Jeweller g&j (may 2013)

Jeweller the

May 2013

£7.50

Incorporating

The Voice of The Industry

Gems&Jewellery

May 2013

/ Volume

22 / No.

Diamond grading lacks clarit y Magnetic attraction Colours in quartz

Gold jewellery trends Jewellery Week preview HMRC’s payroll information changes

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Contents & Contacts |

Jeweller the

The Voice of The Industry

C O N T E N T S

www.thejewellermagazine.com

M A Y

1 3

2013’s week-long jewel-fest

26

Editor’s Letter

5

Rawlinson Speaks Out

6

Industry News

8

International News

14

NAG News

16

Member of the Month

18

Education & Training

21

IRV

22

As the price of gold stabilises somewhat, Belinda Morris

Brand Profile – Diamonfire

24

celebrates the return to the spotlight of yellow and

Insurance

30

rose gold jewellery

Ethical

31

Security

32

Opinion

46

Gold and silver coins have been used as raw material

Feature – Recycling pays

48

for jewellery for the best part of the last two

Feature – RTI payroll changes

52

thousand years. Jack Ogden explores the practice.

Notebook

54

Display Cabinet

56

Last Word

58

With next month’s Jewellery Week drawing nearer, we offer a preview of its various events and attractions, including Jewellery Show London.

Discover the Midas touch

34

Gold coins and pirate jewellers

50

May 2013

Gems&Jewellery

/ Volume

22 / No.

The Jeweller is published by the National Association of Goldsmiths for circulation to members. For more information about The Jeweller visit: www.thejewellermagazine.com

Laser pointers, rubies, pearls in 1913 and magnetism are all included in this issue, as well as the invaluable round-up of the latest news from around the gem trade.

Jeweller

Diamon d gradin lacks cla g rity Magneti c attrac tion Colours in quart z

the

May 2013

£7.50

Incorporating

Gems&Jewellery

/ Volume

22 / No.

Diamond grading lacks clarity Magnetic attraction Colours in quartz

Jewellery Week preview HMRC’s payroll information changes

The magazine is printed on paper and board that has met acceptable environmental accreditation standards.

The National Association

Sales Director: Ian Francis

of Goldsmiths

Tel: 020 7613 4445

78a Luke Street,

Fax: 020 7729 0143

London EC2A 4XG

ian@jewellers-online.org

Tel: 020 7613 4445

Publishing Enquiries/

www.jewellers-online.org

Classified Advertising:

CEO: Michael Rawlinson

Neil Oakford

michaelR@jewellers-online.org

neil@jewellers-online.org

Editor: Belinda Morris

Contributors:

bmorris@colony.co.uk

Michael Hoare, Miles Hoare,

Art Director: Ben Page

Jack Ogden, Amy Oliver,

ben@jewellers-online.org

James Riley

The Voice of The Industry

May 2013

Gold jewellery trends

3

3

Cover Image In conjunction with AL CORO AL CORO UK Office Saunders Shepherd & Co Ltd Telephone: 0121 236 1729 Email: info.uk@alcoro.com www.alcoro.com

The NAG is responsible for producing The Jeweller and, although every effort is made to ensure that the information supplied is accurate, the NAG does not accept liability for any loss, damage or claim whatsoever that may result from opinions expressed by contributors. Information and ideas are for guidance only and members should always consult their own professional advisers. The NAG accepts no responsibility for the content of Gems&Jewellery or any advertiser, advertisement or insert in The Jeweller.

Anyone having dealings with any advertiser must rely on their own enquiries.

The Voice of the Industry 3

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Comment | This month:

Editor’s

Letter

“… the stabilisation of gold has helped from a development perspective; the recent prices allow for more material for our design team to work with…”

n a monthly magazine – even one with a relatively short lead time such as ours –

O

there’s always a chance that a feature on a particular topic is planned, researched

and written, only to find that a situation or element may have changed by the time the publication leaves the printers. Which is why I find myself glancing daily at the fluctuating prices of precious metals… having decided that now would be a good time to look at gold jewellery.

Well, whatever the current cost of an ounce of gold, its stabilisation – plus the rather dramatic drop last month – has led to more positive feelings about working with it, buying it and selling it. Gold may not be about to unseat platinum from its throne, but the yellow (and rose) stuff is certainly featuring more assertively in many niche designer and big brand

Page 34

collections. Combine that with the fact that said suppliers are reporting increased interest from retailers, and that fashionistas in the media are sitting up and taking notice, amounts to a trend worth considering if you ask me.

And if you don’t believe me why not visit Jewellery Show London next month? At a recent press launch for the event (which is part of Jewellery Week) there were plenty of gold pieces being showcased by participating brands and designers. For the sake of balance of course our preview of Jewellery Week (p26) does include a cross-section of some of the great

Doublets are often associated with older and antique jewellery, but the practice of imitating gems with composites is still alive and well.

collections that will be offered, regardless of materials deployed. This year will also see the inaugural Watch Salon and of course the NAG will have a stand at the Show – another two good reasons not to miss it.

If you would like to comment on any of the issues raised in this edition of The Jeweller or any other trade-related matters please email the editor at: bmorris@colony.co.uk

Gems&Jewellery Page 8

The Voice of the Industry 5

| Comment

Rawlinson

speaks out Michael Rawlinson, the new chief executive of the NAG, outlines his vision for the future of the Association and how it can best support you, its members. s a key part of my interview process I was asked what I would do in my first three months if I was appointed CEO. There is always that dilemma – to set what appear to be amazing goals just to get the job, or lower you sights and risk not getting the chance to put your plan into action. Well, in the next 100 days we will find out if I can deliver what I promised.

If my first days are anything to go by, so far so good! I promised to meet all the board members before the first board meeting, and have personal one-to-one interviews with all of the NAG staff. The board meeting was on my 12th day, and my first goal was achieved.

I have been overwhelmed by the warmth of everyone’s welcome and willingness to impart their knowledge, insight and understanding.

It is, of course, still very early days, but I know I have done the right thing taking on the challenge of running your association.

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On the road My next priority is to meet as many members as I can and understand how we can support your businesses. I recognise that every day

6 The Jeweller May 2013

is different in retailing and it’s so hard to have set routines; the working day is so fluid. For example, the visit I made to one board member was constantly interrupted by repair engineers clearing up after a smash and grab that had taken place the previous afternoon. He was so pleased to be part of SaferGems, knowing that the report he made on his intruder will be circulated to other retailers and, by getting the word out, there is a much better chance of bringing the perpetrator to book. I was also able to see first-hand the deployment of some of the specialist techniques we have promoted at our Security Conference such as SmartWater and fog screens.

I want to communicate with you, the Association’s members, in ways that are clear, concise and appropriate to your daily lives.

One way is for me to get out of the London office and come and see you. During June I am planning to visit a number of towns and cities; Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol and Bath, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Edinburgh, Leeds and Leicester. I want to visit you in your shops and also hold ‘meet the

new CEO’ sessions, so if your business is in or close to one of these locations do let Amy Oliver in our membership department know that you would like to meet me. We will also be contacting a selection of members directly, so I can hear your views and ideas for the Association’s future first-hand.

The focus of attention As I gather my thoughts together following these consultation sessions, I will be building the strategy that will take the NAG forward.

I have already identified a number of key areas and I will be elaborating on these in the coming months. Initially I want to ensure the Association is focused on delivering tangible benefits that support members’ businesses.

The pressures of running your shops day-today can make it very hard for you to find time to explore new ideas or get inspiration for transforming strategies. I want to find the right ways to get these ideas to you. It is vital that the NAG supports you so you can grow and develop your business.

The Executive Development Forum, taking place on 19th June, is a great example of how the Association already helps members. This year’s congress has been restructured to make it more hands-on. Read about the programme in the NAG News pages, and do

Comment | try to find the time to attend, as I think you will not only enjoy the day, but also benefit directly from meeting and sharing ideas with other jewellery retailers.

A week later on 26th June our AGM will take place at Hampton Court Palace. This is a great opportunity to hear what has been happening within your Association, and question the officers and executive on the plans for the coming year. This year you have the added incentive of meeting me, your new chief executive!

I am thrilled that the NAG offers the best industry education programmes, and the quality of the courses is confirmed by the huge number of students we have enrolling every year. But we are not going to rest on our laurels and we won’t stand still. Kate Madelin, who is covering for Victoria Wingate while she takes maternity leave, will be reviewing all our options to see how we I want to ensure the can make our courses even Association is focused better, externally verified, more valued and accessible on delivering tangible to an even greater audience. benefits that support I plan to raise the profile of the NAG. It is the leading members’ businesses. voice of the jewellery sector and we need to ensure we are representing the industry clearly. The NAG coat of arms is a fantastic device to indicate those retailers that offer quality, service and who trade responsibly. I want to promote the jewellery industry, build on and develop the reputation of members with the public, and support the recognition of the coat of arms as the sign of trust.

The NAG will be looking to harness as many trade gatherings as it can to promote its work and to meet with members. Do look out for our stand at the upcoming Jewellery Show London, part of Jewellery Week, and come and say hello. Another great opportunity for retailers to raise their profile is the Show Window Competition. Look for details of how to enter on the Jewellery Week website.

…and finally If you like playing golf, and want to feel good at the same time, why don’t you consider signing up to the NAG Challenge Trophy taking place on 10th June at the beautiful course in Fulford, Yorkshire.

The event, open to all comers, will be a great day of socialising as well as golf, will include an auction to raise funds for the NAG Centenary Trust. The Trust was established in 1994 by John Pyke to support education and training, and particularly for students suffering hardship. Look out for the article on the event in the following pages.

Lastly, if you would like to meet with me or talk to me about an issue that is concerning you, please don’t hesitate to contact me. The NAG is your Association and I am here to make sure we provide the benefits and services you want and need. I look forward to meeting more of you in the coming weeks, months and hopefully years.

The Voice of the Industry 7

| Industry News

IJL to hold preview events nternational Jewellery London (IJL) is, for the first time, to hold ‘exclusive regional special previews’ ahead of the show itself which takes place from 1st-4th September at Earls Court. The mini events will be hosted by two top hotels at two key retail destinations. They will feature a preview of what to expect from several of the newly unveiled 2013 KickStart line up, alongside a selection of ‘show favourites’.

The first invite-only regional preview, which will be supported by the NAG, will be held on 13th May at the Malmaison Hotel in Leeds and the second will take place on 24th June at the Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh.

“Senior retailers and buyers travel to IJL from across the UK, so we are hosting mini events to give local retailers a real flavour of what to expect at IJL this year. It will be a fantastic opportunity to meet some of the

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new KickStart designers, alongside some select big show names, and to preview upcoming collections while enjoying canapés and a few glasses of champagne!” said event director Sam Willoughby.

Now in its fifth year, KickStart is a bursary scheme run by IJL; designers are selected each year as some of the best new talent of the future. A new twist has been added to the initiative this year as the 10 chosen designers will be put forward by IJL’s social media channels giving people the chance to vote for the ‘one to watch’ The winner will receive a free stand for IJL 2014.

The KickStarters being previewed are: Rosie Sanders, Anna Byers, Kattri, Sara Gunn, Jenny Llewellyn (Edinburgh only) and Christiana Christoforou. Alongside the KickStart designers, jewellery designers Fei Liu and Babette Wasserman have been lined up for both preview events, while

Deakin & Francis and CW Sellors will appear at the Edinburgh event. The designers from Scotland’s jewellery studio, Vanilla Ink, will also join them.

A ring by KickStarter Kattri

Birmingham Assay office ‘Sub’ opening he Birmingham Assay Office has announced that the British Hallmarking Council has authorised the opening of a sub-office at Hockley Mint, located in Warstone Lane, right in the heart of

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The Lord Sutherland of Houndwood, Prime Warden of The Goldsmiths’ Company, and Mark Wooley, Brink’s Global Services

8 The Jeweller May 2013

Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. A satellite of the Central Office in Birmingham, it will be staffed by employees of The Birmingham Assay Office and will be in operation from early June.

Gary Wroe, MD of Hockley Mint, said: “We will be able to offer an improved service to our customers by decreasing the movement of metal, and making a significant time and quality improvement to our processes.

We will also be able to further improve operations and work more efficiently, for the good of our customers.”

Michael Allchin, CEO of the Office, added: “We are pleased to be able to respond positively to Hockley Mint’s request for a Sub-Office, and we are keen to support UK jewellery manufacturers and enable them to give their customers the fast, high quality service they require. The new facility will be commissioned as soon as possible and we know that Hockley Mint will find it very beneficial to their business.

Meanwhile, last month saw the fifth anniversary of the London Assay Affice’s Sub-Office at Heathrow Airport. To mark the occasion the Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company joined operational staff and senior managers from the Assay Office and Brink’s Global Services for champagne and cake.

Industry News |

Greg Valerio to work with Fairtrade on labelling reg Valerio, Fairtrade jeweller, activist and contributor to The Jeweller has been appointed

by Fairtrade International to help drive its work on gold. The move follows a decision taken last month to simplify the labelling process for ethically-sourced precious metals in order to help grow the market. From 22nd April the formal partnership between Fairtrade International and the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) will end, which means that the dual label (Fairtrade Fairmined) on gold, silver and platinum, will be phased out during 2013 and replaced with the more recognisable Fairtrade mark only.

The decision to separate the labelling process for gold follows an extensive review of the current system, in which the market clearly called for simplification of the existing Fairtrade Fairmined label. It also comes at the natural end of a three-year pilot partnership with ARM. Both partners will continue to offer respective label certification programmes separately.

A transition period has been agreed during which time existing Fairtrade and Fairmined licensees can continue to use the dual label and any promotional material they have produced with it. For the future, each licensee is free to work with either scheme or with both if they choose.

Greg Valerio shares the organisation’s vision to pioneer better conditions for artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) through Fairtrade and was closely involved in the process leading to the world’s first independent certification scheme for gold in 2011, followed by successful launches in other global markets. “For me the challenge is to make it culturally unacceptable to sell an item of jewellery that is not independently certified as socially and environmentally responsible,” he said. “I am delighted to join a team which remains focused on continuing to improve working conditions, environmental standards and terms of trade for ASM mining organisations and providing a growing sustainable source of responsibly-mined gold for jewellers, jewellery manufacturers and ethical investment houses,” he added.

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Capella backs students erbyshire-based Capella Manufacturing, one of the UK’s leading precious metal refiners, has launched a campaign to support up-and-coming students. The project has seen the company invest in hand-picked ‘energetic and gifted’ students who want to create products that incorporate ethical supply chains and recycled metal.

As well as being a helping hand to give an insight into the industry and its inner workings, Capella has also sponsored students with metal to help make their designs a reality. Kevin Bloor, MD of Capella, said: “It is natural for us to want to support the future of the industry – these are the designers and manufacturers who will be responsible for the continued growth of the UK’s jewellery market.”

Sheffield Hallam University student Melissa Montague is one such recipient. “The benefits of working with 100 per cent recycled silver really appealed to me and while researching other jewellers and manufacturers in the industry who also specialise in this field, I quickly stumbled upon Capella,” she explained. “It was fascinating to see the process in action and how a pile of scrap metal can be refined and processed into rods and wire of, just about, any dimension you’d ever need. As well as showing me the inner workings of the refining process Capella also kindly supported my current project by supplying me with some recycled metal.”

This support programme is part of Capella’s on-going commitment to the industry which spans its open and transparent working processes, to its support of leading industry projects including the Sheffield Assay Office’s ‘Little Gems’ awards and events. To date Capella is also the first and only UK-based refiner that has been audited and FLO-CERT accredited to process Fairtrade gold.

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S N I P P E T S A real hidden gem Two jewellery retailers in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter have collaborated with the refurbished Jury’s Hotel in the city giving one lucky guest the chance to find a hidden diamond. Henricks the Jewellers and family jewellers Crystalinks have each provided a diamond, one of which, to the value of £1,000, was hidden under a guest pillow at the 445-bedroom Broad Street Hotel (on a date between 28th April and 5th May). The second gem will be the prize in a national competition later in the year.

In both cases the jewellers will also set the stone for the recipient.

Vivien Johnston named as a top entrepreneur Vivien Johnston, founder and MD of Fifi Bijoux was announced as one of the Future 50 Young Social Entrepreneurs of the Year during a reception hosted by Ernst & Young last month. Organised by Striding Out CIC, the Awards spotlight entrepreneurs aged 20-35 who demonstrate entrepreneurial flair and innovation in running a responsible business venture, one which ‘demonstrates a balance between economic, environmental and social goals to achieve ultimate business success’.

Dower & Hall Brushfield store gets spring make-over

Last month saw the unveiling of Dower & Hall’s refurbished store on Brushfield Street at London’s Spitalfields Market. The newlook shop now features a soft colour palette of turtle dove grey that complements the curved wall displays. For a fresh, feminine feel, the designers have added nine Scottish hand-made felt lotus flower light pendants.

There is also a champagne fridge to complete the full Dower & Hall experience.

The Voice of the Industry 9

| Industry News

H.Stern opens first UK standalone store

S N I P P E T S New creative agency for Accurist As part of a major brand re-alignment plan this year, British watch brand Accurist (established in Clerkenwell in 1946) has appointed London-based creative design agency Edge Design. The company will take a creative approach in defining the Accurist brand identity, tone of voice, communications and projecting its core values of true British design and heritage. “Our investment this year in new POS materials for all of our stores will dramatically improve our on-theshelf presence, that will revitalise this great brand and position us back at the forefront of retail partners’ and consumers’ minds,” said Accurist CEO Jonathan Crocker.

Clogau opens store in China

he prestigious Brazilian jewellery company H.Stern opened its first UK standalone store last month on London’s Sloane Street. The brand already has a presence in Harrods’ Fine Jewellery Room. “We chose Sloane Street because it is the home of international brands whilst being at the heart of a luxury residential community which maintains a local, friendly atmosphere”, says Roberto Stern, president and creative director.

The crystal glass store front offers a clear view of the colourful Brazilian stones of the brand’s main signature collections. The 156 square metre store features counters and corners folded in silk with displays of the jewellery and watches. The Botticino marble flooring, dark walnut woods of the customer consultation areas and the special lighting complete the luxurious appearance the new store, especially designed for H.Stern’s first London boutique.

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Deakin & Francis lawsuit settled ufflink manufacturer Deakin & Francis has received a legal undertaking from bespoke shirt makers Charles Tyrwhitt to remove from sale several cufflink designs which Deakin & Francis believed infringed its own original designs. Correspondence before proceedings between Deakin & Francis’ lawyers, McDaniel & Co., and Charles Tyrwhitt’s lawyers also resulted in the payment of its legal costs.

James Deakin commented: “This was a very serious issue for us; we invest significant time and effort in creating original designs and we had to act to protect our own creations. I am delighted with the result we have achieved with this case. I am determined that a revered brand such as Deakin & Francis, established in 1786 and still family run, will not to be undermined in any way.”

Deakin & Francis was represented in this matter by Anti Copying in Design-accredited law firm McDaniel & Co.

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10 The Jeweller May 2013

As part of its international plans for 2013 the Welsh gold jewellery brand Clogau will open its first international store in Beijing, China, this month. This will be followed in June with an official launch in Abu Dhabi International Airport, in partnership with Pure Gold Jewellers, at which event royal harpist and Clogau ambassador Claire Jones will make an appearance.

Gecko launches new website Now part of the WB Creative Jewellery Group, jewellery wholesaler Gecko has introduced its revamped website. Together with improved content of the latest news and updates, retailers will find a selection of design-led, fast-selling jewellery as well as customer service, but now with an added transactional function that enables them to order online. Browsing the collections has been made easier with new flick books and a fresh new design.

| Industry News

Tivon ring to aid flood victims ivon Fine Jewellery has created a bespoke piece of jewellery inspired by, and in aid of, the New York City natural disaster victims. Last year hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless, millions of dollars in damages were caused and lives lost by some of the worst natural disasters in New York and New Jersey.

“I remember watching the news and seeing all the helpless people whose homes were being washed away,” comments Ariel Tivon. “It reminded me of the recent tsunami in Japan – just horrific and totally surreal. I was intent on creating something amazing for this worthy cause. It had to be inspirational, not only in its design but in its message which is to never lose hope and that tomorrow always holds the promise of something better.”

The ring – named ‘New Beginnings’ – is crafted in 18ct white gold and set with an array of fine white diamonds and tzavorite garnets. As the central gem, a 31.20ct emerald-cut vividgrade tanzanite stone was specially cut and set. The piece is expected to fetch between US$100,000 and US$150,000 at a yet-to-be-scheduled auction.

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IBB London acquires Lily & Lotty raham and Carole Stock of Nathan & Stock Limited, creators of the Lily & Lotty brand, have announced the acquisition of their brand by IBB London.

David Kovacs of IBB states: “We are extremely excited to welcome the Lily & Lotty brand and see great potential for expansion, both in the domestic and export markets. Graham and Carole have done a fantastic job of the branding and will continue in their creative roles, playing an important part in the future development of Lily & Lotty.”

Graham Stock adds: “This is a truly fantastic opportunity for Lily & Lotty! IBB offers the brand enormous potential to grow both our current UK wholesale business as well as in international markets and we very much look forward to working closely with them.

