: Identification of Synthetic Gemstones. Due to the urgent need for quality information regarding gemstone treatments, the ISG has opened this database to the industry as a free support service.  All Gemstone Treatment Report subscribers will be given the option of a subscription refund or other consolations. For more information please contact the ISG office at 210.877.5816 or email to isg@schoolofgemology.com.