The extra time Carole and I now have will allow us to focus on design and developing new collections, which we believe will help us take the brand to the next level.”

Lily & Lotty’s silver and diamond jewellery is this year’s recipient of the CMJ award for best new collection and IBB exhibited the collection for the first time at BaselWorld.

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Blue diamond sale breaks record n extremely rare fancy deep-blue diamond weighing 5.30 carats sold at Bonhams Fine Jewellery sale in London’s New Bond Street on 24th April for a record price of $1.8m per carat. The previous world record price per carat for a blue diamond was $1.68m. The stone was bought by Graff Diamonds, with bidding coming from round the world via 25 telephone lines as well as bidders in the packed saleroom.

The cushion-shaped deep-blue diamond is horizontally set in a Trombino-ring made by Italian jeweller Bulgari circa 1965.

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12 The Jeweller May 2013

S N I P P E T S WB Group’s Sherlock promoted Naomi Newton Sherlock has been promoted to the role of creative director by WB The Creative Jewellery Group. She will take responsibility for overseeing creative activities for all the Domino brands and will bring added design knowledge to its board.

Sherlock has been with the Group for five years, firstly as a jewellery designer and then as head of new product development and national accounts.

Fabergé appoints marketing and communications director Fabergé, the contemporary master jeweller, has named Pia Tonna as its director of marketing and communications. In this role Tonna will be in charge of overseeing brand strategy, corporate communications, global PR and product launch strategy for high and fine jewellery collections. She will also control retail marketing strategy, advertising, strategic brand partnerships and digital communications. Tonna previously worked at the Chanel Corporation and Paul Smith.

Fashion-favourite US brand now in UK New York-based jewellery designer Eddie Borgo is now being wholesaled in the UK through London agency Rainbow Wave.

Sold in 100 retailers worldwide, including Bergdorf Goodman (NY), Collette (Paris) and Harrods, Borg’s work fuses American costume jewellery and the history of rock and roll for bold, one-of-a-kind pieces in a mix of materials and stones, including 18ct gold. Rainbow also handles wholesale enquiries for the Greek designer Ilena Makri, who is recognised for her ‘fine jewellery for no special occasion’.

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ach day I love you more.

Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.

Our website is www.diamonfire.co.uk and the main contact for sales is Katherine Knox - Katherine@diamonfire.co.uk Tel: 07803 503991.

Rosemonde Gérard

| International News

Greek jewellery brand plans UK distribution i-LA-LO, which was founded in Greece 11 years ago, has made its UK debut with a store in Westfield London, with plans for selling to the UK trade in the near future.

The company already has 17 stores in Greece and Cyprus as well as a distribution network across Greece, Australia and the Czech Republic.

‘Luxury, style and exclusivity’ are the key strengths of the brand, which creates a number of collections in 18ct gold, sterling silver, diamonds and coloured stones. Retail prices range between £50 and £3,950.

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CIBJO releases gem report

S N I P P E T S Rapaport diamond conference at JCK-Vegas The annual Rapaport Breakfast and Conference at the JCK Las Vegas Jewelry Show will be held on Sunday, June 2nd 2013 at 8:00am in the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

The conference is free and open to all.

Martin Rapaport’s presentation at the breakfast will provide an in-depth strategic analysis of the challenges and opportunities confronting the global diamond and jewellery trade, as well as a forecast for diamond prices through the 2013 holiday season.

Line Vautrin boxes up for sale The largest private collection of Line Vautrin decorative boxes is to go on sale in New York this month – a collaboration between NY dealer Maison Gerard and online luxury ‘marketplace’ 1stdibs. A total of 100 boxes, dating from the 1940s to the 1960s and all purchased from the French designer herself, or in auction, have been authenticated

by Vautrin’s daughter. Prices range from $3,000 to $40,000.

Sotheby’s NY sets diamond auction record…

he World Jewellery Federation (CIBJO) has released its sixth Special Report, prepared by its Gemmological Commission. The report discusses the difficulty of collecting and collating information on technical issues, and then communicating it in ways that are understandable to a more general audience. In particular, the report considers dilemmas associated with properly describing treated gemstones.

Prior to this CIBJO has recently released an Ethics Committee report on Corporate Social Responsibility, as well as others on diamonds, precious metals and coloured stones. In our July issue John Henn, UK delegation lead and NAG board member, will offer his overview of the CIBJO Conference, held earlier this month in Tel Aviv.

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Sotheby’s in New York set a new auction record for any white diamond sold in the Americas when an exceptional pear-shaped diamond of nearly 75 carats achieved $14,165,000. Five bidders vied for the stone which was part of the Magnificent Jewels sale which brought in $53.5 million in total for jewellery from prominent private collections, including a rare example of Cartier’s ‘Tutti-Frutti’ bracelets.

Tanzanite mining company responds to flood emergency

… and Bonhams realises $5.3 million

fter recent extensive rainfall in the districts of Shambari, Bwawani and Kiloyvera in Tanzania, TanzaniteOne Mining Ltd, the world’s largest supplier of Tanzanite, went to the aid of local residents after homes had been washed away. Last month the company delivered over 800 litres of fresh drinking water, as well as food supplies to nearly 1,000 residents who had been left stranded and homeless.

This is the second time in the last five years that this area has experienced severe flooding.

In March of 2008, after similar rainfall, TanzaniteOne led a search and rescue operation for victims trapped in surrounding artisanal mines. When the waters had subsided, a trough was built by the company, with money donated through the Tanzanite Foundation. The trough which serves as a drainage mechanism, channels fast-flowing water away from mining pits preventing casualties which might have otherwise occurred.

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14 The Jeweller May 2013

Bonhams’ Madison Avenue salesroom in New York last month saw a record number of attendees, international telephone bidders and online bidders competing for pieces in its ‘Prominent Collection of Fine Jewelry’.

The auction of 82 fashionable items – including bold and colourful diamond and gemstone pieces by Bulgari, realised just over $5 million with a subsequent auction of Fine Jewelry, sourced from various owners, seeing strong results for diamonds in particular.

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| NAG News

New SaferGems campaign targeting potential offenders Since its instigation in 2009, SaferGems has signed-up over half of the UK jewellery industry with its innovative scheme for tackling crime against the trade. Within this time it has contributed in over 500 different cases, leading to a number of successful arrests and convictions.

As SaferGems relies on information shared between jewellers in the scheme, those not signed up will be at a greater risk.

The new marketing initiative is intended to warn off offenders and also to remind jewellers that if they are not signed up they may be letting vital intelligence go unreported to police – unknowingly putting themselves at risk to known criminals.

Dick Hanks, who administers SaferGems on a daily basis said: “SaferGems is a simple crime prevention initiative and has become an effective partnership between the Police and the jewellery industry since its inception.

There are numerous examples of how, by sharing information in a timely manner, criminals have been deterred or arrested for crimes against jewellers. The SaferGems sticker is a new tool in the fight against jewellery crime, putting fear of arrest in the minds of the criminals.”

NAG CEO Michael Rawlinson was keen to say: “Intelligence about past incidents is useful, but information about suspicious behaviour or individuals is even more useful in deterring crime; similarly participating in a security scheme is great, but telling potential offenders is even better!“ To find out more about SaferGems and to sign up to the scheme simply visit our website at: www.safergems.org or email us at: info@safergems.org A copy of this sticker is available by post by calling Ritu or Amy at the NAG on tel: 020 7613 4445.

UK Jewellery Awards 2013

Sidaway (Retail Employer); Abigail Stradling, Allum & Sidaway, Jade Mason, Maude's the Jewellers and Maureen McKee, Chisholm Hunter (Retail Star); Laing the Jeweller and Parkhouse the Jeweller, Peter Jackson the Jeweller, Rox, Green + Benz and Allum & Sidaway (Independent Retailer); Brazen, Justice and Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design (Boutique Retailer); Beaverbrooks, Chisholm Hunter and Fraser Hart (Multiple Retailer) and finally Beards, Chisholm Hunter and Fellows (Etailer).

We would like to wish all our members the best of luck!

aferGems is launching a new campaign warning potential criminals of the risks from offending against SaferGems protected stores. Over the coming months the scheme will be offering members a number of marketing materials to warn offenders that the retailer is protected by the SaferGems scheme. In a proactive move, it aims to encourage members to boast about their membership of the scheme to warn offenders that they are targeting a protected store.

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he NAG would like to congratulate those of our members who have been shortlisted for the UK Jewellery Awards 2013.

Special mention should go to NAG member Allum & Sidaway which is a finalist in not one but three categories! While the manager of the group’s Salisbury store, Abigail Stradling, is on the shortlist for Retail Star, Allum & Sidaway is also a finalist for Retailer of the Year and Employer of the Year.

Managing director, Jason Allum said: “We always aim to source new and innovative collections for all our stores and offer our loyal and extensive customer base the very best service. 2012 was an exciting year for us as we received several prestigious awards as well as opening our flagship store in Ringwood to great acclaim. To be shortlisted for these accolades is thrilling and inspiring and our continual aim is to go from strength to strength and consistently provide exemplary service to our customers.”

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16 The Jeweller May 2013

Other NAG members who have made the shortlist for the Awards (which will be held at the Natural History Museum on 4th July) are: Justice and Rox (Store Design); The Beards ‘Be More’ campaign 2012/13 and Clogau ‘Fairytales’ (Marketing Campaign); Brown & Newirth, Clogau and Cookson Precious Metal (Supplier); Rox, Laing the Jeweller and Parkhouse the Jeweller, Peter Jackson the Jeweller, Rox and Allum &

Allum & Sidaway staff

NAG News |

New format for EDF Congress 2013 he NAG is delighted that for the fifth consecutive year the Executive Development Forum Congress will take place at SAID Business School, Oxford, this year on the 19th June. EDF members already recognise the benefits gained through attending the Congress as it gives them great networking opportunities and exposes them to up to date business concepts. EDF members also have ample opportunities to learn from experts and adapt, as well as adopt, relevant principles and ideas so they can incorporate them into their businesses.

In response to EDF member requests, this year’s Congress will follow a new format, where teams will participate in a project to develop a plan that will explore ‘How we will be selling jewellery in 2018’. The Congress will begin with a short update of the last 12 months trading and activities in EDF, before the interactive sessions begin. In order to add some spice, winners of this competitive project will be rewarded with prizes. Each EDF Congress aims to incorporate unifying themes that will be informative, thought provoking and well-received by delegates.

The Congress will maintain the format of having invited specialists from outside the jewellery sector. Our experts for this year will be available as a resource during the Congress to support the teams with their project.

Proceedings will kick off at 9:00am with coffee where delegates will be able to renew old acquaintances as well as build new ones. The Congress will close at 4:00pm.

The total cost for the day will be £195 + VAT for EDF members and £255 + VAT for nonmembers. Special discounted rates for second or more bookings from the same company are available upon request. An informal dinner will again take place the night before the congress on the 18th of June at The Oxford Thames Four Pillars.

To book your place on the EDF Congress on the 19th June and the optional dinner on the 18th June, please contact Amanda White at the NAG on 020 7613 4445.

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Annual NAG Challenge Trophy olf fans will be pleased to learn that this year’s NAG Challenge Trophy sponsored by Bransom Retail Systems will be held on the 10th June at the Fulford Golf Club, and will be raising funds for the Centenary Trust.

We would like to emphasise that the NAG Challenge Trophy will be a social gathering that can be attended by individuals in and out of the trade. Whether you are a retailer, manufacturer, wholesaler or supplier, come along with your family and friends for 18 holes of golf, putting competition, afternoon tea and champagne reception followed by dinner and awards ceremony.

If golf isn’t your cup of tea, you will still be able to enjoy the day at the clubhouse and join us for the food and drink throughout the day. Our main concern is that everyone has a good time and we will have a photographer on hand to capture all these magic moments.

Please come and join us at the Fulford Golf Club home of the world famous Benson & Hedges International Open for an excellent opportunity to network and enjoy yourself on and off the golf course.

Events will tee off at 10:00am and continue throughout the day. The cost for the entire day of golf is just £85 for NAG members and £98 for non-members, and to join us for dinner is £35 for NAG members and £45 for non-members.

To book your place please contact Frank Wood on 01904 625 5274 or email him at: golf@braithwaitesjewellers.com Payments can be made via company cards and VAT receipts will be sent on request.

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New Member Applications To ensure that NAG Members are aware of new applications for NAG Membership within their locality, applicants’ names are published below. Members wishing to comment on any of these applications can call Amy Oliver on 020 7613 4445 or email her at: amyoliver@jewellers-online.org within three weeks of receipt of this issue.

Affiliate Applications R McCullagh, Letterkenny, Ireland

Allied Applications Brown & Newirth Ltd, Hatfield, Herts

Alumni Associate Applications Helen Cormack, Inverness, Scotland Jane Pamment, Colchester, Essex Steven Deacon, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex Jade Meakin, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex Sarah Berkerey, Southville, Bristol

IRV Applications If members wish to comment on any of these please contact Sandra Page on tel: (029) 2081 3615.

Upgrading from Member to Fellow David M Baker

PJDip PJValDip FNAG FGA DGA, Bath

IRV congratulates Richard Taylor on PhD success he Institute of Registered Valuers has offers its congratulations to Richard Taylor FIRV FNAG FGA DGA who has recently completed a PhD in Mineral Physics at the University of St. Andrews. In addition to his PhD (and his numerous qualifications listed above) Dr. Taylor has a BSc(Hons), is a Member of the Academy of Experts, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the Geological Society and Member of the Institute of Physics.

Dr. Taylor become an IRV back in 1988 and has been a strong supporter of the Institute over the years. Last year he ran workshops at the IRV Loughborough Conference on luminescence using lasers – and gin! The Association is delighted that he has accepted the invitation to return and take part in this year’s Conference which runs from Saturday 14th to Monday 16th September.

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The Voice of the Industry 17

| NAG News

NAG Member of the Month In this issue’s Member of the Month Amy Oliver speaks to Sophie Guess of L. Guess Ltd in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

The jewellers was established in the 1940s following the war, and is still a thriving retail business today.

Tell us a bit about how you got started in the business…

My brother Simon and I were fortunate to grow up in the trade and spent many a Saturday and school holiday in the jewellery workshop. As we got older we were put to good use behind the counter, so really the jewellery trade is second nature to us and we both feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to be part of such an interesting, varied and enjoyable business.

store and I think in these difficult economic times and with all the competition from the internet we must be doing something right to be busy.

You expanded in 2011, opening a store in Rustington. Has this store been as successful as the Littlehampton store and are there any differences in stock and trading between the two?

Watches seem to be a big part of your business; do you see any developing trends for 2013?

Pre-owned prestige watches are a big part of what we do but as far as trends go I think people buy the pre-owned because of the savings they get rather than because it is fashionable or on-trend. Often with a Rolex watch for example they can be as much as 50 per cent cheaper than a new one, they generally make a good investment and they are a safe purchase. Customers like to have this peace of mind.

Rustington store front

The Rustington Store is very modern in appearance compared to Littlehampton and we have very much gone down the branded route with our stock. However, we have an excellent range of pre-owned jewellery and prestige watches in both stores, which is a unique selling point for us locally.

Because we have traded in Littlehampton for over 30 years I think the footfall is higher – which is not surprising. Having said that we are extremely pleased with our new

18 The Jeweller May 2013

Do you have any plans for further expansion in the future?

I think with all the hard work that has gone into the opening the second store, I don’t have any plans to open a third one – for now anyway!

You stock many of the leading jewellery brands such as Chamilia and Ti Sento; which, in your opinion, is the most popular with customers?

Brands are a big part of the retail jewellery trade now and customers are very aware of brands. They love the whole package with the box, the bag, the loyalty schemes and the gift with purchase promotions. Our best

Littlehampton store front (with the Queen)

selling brand at the moment I would say is Chamilia, for which we are currently in the top 100 retailers in the country. Chamilia is closely followed by Lovelinks in popularity.

We’ve also just taken on Story by Kranz & Ziegler which we are very excited about.

We went up to their press launch in Soho a couple of weeks ago and are very confident in the brand and the marketing they are going to be putting into it. We have a good customer base for our brands and regularly hold Champagne customer evenings where we offer promotions and give out goody bags.

I think these little extras make the customer feel special and along with excellent customer service – which we pride ourselves on – it gives them a reason to come back, become a regular customer and of course increase brand sales for the long term.

Tell us a favourite customer anecdote…

I had a customer a few years ago who was very emotional as she pulled a box from her handbag. As she opened it, she quietly said to me that it was her husband who had passed away, and she had sent his ashes to the USA to be made into a diamond! She was bringing him to me as her trusted local jeweller to set into a ring so she could wear him all the time. Imagine how careful I had to be when that was in the workshop!

If you would like your business to be considered as Member of the Month send an email to: amyoliver@jewellers-online.org

Rustington interior

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GOLDSMITHS Representing Jewellery Retailers since 1894

JET1&2

PROFESSIONAL JEWELLERS’ DIPLOMA

THE ESSENTIAL RETAIL JEWELLERY QUALIFICATION... ‡ Designed to equip individuals with

indispensable practical industry knowledge WR GHYHORS VDOHV SURĂ€FLHQF\ DQG HQKDQFH revenue and repeat business.

‡ The course is split in to two bite-sized

assessment chunks known as JET1 & JET2.

The prestigious National Association of Goldsmiths -(7 TXDOLĂ€FDWLRQV FRYHU a wide range of topics and FDQ WDNH \RX IURP QRYLFH WR TXDOLĂ€HG SURIHVVLRQDO in two steps, and further if you wish.

Alice Bailey, JET graduate

Please contact the N.A.G. Education Department to request your copy of the prospectus.

Tel: 020 7613 4445 (ext.1) Email: education@jewellers-online.org Course fees can be found on enrolment forms which can be downloaded at: www.jewellers-online.org/pages/education-courses.php COMMITTED TO SETTING AND MAINTAINING PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL STANDARDS

NAG News: Education & Training |

Bransom award winner for March announced he winner of the much-coveted Bransom JET 1 Project Assignment Award for March is Tanya Mikelic of Francis & Gaye which has jewellery stores in Coventry and Leicester.

So, hearty congratulations to Tanya, who has managed to scoop the prize after her particular project was selected from this month’s bag of entries by the course moderator who marks all NAG JET 1 education and training projects.

For those who may be unaware of this academic initiative, it is held in conjunction with Bransom Retail Systems. Each month the education department enters all JET 1 assignments into a competition for ‘best project’. Selected by the external examiners, the award gives students the chance to be rewarded with a trip to the historic and very prestigious Goldsmiths’ Hall in London, for the presentation of their certificate (in front of colleagues, friends, family and industry luminaries) at our glittering annual award ceremony. Students successfully completing all five assignments of JET 1 to a satisfactory standard are awarded a JET 1 certificate and are then entitled to continue on to JET 2

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and the completion of the Professional Jewellers’ Diploma.

Tanya’s work was selected by the moderator for its “technical information related to diamond grading” which was “fully researched and explained in great detail”. The moderator went on to say: “The most impressive of the sections was the last one which dealt with ‘Customer Care’, which was the element regarding the restoration of the three-stone diamond ring. Tanya’s answer was simply outstanding… proving beyond any doubt that she has developed these important skills to a very high standard. This candidate has proved that she is another very worthy winner of the JET 1 Bransom Award.”

Tanya’s tutor, Michelle McCormick, was equally impressed with her achievements.

“Tanya has been an impressive JET 1 candidate. She successfully completed all her assignments within three months and more importantly to a high standard,” she told us.

When we managed to catch up with Tanya – between serving customers – to ask how it felt to win the award she admitted: “It was brilliant to win – it was a fantastic feeling Tanya Mikelic of Francis & Gaye

when I got that call. I was in my position for two years before starting the course, working with Francis & Gaye as a sales assistant. The course has really given me the information I need to serve customers. It’s given me loads of product knowledge and it’s been fantastic just to boost my confidence as well.

“My favourite part of the course was the customer services assignment. As Francis & Gaye runs an in-store repair service there were some parts of that I was really sure about – however the course helped me with a few areas I wasn’t so certain of and it has added to the knowledge I had already gained in-store.”

“The course has really given me the information I need to serve customers. It’s given me loads of product knowledge and it’s been fantastic just to boost my confidence as well.”

Tanya is in no doubt as to the value of the NAG course. “I’d certainly recommend it… it’s definitely worthwhile,” she said. “It’s a great way to gain self-assurance and if there are any aspects of the jewellery retail industry that you don’t know already, you certainly will after doing JET 1. I would very much like to thank my tutor Michelle McCormick who helped me through the course by responding to all my emails and sending me helpful tips!”

The education department would like to congratulate Tanya on her extremely hard work, and wish her continued success in her work and future studies.

For more information on the JET courses, go to: www.jewellers-online.org or call 020 7613 4445 (option 1). For information on Bransom visit: www.bransom.co.uk

The Voice of the Industry 21

| NAG News: IRV Review

NAG Institute of Registered Valuers R

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Celebrate! Loughborough is 25 this year To mark its significant birthday, the NAG IRV Loughborough Conference has a splendid line up of guest speakers and workshops planned for its members and guests. he IRV Conference has humble beginnings. It began back in the late 1980s with a half-day event held during the International Watch, Jewellery & Silver Trades Fair at Earls Court.

Just 51 delegates attended – including Bill Allan, Heather Bunker, D J Harrold, Roy Huddlestone, Peter Jackson, John Sayer, Richard Taylor and Terence Watts who also attended last year’s Conference when we celebrated the Institute’s Silver Jubilee with a record attendance of 195 people. Back in 1989 Michael Prince, a former joint MD of James Walker Goldsmith & Silver, talked about retail mark-ups and their effect on valuations.

It’s a touchy subject these days but one which generated much discussion during the Conference.

The programme for the day included a talk by the late great David Wilkins, one of the founder members of the NAG Valuations Committee, who gave the results of a scale of charges questionnaire which had been circulated to NAG RVs – 40 per cent of whom responded. Even in those days it was a restrictive trade practice to recommend any kind of scale of charges so David took it upon himself to talk about what he charges, how

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he arrives at his particular scale and why it is important to charge a proper fee for a proper service.

Back then it was rare for a valuer to charge on a per item basis, the norm being to levy some kind of basic fee plus a percentage of the value, a formula still used by many valuers today, although this method can be open to accusations of inflated values in order to get a higher fee! The high precious metal and gemstone prices etc. obviously mean that jewellery is more expensive than it was when the percentage method of charging was introduced (way before the NAG Registered Valuer Scheme was introduced) and in those days a fee based upon a small percentage of the value was found to be more acceptable to the public. Now it can be a bone of contention.

However, provided a valuer makes it perfectly clear to the customer what their fees are they are within their rights to charge what they feel is appropriate for their services.

These were the early days of the Scheme and the support from the NAG membership was tremendous. The Committee felt that the RVs would be interested in more than just a half-day Conference so the decision was taken to hold a weekend residential

Conference and at the suggestion of the late Michael Norman, another founding member of the Committee, Loughborough University of Technology was chosen as the venue for the 1990 event. And, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

2013 – our 25th Conference!

Loughborough has developed a great deal over the years but on the whole we’ve stuck to what appears to be a winning formula: two-and-a-half days of a mixture of main presentations and workshops covering all manner of trade topics ranging from gemmology and insurance, to watches, silver, antique jewellery and everything in between.

Plus, of course, there’s the opportunity to get together with like-minded individuals to talk about the topics dear to every jeweller’s/

valuer’s heart and to share information on those special items that we don’t see every day. There are few occasions to do this which is why the annual Loughborough Conference is so special and so popular.

This year’s Conference takes place over the weekend of Saturday 14th to Monday 16th September inclusive, at its usual venue of Loughborough University.

Plans for this year’s exciting programme are already under way and the Institute promises delegates yet another selection of top class experts covering a wide range of topics. More details will appear in the June issue of The Jeweller.

A booking form will automatically be sent to all IRVs and non-IRV delegates from the 2011 and 2012 Conferences towards the beginning of July. If you’ve not been for a while or have never attended and wish to receive details please register your interest with Sandra Page on tel: 029 2081 3615 or email her at: irv@jewellers-online.org A copy of the report on the 2012 Conference can be found on the IRV website at: www.jewelleryvaluers.org/news/40.

22 The Jeweller May 2013

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| Feature

Brand Profile Diamonfire Belinda Morris talks to Ed Ferris about a sparkling cubic zirconia jewellery brand that has, in less than a year, caught the imagination of the trade.

is time last year — in the UK at least — Diamonfire was just (a pretty) twinkle in the eye of jewellery retailer Ed Ferris. He’d spotted the cubic zirconia (CZ) set sterling silver brand at BaselWorld in March and was immediately convinced of its commercial as well as aesthetic appeal. While he may not need confirmation of his ability to know a good thing when he sees it, it was nonetheless a happy coincidence to discover that his father Bill and brother Tom had, independently of him and of one another, appraised the collection and liked it — having ascertained that no, it really wasn’t diamond!

“We then all went on the stand, looked through the ranges and decided that it was right for our six Swag shops,” says Ferris, “and then Diamonfire told us that they didn’t have a distributor in the UK.” So, in true Victor Kiam style, he liked it so much he bought (into) the company! “I had no big intention of becoming a distributor — it just happened by accident,” he admits.

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24 The Jeweller May 2013

So, it was serendipity. Choosing Diamonfire jewellery for his stores has proved to be a happy accident indeed, for today the brand currently supplies 230 UK retailers… and counting. “In just eight months we have been overwhelmed by the reaction,” Ferris says.

Launched at the CMJ show, then IJL last year, it was Diamonfire’s recent participation at The Jewellery Show in Birmingham that created the final growth spurt. “It was a huge success for us — we opened 32 new accounts and expect many more over the coming months,” he adds.

Cubic Zirconia jewellery is not a new concept at Swag. “We’ve always sold it, as a generic product, and done well with it,” he explains. “Then jewellery brands started to take over. However, our managers had started asking for more CZ jewellery. With Diamonfire we liked the name, the strapline (‘inspired by diamonds’), the quality and, of course, the price point.”

Critically, the majority of the brand’s price points fall under the magical one hundred pounds — perfect for the typical gift purchase.

“It is affordable jewellery and it creates footfall. People want the look of a classiclooking diamond product — but it’s hard to sell diamonds at the moment,” says Ferris.

“Pandora showed the way — that you need to appeal to as broad an audience as possible.”

(This is a subject upon which he is wellplaced to comment; the Swag group also incorporates 17 Pandora stores.)

Ferris’ initial investment into Diamonfire “wasn’t massive” he says. His main concern, interestingly, was how jewellery retailers would feel about another retailer “banging on their door”. But his worries proved to be unfounded.

“The opposite turned out to be the case.

I phoned 10 people I knew over one week and nine of them went with it — which then made it easier to sell more,” he explains.

Clearly, being sold a hitherto unknown brand

What is cubic zirconia?

CZ is the cubic crystalline form of zirconium dioxide. There is a natural form of CZ but it is so rare that all CZ used in jewellery is synthesised (created by humans). The stone is hard, optically flawless and usually colourless — although it can be made in a variety of colours.

It is not, however, as hard as diamond. CZ is a diamond simulant (or imitation diamond) as distinct from a synthetic diamond, which is lab-created/grown/cultivated — manufactured in an artificial process.

Feature | by one of their own, who was having success with it, lessened any perceived risk.

Ferris went on to pick up a further 30 stockists over the following three weeks.

It became obvious that he was going to have to invest more in the brand — both in terms of people and product. Today the company, which is based in Hampshire, carries every size (of ring) and aims to ship orders out within 24 hours (or within three days at the most).

So much for the successes — presumably he has come up against some resistance to the idea of a product that looks like diamond… but isn’t? “I understand the concerns that some people in the trade might have had about CZ and I respect their views,” he says. “But selling Diamonfire has had no adverse effect on diamond sales at Swag — in fact we’ve sold more diamonds since we took it on. The main objection that I have come up against — and there have only been a handful — is when a retailer says: “I’m not sure that I can see this near my diamond jewellery; where does it sit?

Does it go in my shops with brands?”

However, our experience is telling us that it seems to work in both situations.”

At Swag they are finding that the brand’s strapline is a key selling tool which the staff use regularly. “It’s the look [of diamonds] at a different price point. We show it alongside a real diamond so that they can be compared and explain that it isn’t a replacement for diamonds,” he says. Ferris was aware that he was onto a winner when shop staff (those of other stockists as well as his own) loved the design of the pieces and were prepared to buy it for themselves and wear it. “If you get a good reaction from staff it’s a good sign,” he says. Encouragingly he had the same positive reaction from the female members of the CMJ team!

“… selling Diamonfire has had no adverse effect on diamond sales at Swag — in fact we’ve sold more diamonds since we took it on.”

The Diamonfire zirconia stone, just like a diamond, is measured in carats and certificated according to the same criteria as used for diamonds. So it’s probably unsurprising that the jewellery collection is hitting some of those spots with strong diamond associations. “From listening to customers and what they like about the brand, we can see that there’s a strong bridal connection,” says Ferris. “There are pieces that make great gifts for bridesmaids and mothers of the brides and of course necklaces and earrings that can be worn with a wedding gown.”

To emphasise this aspect, a Diamonfire brochure and accompanying marketing material, specially for the UK market, will be launched soon. “The next marketing plan will be an e-commerce site, which is obviously an important step,” Ferris explains.

He does however add (should any hackles be raised by such a potentially inflammatory suggestion) that a percentage of each retail sale — in some form or other — from the site will be given to the local bricks and mortar stockist. Takes a retailer to empathise with another…

Diamonfire – a brief history • The family business was created in 1973 by Burkhard Müller, from Rülzheim, Germany.

It began as a wholesale silver jewellery collection which grew massively, finally selling across Germany and into other European markets.

• About five years ago Herr Müller (who had a great deal of engineering and manufacturing experience) conceived two innovations. One was the ‘Ideal Cut’ for CZ — a cut with 57 facets, initially developed for diamonds, that brings out the maximum sparkle in the stone.

• The second development was the three-layer plating method using rhodium, palladium and platinum to give the sterling silver its hard-wearing, non-tarnish, highly-polished finish.

• Today Diamonfire sells in 350 jewellers across Germany, has sold in Holland for the past three years and has opened in nine new countries during the past 12 months.

The Voice of the Industry 25

2013’s week-long jewel-fest!

W. Hamond

| Jewellery Week Preview

Centred around London’s iconic venue, Somerset House, Jewellery Week promises a host of events and launches to entice the trade and public alike. t’s had one or two rocky moments since its inauguration, but what began as London Jewellery Week (JW) back in 2008 continues to be a key date in the UK jewellery calendar.

Today though it’s a more inclusive happening – the ‘London’ part is no more and while most of the events take place in the capital (from 7th to 16th June 2013) the organisers are clearly hoping that a celebration of our industry should be a nationwide thing.

While many of the Week’s events are aimed at the consumer – Treasure, Jewel East etc., the focus of JW for retailers is The Jewellery Show London (JSL) which will be held on 11th and 12th. The first dedicated trade-only fair of its kind, it proved popular

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with visitors and exhibitors alike when it launched at Somerset House last June – most commenting on the positive vibe engendered by the rather exclusive and opulent riverside venue. To lure key buyers to the event the organisers i2i Events will once again be offering a hosted buyer programme, to include a night’s stay.

At the time of going to press the show – official partners of which include the NAG,

26 The Jeweller May 2013

Kirsten Goss

Presman Mastermelts, Swarovski Elements, Stephen Webster and the BJA – has already gathered together over 130 brands and designers; a figure that is almost certain to grow before June – already the show has doubled in size since 2012 and will now occupy three floors.

This year an added incentive to attend the show comes in the form of The Watch Salon – a newly assigned space for established brands such as Bering Time, Torgoen Swiss, Festina, Jorg Gray and Seiko. Much more recently arrived on the market (2012) is the British watch designer David Mason London Carat

which will be showing 12 new styles across three ranges. Central to the brand is the collaboration with British-based sporting ambassadors such as World Renault Series Formula 3.5 driver Oliver Webb and Scottish Rugby International Tim Visser.

The London show will include a programme of seminars and for those visitors particularly interested in timepieces there will be a

CW Sellors

retailer’s guide to pre-owned watches as well as talks on subjects such as the newest techniques, watch trends and watch e-tailing.

More jewellery-specific topics will include trend tips and styling advice (from Babette Wasserman and Alexis Dove), the ethical sourcing of materials and how to adapt to an increasingly brand-driven market. There will also be an independently-edited catwalk to showcase some of the best pieces plus future trends.

David Mason

Newcomers to the show On the jewellery side, and obviously regarded as rather a coup for JSL, the luxury French brand Lalique has chosen to launch its latest collections to UK buyers at Somerset House this June, rather than at Basel (which is where the unveiling usually takes place).

The emphasis promises to be on the heritage of the brand whose founder René Lalique was one of the major players of

Hulchi Belluni

the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements.

While new items from the less expensive lines (such as crystal Soulmates rings and pendants) will be shown, jewellers can also expect to be tempted by the rather more costly gold, diamond and gemstone Sacred Fire Odyssey collections, with pieces inspired by archive Lalique works of art.

Another international first-timer at the show is the rather spiritual Belgian-Italian brand Hulchi Belluni. Diamond-set 18ct gold jewellery is created according to the rules of Feng Shui and with invisible setting a speciality of the line – which was launched in 2001 by Martine Hul. A regular at the Goldsmiths’ Fair, designermaker Ornella Iannuzzi has chosen JSL for the unveiling of her first diffusion collection.

It is also the first time that she has exhibited at a trade event. A lover of colour, her new ‘everyday’ range, called Coralline, is inspired by coral formations. High-end variations are also available in different shades of gold and set with diamonds and Ornella’s favourite stone, the Ethiopian opal.

Bouton is also dipping its toe in the London water for the first time and will use the show to unveil its new capsule collection of bracelets, earrings, necklaces and stacking rings. In rose gold, yellow gold and black rhodium the line has been inspired by ‘the busy girl-on-the-go’ who loves detail and colour. The company will also be revealing its new Buckley Poppy Brooch – a slightly updated version for 2013 – as well as a limited edition sterling silver Bouton version, with all profits going to the Royal British Legion. “As well as Somerset House being a great environment… it is timed early enough

Chavin Jewellery

for retailers to place Christmas orders,” says brand director Sam McDermid.

Offering red carpet glamour in white or yellow gold set with created diamonds and gemstones, Carat (another JSL newbie) will be offering its mainline Cocktail fine jewellery collection — plenty of drama using coloured as well as clear stones. Sitting alongside this will be the Chelsea Bracelet line of gifting bracelets in platinum vermeil and 18ct gold vermeil with fun motifs such as flip flops, stars and hearts.

Sushilla

Linnie McClarty (Treasure)

Treasure trove

Deakin & Francis

With a few of JSL’s exhibitors (like CW Sellors) changing tack slightly to accommodate Joe Public rather than Mr Retailer, Treasure (14th to 16th June, a mainstay of the Week’s events since 2008) is a true Aladdin’s Cave for lovers of contemporary jewellery. With just a day to tidy away the one event and

The Voice of the Industry 27

¯

DESIGNS TO INSPIRE AND SEDUCE Building on a hugely successful 2012 launch, the second edition of The Jewellery Show London will showcase over 150 of the most influential jewellery collections, suppliers and designers to a select audience of key retail buyers.

Taking place on the 11 – 12th June at the spectacular Somerset House, the event also welcomes The Watch Salon – London’s first dedicated trade only event for the best UK and international watch brands and buyers in the business.

This is the perfect setting in which to source A/W and Christmas 2013 collections, and to preview new ranges for S/S 2014.

REGISTER FOR YOUR COMPLIMENTARY TICKET AT WWW.THEJEWELLERYSHOWLONDON.COM QUOTING PRIORITY CODE EJM1.

To find out more about taking part, or to apply, please contact the team at sales@thejewelleryshow.com or call +44 (0) 203 033 2292

In association with Brought to you by:

The Jewellery Show London is sponsored by the industry

Products featured: Necklace, earrings and large cuff (left hand) all by Missoma. Rings (left hand) by Rachel Galley.

Cuff (right arm) Rachel Galley. Rings by Cindy Dennis Mangan and Clogau. Dress by Jaxika

Jewellery Week Preview | During the Week, visitors to Greenwich (which centres around the popular market) will be able to follow a similar trail, this time with clues along the way and a chance to win a jewellery prize. On Saturday 15th June the market itself will showcase the work of around 30 independent designer-makers from London and the South.

I Bouton

Anna Lou, Jayce Wong… while others will be new emerging names. Among the five jewellery galleries within Treasure, will, once again, be Essence, dedicated to designers, like Linnie McClarty and Kerstin Laibach, who are working ethically.

Jewel East and Greenwich Kerstin Laibach (Treasure)

assemble the next – in the same space – it’s a chance for visitors to view and buy the work of around 130 UK and international jewellers and meet the designer-makers to boot.

Some of those exhibiting will be familiar names to those who have walked the designer aisles at i2i Events’ sister event The Jewellery Show at the NEC or IJL in London over the years: Alice Menter, Malcolm Morris, Jessica de Lotz, Lestie Lee,

Ornella Iannuzzi

Just across the road from Liverpool Street Station is Old Spitalfield’s Market which plays host to Jewel East (7th – 9th June).

Selected by Tatty Devine designers Rosie Wolfenden and Harriet Vine, exhibitors will represent cutting edge jewellery design talent, as well as selling on-trend costume jewellery and vintage jewellery. The organisers have also forged close links with designer-maker collectives and jewellery schools and courses, to ensure a strong mix of new and emerging designers. Jewel East is also part of a wider ‘East London Trail’ during Jewellery Week, which will highlight events and boutiques throughout the area.

Lestie Lee (Treasure)

For more about Jewellery Week and the various events visit: www.jewelleryweek.com

Clogau

The Voice of the Industry 29

| Insurance Matters

A diamond ring is not a fridge...

It can be as simple as handing over a referral card at point of sale.

Over 2,000 retailers throughout the UK are currently benefitting from this valuable extra income stream and during last year TH March’s customer jewellery schemes paid over £2 million in claims payments to supporting jewellers.

We understand the jewellery industry and our mantra has always been the same: ‘Keep your customers spending in your shop’.

… so it shouldn’t be insured like one, explains John Watson, personal lines director at TH March. s your customers’ jewellery adequately insured? If so, good! But do those jewellery insurance arrangements mean that you’ll be frozen out from potential repair or replacement opportunities when a claim arises? With concern among the retail jewellery trade continuing to grow over the increasing loss of business arising out of insurance claims settlements, the NAG’s insurance broker, TH March, highlights a simple solution.

When it comes to insurance, jewellery is often being treated in the same way as a TV or a fridge – by the customer asking a central supplier to deal with the replacement.

Unfortunately, most insurance companies wish to centralise claims replacements in order to make the process more efficient and cost effective for them.

The troublesome side effect of this upon the retail jewellery trade is that opportunities for repeat business with existing customers (in terms of providing repair or replacement for the insured items) are lost. The knock-on

I

their claims departments, so they are unable to deal with jewellery and watch claims themselves. However, the effect upon those in the independent retail trade is painful to say the least.

There is however a better option available in the form of March Insurance Solutions (MIS). Many retail jewellers who are insured

by TH March already benefit from this simple scheme which works like this: • At point of sale the jeweller hands over the MIS referral card.

• This card bears a unique agency code relevant to that jeweller.

• When the client takes out jewellery insurance with TH March, the introducing jeweller will earn commission. (They will earn commission again when that policy is renewed).

• If the client needs to claim for repair or replacement of the insured item they will be directed, wherever possible, straight back to the introducing jeweller who can then benefit from the repeat business.

In essence many insurers treat replacing jewellery in the same way as they would an ordinary household item. effect on the customer is often just as negative because it can mean that their precious item is not repaired or replaced in a satisfactory manner.

In essence many insurers treat replacing jewellery in the same way as they would an ordinary household item. They will either use a jewellery claims management specialist or they will have in place an agreement with a large jewellery chain to deal with the replacement of lost jewellery.

This makes sense for them as on the whole insurers do not have in-house experience in

30 The Jeweller May 2013

•

If the customer goes on to purchase certain other insurance products from TH March (such as home insurance) as a direct result of the referral, the jeweller concerned will earn commission on that policy too (and again at renewal).

In terms of client perception, jewellers who refer their customers to March Insurance Solutions are seen to be providing an enhanced level of customer service for their clients. And importantly for the jeweller there is virtually no paperwork involved!

Insurance for Jewellers and Allied Trades (Jewellers Block): These are policies specifically tailored for the professional jewellery industry and allied trades. We offer various forms of insurance to suit the needs of retail jewellers and all other sectors of the industry including pawnbrokers, stone dealers, manufacturers, wholesale and repairing jewellers, silversmiths, designers and craftsmen, internet retailers, bullion dealers and clock and watch repairers, both in the UK and Ireland.

Personal Policies: A wide range of personal insurances to cover not only your home and possessions but also to protect you and your family. Please ask us because we are here to help.

Commercial Insurance: We can arrange cover for premises, stock, income and assets, public and employer liability insurances, and many other risks. Our commercial insurance team is experienced in advising and arranging cover for all types and sizes of businesses and organisations.

For further information regarding March Insurance Solutions visit: www.thmarch.co.uk email: insurance@thmarch.co.uk or contact John Watson on: 01822 855 555.

May 2013 / Volume 22 / No. 3

Diamond grading lacks clarity Magnetic attraction Colours in quartz

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Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Editorial

Gems&Jewellery

A message to trade organizations

May 13

By the time you read this the annual World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) Congress will have taken place in Tel Aviv. Much time, energy and mental effort will have been devoted to finetuning gem nomenclature, debating treatment disclosure and mulling over a plethora of ways in which social and environmental factors impact on our industry. Then what?

Contents

4 Gem-A News

6 Gemstone News

9 Gem and Jewellery History

10

CIBJO is primarily a confederation of gem and jewellery trade organizations from around the world. In a laborious but essentially democratic process the representatives of these bodies decide the best approaches to the various issues and then go home and do their best to implement them among their members. People often complain that CIBJO doesn’t do much to enforce or police the guidelines it provides, but that is missing the point.

It is up to the trade organizations in each country (working in unison if there is more than one such organization in a country) to make all reasonable effort to ensure that their members understand and implement CIBJO guidelines. This responsibility of the trade organizations is a fundamental part of their membership of CIBJO. Similarly, each member of a trade organization, should have the duty to follow these guidelines — risking a reprimand or expulsion if not.

However, without clear guidelines from their trade organizations, many sellers will know little of what is expected of them and without defined sanctions to keep them in line may fall short of what the public should expect in terms of honest sales descriptions. Trade organizations need to have an in-depth understanding of the issues and actively police their members, but of course they, like CIBJO, largely rely on subscriptions for their existence, and expelling or scaring off members is the last thing they want.

On the other hand, in recent years an increasing number of trade organizations at the retail end of the supply chain are taking an active interest in the ‘ethical issues’ — from child-labour in factories to environmentally-unfriendly mining. This interest is admirable, and it is certainly an area of growing importance — despite the increasing number of bodies involved and sometimes treading on each other’s toes. I am all for a balanced and realistic approach to the ethical issues.

However, a cynic might suggest that focusing on ‘ethics’ to the exclusion of gem disclosure issues at the retail end of the supply chain is an easy option for some trade organizations. It looks modern, caring and sexy, and has the advantage of pushing the responsibility for most of the ‘bad stuff’ back down the supply chain onto someone else’s shoulders — usually in another country.

So, by the time this magazine hits your desk the CIBJO Congress will be over. Trade organizations now have to decide how to hard-wire adherence to CIBJO guidelines into their membership requirements or have the courage to stand up and say that they consider that the battle is lost and that for the vast majority of day-to-day high-street jewellery sales, disclosure has become unrealistic and perhaps even irrelevant. There is no realistic middle way — but you could, of course, join another ethics working group.

Jack Ogden Cover Picture Cover photograph from an exhibition of photos of gem mining in Thailand and Cambodia by Vincent Pardieu (see page 8). Copyright Vincent Pardieu.

Around the Trade Calendar

5

Journal Files

12

Gems and Minerals

14

Book Shelf

17

Instruments

20

May 2013 / Volume 22 / No. 3

Diamond grading lacks clarity

Stone Scoop

22

Magnetic attraction Colours in quartz

Published by The Gemmological Association of Great Britain (Gem-A) 27 Greville Street, London EC1N 8TN t: +44 (0)20 7404 3334 f: +44 (0)20 7404 8843 e: editor@gem-a.com w: www.gem-a.com Registered charity no. 1109555 Copyright 2013 ISSN 1746-8043

Editor Jack Ogden Advisory Board Mary Burland, Roger Harding, Harry Levy and James Riley Design and Production Zest Design +44 (0)20 7864 1504 Any opinions expressed in Gems&Jewellery are understood to be the views of the contributors and not necessarily of the publishers.

Advertising For mediapack and advertising rates please contact Ian Francis at the National Association of Goldsmiths on tel: +44 (0)20 7613 4445 or email him at: ian@jewellers-online.org

Page 3

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Gem-A News and Views

Gem-A news Gem-A CEO James Riley

FGA

gives a round-up of what’s been happening at Gem-A.

Events As advised in the Calendar (opposite page), the Gem-A Annual General Meeting will be on Wednesday 3 July at the Naval Club in London. This year Gem-A is celebrating 100 years since the first Gemmology Diploma was awarded and, following the formal meeting, James Riley will give a brief talk on the history of the Gemmology Diploma and the future of Gem-A's courses. Dinner will be available in the Club afterwards for those who wish it. The annual report, accounts and other AGM documents will be available to download from www.gem-a.com four weeks prior to the AGM.

lifetime fee. For further details contact Carlos Witkowski on +44 (0)20 7404 3334 or email membership@gem-a.com.

News in brief Gem-A returned to BaselWorld for a highly successful show. There were many highlights to the show such as an exceptional 200+ ct emerald from Colombia and a dazzling array of natural fancy coloured diamonds. A full report will appear next month.

Work has commenced at Greville Street on repairs to our building so apologies to visitors or if there is a delay in responding to any enquiries. Hopefully all should be completed in the near future. There are a number of exciting options available to us with regards to our offices and I'm sure the end result will meet with your approval.

Stop press from CIBJO in Tel Aviv is that glass-filled rubies may well be illegal under EU law, a theory propounded by Jack Ogden here a couple of months ago. CIBJO is requesting direct clarification on this from the EU which will then be enforced by national governments. These meetings can often be tedious but they are vital to the trade and the consumer in order to provide clarity, advice and protection. Again, more next month.

Two recent losses

The first half of the year will round off with the JCK Las Vegas show starting on 31 May, followed by the JTV Gem Lovers’ Conference in Knoxville in early July. The education team will be providing Gemmology Diploma and Diamond Practical seminars in both Las Vegas and Knoxville in July; ODL students – book your places now! There will also be short seminars at The JTV Gem Lovers’ Conference.

Lifetime Membership This year for the first time the Board of Trustees has agreed to make Lifetime Memberships available. Lifetime Membership will start (in common with other organizations) at 25 years’ worth of subscriptions, i.e. £2,500. There is a reduction for those over 60 who wish to apply. Apply for Lifetime Membership today — your hedge against inflation.

If you have already paid for 2013 but would like to upgrade to Lifetime Membership, your fees for 2013 will be offset against the

Page 4

It is with great sadness that we report the deaths of two wellknown figures in our field, Lord Balfour and Joseph Tenhagen.

The Rt Hon. Lord Balfour of Inchrye died on 14 April aged 88. He was a noted diamond historian who worked for many years at de Beers. At the time of his death he was working on the sixth edition of his Famous Diamonds, a comprehensive book on the worlds greatest diamonds. He played an instrumental part in setting the exam questions for Gem-A’s first ever Diamond exam.

Joseph Tenhagen died on 27 April at the age of 79. Joe, a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, assisted with Gem-A education for many years. He was past president and a founder member of the Accredited Gemologists Association in the USA, an organization that started life as the Alumni of the Gemmological Association. He was also past president and secretary of the Diamond Dealers Club of Florida.

Fuller obituaries will be published by Gem-A in due course.

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Calendar

Gem-A Calendar Gem-A AGM The Gem-A Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 3 July at 5:00 pm in the Naval Club, 38 Hill Street, Mayfair, London W1J 5NS. This year Gem-A celebrating 100 years since the first Gemmology Diploma was awarded and, following the formal meeting and cocktail reception, James Riley will give a brief talk on the history of the Gemmology Diploma and the future of Gem-A’s courses.

Dinner will be available in the Club afterwards for those who wish it. The annual report, accounts and other AGM documents will be available to download from www.gem-a.com four weeks prior to the AGM.

Conferences

Gem Central and Career Service evenings Gem-A very much regrets that Gem Central and Career Service evenings have been cancelled until September 2013. This is due to building work being carried out at 27 Greville Street and we apologize for any inconvenience caused. We will announce dates of the evening meetings as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

For further information please contact: events@gem-a.com

The Gem-A Conference 2013 2 and 3 November Goldsmiths’ Hall, London A two-day conference to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Gemmology Diploma to be awarded and the 50th anniversary of the Diamond Diploma.

Confirmed speakers include John Bradshaw, David Callaghan, Dr John Emmett, Dr Emmanuel Fritsch, Arthur Groom, Brian Jackson, Dr Jack Ogden, Sonny Pope, Gary Roskin, Chris Sellors, Shelly Sergent and Dr James Shigley.

See: www.gem-a.com/news-events/gem-a-conference-2013.aspx

The 5th European Gemmological Symposium 15 and 16 June Leiden, the Netherlands The Netherlands Gemmological Laboratory and the Dutch Gemmological Guild cordially invite gemmologists, jewellers and anyone else interested in gemmology, to the 5th European Gemmological Symposium that coincides with the 14th Dutch Gemmological Guild Symposium. To book go to: http://science.naturalis.nl/nel

Show Dates Gem-A will be exhibiting at the following shows:

JCK Las Vegas 31 May – 3 June 2013 Booth L116

International Jewellery London 1 – 4 September 2013, Stand J94 Gem-A is proud to be a Sponsor of IJL

Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair 13 – 17 September 2013 CEC Booth 3M046

Photography competition Show us your camera skills with a beautiful, artistic or quirky gem-related photo.

The closing date for entries for the 2013 Gem-A Photo Competition is 28 June.

Photos will be judged in three categories: Natural Must be a digital photograph (including photomicrography) with minimal postproduction work (may include basic cropping, contrast and minor hue/ saturation adjustments).

Treated Digital photograph (including photomicrography) with significant post-production work (such as background manipulation, HDR and contrast masking).

Synthetic Computer-rendered 3D models of gemstones, crystals, crystal structures and images from microtomography, etc.

Melange This category includes any gem-related image that doesn’t fit in the above and may include such things as photos of a spectrum, a scanning electron microscope image, mining, cutting, etc.

For submission details see: www.gem-a.com/membership/ photographic-competition.aspx Competition open to Gem-A members only.

The 2012 overall winner: Tony de Goutière’s photomicrograph of a thin-film inclusion in an aquamarine crystal.

AGTA GemFair™ Tucson 4 – 8 February 2014

Page 5

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Gemstone News

Gemstone news Jack Ogden

FGA

reports on the most recent UK and international gem developments.

Harmonising lab talk The Laboratory Manual Harmonisation Committee (LMHC) has elevated the German Gem Laboratory (DSEF -— Deutsche Stiftung Edelsteinforschung) of Idar-Oberstein, Germany, and Central Gem Laboratory of Japan (CGL) from observer status to that of permanent member. The goal of LMHC is to achieve the harmonisation of gemmological report language; it meets several times a year to discuss recent gemmological developments, nomenclature and disclosure. So far the LMHC has published 11 information sheets, the most recent dealing with paraíba tourmaline. It has also updated Information Sheet 3 ‘Corundum with glass-filled fissures and/or cavities enhancing/modifying the clarity’. In a posting on Gem-A’s GemTalk, Gübelin Gem Lab director Lore Kiefert commented that the update for the latter was with regard to glass-ruby composites.

She also noted that they don’t refer to acid cleaning prior to filling since any pre-treatment is “guesswork and not observation”.

All 11 LMHC information sheets can be downloaded from www.lmhc-gemology.org The LMHC will shortly make a decision about the production of an information sheet on the nomenclature for hydrophane opal.

Tracking gems At a meeting in Turin in April global representatives discussed the bringing together of the United Nations, governments, the industry and civil society to establish a mechanism for the traceability and certification of the ethical origin of coloured gemstones. The meeting was convened by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute in cooperation with the Vienna International Justice Institute and the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA).

Coloured gemstones account for about US $10 - 12 billion per year, 80% of which comes from small scale, informal mining.

This fragmented market and the value and ready portability of gems can provide many opportunities for illegal and fraudulent activity, in some cases involving organized criminal groups. There are also many social and environmental issues including unsafe and unacceptable working conditions. The project is based on the assumption that the growth of the coloured gemstone industry could be positively impacted by better governance practices of the stakeholders up the supply chain. It thus aims to establish an instrument in the form of certificate of origin and its corresponding tracking system for coloured gemstones.

ICA President Wilson Yuen noted that: “Tracking gemstones from their geographical origin with a realistic approach is an opportunity

Page 6

for the public sector, the gems and jewellery industry and the civil society to address together social, technical and environmental issues as well as illicit and criminal practices threatening our sector.

This will undoubtedly enhance the transparency of the distribution chain and benefit all the stakeholders from mine to market and build up consumer confidence.”

Synthetic diamonds The Business Standard (India) recently quoted Vipul Shah, chairman of the Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council as saying: “The synthetic diamond market has captured around one per cent of the overall diamond jewellery market in India.” The article went on to say that the market has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 25%. Considering the size of the Indian diamond market, synthetic sales of one per cent by value, if an accurate assumption, would be a large amount — corroboration would be useful. The same article says that synthetics trade at about 40% below the natural. A figure of 30% below was given by Aagam Sanghavi, director of Sanghavi Exports, according to the Times of India (20 March 2013), who was also quoted as saying that synthetic diamonds, although creating a challenge at the trading level, could be dealt with by proper “disclosure, detection and differentiation”. The frequent talk about how much below the price of a natural diamond a synthetic one sells for — 30% seems a typical level — raises the question “off what?”. Are we talking about 30% off the price of an equivalent stone with a lab report

Examining a synthetic diamond at IIa Technologies of Singapore.

Photo courtesy IIa

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Gemstone News

from GIA, say, or one with a lab report from one of the less respected labs where there is already a discount, sometime greater than 30%?

In any case, continued growth in the synthetic diamond market seems to be expected. That is good news for IIa Technologies of Singapore which calls itself one of the world’s largest producers of Type IIa diamonds. It has just announced Singapore’s first highly sophisticated diamond growing facility using Microwave Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition (MPCVD). It says that it has perfected the technique to allow it to grow colourless Type IIa diamonds in commercially viable quantities and quality. In the company’s publicity it adds that: “The diamonds created by IIa Tech are pure, not only in quality, but also in origin with the assurance that the process is free from potential human rights abuses while eliminating 50% of the carbon emissions associated with traditional diamond mining.”

The publicity implies, but does not unequivocally state, that gem as well as industrial use is envisaged. http://2atechnologies.com A recent patent for producing colourless CVD synthetic diamonds

by Gemesis provides a useful background to the Gemesis process: http://tinyurl.com/GemesisCVD2012

Body of evidence The production of synthetic diamonds from the cremated ashes of loved ones is a subject that raises many questions from gemmologists.

An article in the Straits Times of Singapore (3 April 2013) discusses the ashes-to-diamond service offered by Algordanza Singapore, a branch of Swiss-based Algordanza. It quotes the chief executive as firmly refuting criticism about the process and authenticity of the origin of the stones. In answer to a frequently repeated assertion that it is not possible to extract sufficient carbon from a cremated corpse, the newspaper quotes a Dr Ong Chin Choon, a senior lecturer of forensic chemistry at Singapore Polytechnic’s School of Chemical and Life Sciences, as saying that in theory “a wholly cremated adult body of average weight” could provide sufficient carbon for at least 30 one-carat diamonds.

Polishing off polishers The problems of deadly silicosis among gem polishers is well recognized, but perhaps not taken seriously enough by the wholesale and retail industry to help force improvements. In short, polishing gems dry and without proper ventilation produces fine dust which is inhaled by the worker, leading to silicosis, an unpleasant, incurable and deadly disease a bit like tuberculosis. It is sometimes called ‘grinders’ asthma’. A recent article in the New Haven Register (21 March 2013) looked at the problem with a particular focus on the agate bead workers of Khambhat in Northern India — what used to be called Cambay.

This area has been producing agate beads in huge quantities for many centuries. The problem is that production techniques haven’t changed much over those centuries and, because the workers often work from home rather than in factories, their employers

avoid having to deal with the health and safety rules that cover factories. The solution is not that difficult — grinding the gems wet and with even basic extraction equipment can make all the difference.

But more pressure is needed from those further up the supply chain to make the relevant government bodies take the matter seriously. As the article points out, it is impossible to tell which are ‘good‘ and which are ‘bad’ among the endless strings of agate and other beads that now fill trade shows, malls and jewellers. Labelling is seldom useful, and even if an origin is given, it may well be where the beads were threaded, not where they were produced.

The article quotes Brian Leber, a Chicago jeweller and activist, as saying that he had seen agate necklaces made by a women’s co-op in the developing world and sold by a ‘fair trade’ retailer that were almost certainly cut by workers at risk from silicosis.

The full article can be found at http://tinyurl.com/NHR-agates.

Pearls: ancient and modern Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), the investment arm of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has signed a memorandum of understanding with three Japanese organizations to try to revitalize Bahrain’s pearl industry. The Japanese organizations include the Kinoshita Pearl Co. Ltd. which deals in natural and cultured pearls and First Stem Cell Japan Inc., a biotechnology research company. As the expertise of these two companies suggest, they will be exploring new technologies in their quest to redevelop the ancient pearl industry in Bahrain. Nada Abdulghani, corporate communications at Mumtalakat has confirmed to Gem-A that it is, of course, Will synthetic pearls be possible? The talking about the natural pearl photo shows the structure of a natural business. Bahrain has long pearl. Copyright Gem-A. had a no cultured pearls policy, and the pearl laboratory set up in the 1990s to police this was established with the help of what was then the Gem Testing Laboratory of Great Britain, later merged into Gem-A. Meanwhile there is talk of establishing pearl culturing in India.

The State Fisheries Department is exploring the potential for producing what it is calling ‘Designer Pearls’ in select areas along the sea coast of Kerala, India (The Business Standard, 28 March 2013).

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute reports that there are many potential pearl-producing beds along the Kerala coast.

The Institute’s technique is bead implantation in a 7 cm long oyster and a raft culture cultivation method. The oyster used is the Pinctada fucata — the Akoya pearl oyster.

And what about synthetic pearls? What is termed biomineralization is developing in leaps and bounds. The announcement by a German

Page 7

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Gemstone News

Gemstone News (cont.)

research team at the University of Mainz that it has found a way to produce a flexible form of fibrous calcite by combining calcite and a protein (Science, 15 March 2013) in a way utilized by nature in the production of bones and shells (and thus pearls) may bring the dawn of pearl synthesis closer. It seems unlikely that finding a way to produce synthetic pearls to compete with normal cultured pearls would be worth the time and money, but perhaps the possibility to coat other materials or larger surfaces with a layer of ‘pearl’ would be appealing. According to the article, the fibrous calcite, which mimics sponge spicules, is composed of aligned calcite nanocrystals. Interestingly, the spicules are initially amorphous but “transform into calcite within months”. If nothing more, such research might teach us more about how pearls form.

Gem photo exhibition Vincent Pardieu had a one-man show of his gem-related photos in Bangkok in April, at the Alliance Française Bangkok. Titled ‘Siam Rubies and Sapphires’, the exhibition presented a representative selection of photos of gems and gem mining in Thailand and Cambodia. For more than 100 years, the region extending on both sides of the current Thai/Cambodian border between the towns of Chanthaburi (Thailand) and Pailin (Cambodia) has produced magnificent rubies A gem miner photographed at Pailin, and sapphires. Formerly a tour Cambodia, June 2006. Copyright guide, Pardieu became the Vincent Pardieu. See also cover. director of the AIGS laboratory in Bangkok after studying gemmology in Burma and in Thailand. After a time working in Switzerland, he returned to Bangkok in 2008 to work for the Gemological Institute of America Laboratory where he combines his two passions: studying gemstones and travelling to gem mining areas around the world. More of his work can be found on www.fieldgemology.org.

Doublets are often associated with older and antique jewellery, but the practice of imitating gems with composites is still alive and well. We were recently shown some large gems which at first glance looked like poor quality emeralds, but it was soon obvious that they were Two modern doublets imitating doublets. Of the ones shown emerald. Copyright Gem-A. here, the pear-shaped stone (in tongs) has a glass top and quartz pavilion, the round stone has quartz top and bottom, and both have green adhesive holding the components together and providing the colour.

Of course, not all imitations or modifications are intended to replicate known gem types. For example, Lore Kiefert, chief gemmologist at the Gübelin Gem Lab, told us that she had seen some rather interesting colours of ‘amber’ at the Tokyo Jewellery Show. Not having had samples in the lab she was unable to ascertain the exact process, but she managed to get the seller to explain that they involved an autoclave procedure similar to that used for the well-known ‘green amber’, probably followed by some form of colour diffusion. Kiefert reminds readers that British clients wishing to submit gems for testing at the Gübelin Gem Lab in Switzerland can now make use of a weekly shuttle service operating between London and Switzerland, provided by Malca Amit.

Gemmiscellany A consignment of small lapis lazuli cabochons seen in Gem-A’s offices recently appeared to owe at least part of their smooth surface and polish to some sort of epoxy and some of the golden pyrite specks may well have been added along with the epoxy.

Coincidentally just a week earlier a friend showed me some small lapis plaques he had just brought back from Afghanistan and although there wasn’t an opportunity to examine them in any detail, they also appeared to owe their smoothness and polish — and perhaps deep colour — to some sort of impregnation.

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Samples of the coloured ‘amber’ spotted by Lore Kiefert of the Gübelin Gem Lab at the Tokyo Jewellery Show. Copyright Lore Kiefert.

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Gem and Jewellery History

An old attraction: magnetic gems Jack Ogden FGA finds that using gem magnetism as an identification tool is not new.

The magnetic susceptibility of gemstones — garnets in particular — and the use of this phenomenon in gemmology, has recently been the subject of research. However, it is not a new approach. The first to note magnetic susceptibility in garnets appears to have been an eighteenth-century Swiss doctor, an avid Alpine explorer who would have had a magnetic compass needle to hand when he encountered the garnets in his beloved Alps.

Back in the 1970s there were no course notes for Gem-A’s courses, but there were the recommended textbooks. One was Basil Anderson’s Gem Testing in which he noted: “There are occasions in testing gemstones when the oddest and most unconventional tests can prove useful.” One such was magnetism.

I remember trying this out back then with ancient jewellery — suspending Roman garnet-set rings in the British Museum on threads and seeing if they swung towards a magnet — they did.

Anderson had first published his experiments with a magnet as early as 1953, but he was not the first.

Abbé Haüy, the ‘Father of Modern Crystallography’, wrote at some length about magnetism in minerals in the early 1800s.

And he specifically noted its value in gem testing. Haüy described the effect of minerals on a magnetic needle and how he made the test more sensitive by first briefly heating the mineral in a candle flame, and then using a bar magnet in conjunction with the needle to counteract the Earth’s magnetic field. His technique, which involved noting the change in angle of the compass needle, allowed accurate detection of magnetic susceptibility. Haüy observed that the only gemstones that were magnetically susceptible in this way were all varieties of garnet — “even the most transparent” — and all varieties of peridot. Since garnet was the only red gem with this property, and peridot the only yellow-green, “This characteristic can compete effectively with other physics that provides for the distinction of the stones in question, when they are in a state where their natural forms have disappeared, to make room for arbitrary shapes that lapidary work has lent them.” However he admitted: “I understand that there is a greenish-yellow [garnet], which Mr Werner made a particular species under the name of Grossular.”

He added the astute comment that in distinguishing gems “the danger of mistakes increases in proportion to the often very considerable differences between the values they assign to these objects according to the diversity of the names under which they circulate in the trade”.

It’s a statement that will appeal to many who have been following Gem-A’s recent MailTalk discussions on gem nomenclatures.

Haüy himself states that he was not the first to mention magnetism in garnets. That honour, he suggested, belonged to the eighteenth-century Swiss doctor, Alpine traveller and amateur geologist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure. In his monumental fourvolume Voyages dans les Alpes, published between 1779 and 1796,

de Saussure refers to the magnetic susceptibility of garnets and says that it was not surprising to see the impure and opaque Alpine garnets with their large iron content deflecting a compass needle, but he had observed the same phenomenon in red, orange and purple garnets and even possessed “a Syrian garnet, weight of 10 grains, of the greatest beauty and perfect transparency, which moves the needle significantly”.

Haüy’s work was widely referred to and the first gemmology book to Title page of de Saussure’s ‘Voyages dans mention magnetism in les Alpes’ overlaid with drawing of hessonite gems was seemingly Lewis garnet from Piedmont from Bauer’s Feuchtwanger’s 1838 A Precious Stones. Image Jack Ogden. popular treatise on gems.

However, the topic then seems to have been forgotten until reinvented or resurrected in the 1950s. Haüy, Saussure, or even Anderson, didn’t have access to the powerful rare-earth magnets we have today, but I am sure they would have agreed with Kirk Feral’s comment on his gemstonemagnetism.com website: “Any gem enthusiast can enjoy using magnets to separate and identify gems without understanding gemstone chemistry or the physics of magnetic responses.”

Further reading • Anderson, B.W., 1953. ‘Experiments with a pocket magnet’.

Journal of Gemmology, 4(4), 169-75 • Haüy R.J., 1817. ‘Sur la vertu magnétique: Considérée comme moyen de reconnaître la présence du Fer dans les Minéraux’.

Annales des mines, 1(2), 329-38 • http://gemstonemagnetism.com/ • Hoover, D.B., Williams, B., Williams, C., and Mitchell, C., 2008.

‘Magnetic susceptibility, a better approach to defining garnets’.

The Journal of Gemmology, 31(3/4), 2008, 91-103 • Hoover D.B., and Williams, B., 2007. Magnetic susceptibility for gemstone discrimination. Australian Gemmologist, 23(4), 146-59 • de Saussure, H.B., 1779. Voyages dans les Alpes. Vol. 1, 60

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Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Around the Trade

The myths in buying a diamond Harry Levy

FGA

explains that not all is clarity with the 4Cs.

Many of you reading this article probably have a good gemmological background, but have never bought or sold a diamond. If asked to do so, most of you would consider yourselves competent. Knowing the weight, the colour and clarity, you would find a Rapaport List (‘Rap list’ – the monthly and weekly diamond price lists issued by the Rapaport Group), look at the price on the Rap List grid, convert the dollars to your local currency, subtract 25% as the discount and, hey presto, you have the correct price.

Unfortunately life is not so simple and there are many assumptions made in the above procedure which need discussing.

Carat weight The one factor we all agree on is the weight. This is because we have a universally accepted standard for weight, not just a convention accepted within a given group. So provided you have an accurate weighing machine, or accurate weights, this factor will be the same wherever in the world you are and whoever determines it. Try and imagine if we did not have an accepted standard — a stone could weigh differently according to who weighs it.

Copyright Gem-A

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Colour The first assumption to question is that concerning the colour description. Here the diamond industry has set its own methodology.

Machines are gradually coming into use for colour grading, but currently most colour is still determined by comparing a given stone against a series of master stones.

Before there were any systems in existence, diamantaires saw that stones coming from the same origin had similar colours. The first systems used terms such as River, Top Wesselton, Wesselton, Top Crystal, Top Cape, and so on. Another system developed used descriptive terms such as Exceptional White, Rare White, White, Slightly Tinted White, and so on. Such systems inevitably engendered sub-divisions such as plus, fine and so on.

Eventually the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) came up with a system using letters. They took the whitest stone they could find and labelled it D; a stone with a slight but just perceptible difference was then labelled E, the next was labelled F, and so on.

Stones further down the alphabet, such as K, L and M had distinct tints of colour that most people could readily see. As a matter of interest, the GIA used D as the best colour, not to leave space for the discovery of better coloured stones, but to overcome the problem that many stones were being graded by traders as an A, AA, AAA with combinations of pluses and minuses. D was the failure grade in schools and nobody had used this as a grade. This was explained to me by Richard Liddicoat who was the head of the GIA at the time.

Colour master stones So now colour is determined in many laboratories by using a series of nine master stones and moving the stone in test to see where in the series it compares most closely to two adjacent master stones.

The GIA calls a stone whose colour is equal to or better than master stone 1 a D colour; one between say master stones 3 and 4 a G; some other systems can call such a stone an F, but they have then renamed their master stones to fall in line with the GIA system (you may have to read this several times to see what is going on).

Unfortunately this is where the problems start, as it is very difficult to obtain a set of master stones that exactly match the GIA set.

Using GIA graded diamonds to create your own set doesn’t work because the precise positions of such stones on the scale of increasing colour are not known. A diamond graded as an F by the GIA is highly unlikely to be the equivalent of an F master stone.

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Around the Trade

There is a proliferation of grading laboratories around the world and each works with its own set of master stones. This is complicated further by what is called harsh and soft grading. In harsh grading a diamond between F and G in colour close, but not quite equal to, a master stone 3 (F), will be graded as a G; in soft grading it will be graded an F. Imagine if you ran a laboratory, you would need business to survive and this would mean that you would want people to send diamonds to you for grading, not to your competitors. Naturally, owners or sellers of a diamond want to get the best grade possible.

Couple these factors together and you can see that for some laboratories there is a huge temptation to favour soft grading.

Some labs are recognized as being very soft in grading, bordering on mis-grading. Such labs can claim to be consistent in their grading, pointing out that their master stones are not the same as the GIA’s and that although they use similar terminology to the GIA, it refers to their own criteria.

Clarity A similar situation exists for clarity grading. A clean stone can be graded as loupe clean (LC) or internally flawless (IF) allowing for some very fine flaws on the outside of the stone. The next grade is very, very small inclusions (VVS1) followed by VVS2. The next grades are very small inclusions (VS1 and VS2), followed by small inclusions (SI1 and SI2). Some labs now use an additional grade, (SI3).

We then get into the included ranges where the marks are visible to the naked eye; these are denoted as P1, P2 and P3. Stones in this last range tend not to carry grading reports as the presence of obvious inclusions may put the customer off buying such a stone.

Clarity grading is defined by what can be seen using a loupe with a 10x magnification; it can take an expert several minutes to find the marks in a VVS stone and it may even be difficult to spot them in a VS stone. Again problems arise because there are no internationally-agreed standards for clarity. Furthermore, the classification depends not only on the size of the inclusion but its position in a stone. A small inclusion under the table of the stone will be graded lower than if the same inclusion was towards the side, unless, of course, reflections cause too many multiple images.

Again because there are no internationally agreed standards for clarity grading, different labs can give different grades for the same stone. So we have the problem of soft and harsh clarity grading with some labs known to deliberately give very soft grading.

So knowing the colour and clarity of a stone does not mean that you can consistently and reliably price it on a Rap list.

Rapaport very clearly states that his price list is for stones graded by the GIA only, although anyone who has a grading report will use the Rap list as a selling tool. To be a successful dealer you have to know the reputation of the grading laboratory, and the dealer will then price it accordingly, sometimes looking at the H line for a G graded stone and under the VS grade for a VVS graded stone. A question I always put when offered a graded stone is to ask: "Who says so?"

Copyright Gem-A

Discounts Rapaport states that his list is usually a high trade asking price for a stone which gives room for negotiations on the price — hence this magical 25% discount. Clearly if a diamond has passed through several hands there cannot have been a 25% discount on each transaction. Rapaport adds that discounts are based on availability of the stones. Generally lower grades are more plentiful and discounts are higher, better quality stones tend to be rarer and discounts are lower. Also as the weight increases prices tend to be higher, some reaching premiums over the Rap price.

Cut and fluorescence Rapaport also states that his price list reflects the cut, polish and symmetry of the stone. Many people ignore these important factors in determining a suitable price for a diamond. Similarly, many ignore the impact of fluorescence under long-wave ultraviolet light on the price of a diamond. A professional grading laboratory will have fluorescence master stones. Strong fluorescence will make a stone look bluish and while such ‘blue-white’ diamonds were once desirable the current fashion makes this no longer true and they now attract a discount. The most marked effect of blue fluorescence is on the appearance of tinted stones — those in the L M range — counteracting the yellow of the stones and making them appear whiter under sunlight.

So much of what one thinks straightforward in the diamond trade is not the whole story, and this continues to provide strong justification for dealing with a jeweller or merchant you can trust.

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Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Journal Files

The Journal of

Gemmology Summary of an article published in The Journal of Gemmology.

The colours of quartz* A review by Ulrich Henn and Rainer Schultz-Güttler of the range of colours that occur in quartz.

The quartz group of gemstones provide a wide spectrum of colours, both natural and those produced by modifications such as heat-treatment and irradiation or a combination of these. These provide an interesting colour palette for the jewellery trade, but distinguishing naturally-coloured and artificially-enhanced quartz can be challenging for the gemmologist.

The causes of colour in quartz can be divided into three groups: 1.

Colour centres 2.

Optical effects 3.

Inclusions For this article the authors focused on macro-crystalline quartz, such as amethyst, where colour is most commonly due to colour centres associated with foreign ions — typically iron, aluminium or both — which replace silicon atoms in the structural framework of the quartz.

With amethyst the purple colour is due to iron. This colour is stable up to 350-450°C, above which the amethyst starts to bleach to colourless or pale yellow. At the same time minute haematite (iron oxide) particles are formed giving a yellow to brown colour to the gem. Most citrines on the gemstone market are heat-treated amethysts and the higher the temperature of heat treatment, the stronger the brown to orange hue. In the gem trade, golden-yellow material is called ‘golden citrine’ and the more brownish-orange to orange stones are ‘Madeira citrine’. Amethyst from the Palmeira mine in Brazil can be treated to produce a particularly good citrine — what is sometimes called ‘Palmeira citrine’. In contrast to the citrine created by heat treatment of amethyst, natural citrine possesses distinct pleochroism, but no Brazil law twinning.

Natural prasiolite (green quartz) is rare in nature, but some amethyst turns green when heated and most prasiolite on the market is amethyst heat-treated at 400–500°C, much probably coming from the Montezuma mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The gamma irradiation and heat treatment of prasiolite produces violet, violet-blue to dark blue colours — called ‘blueberry quartz’ in the gem trade.

Citrine (heat-treated amethyst) of various yellow to brownish-orange colours: pale yellow, yellow, golden citrine, Palmeira citrine, Madeira citrine (from left to right). Photo by German Gemmological Association.

* Summary of an article published in The Journal of Gemmology, 2012, 33(1–4): Ulrich Henn and Rainer Schultz-Güttler, Review of some current coloured quartz varieties, 29–43.

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Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Journal Files

Above 500°C amethyst develops a slightly milky turbidity and bleaching, providing what the trade sometimes calls ‘neon quartz’.

At even higher temperatures the milky turbidity develops much more strongly giving colourless gems which are sometimes used as moonstone imitations.

The best-known bi-coloured quartz is ametrine which has amethyst and citrine colour zones. Yellow/colourless gems — sometimes called ‘Lunasol’ in the trade — result from a heat treatment process of colour-zoned amethyst.

Like iron, aluminium can also replace silicon in the crystal structure of quartz and provides all shades of lime green, yellow to yellow-orange (natural citrine), and all shades in brown to black including grey ‘smoky quartz’ and opaque black ‘morion’. Irradiation, whether natural or applied, will turn all this material nearly black, but many commercial colours can be the product of additional heating. One variety of citrine has a distinct touch of green and is so-called ‘lemon quartz’ or ‘green gold’.

In recent years a new green variety of quartz has appeared sold under the name of ‘green amethyst’ or ‘greened amethyst’, or sometimes prasiolite. Most of the raw material comes from south and southwest of Brazil and the green colour is produced by irradiation. The prasiolite derived by heat treatment of amethyst from the Montezuma deposit shows green with the Chelsea Colour

Filter, whereas this new irradiated green variety shows red. Studies have shown that this type of quartz has a significant water content and the name ‘wet quartz’ is proposed. The irradiated prasiolite will bleach within a couple of hours if raised to 150°C.

Faceted ‘neon quartz’, i.e. bleached amethyst. The milky appearance is produced by microscopic fluid inclusions, formed by heat treatment.

Photo by German Gemmological Association.

To view the full article, login as a member on the Gem-A website and go to www.gem-a.com/publications/journal-of-gemmology/the-journal-online.aspx

Gem-A Shop Don’t miss this month’s SPECIAL OFFERS on instruments and books from the Gem-A Shop.

Visit www.gem-a.com/shop.aspx

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Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Gems and Minerals

A tale of two rubies Grenville Millington

FGA

examines two red stones with some unusual features.

1. Ruby and diamond cluster in 18 ct gold.

Mounted stone This stone was set into an 18 ct white gold mount and had a diamond-set border.

It had a stated weight of 1.60 ct and was almost round 6.7 x 6.1 mm (1).

Obviously, mounted gems offer fewer viewing angles than loose ones but I was fortunate here in that the stone was set fairly high, which allowed some view of the girdle and pavilion. The RI was 1.7631.772 and although it showed a ruby spectrum the chromium lines were not very strong, in spite of the stone being a very good, full red. Although not readily 2

4a

3a

4b

Over the course of two weeks I examined two rubies, each sent to me by a different client.

As usual with such stones, establishing that the material is ‘corundum’ or even ‘ruby’ is no problem. The refractometer and spectroscope offer all the proof that is required. Assuming that ‘ruby’ was the outcome of the first part of the testing procedure, the next question is ‘natural or synthetic?’ and this, nowadays, has to be followed by ‘any treatment?’.

The ordinary gemmologist has to move to the microscope, and it is usually here that the fun begins. As the years go on, the ‘fun’ increases, as new deposits and new treatment methods come to light. I use the word ‘fun’ here in its very widest sense, for, with many gemmologists, the term ’fun’ can be replaced with others such as ‘headache’. So, here are two ‘fun’ stones, both showing internal features that I hadn’t seen before in ruby.

discernible with the 10x lens under normal lighting, surface fracture lines were visible under the microscope with angled top lighting (2).

It was soon apparent that the stone was traversed with many fractures and the fact that the overall colour/appearance was uniform with no obvious large reflections from within suggested some form of fracture treatment (3).

We should be quite used to seeing the results of ruby fractures being partially healed by the introduction of flux fillers and this stone offered such views (4a, b, c).

3b

4c

What was unusual was that in places the flux residue joined up to form more regular patterns (5a, b and 6). The problem with flux repair residue is that it is exactly like that seen in flux-fusion synthetic stones, such as the Chatham synthetic rubies of the 1980s (7).

When such a flux residue picture presents itself, it is necessary to find something else to confirm the natural origin of the stone, such as silk, needles, crystals, etc. When using the microscope, inclusions such as fine ‘silk’ are often visible only when the light reflected from them travels 2. Top light reflected from the facet showed surface-reaching fractures. Magnified 15x.

3. Ruby lit from below (a). The straight white ‘needle’ is a facet edge. (b) The reflections just seen towards the bottom of the stone in (a) showed spectrum diffraction colours under top lighting (the ‘flash’ seen in glassfilled fractures does not normally show a spectrum of colours).

4. The ‘dots and worms’ effect of flux-repaired fractures (a) and (b). (c) Sometimes the ‘worms’ join up. Magnified (a) 35x, (b) 25x and (c) 60x.

5a

5b

6

5. Feathers showing the flux residue took on more ordered structures.

Magnified (a) approximately 30x, (b) 75x.

6. Elongated, squared forms of flux residue.

Magnified approx. 80x.

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Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Gems and Minerals

7. Chatham flux-fusion synthetic ruby.

Magnified 10x.

all the way to the eye, so stone and/or light manoeuvring is necessary. In this stone an area near the girdle provided such evidence (8a, b). The hexagonal feature seen near the top of 8b reached the surface, and by reflecting a top light off the facet surface it could be seen that this was a filled surface pit (9a, b), but it had an obvious ‘nucleus’ which may be nothing more than a gas bubble. This was not the only example of surface filling. Two areas near and on the girdle were cavities that had been filled with a

8a

8b

substance of different RI to that of corundum, producing a lower lustre (10a, b).

At last there was a conclusion: the red stone was a ‘ruby (corundum) of natural origin, but with flux-repaired fractures and glass filling of cavities’. As this is rather cumbersome to write on the ring ticket, I suggested the owner call it ‘treated ruby’, but to be prepared to answer questions about the ‘treated’ part.

The ordered formation of some of the flux residue probably has something to do with the orientation of the fractures relative to the crystal structure, but why is this so uncommon in other stones? Maybe there is a newer process that uses even higher temperatures than previously or the flux may be of different composition to the old borax-type fluxes. Whatever it is, it does not change the general description of the gem. The client later told me the original material was from Mozambique and had been sent to Thailand for treatment.

Loose stone 11

11. Ruby of deep, rich colour, 1.64 ct.

12

9a

12. Shallow, stepped cavity on the pavilion of the 1.64 ct ruby.

9b

10a

10b

8. Overhead lighting picked out reflective silk particles and also highlighted the trigon-like formation on a thin film (a) that became invisible if the light was moved fractionally (b). The fine yellow line visible in (a) is the surface edge of a fracture. Magnified 45x.

9a, b. The hexagonal feature at the top of 8b viewed with top lighting reflected off the facet surface.

Hexagonal surface pit filled with glass. Magnified 50x.

10. Two areas across the girdle that had glass-filled cavities: (a) magnified 20x; (b) the larger area of glass filling near the claw, magnified 80x.

The second stone was loose weighing 1.64 ct (virtually the same weight as the first stone), measuring 7.6 x 6.8 mm and was of a darkish red that could be classed as intense (11) (it was impossible to correctly capture the intensity in the photos). The colour was somewhat reminiscent of the Thailand rubies that we saw frequently before the advent of the Mong Hsu rubies in the early 1990s.

The brilliance, obvious through the crown of the stone, was helped by reflections from a wide, shallow cavity on one side of the pavilion which was strangely stepped and acted in the manner of a bicycle reflector (12). This external cavity was also plainly visible through the stone, for example when viewed through the table (13).

Internal features included many fracture ‘feathers’, mostly confined to one half of the stone (14). Many of them were centred

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Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Gems and Minerals

A tale of two rubies (cont.)

13

14

15a

15b

16

17

18a

18b

18c

19a

19b

19c

around a blocky, crystal nucleus and took the form of ‘wings’ although some could be described as grotesque (15a, b, and 16).

Some crystal inclusions were isolated with no associated fractures (17). Other features had a sugary, semi-opaque to opaque nature, with ripples and fan formations (18a, b, c).

Other features noticed were flattened cavities and roughly parallel fractures (19a).

Some tiny films were also seen in one small area, along with minute dark crystals (19b).

The end of the stone that housed the most feathers also had a large area of dot-like ‘silk’ held in position by a flat plane of similar dotted material. While we often associate dotted ‘silk’ with heat treatment, that feature in this stone also incorporated well-defined short needles, which would suggest that the stone had not been heat treated (19c). There were several small dark crystals that had no accompanying fractures or haloes. One area showed small dot-like inclusions, almost as a cloud, together with mostly short needles.

There was an absence of twinning lamellae, colour zones and colour-flash associated with any of the fractures (most of which were fully contained within the gem host and did not break the surface).

The RI was 1.765-1.773 and the spectrum, unlike that of the first mentioned ruby, was intense and similar to that of the synthetic ruby, with strong chromium lines (including a fluorescent doublet), dense coverage of the green, and powerful, black lines in the blue.

The conclusion of the testing of this second ruby is that it is a ruby (corundum) of natural origin and is untreated.

13. The external surface cavity viewed through the table.

14. The bright parallel streaks to the top left are reflections from the back cavity. Magnified 12x.

15a, b. Blocky crystals were at the centre of ‘wings’ fractures, mostly aligned along the same direction, but some crystals had no associated fractures (d, bottom right). Magnified (a) 20x, (b) 30x.

16. A ‘wings’ fracture. Magnified 80x.

17. A translucent crystal. Magnified 80x.

18. (a) Sugary, opaque feathers at the one end of the stone. (b) Some parts were irregular, while others were more like fans. (c) Grotesque feather. Magnified (a) 20x, (b) 40x and (c) 80x.

19. (a) Flattened internal cavities and parallel fracture lines. (b) Very small coloured films with minute crystals. (c) Dotted silk with associated short needles. The parallel greenish streaks are polishing lines on a facet. Magnified (a) 30x, (b) and (c) 80x.

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About the author For many years Grenville Millington ran his own gem and jewellery business and taught gemmology and retail jewellery at the Birmingham School of Jewellery.

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Book Shelf

Gold, Platinum, Palladium, Silver & Other Jewelry Metals Jack Ogden FGA reviews a practical handbook on metals that should prove indispensable for anyone working within the jewellery industry.

Renée Newman International Jewelry Publications Los Angeles 2013 ISBN: 978-0929975474

The author of this book on the metals used in jewellery needs no introduction to gemmologists; Renée Newman’s popular series of books on gemstones is as invaluable to retailers selling gems as to gemmology students. This volume is an updated and expanded replacement for her 2000 Gold and Platinum Jewelry Buying Guide. For gemmologists, a book on metals might seem peripheral, but the precious metals have always served a supporting role in gem-set jewellery. And this is a useful, practical handbook. Unlike most books on gold and silver, this one barely mentions hallmarks, designers or design — the sub-title says it all: “How to test, select and care for…”

The properties and use of the various metals are described — the colours of golds for example — along with useful information ranging from how silver jewellery can be blackened to methods of testing and identification of frauds. The chapter on manufacturing techniques such as casting is up to date with its mention of CAD and 3D printing. Hand fabrication is only briefly discussed — a sad but realistic recognition that most jewellery on the market today is not made by hand. There is coverage of decorative techniques such as plating and enamelling, and even about responsible mining. Inclusion of chapters on copper, brass, bronze and other metals reflects how, as precious metal prices rise, many retailers are looking to less costly alternatives.

There are a few minor niggles, for example the description of how to test gold jewellery by placing “a small drop of acid on an inconspicuous spot on the piece you want to test…” might be an unwise inclusion. I’ve seen too many antique pieces disfigured, if not permanently damaged, by testing like this; better to use a touchstone, as she explains elsewhere in the book. On the other hand, her recommendation that rubber gloves and safety goggles should be used when testing metals with acid is true, although I fear many in the industry will ignore the advice. For British readers the focus on 14 ct and 18 ct gold (spelled karat, of course) might be slightly alienating.

All in all this is a very useful brief guide, and one that will be relevant to anyone working with jewellery, whether buying, selling or valuing.

Available from Gem-A: £17.50

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The Gem-A Conference and Events SAVE THE DATE Friday 1 November — Tuesday 5 November 2013

Understanding Gems Visit www.gem-a.com

TM

FRIDAY 1 NOVEMBER

Seminar day A series of practical workshops will be taking place at Gem-A headquarters in London.

Guest speakers will include: Richard Drucker, President of GemWorld International Inc. Arthur Groom, Clarity Enhancement Laboratory

SATURDAY 2 – SUNDAY 3 NOVEMBER

Gem-A conference at the Goldsmiths’ Hall with an anniversary dinner on Saturday evening Gem-A will bring together a range of globally-renowned speakers and international delegates to discuss a variety of important issues within the gem and jewellery trade, from both a scientific and trade perspective – also to be explored will be the historical side of the gems and jewellery industry. The Gem-A conference audience will as always be a diverse mix of members of the gem trade, gemmologists, gem enthusiasts and gem students from all corners of the globe.

This year — amongst other topics — the conference will be looking at diamonds from the challenges encountered in diamond grading to the process and detection of synthetic diamonds; it will also be looking at the coloured gemstone market, from very rare gems to the clarity enhancement of some commercial materials.

In celebration of the centenary of the first gemmology diploma to be awarded, British gemstones will have a privileged place as well as the historic side including the history behind jewellery dating back to the 16th/17th century.

Guest speakers will include: John Bradshaw David Callaghan Dr John Emmett Dr Emmanuel Fritsch

Arthur Groom Brian Jackson Dr Jack Ogden Sonny Pope

Gary Roskin Chris Sellors Shelly Sergent Dr James Shigley

EVENING SUNDAY 3 NOVEMBER

Graduation Ceremony Guest speakers will include: Martin Rapaport (TBC)

MONDAY 4 – TUESDAY 5 NOVEMBER

Exhibitions & Visits Private viewings to museums on both days including a visit to the Museum of London with the amazing Cheapside Hoard collection displayed to the public.

To find out more about all of the above visit:

www.gem-a.com/news--events/gem-a-conference-2013.aspx

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Instruments

A point for pointers: lasers in gemmology A useful new gemmological tool or just geeky fun?

Jack Ogden FGA considers laser pointers and gem testing.

When red laser pointers first appeared in the 1980s many of us wondered whether they had any use in gemmology as handheld tools. They didn’t seem to excite any visible fluorescence in gems and really all they did do was provide a useful indication of double refraction. If you pointed one through a doubly refractive gem onto a wall or other surface you could see neatly

doubled dots of light. That was about it.

The miniaturization and greater availability of lasers had enormous impact on gemmology — from Raman to Gem-A’s Brewster Angle Meter developed in the early 1990s by Dr Roger Harding and the late Peter Read — but generally speaking the red laser pointer seemed to be frustratingly useless as a gemmological hand tool.

Diamond fluorescing under blue laser on an antique ruby and diamond brooch. Photo Jack Ogden.

Page 20

Typical blue laser pointers.

The introduction of green laser pointers around 2000 changed things. As soon as they were cheap enough to play around with they could be tried in a gemmological context.

Alone they did little, but in conjunction with a deep blue filter they seemed to be a modern alternative to the old cross-filter test.

Rubies for example, when viewed through a blue filter* while illuminated with the green laser, appeared really bright red.

The rapid march of consumer electronics — and blossoming BlueRay technology — brought hand-held blue laser pointers onto the market. Initially they cost hundreds of dollars and the inevitable price drop with all evolving technology seemed a long time coming. Then came a lucky break. During the 2009 September Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair I wandered through that city’s Temple Street market — a wonderful row of shops and stalls selling all manner of stuff from counterfeit designer handbags and kitsch souvenirs to a bewildering range of electronic gadgets and rip-offs. Anyway, back in 2009 I picked up at random one of the dozens of red and green laser pointers on display, pressed the button and a violetblue light shone out. It had been mislabelled.

The rest were all red or green. So the blue one was quickly purchased and, like a kid

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Instruments

An Ottoman gold applique set with rubies and emerald. Left shows ruby illuminated with blue laser, right is same ornament with the emerald (probably Colombian) illuminated with blue laser. Photo Jack Ogden.

with a new toy, I rushed back to my hotel to see what it did with gems. Only gemmy bits and pieces picked up at the show were to hand, but the results exceeded all expectations. Rubies fluoresced red as if they were on fire, an Australian opalized shell not only fluoresced but also phosphoresced so much it seemed to pulsate.

I shared my enthusiasm on Gem-A’s email forum — MailTalk as it was then — and with blue laser pointer prices soon falling, more gemmologists played with them and results were shared and compared. In Gems&Jewellery Summer 2010, Michael Seubert described how a blue laser pointer could be used to help screen synthetic diamonds — an approach later seen with Diamond Services Ltd’s Diamapen launched at the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair in September last year. These days low-powered violet-blue laser pointers can be purchased online for under £10.

Is the blue laser pointer really anything more than just a bit of geeky fun for gemmologists? More and more are reporting that they are using them, even in some gemmology teaching. From a personal point of view I can say that I have found a blue laser pointer invaluable with antique jewellery. For example in a recent project

looking at the gems in a major collection of old Mughal Indian jewellery, the blue laser was the most useful bit of pocket equipment I had with me after the loupe. It does much of what the Chelsea Colour Filter does, is great showing fluorescence in diamonds and is particularly useful when looking at gems in museums, shops and other places where there is distance and a sheet of glass between you and the gem.

Safety note: lasers can be dangerous.

Observe suitable safety measures, wear protective eye-wear and check the power you are using. High powered laser pointers, although often readily available online, are illegal in some jurisdictions. You want to explore gems, not bring down a jumbo jet. *I found that a ‘Congo blue’ photographic gel filter from Lee or Rosco worked best.

A synthetic pink sapphire. Left, in natural sunlight; right, the same but also illuminated with a blue laser pointer. The fluorescence is caused by the presence of chromium and is clearly visible even in bright sunlight. Photo Jack Ogden

Page 21

Gems&Jewellery / May 2013

Stone Scoop

Pearls 1913 In the last couple of issues we’ve looked back to 1913 and to what was happening then with diamonds and coloured gems. This time Jack Ogden FGA looks at pearls.

Values In 1913 cultured pearls figured more in jewellers’ nightmares than in reality; it would still be a few years before spherical cultured pearls reached the market. So the natural pearl was still king — and very valuable.

The Evening Telegraph (24 February 1913) explained that “During the past few years pearls have been a magnificent investment, as well as mere adornments, for their steady appreciation in price has meant a better return on the money invested than most gilt-edged stocks could afford.” The article went on to say that “According to one of the leading authorities, the price of pearls has doubled within five years.” It is often forgotten that natural pearls were found in Australia long before culturing was carried out there.

The Sydney Globe (31 May 1913) reported that sums of £1,000 and £1,350 had been offered for two ‘magnificent pearls’ that had been found at Broome. The owner of the larger had asked £2,000.

Grimsby and La Paz High prices meant that there was money to be made, and alternative sources of natural pearls were actively sought. The Western

Threading pearls, as illustrated in Kunz and Stevenson’s Book of the Pearl, 1908.

Page 22

Times announced that three fishing trawlers from the Yorkshire fishing port of Grimsby were setting sail to the waters off Southern Nigeria to take a part in the pearl fishery there. The other side of the Atlantic was Mexico, whose waters had long produced pearls. In 1913 an open market in pearl fishing was inaugurated in Mexican waters — hitherto, according to The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser (22 March 1913), “Pearling concessions were held by an English firm [and] nearly all the pearls secured were shipped to Europe, and rarely could a pearl be bought at La Paz.”

Doped The high value of fine natural pearls inevitably meant that methods were sought to improve the appearance of poorer specimens.

These apparently included ‘doped pearls’.

According to The Evening Telegraph (27 October 1913) “A special meeting of the chamber of dealers in diamonds and pearls has been called for to-day [in Paris] when an enquiry will be opened with regard to the alleged introduction of ‘falsified’ or ‘doped’ pearls on the Paris market. The chamber was induced to take action in the matter owing to one such pearl being offered for sale by M. Altschueler, a leading jeweller for the sum of £10,000. This gem which M. Altschueler states he purchased for £2,800 was, he declares, transformed by means of an electrical process of which M. Warma, an Indian scientist, holds the secret, into a pearl of such marvellous lustre that its value has been increased to £10,000.” Does any reader know what this technique was — if it really existed at all?

This must surely be the same as the “several clever faked pearls made by a Hindoo… one valued at £10,000” that had been seen in Paris as reported on the other side of the world in The Northern Miner, Queensland (28 October 1913).

String theory In the pearl supply chain, from oyster to aristocrat, it is easy to forget an important step with most pearls — their threading.

The Evening Telegraph (15 May 1913) contained a long article entitled ‘Girls Who Work in Secret’ which described the job of pearl stringing, a skill that was often handed down from generation to generation.

The article concluded “The work of the pearl stringer is too little known, so quiet and dainty that it is doubtful if one in a thousand men who stop to admire and covet as they pass show windows ever give a thought to the patient fingers that have threaded the beautiful beads and tied the almost invisible knots that link them to their diamond clasps.”

Pearls a la mode And it sounds as if the rows passing through the threaders’ fingers were getting longer. The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser (2 October 1913) writes: “The pearl is the fashionable jewel now in Paris,” said a woman just returning from that city. “Long ropes of pearls are worn in ways fashion has never dreamed of before outside of the Orient.

An elegantly gowned woman I saw at the opera had her long loop rope of these exceedingly becoming gems passed directly over her forehead.” But not all was rosy in Paris. The wearing of pearls in such unconventional ways in Paris in 1913 was also commented in the more pragmatic Australian press which pointed out that “The woman who would use valuable pearls in such a way would be taking considerable risks from thieves; but some women would do almost anything to be in the fashion”(Barrier Miner, New South Wales, 18 October 1913).

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UNITED KINGDOM FACET CUTTERS’ GUILD

The Voice of the Industry just got even louder...

The Jeweller — now incorporating Gems&Jewellery magazine!

Gems&Jewellery is now incorporated within The Jeweller giving the magazine a total circulation amongst NAG and Gem-A members of over 6,000 and a readership of around 25,000+.

May 2013

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Importantly this makes it one of the industry’s most authoritative and best read publications.

So if you really want to reach the people that matter and target your products and services to the industry’s key decision makers, then make The Jeweller and Gems&Jewellery your first choice for advertising.

To advertise in the magazine contact sales director Ian Francis on tel: +44 (0) 20 7613 4445 or email: ian@jewellers-online.org

May

2013 / Volume 22

Diamon d grading Magnet lacks clarity ic Colour attracti on s in quartz

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Ethical Jeweller |

Diamonds – still an ethical issue

James Riley, CEO of Gem-A, explains why the concerns that surround responsibly-sourced diamonds have not gone away. ollowing the recently published Gold Paper, the UK Ethics Committee will shortly be turning its attention to diamonds and suggesting the standards which everyone working with diamonds should follow. This is of course a somewhat utopian ideal. Many may argue that with the Kimberley Process (KP), we have a clean diamond industry.

Well, this is a moot point. While efforts have obviously been made to put the house in order the diamond trade does have serious issues which it needs to address in the very near future. The whole ‘Blood Diamond’ perception may have largely subsided, but one should remember that it was a problem which was arguably perpetuated by the trade so that it could benefit from the PR of being seen to solve this issue with KP. The issues now are, of course, more complex but still revolve around corrupt governments, underpaid workers, and exactly where the money from diamonds goes. Add to this disclosure of origin, treatments, synthetics and a lack of conformity between labs and you will see that there is a very delicate path to tread.

So when we talk about ethical trading with diamonds, what exactly are we talking about?

For the most part we are looking at the working conditions and pay of the artisanal miners in Africa. Undoubtedly they do not get the true price for what they are mining, but they earn far more than the average wage.

Governments are increasingly demanding state control over mining and the disposal of all minerals from their countries. Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania have all publicly stated their intent in recent months. Forty years ago it was the man from De Beers who said ‘yes’; now it is the man from the mining ministry. So what’s changed? In the old days the colonially-minded De Beers

F

(its charter was set up in the 1880s and even included provision for a private army) would claim that it paid a fair and even price all over the world. While many would dispute this, there was probably a greater degree of accountability and one has to remember that they pulled out of Angola, Sierra Leone and the Congo at the first signs of local unrest or civil war to avoid supporting government or state militia.

Today the governments of many countries are making up the rules as they go along.

It doesn’t need me to describe the issues with Zimbabwe. Miners know they are being ripped off but they stay alive and they have enough to feed their families. Many would like to boycott these countries but it is

interesting to note the UN’s – and thus CIBJO’s and KP’s – stance on this. Yes there is corruption in these countries but there’s a duty of care to give the ordinary individual the opportunity to feed his family. Sanctions against these countries will merely cut off the livelihood of these people – such as it is – and drive the trade in stones underground.

We have to change and evolve the system

as it is now, not impose a Utopian solution which will just be ignored.

So how does this affect you? The potential for a large-scale exposé is great and those affected will be you the retailers. Ask yourself: “What do I know about the provenance of what I’m buying?” The answer is ‘very little’.

The miners know exactly where their rough comes from but mix it to provide quantities of specific types of rough because it makes life easier. The De Beers system is over 100 years old and worked when stones predominantly came from South Africa.

Now at the point of the sight, no one knows from where a specific stone originated. Not only does it make it easier for illicit diamonds to enter the system, but there is no chance to add value. A Kashmir sapphire has extra value not just because of its beauty but also because of its origin. Diamantaires are trying to cash in on Type IIa diamonds by calling them ‘Golconda’ stones after the Indian deposits of the 17th century. In most cases the only Indian connection is that they have been cut in Surat. There is nothing to stop the industry separating stones by origin – it would just cost more money and add to the price of diamonds. But it could be done.

However it’s not in the vested interest of the trade bodies to change and force the rules because the very people who run them have a vested interest in the status quo.

Canada has proved that this can work… though there is a premium to pay. The question is do you and your customers want the choice? If the answer is ‘yes’ then the ripple effect through the industry will mean that the ultimate producers will have to improve their ways. If you’re not bothered then don’t complain if diamond sales drop in a few years as they become the anthrax of the industry.

We haven’t even started on working conditions of polishers, or that hoary old chestnut ‘laboratory reports’… let alone the carbon footprint of the diamond industry.

The UK Ethics Committee – chaired by Vivien Johnston with representatives of the NAG, Gem-A and BJA working together with key players in the ethics debate – will provide suggestions as to what can be done to improve the industry. Ultimately though, you will decide if you want to implement them.

The Voice of the Industry 31

| Security

The Usual Suspects In this latest SaferGems report, Michael Hoare reveals the various modus operandi of criminals who have targeted jewellers recently. ’ve written about the bravery of bystanders and members of the public in tackling alleged robbers in the act of attacking local jewellers, and we can all remember examples that have made headlines for a few days.

Cases in Northampton and Banbury spring to mind, where the public have prevented the escape of miscreants, either on foot or motorcycle. Mostly the robbers suffer nothing worse than well-deserved wounded pride, public humiliation and a jail sentence. In one case making the papers recently however, the alleged offender suffered a far worse fate.

On the last Saturday in March two men wearing motorcycle helmets targeted NAG member John Gowing Jewellers, in the Covered Market, Oxford, in an attempted robbery. According to reports they attacked the shop window unsuccessfully with a sledgehammer, before trying to escape.

Having arrived at the scene on a Kawasaki ZX600 motorcycle stolen from Botley Road in the west of the city at around 11am they abandoned the bike, with one alleged offender making off on foot; and discarding his helmet and items of clothing in a nearby street, before boarding a bus to escape.

The other alleged offender, subsequently named as Clinton Townsend, 33, from Headington, Oxford, was less lucky. Having been restrained at the scene by shop staff, passers-by and market traders, he was later taken to the city’s John Radcliffe Hospital, where he died on Sunday afternoon. A postmortem examination will establish the cause of death, reported locally to be as the result of a heart attack. Police have also arrested two men, aged 31 and 32, on suspicion of robbery. I can’t help thinking that everyone – including staff, local citizens and at least one offender – has suffered a terrible, traumatic toll for a senseless robbery that netted nothing.

Thankfully, such violence is rare in crimes we encounter through SaferGems; mostly they are more mundane, but still involve significant loss. In fact recent bulletins highlight the

I

32 The Jeweller May 2013

preponderance of fraud, with March seeing more than 20 reports. Methodology often involves stolen or counterfeit financial instruments, fake identification documents, or perpetrators masquerading behind false identity. For instance, late one Saturday afternoon in late February, two men attempted to buy £10,000 of gold from a shop in Leicester using a suspect Barclays debit card. Police made two arrests, but those apprehended are believed to be part of a team that has fraudulently obtained approximately £400,000 of goods from Asian jewellers in the West Midlands, Manchester, Leicestershire and London, using a sophisticated chip and pin scam described to SaferGems members (alert: 42.13), and using fake passports identification.

They treat fraud as their job and they don’t fit any specific physical, racial, age or gender stereotype…

In a second case, a man using the name Lord Alexander M Gattie attempted to purchase a gold bracelet from a Southport jeweller using a cheque that subsequently bounced twice. The same man and a woman returned the following day to try and use another cheque to buy a single stone diamond ring. Given the circumstances, he was asked, but failed, to return the following day with cash. In this case the goods were not released, but his objective was clearly to buy items with a fraudulent chequebook.

A man of similar appearance was reported in suspicious circumstances shortly afterwards by a jeweller in Tewkesbury. Although the suspect is currently being dealt with by Devon and Cornwall police for a number of fraud offences, members of SaferGems were asked to report direct to their local police if he was spotted on their premises.

Our third case involves a woman who visited a jeweller in Altringham and attempted

to buy a Rolex on interest-free terms.

Unluckily for her, staff recognised her from a previous attempted fraud at another store in Manchester where she also tried to buy a Rolex under what is believed to be another assumed identity. Staff went through the motions of processing her application, which was declined as expected, and in so doing discovered that a woman answering the same description was responsible for numerous applications under various names and identities. It is believed the same woman has also visited stores in Doncaster and Solihull, in attempts to fraudulently obtain jewellery items.

Finally, our last example is of a suspect who sold a Bridgend jeweller two Krugerrands for over £1,800, producing a paper driving licence and telephone number as ID. Subsequently, realising the items were fake, the jeweller attempted to contact the vendor by phone, only to discover he had used a false identity. It is believed the same man has also visited stores in Merthyr Tydfil, Cheltenham and Weymouth and either sold or attempted to sell fake Krugerrands.

So what can we learn about fraudsters from these and other examples? Clearly, some use sophisticated methods, going to great lengths to prepare and cover their tracks.

But not all! Some just rely on catching their victims unaware, exploiting their naivety, or passing off poor fakes. Others work on the basis that if they try often enough they will score eventually. But what is clear from all these examples is that fraudsters are persistent, mobile and brazen. They treat fraud as their job and they don’t fit any specific physical, racial, age or gender stereotype; so the best we can do is be alert – and one step ahead – with SaferGems!

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The Voice of the Industry 33

ChloBo

After a long spell on the subs bench, yellow and rose gold jewellery – whether pure or plated vermeil – is beginning to be noticed again. Belinda Morris basks in its warm glow.

t feels like a long time since The Jeweller looked at gold jewellery in any depth. It’s been touched upon of course – mentioned here and there in despatches – but has not really been the focus of any great attention.

That particular place in the spotlight has been held for some time by platinum, the bright shining beacon of the bridal department.

As the price of gold shot through the roof (and for a long time showed no sign of returning to anything like what passes for normal these days) a clear run was given to platinum – a precious metal once considered prohibitively expensive by many.

I

Arabel Lebrusan

34 The Jeweller May 2013

Alexis Dove

The rocketing price of gold has also seen silver, once shunned by many fine/traditional jewellers as not worthy of window space, coming into its own. To the consumer at least, here is an affordable ‘precious’ metal, given an extra push by the blossoming branded jewellery phenomenon.

So, has there been a massive turn-around then? Is yellow gold (and its pretty pink/rose sister) ousting platinum from its lofty perch?

Well, no, that’s not about to happen. White metals are still the most popular – the strongest sellers – when the sales of jewellery in the UK are taken as a whole, but yellow and rose gold are currently fighting back.

“At Lapponia we have certainly noticed an increase in enquiries from our customers for gold jewellery, especially in recent months,” reports UK sales agent Charles Vickers.

“These enquiries have been generated by end-user demand which indicates that this is a consumer-led trend. Feedback from customers is that the jewellery market has become saturated with low cost silver brands Lestie Lee

Feature | offering indistinguishable collections and consumers are now looking at aspects of gold jewellery as an alternative.”

Whether it’s to do with silver overload, or a fashion thing that emanates from the international catwalks, or a shift that signals the return of consumer confidence or (and this is probably the most likely) the fact that the price has (sort of) stabilised over the past year, there’s no denying the extra glimmer of interest in gold now.

London Road

has started to make some of her pieces in 18ct gold. “I think the price of gold is very sensible now, compared to what it was in 2011,” she says. “It has definitely made it a more viable metal to use for designers like myself. I also believe there is more interest and demand due to the quality and durability of gold jewellery. And the resale value of gold makes it more investable of course.”

For Dessy Tsolova of Decï, the very high price of gold over the last few years has

“… the jewellery market has become saturated with low cost silver brands offering indistinguishable collections and consumers are now looking at aspects of gold jewellery as an alternative”

Madjan Rocks

Domino

The price is (almost) right The recent Thomson Reuters GFMA Gold Survey 2013 might show that demand for gold jewellery fell by 4.2 per cent in 2012… but that was then — 2013 figures may tell a different story. In the middle of last month gold fell to its lowest level in two years – the price of the precious metal dropped to a little under £890 an ounce. Ok, that’s still high compared to 2000 say when it hovered around a much more reasonable £250, but nevertheless it is a drop that has made gold jewellery buyers across Asia in particular clamour for the stuff, as well as some UK designers – such as Alexis Dove – consider investing in more of it for their own collections.

Another designer, Lestie Lee, who began her business with gold vermeil and silver,

Tessa Packard

The Voice of the Industry 35

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Feature |

Kastur Jewels

“Gold continues to be an emphasis moving forward and the lower cost of raw materials will certainly allow for some higher end and more complex pieces with increased material content.”

In a similar way, Finnish brand Lapponia – which has always included gold in its collections – is finding that less unpredictable prices have allowed its designers to produce

meant that many of her clients have become used to spending less by buying gold vermeil or silver instead. “As I primarily work in gold, the stabilisation of the price has meant that I can improve on my margins rather than use more of it,” she explains.

“And I now feel better about designing in gold!” Ruth Sibbald of Zoe & Morgan is also taking advantage of the ‘better’ gold price.

“It’s enabled us to experiment more with our wedding collection, which will soon be launched,” she explains.

Fope

Clogau

Katie Rowland

gold items at a more realistic price. “For example, the Amore collection from Björn Weckström and My Sunshine by Chao-Hsien Kuo are available in both 18ct and 14ct yellow gold and we are noticing a considerable uptake in orders for these lines,” says Vickers.

There is a positive side to the recent years of gold fluctuations in Sibbald’s view: “It’s made people more aware of the value of

gold – they are more open to investing in expensive items because they know they will not lose value over time,” she says. Ken Brown, sales manager of Italian composable brand Nomination agrees with this premise.

“A high gold price increases the consumers’ appreciation of gold,” he adds. “Fewer people can afford gold jewellery [so] the desire for gold increases and in turn the use of gold

Offering a big brand overview Diane Smith, head of product management at Links of London adds: “Indeed the stabilisation of gold has helped from a development perspective; the recent prices allow for more material for our design team to work with.

As a brand we have been strongly developing our gold offer for the past 18 months, with two entry level gold collections launched in the past six months, focusing on the sub £1,000 price bracket,” she says.

Georg Jensen

Gold plate – setting the record straight The British Hallmarking Council and UK Assay Offices have received an increasing number of consumer and trade enquiries concerning the legitimacy of various descriptions being used at point of sale to describe gold-plated sterling silver items.

Higher gold prices have driven an increased demand for these pieces. Many of these products are being described in a misleading way with no reference to silver or the fact that they are plated. These descriptions also often make a specific reference to gold fineness, leading the consumer to believe they are buying gold when they are only buying silver.

Examples of misleading descriptions that have been encountered include: ‘22ct gold clad ring’ and ‘22ct gold vermeil ring’. In both cases the rings were silver with thin gold-plating.

In both cases a gold description is applied with no reference to plating or the silver.

The British Hallmarking Council is therefore issuing a guidance document to cover the permitted descriptions for gold-plated silver articles: • When the word ‘gold’ or a specific gold fineness description is used to describe a goldplated silver article, the article must be described as silver and the word ‘gold’ must be directly followed by the word ‘plated’ in the description e.g. 18ct gold-plated silver ring.

• Other terms like vermeil, may be used in addition but the phrase ‘gold-plated’ and the word silver must appear within the description e.g. 18ct gold-plated vermeil silver ring.

• The term ‘silver gilt’ may be used to describe gold-plated silver, providing a specific gold fineness is not applied as part of the description e.g. silver gilt ring.

• The gold-plated layer must be of fineness of at least 375 parts per thousand and should not exceed two microns in thickness.

The Voice of the Industry 37

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| Feature to invest in a solid and stable (in value) metal,” she says.

Gold is, as Haidlauf points out, still expensive. “The price of gold has somewhat stabilised, but the result of the steady increase of the last few years continues to make it very difficult to achieve affordable 18ct gold collections,” adds ethical jeweller Arabel Lebrusan. “The customer still expects the previous prices (before the increase) for gold pieces, so it’s inevitably down to we designers to make up that difference from within our own profit margins.” For Alexis Dove the high price of gold has made it “not particularly viable for wholesale collections”.

She does report though that commissions in gold have remained a “very strong sales area” in her Lewes shop.

Hannah Warner

Emily H London

Chavin

detail becomes even more important from a commercial point of view.” Of course the fact that Nomination combines 18ct gold with stainless steel has allowed yellow and rose gold to remain in the collection despite the high gold prices.

Nathalie Haidlauf of German jewellery brand Al Coro, which manufactures opulent pieces in 18ct gold only, adds a word of

“Gold still has a fairly high price point and so it is still challenging to make gold jewellery with integrity (of a decent weight) at the competitive price points which underline our offer,” says Suzanne Adams, creative director of London Road Jewellery.

Designer Catherine Budd agrees: “In terms of commercial design I think it’s important to recognise that with the price of gold remaining so high, we must do what we can to reduce the overall cost of a piece without compromising the quality. This is the challenge – to provide customers with high-quality gold pieces that come with a realistic price tag,” she says.

“…the stabilisation of the price has meant that I can improve on my margins rather than use more of it…

I now feel better about designing in gold!”

Ute Decker

caution on the price issue. “I don’t think that the price of gold has finally stabilised, since we are still in a global crisis. Gold became a good alternative for investments and went to a very high level. Even if the price went down I think that it is still high. People [want]

38 The Jeweller May 2013

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| Feature

Gold jewellery trends

By Eurydice Sanchez, senior editor of accessories & footwear at Stylesight Yellow gold trends • Yellow gold has re-emerged and increasingly become more important. Overall, the most important metal tone to emerge on Autumn 2013 catwalks, however the trend has been building for several seasons.

• The return of ’80s opulence drives this home even further, as we are seeing the return of flashy gold chain links and luxury status motifs (medallions, coins, animals).

Look to costume jewellery from Kenneth Jay Lane and Chanel.

• Rich, golden shades are being interpreted in everything from ornate, regal metalwork to sculptural designs and sleek modern styles.

• Hammered, brushed and polished finishes.

Rose gold trends • Continues to be important for watches and jewellery.

• Polished, hammered, brushed or smooth.

• Feminine filigree and openwork designs.

• Part of the ongoing minimalist aesthetic – clean, geometric and cage designs.

• Rose golds (as well as yellow golds) play an important role in the continuing juxtaposition of warm and cool metals from fine to fashion jewellery – in duos or ever-popular tri-tones of rose gold, yellow gold, white gold or cool and warm finish sterling silver or plated brass.

• Rose tints remain a complement to pastel stones.

Lapponia

sterling silver gold vermeil lines are proving very popular, in particular the rose gold Florabella Collection. “We have taken this trend forward and are currently creating a new 18ct rose and white gold collection Eleuterio

‘contemporary gold’ and bridal collections, in order to bring the popular and fashionable touch of rose or yellow gold to her silver lines, Lebrusan has used gold-plating. Jewellery designer Ariane Rocher explains that she sells a variety of gold jewellery and, of course, it’s a question of customers’ budgets as well as the pieces themselves. ”Some of our collections lend themselves more to silver gold plate and some more to gold,” she says.

“Trend-aware consumers are seeking the look of gold at silver prices,” agrees Links of London’s Smith. “As a brand selling both vermeil and 18ct we need to address this

Ariane Rocher

as we think rose is here to stay for a while,” Ho explains. Chloe Moss of ChloBo, noted for its silver jewellery, is also finding that retailers and her own customers have reacted positively to her first line of goldplated pieces (part of the Cloud9 range) so more will be in the pipeline from her too… including rose gold.

La 10

balance carefully, so vermeil is almost treated as a colour variation. Vermeil works well for the Links brand and is ideal for new entry level introductions, allowing product with the look of gold from £130,” she explains.

“However 18ct gold remains at the heart of our offer, but is used more at collection level and for our gold and diamond charms, where customers are seeking products with a more timeless aesthetic.”

While Sho by Sarah Ho is due to launch a new light and delicate 18ct gold collection at the Couture Show in Las Vegas this year, her

Zoe & Morgan

40 The Jeweller May 2013

¯

Your partners in precious metal.

www.bedra.ie

| Feature A question of tone and texture Arguably it is thanks to the watch market that rose gold is enjoying a ‘moment’. The pinky-toned precious metal has been a growing favourite for timepieces for a while now and inevitably this is having a knock-on effect for jewellery. “Each piece of jewellery has its perfect gold colour, but sometimes it’s a question of trend. Right now we say it’s rose gold,” says Susana Martins, creative director of Portuguese gold jewellery brand Eleuterio. “It’s the perfect base for diamonds and it’s amazing on any woman. At the moment we are focused on rose gold for all the designs that can be created with this [tone].” Sarah Ho at Sho is also seeing a trend for rose gold, which will be the focus for its next press days.

Al Coro too reports that rose gold is key. “For the last four years 70 per cent of our jewellery has been in rose gold,” says Haidlauf. “Modern, fashionable and individual women like the look and its warm tone complements almost every skin tone.”

For Clogau rose gold is a signature element – the Clogau St David’s mine was a copper mine before gold was found and the unrefined gold had a pink hue that has now become synonymous with its jewellery.

The most affordable pieces in the collection are in sterling silver with rose gold accents.

Al Coro

Whether it’s yellow or rose, there is certainly a shift away from white gold, says Adams of London Road, whose Pimlico Bubble (rose) and Kew (yellow) collections are the most popular currently. To mark 2013 being the Chinese year of the snake and inspired by the snake jewellery popular in the Victorian era, its Kew Serpent collection features textured yellow gold – some with gem-set eyes.

42 The Jeweller May 2013

Meanwhile Fope, which attributes equal importance to yellow, rose and white gold has found that UK consumers prefer the brand’s gold pieces to be yellow. And to ensure that all skin tones are considered, Dina Kamal offers her all-gold pieces in not three by five colour variations.

Besides the different gold tones, the finish of the metal can also divide opinion. At Decï it’s about texture. “I tend to stay away from the high polish as I find it a little too

Gecko

Ethical directions

Florabella by Sho

predictable,” says Tsolova. I am focusing on other finishes such as matte, hammered and acid-dipped.” Conversely, although it can depend on the design, Lestie Lee works mostly with polished gold. “I like the way it shines and reflects, with a finish that’s clean and neat,” she says. “Polished and satin are both very different finishes of the same colour and great when mixed together in one piece,” says designer Hannah Warner.

Alexis Dove meanwhile is finding that the polished versions of her signature textured metals seem to sell better than the matte.

Nomination

If it’s not about aesthetics, the question of ethically-sourced gold – and all that that description implies – continues to be a key one within the global jewellery industry.

A briefing on the theme of ‘Responsible Gold Sourcing’ was held at the recent BaselWorld (jointly chaired by the Responsible Jewellery Council and the London Bullion Market Association) to once again reinforce the importance of supply chain management. At the same time Fairtrade International has acted to make Fairtrade labelling on gold to be more straightforward ‘to facilitate market growth’ – it will be more recognisable by consumers.

The move will also, says Fairtrade, help increase jeweller participation in the Fairtrade gold scheme and bring maximum benefits back to miners.

Links of London

Just how much impact the campaign for ethical gold is having on the high street depends on who you ask – although few brands or designers would admit to having a lack of concern on the issue of course.

And despite the publicity and campaigning that goes on, sourcing such gold is not seen as straightforward. “It’s a very difficult process – I think it will take a long time before ethical gold is accessible,” says Beirut-based jewellery designer Dina Kamal. “The idea of recycling gold and designing with recycled gold is very interesting as it requires its own

¯

Feature | Catherine Budd

approach due to the gold limitations and considerations. I will hopefully have a bespoke piece this year made of recycled gold.”

“I’m still happily working with some remains of Fairtrade ecological gold, but sadly Oro Verde has now decided to auction off its gold and no longer supply it into the Fairtrade supply chain,” explains ethical designer Ute

If not sourced direct from the mine the alternative way of going down the ethical route is to recycle. “We have continued to see a year-on-year growth of the ethical gold market,” comments Duncan Marshall, production manager at ethical, Fairtrade and recycled metal refiners Capella Manufacturing. “However, businesses that have truly embraced the realm of ethical metals within their core range and marketing have tended still to be specialised manufacturers rather than larger, mainstream, mass-producing businesses. We’ve noticed a consistent growth of interest and enquiry levels for ethical and recycled metals. This really has been amplified in the last twelve months with a greatly increased level of month-on-month enquiries,” he continues.

Andrew Geoghegan

Decker. “For us makers who have supported and promoted Oro Verde for quite some time now this is rather a disappointment.

But there is still a very good supply of Fairtrade gold and, until there is a new source for Fairtrade eco gold, I will be using the standard Fairtrade gold.”

Dina Kamal

“To put it in perspective, the business has already supplied three new customers in the last two weeks who specifically want ethical or recycled metals,” he adds. “It is still a niche market, but it is a growing niche that is starting to be taken seriously by manufacturers, jewellers and consumers alike. People really are starting to sit up and listen to this as a sector,” he says.

While Lebrusan was one of the first Fairtrade gold licensees when it was introduced, the designer offers recycled gold (and silver) to give a less expensive option to her ‘ethical customers’. Similarly, Links of London, which “scrutinises its methods of supply… endeavouring to use ethical routes”, also recycles its gold where possible, especially on discontinued lines and excess stock.

Interestingly, for some designers, taking the ethical stance – combined with inspiration and pragmatism – has meant that precious

Gold mythology Spinning a few lustrous yarns of the mythological variety is one way to add further romance to precious metals, so here are a few fanciful (and one or two true) gold facts: • To the ancient Egyptians the yellow blaze of gold was a seen as the flesh of Ra, the sun god. It was considered to be divine and indestructible and therefore a symbol of eternal life.

• Gold represented the sweat of the sun to the Incas.

• To most civilisations gold was considered to be a symbol of power, prosperity and wealth.

• The search for gold was responsible for the discovery of America.

• In Christianity gold is considered to be a pure metal – hence ceremonial cups and chalices were often made of gold (pure enough to touch the ‘blood of Christ’).

• The Gold Coast is so-called because between 11th and 17th centuries West Africa supplied almost two-thirds of the world’s gold.

• In Africa it was believed that gold (which came from the gods as well as the sun) has fetish powers…

• …and as only chiefs and kings could communicate with the ancestors it was accepted that all gold rightly belonged to them.

metal prices are almost a lesser consideration.

“Who knows where the gold price will be heading again,” says Ute Decker. “As I use the amount of Fairtrade gold (or recycled silver) depending on what is ideal for a particular design, I never think of its commercial viability and so far this has proved to be the right priority.”

I

Daisy Knights

The Voice of the Industry 45

| Opinion: Gregor Jackson

Here and below: the recently refurbished Asprey store

Selling the story Gregor Jackson describes the role that heritage and story-telling can play in jewellery store design. e operate in a competitive marketplace and jewellery is an extremely emotional purchase. As it’s often a marker or milestone of magical moments in a person’s life, the customer wants to feel that they are receiving a special experience and feel a connection with the product. Whether high street or high end, heritage is a strong source of personality and uniqueness for a brand or store – and playing on this creates a point of difference and gives them an edge against competitors.

Despite it commonly being presented in stores as ‘never before touched’, jewellery is designed, worked, prototyped, polished and produced using a very detailed and intricate process. Yet, when it’s displayed, the designer and the design essence are often lost in translation – or simply not presented at all.

W

this history should not be forgotten once the product is created. In guiding the customer to their purchase, the store has a responsibility to bring this to life. It should explain the art and detail of a jeweller’s work, helping the customer to truly experience an emotional connection with a brand or piece.

In our recent design work with Asprey on its Bond Street store, our role was to understand the brand’s heritage, and create a platform that allowed it to effervesce to the surface. Asprey is a brand that’s synonymous with luxury and stands for heritage, craftsmanship, quality and relevance. Our design of their jewellery section was one that reflected these brand attributes – but we made sure that overarching understatement, quality and simplicity allowed the jewellery itself to shine and be

To display jewellery to its full potential… story-telling and history needs to be incorporated into the design of the store.

To display jewellery to its full potential, and help the customer ‘fall in love’ with a piece which will hold real sentimental value for them, story-telling and history need to be incorporated into the design of the store.

The story of jewellery is created by the designers – as well as by the heritage of the brand which shapes the design – and

46 The Jeweller May 2013

the real ‘hero’ of the space. In this way, the environment becomes the backdrop which lets the jewellery take centre stage – although it should always exude the brand values at the same time.

Exactly the same principle applies for independent stores on local high streets.

In smaller retail spaces a simple design can

allow the pieces to really sell themselves, but by understanding the provenance of the jewellery and being able to explain this to customers the store helps to give the products meaning.

For an independent retailer, playing on their history and local link also helps the customer to engage with the store. Highlighting and incorporating original design features from the retail space can create a deep and lasting relationship between a customer and the store – in turn creating a backdrop that’s conducive to that important yet mystifying ‘fall in love’ moment.

In a similar vein, there’s an increasing trend among forward-thinking jewellery brands to use store design as a showcase of the creation process – from initial concept to finished article – to bring the story of their craftsmanship to life. Telling the stories behind the pieces helps to create a relationship between the consumer and the piece of jewellery, as well as forming a more enduring

bond with the brand itself. As a good example, Theo Fennell is king of story-telling, bringing depth and provenance to each of his oneoff designs – and this can be seen in the boutique we designed for him in Burlington Arcade, London.

The success of the examples above lay with understanding that jewellery does not exist in isolation – it is created by people, who are inspired by the world around them, and the history before them. By celebrating and highlighting these attributes stores can strengthen customer loyalty and become true retail destinations in their own right.

Embrace heritage, embrace a story and let the consumer embrace the brand.

Gregor Jackson is a partner of gpstudio, a design consultancy that specialises in luxury retail design – creating and shaping brand stories and presenting these as reality retail consumer experiences. www.gpstudio.uk.com

The Voice of the Industry just got even louder...

The Jeweller — now incorporating Gems & Jewellery magazine!

3 May 201

/ Volume

22 / No.

3

Jeweller the

May 2013

£7.50

Inco rporat ing

The Voice of Th e Indu stry

Gems &Jewe ller y

May

2013

/ Volume

22

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3

Diamo nd lack grading Mag s clar netic ity Colour attracti on s in qua rtz

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| Feature

Recyling pays into us for scrap we tend to refurbish and then sell in our shops as ‘second hand’. These pieces with stones of about 20pts or above tend to sell quickly and well, and account for around 20 per cent of our turnover. If the stones are large, or of reasonable quality, we will keep those too and perhaps make them into a new piece. It is the small, ‘melee’ stones which we tend to accumulate in considerable volume and in many shapes, sizes and qualities that we recycle,” he explains.

industry. I think some people have a stereotypical image of a slightly dodgy gold-selling customer, but the reality is quite different.

Our customers are mostly professional women and business people over 45, who have decided that they would rather have a holiday than keep a whole load of unworn jewellery in their cupboard,” he says.

Recycling gold and diamonds also chimes well with Middleton’s personal philosophy.

A passionate environmentalist, he recently achieved a first class honours degree in Environmental Studies from Swansea University. This was taken over six years as a part-time student with a thesis on the topic of ‘Dirty Gold’. “It was very revealing,” he says.

While Middleton admits that it would be ‘totally impractical’ to try and stock his shops with completely environmentallyfriendly products, he is making major steps in that direction. He has recently partnered with the bullion dealers and refiners Capella not only to distribute their Fairtrade and

The company Middleton uses to recycle his unwanted stones is White Pine Diamonds, a forerunner and leading player in this field with offices in New York, Birmingham UK and Barcelona. “They offer me a very fair price for something that otherwise effectively has no value to our business. I simply amass the stones, take them to their Birmingham offices, or call in a rep to value them; they offer me a price and if I agree the money is in my account almost immediately,” he explains.

Bottom-line business aside, Middleton is keen that consumers should be able to put their faith in the jewellery industry. “In the first few years of the ‘gold for scrap’ boom I think there were a lot of underhand companies giving low prices which tarnished the whole

Fairmined bullion in the South West but also to open a local refinery. This will offer, among a range of other services, a diamond recovery service for jewellers in the vicinity.

“We like to offer customers a consistently good deal in everything we do and I was aware that before we started recycling diamonds we were effectively only able to offer those who wanted to scrap their diamond-set jewellery the price of the gold because it was impossible to get anything back on the value of the diamonds. Thanks to the service from White Pine we can now offer our customers a decent return and I have the added satisfaction of knowing that I can also make money while pursuing an eco-friendly option,” Middleton concluded.

For Welsh jeweller Peter Middleton protecting the environment is not just a passion, it also makes great business sense.

Recycling diamonds alone has recently added some £36,000 to his annual turnover. ewellery is in Peter Middleton’s blood; his father and his uncle were both jewellery retailers and for the past 20 years he has been building his own retail business – Gold Reserves. He currently has a shop in the heart of the market in Swansea (where he says the passing trade is fantastic), another in Llanelli High Street and is about to open a further store in Cardiff.

He describes his current businesses as “typical, small town jewellers – like H. Samuel in miniature”, however he has rather different plans for his new outlet in Cardiff where he intends to sell more bridal jewellery, branded silver lines, giftware and watches.

“It’s going to be very different, much more contemporary but nothing too highbrow – very open with good friendly, knowledgeable service,” he says.

For the past couple of years buying gold jewellery for scrap has been another important component of Gold Reserves’ turnover and Middleton is keen to destigmatise this process. To this end he has recently signed up to the ‘Gold Standard’, the voluntary code of conduct for those trading in scrap gold which is being championed by the NAG, Birmingham Assay Office, BJA and other industry organisations.

Following close behind his gold initiatives, recycling diamonds is another string to Middleton’s business and one that is close to his heart; he has recently undertaken a diamond grading course to learn more about the stones with which he is dealing.

“I have been recycling my diamonds for the past 12 months – without really pushing it and reckon that it is already adding around £3,000 a month to turnover. While it is difficult to know how much of that amount is profit, it is a useful additional revenue stream,” he told The Jeweller.

So how exactly does it work? “The better pieces of diamond jewellery that are brought

J

48 The Jeweller May 2013

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| Antique Jewellery

Antique JEWELLERY Gold coins and pirate jewellers Jack Ogden looks at the age-old use of gold and silver coins as raw material for jewellery. he relationship between coins and jewellery is a close and long-lasting one.

For much of the last two thousand years coins were the easiest way for the average person to get hold of gold or silver. Coins had, at least in theory, an officially standardised (and enforced) weight and purity. They were in effect convenient small ingots, ideal raw material for jewellers. At certain times and places we can even detect a relationship between the weight of the current gold coinage and the jewellery made from it.

Also, of course, coins have often been used as jewellery in their own right, perhaps most often as pendants, sometimes in elaborate mounts. Coin-set jewellery is still often seen as wedding jewellery, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East, a practice that dates back to Roman times. Particularly popular in recent centuries have been silver

T

thalers of the Empress Maria Theresa, first minted in 1741, which became a mainstay of international trade into recent times. These coins were often also pierced and worn as ornaments. The suspicion is that the Empress’ image on the coins was admired rather less for her face than for her rather buxom figure.

It is obviously far easier to provide tangible examples of coins as ornaments than as raw material. A few cut coins survive which might attest to the practice, but most evidence for coins as raw material for jewellery comes from documents. These range widely both chronologically and geographically. As an example we can quote an early 20th century Indian goldsmith who commented that “The gold to be used is generally supplied by the patron or employer, and is frequently in gold coin.” To avoid accusations of gender bias we can refer to the Arab writer al-Adili al Tusi,

Silver Maria Theresa thaler coin, pierced to be used as a pendant. This was a major trade coin for several centuries. Photo Jack Ogden.

writing in the 13th century, who stated how “A charming girl is cutting gold coins into bits inside a house.” In what follows, however, we can focus on Britain.

There are documents from Wells Cathedral that suggest that in the 15th century donated silver coins were not used as currency, but retained as raw material for repairs to silver plate. When gold or silver was in ready supply,

An ancient Parthian Persian silver coin that was cut with a chisel in antiquity, quite probably being used as raw material for making jewellery.

Photo Jack Ogden.

The British gold sovereign was a perfect source of raw materials for jewellers. This is an 1880 Victorian sovereign. Copyright Lefteris Papaulakis, Dreamstime.com

50 The Jeweller May 2013

a movement of coinage out of circulation in this way was not too much of a problem.

However, when the precious metals were less abundant the state could try to take preventive action. Thus in England, about the same time as the Wells documents, a law introduced by Edward IV said that “No person shall melt down any Money of Gold or Silver sufficient to run in payment, upon pain of forfeiture of the value.” Much the same was said later in the 17th century under

Antique Jewellery | Charles II: “No person shall wilfully melt or cause to be melted any of the current Silver Money of this Realm, upon pain, not only of forfeiture of the same, but also of the double value of the Coin melted, one half to the King, and the other half to the informer suing for the same…” The culprit was also to be “disfranchised, and made uncapable of exercising the trade of a goldsmith, or any other mystery”. A comment in Parliament in 1696 indicated the actual state of affairs: “It may reasonably be suspected that part of the silver coins of this realm hath been by persons regarding their owne private gain more than the publick good molten and converted into vessles of silver…”

During the 19th century melting down gold coinage was a feature of the British jewellery industry, in Birmingham especially. Someone wanting to set up as a jeweller needed just “a few sovereigns and some ounces of zinc and copper”. The First Annual Report of the Deputy Master of the Mint of 1870 more formally commented that: “It is to be apprehended also that working jewellers are in the habit of making use of large quantities of sovereigns in the business of their trade, owing to the convenience of being able to obtain by this means gold of a known standard.” The reason why this was so common was, by this time, economics as much as convenience. A sovereign coin, 22 carat fine and weighing 7.99 grams, was worth its face value (sometimes even more); gold purchased from a refiner cost more since the refiner required a small profit. Several commentators noted that it was cheaper for jewellers to recycle coins than to buy gold from refiners and a letter written to The Times in 1817 pointed out that at that time sovereigns would actually melt for 6½d more than their face value of £1.

A 17th Century gold posy ring, probably a betrothal ring, of the type typically made from gold coins. Photo Jack Ogden.

In Ancient and Medieval times gold and silver coins were frequently melted down to make jewellery.

Shown is part of a hoard of 15th century gold coins found at Fishpool, Nottinghamshire.

Copyright Anthony Baggett, Dreamstime.com

A Roman gold pendant set with a silver coin of the Emperor Philip I (AD 244-249). Pendants like this could show allegiance to the Emperor.

Philip I minted few gold coins which may explain why a silver one was used here. The green gem is a green glass imitation of an emerald.

Photo courtesy of Ariadne Gallery, New York.

One part of the trade where the customer often still provided the gold was in wedding ring manufacture. Traditionally the groom would provide a sovereign or more usually half sovereign coin from which the jeweller would make up the ring – one reason why 22 carat became the norm for gold wedding rings. A skilled goldsmith would make the ring by just piercing and hammering the coin – no cutting or soldering was required.

In 1920 Stanley Baldwin noted his surprise that up to that time there had been in Britain no “statutory power… which prevents the

melting up of coins”. He remedied this in his bill The Gold and Silver (Export Control, &c) Act 1920 which made it illegal (without special licence) “to melt down, break up, or use otherwise than as currency any gold or silver coin… current in the United Kingdom or in any British possession or foreign country”. Similarly, the Decimal Currency Act 1969 and Coinage Act of 1971 reiterated that nobody should melt or break up any metal coin current in the United Kingdom and, as recently as 2006, the Royal Mint had to warn people that although the pre-1992 1p and 2p copper coins were by then worth more as copper than as coins, it was illegal to melt them.

It seems likely that more than a handful of gold sovereigns and half sovereigns have ended up in the melting pot in recent years with the rapid changes in gold prices, even though it is illegal to melt or deface them.

But perhaps attempting to halt the melting down of gold coinage has always been overly optimistic. In 1946, during the period of austerity following World War ll, a black market in 22 carat wedding rings developed in Britain to satisfy those not content with the Government imposed 9 carat utility variety.

As the Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith noted in March 1946, “Pirate jewellers with hide-out workshops” were paying way over the legal bullion price for gold sovereigns each of which could be melted down to “produce two stylish rings”.

The Voice of the Industry 51

| Feature

Real Time Information: how it will affect the jewellery retailer For the first time, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has introduced a significant change in how payroll information is reported to them: Real Time Information (RTI), which launched on 6th April 2013.

Janice Riches, partner and head of the trade associations group at the NAG’s chartered accountancy firm Kingston Smith LLP, explains how jewellery businesses will be affected by the changes. s SMEs, most of you will already find the time required to deal with Governmentimposed red tape difficult to manage, but now there is even more to do. Whether you employ one person or many, your workload as an employer has increased – almost all businesses now need to file a report electronically with HMRC on or before you pay an employee.

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So, what has actually changed?

Prior to 6th April, businesses would generally process their payroll either each week or each month, making deductions for tax and national insurance contributions (NIC) on behalf of employees and calculating employers’ NIC contributions. The relevant payment was made to HMRC for the total tax and NIC by the 19th of the following month.

Unless someone left your employment, HMRC wouldn’t receive any other information until the end of the tax year by the submission of the P35 and P14.

Starting with any salary payments after 6th April 2013, almost all businesses are now required to file electronically, by the salary payment date, a host of data relating to the employee and their salary and deductions under the RTI system. This allows HMRC to see and review PAYE information, every month, as it happens.

What are the benefits of this new system?

RTI should make it faster and easier for employers, pension providers and HMRC to administer accurate information. As a result,

52 The Jeweller May 2013

the use of parenthesis (e.g. O’Brien) in surnames or addresses (‘Dunromin’) – and these are identified and reported clearly by HMRC. On acceptance of the data, the system is ready to accept the first payroll submission.

Not using payroll software?

The biggest challenge will be for employers who don’t use payroll software. If you have fewer than nine employees you can submit via the HMRC website each payday; all other businesses need software or a recognised bureau to make electronic submissions.

Things to do now For the tax year ended 5th April 2013 you still need to submit your end-of-year return (P14s and P35) by 19th May 2013. For dealing with

employees will be on the correct code and those who move jobs will be able to have their tax tracked to enable accurate deductions going forward; and former students shouldn’t be in a position of overpaying their loans at the end of the term.

Using an outsourced provider?

If you work with an outsourced payroll provider (an accountancy practice or a bureau) the transition will be relatively easy as they will manage it for you.

Processing your own payroll?

You must ensure that your payroll software works with RTI. This may mean updating your software, and your software provider should inform and help you with this. If you have fewer than nine employees you may use HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools which will work with RTI, free of charge.

Whether you employ one person or many, your workload as an employer has increased…

The RTI process The initial RTI submission will confirm that the data held by HMRC correctly identifies the employee and relates them to their tax record. Our experience has been that some names are not recognised. Rejections include names shortened or nicknames being used,

RTI, you need to ensure your payroll software is ready for RTI and make sure you have accurate and up-to-date information about all your employees (name, date of birth, gender, address and valid NI number).

HMRC’s website (www.hmrc.gov.uk) has useful information on getting your business ready to operate PAYE in real time and an ‘at a glance’ comparison of the changes.

Every reasonable effort is made to make the information and commentary accurate and up to date, but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by the author or the publisher. The information and commentary does not, and is not intended to, amount to legal advice to any person on a specific case or matter and you are strongly advised to obtain specific, personal advice about your case or matter.

| Regular

Notebook

Where to go, what to read, what to see…

Traditional Jewellery – in Nineteenth Century Europe by Jane Perry £30.00, V&A Publishing When the V&A (or South Kensington Museum as it was then) was putting this jewellery collection together in the mid 19th century, ‘traditional jewellery’ was referred to as ‘folk’ or ‘peasant’ jewellery. Had it been non-European, ‘ethnic’ or ‘tribal’ would have

been the descriptive words. However, it was never restricted to the lower classes and was often very expensive, as the author explains.

Perry’s introduction outlines how such jewellery – which was worn with traditional or national costume – differs from the fashionable variety. She describes its origins, the various significances of the pieces, how it was worn, when and by whom.

Sales & Exhibitions

enamelled and bejewelled make-up boxes from the 1920s to the 1970s – the ‘Age of Glamour’. www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk

May 2nd-31st: Gold: Status and Glory – Masterpieces from the Middle Ages and Today, Moretti Fine Art, 2a-6 Ryder Street, London SW1 A collaboration between the gallery and art dealer Adrian Sassoon to celebrate the timeless allure of gold. It juxtaposes the work of contemporary goldsmith Giovanni Corvaja with 14th and 15th century Italian gold-ground devotional paintings. www.morettigallery.com 10th May-8th September: Amazing Amber, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh The UK’s largest exhibition of amber – 320 objects, three-quarters of which have never been shown before. This will include contemporary jewellery as well as ancient Scottish pieces, 17th century Italian altarpieces, the world’s An Art Nouveau largest piece of amber hair ornament (from Burma) and examon display at Amazing Amber ples of carved Chinese and Mexican amber. www.nms.ac.uk 31st May-2nd July: Ultra Vanities, Goldsmiths’ Hall, London EC2 A private exhibition of finely wrought,

54 The Jeweller May 2013

June 7th-9th: Jewel East, Old Spitalfields Market, London EC New jewellery designers as well as traders in costume and vintage jewellery. www.oldspitalfieldsmarket.com 13th-16th: Treasure, Somerset House, London WC2 Contemporary jewellery designers and brands, including Essence, an area devoted to ethical jewellery. Part of Jewellery Week, a celebration of jewellery with launches, fashion shows, pop-up shops and private views. www.treasureuk.com and www.jewelleryweek.com 27th-3rd July: Masterpiece London 2013, Royal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3 Now in its fourth year, this fair, aimed at collectors, art lovers and museum curators, offers a variety of exceptional objects for sale. Covering a number of disciplines from fine art to fine

Marie Antoinette brooch by Theo Fennell on display at Masterpiece

She also explains how forms, styles and details changed not over time, but from region to region – with interesting common denominators emerging. Filigree work was a recurring and widespread feature for instance.

Another fascinating fact that comes out is that while such European jewellery was worn right up until its zenith in the 19th century, from Norway to the Balkans and Russia, it was not worn in England. However, English women by this period loved it – hence the V&A collection, as well as the manufacture of such pieces, specifically for the fashionable and arty consumer.

wines, among the 150 exhibitors will be those showcasing clocks, watches and jewellery. All works are stringently vetted by a committee of experts. www.masterpiecefair.com

Jewellery & Watch Trade Fairs May 18th-22nd: VicenzaOro Spring, Fiera di Vicenza, Italy Highlighting the fusion between jewellery and fashion with exhibitors offering everything from fine gold and platinum jewellery, to coloured stone, silver and costume jewellery. spring.vicenzaora.com 31st-3rd June: JCK Las Vegas Over 2,500 exhibitors from 22+ countries, grouped into 20 product areas from fine jewellery to services and supplies. The Design Center will include a new group of emerging ‘Rising Star’ jewellery designers. www.lasvegas.jckonline.com June 11th-12th: The Jewellery Show London, Somerset House, The Strand, WC2 British designs and key international brands at this event which will also include The Watch Salon London, as well as a catwalk presentation and seminars. Exhibitors will include: Chavin, Clogau, Lalique, London Road, Deakin & Francis and Hockley Mint. www.thejewelleryshowlondon.com

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| Regular

The

Last Word This month we proudly present Geoffrey Munn, MD of Wartski’s Jewellers, who offers The Last Word.

Personal Profile Best known as one of the experts on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, Geoffrey Munn, OBE, FSA, FRSA, is a British jewellery specialist and writer as well as being the managing director of London jewellers Wartski, where he has worked since he was 19. Geoffrey’s specialisation is 19th century precious metalwork and Fabergé, as well as having curated numerous exhibitions (including Tiaras at the V&A. He is the author of many books about jewellery and is also a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts.

Who has been the biggest influence in your life?

My English literature teacher, Pamela James.

She taught me the power and beauty of language and to beware of clichés.

What words describe you best… in your view and according to others?

I see myself as a typical Aries: loyal, punctual, stubborn, generous and affectionate. In the words of others: maddening, articulate, tactless, ambititious, but above all funny.

Both funny ha-ha and funny peculiar…

What one thing would you do differently if you had your time over?

Nothing. I have had a dazzlingly exciting time at Wartski and enough fascination and amazement to fill a hundred lifetimes.

If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the jewellery industry what would it be?

A return to the concept that jewellery is art rather than banking.

The last film you saw at the cinema?

A Song for Marion – a touching film about love and mortality with Terence Stamp, at 74, in the lead. He is 13 years older than me…

58 The Jeweller May 2013

Where is your favourite holiday destination?

Nowhere more exotic than Southwold in Suffolk, where we have a house. I travel a lot for both work and for the Antiques Roadshow and consequently I have developed a deepseated aversion to travel, airports and hotels. Mine is a time-consuming nine-tofive job – Monday to Friday. Time off is above rubies! For me travel is a combination of boredom and faint anxiety, interrupted by delays and frustration.

Tell us something not many people know about you…

Owing to the Antiques Roadshow there is too much about me on the web but not many people know that I have a parrot called Keiko. We don’t like to be apart and when I am abroad we speak on the telephone… he knows my voice and yes, he answers!

To what do you attribute your success?

The focus of my achievements has been quite narrow. It derives from my belief that the antique jewellery trade is like archaeology.

Even today priceless treasures are to be found in every aspect of the trade. In my books about jewellery I have tried my best to give it social context, to view it as a silent witness.

Photo courtesy of Archant

The past is a very mysterious place but it’s possible to travel there by looking and listening to what jewellery can tell you about our predecessors – their hopes, fears and above all their loves.

Favourite shopping destination?

Schotte’s in Southwold – one of the last great curiosity shops. There you will find so much that is utterly useless and completely charming that it is impossible to leave without some treasure. I once bought an 18th century cast iron safe and it took two men to carry it into my flat!

If not the jewellery industry, what might have been your alternative career?

I am a fatalist and so I don’t believe there was any alternative. If there was I might have been a writer or even an actor.

What is your chosen form of exercise?

Running, and because I have never learned to drive, I cycle everywhere. I ran the London Marathon in 2009 when I was 57 but I am not quite as fit as that anymore Do you Tweet? If so, how often?

Only to my parrot!

Quick Fire • Red or white wine?

Either, but always in a glass.

• Diamonds or coloured stones? Coloured stones. Beauty out of primeval chaos!

• White or yellow metal? Yellow. Gold, the colour of the sun and of heaven.

• Jewellery on men? Yes, but only cufflinks • Delegator or control freak? Delegator.

I’m too scatty to be controlling.

• Beatles or Rolling Stones? The Stones; the Beatles are far too soppy for me.

• Paperback or e-reader?

Neither. Hardback is best.

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