Quicken the heartbeat. In 1981, when the above ad appeared, the U.S. was in the throes of a recession that might have been made less painful, depending on the nature of one's investments. (Click to enlarge)

Passing…

Gem Dealer Dana Schorr Dies at 63

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our longtime friend and fellow gem dealer Dana Schorr.

Dana Schorr, Billie Hughes, Wimon Manorotkul and Richard Hughes stand at the base camp of Mt. Everest (Mt. Qomolangma) in the mid-summer of 2011 at 17,000 feet. (Photo courtesy Richard W. Hughes, from this article)

Dana passed away from complications from a massive heart attack on August 5. Dana will always be remembered as a friend with a true passion for this industry. He loved gemstones and more importantly, he loved people. His infectious smile and hearty laugh were always accompanied by a twinkle in his eye. He will be sorely missed by all of us.

Rest in peace, Dana.

Your loving friends at Pala International

Dana Schorr

Dana Schorr, 1952–2015. (Photo: Elise Skalwold)

Dana Schorr was born in 1952 in Santa Monica, California, and his formative years were spent in New York and Santa Barbara. He was known to be an activist in the gemstone community, but his rabble-rousing began early, having involved himself in Students for a Democratic Society, according to a tribute by his good friend Richard W. Hughes. It was his political involvement as a propagandist that drew him into the printing field, and from there he branched out into gems in the 1980s after selling some stones for a friend, at a profit, according to an obituary by National Jeweler.

For more than seven years, Dana was a partner in an office in Arusha, Tanzania, trading in tanzanite, and having a cutting factory in Sri Lanka with the same partner. His work in Tanzania as well as travels to many gemstone-producing countries put him in touch with artisanal miners, who he then championed, refusing to defer to what he felt were wrong-headed attempts at industry ethics reforms. He told me that he suspected the gemstone industry might have been made a guinea pig for regulation that could be applied to other fields. (For details on Dana's mission, see January's "Ethics Heckling: Digging Deeper, Sustainably Speaking.") Dana was due a follow-up call from me on this subject, but alas, that chance is missed. Missed also will be the delight he obviously took in life even as he examined the underbelly of our nature.

In addition to Dana's interest in gemstones, he was a music enthusiast, being a member of the Santa Barbara Jazz Society, as well as an avid dancer. And his name can be found in the agenda of the Santa Barbara City Council. He is survived by his mother Emmy, sister Wendy, and brother-in-law Roger Lebow. Expressions of condolence can be sent to The Schorr Family, 197 N. Mountain Trail, Sierra Madre, CA 91024.

— David Hughes, Editor

Shows and Events

Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair: Sept. 16–22, 2015

Next month, 50,000 buyers from across the globe are descending on Hong Kong for the UMB Asia-sponsored Jewellery and Gem Fair. Last year, exhibitors numbered about 3,700, from 49 countries and regions.

Pala International's Gabrièl Mattice, Carl Larson and Bill Larson will be in attendance, shopping on behalf of clients for that certain something.

The Fair takes place at two venues, slightly overlapping.

Raw Materials: Gemstones (including diamonds and pearls), equipment, and packaging – AsiaWorld-Expo, at Hong Kong International Airport, September 16–20
Fine Finished Jewelry – Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, September 18–22

Notable seminars include:

Jade Nomenclature by Shane McClure, GIA Global Director, Colored Stones Services
Ruby/Sapphire 2015 by Dr. Dietmar Schwarz, Lab Director, Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences
The Mode of Inspirations – Preciosa Jewellery Trend Workshop by Petr Polák, Marketing Director, Preciosa Crystal Components, and Luboš Petržilka, Director of Sales, Preciosa Cubic Zirconia & Gems
GIA Research Update by Tom Moses, Executive Vice President, Chief Laboratory & Research Officer, GIA
The Age of Gemstones by Dr. Daniel Nyfeler, Managing Director, Gübelin Gem Lab
The History of Gemstones by Helen Molesworth, Managing Director, Gübelin Academy
China's Proud Pearl Tradition by Dr. Jack Ogden
Perspective on the Global Diamond Industry by Liang Weizhang
Antique Jewellery in Australia, 1778–1920 by Ronnie Bauer
Jade: Seeing is Believing by Dominic Mok
Fei Cui Reseach: Past, Present and Future Studies by Prof. Mimi Ouyang, Honorary Chairlady, GAHK
Automated Spectral Diamond Inspection: A solution for the industry to analyse and authenticate colourless melee diamonds at high speed by Dr. Michael S. Krzemnicki, Director, Swiss Gemmological Institute SSEF
20 Years GRS Jubilee of Excellence in Research: Retrospective and Future of Gemmology by Dr. A. Peretti, Director, GRS Gemresearch Swisslab AG
Yellow Lead-Glass-Filled Sapphire versus Lead-Glass-Filled Yellow Sapphire by Boontawee Sriprasert, Academic Advisor, GIT
To What Extent for Heat Treatment of Ruby by Dr. Pornsawat Wathanakul, Director, GIT

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Mineralientage München 52nd Munich Mineral Show:
October 30 – November 1, 2015

Pala International's Bill Larson and Will Larson will attend this year’s Munich Show.

When: October 30 – November 1, 2015
Where: Munich Trade Fair Centre
Hours: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM each day
Friday, October 30 (Trade only)
Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1 (Trade and public)

In Gemworld, for the fourth year, the Munich Show will highlight the work of recent graduates, in Young Designers' Corner. As well as being a showcase, this is a competition. You have until August 31 to submit your entry. More information on the show is forthcoming.

Just one of many displays from the "African Secrets" exhibition at Munich 2012. For great enlargements of these images, visit MinBlog. (Photos courtesy Eloïse Gaillou)

For more information visit the show website. See the Pala International Show Schedule for future events.

Statuette of St. George, 1586/97, height 50 cm, Munich. This is one of the great highlights of the Munich Residenz Treasury, which visitors to the Munich Show can take in as a side trip. (Photo: Carl Larson)

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Victoria & Albert Museum: India & Burma

To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of its Nehru Gallery, which displays objects from the Victoria & Albert Museum's important South Asia collection, the V&A is in the midst of an India Festival. Fabrics, jewels, photographs, paintings and the performing arts all are represented. We look at two of the offerings that should interest gemstone lovers.

Captain Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of
India and Burma, 1852–1860

Linnaeus Tripe (1822–1902) joined the East India Company Army in the late 1930s, returning in 1850 to Britain, where he took up photography in 1852. He returned to south India in June 1854, being stationed in Bangalore. His first photographs of India were taken while he was on leave that December. Photos of previously unphotographed temples were exhibited in February 1855, in a juried show that brought him acclaim and the attention of the Madras Photographic Society. In June Tripe was sent to Burma, where he faced the challenge of the heat melting the wax on his negatives as well as prostrating his assistants. He returned to Madras, becoming its government's official photographer in December of 1857, but by mid-1859, funding ran out. Tripe's technique is summed up below, from the V&A news release for its exhibition, which runs through October 11, 2015. (See more about his technique here.)

Tripe's photographs are technically complex and he is known for his innovative precision with the camera, paying close attention to both his composition and its realisation when printing. To evoke atmospheric effects Tripe retouched most of his negatives by applying pigment in thin layers and included in the exhibition are a selection of waxed-paper negatives that reveal these working methods. Also on display will be a segment of a panoramic scroll showing the inscriptions around the base of the Great Pagoda temple in Tanjore. Composed of more than 20 prints assembled and mounted onto a long canvas scroll, it is now regarded as a considerable technical achievement, given the physical and climatic conditions of the time.

Linnaeus Tripe. Madura, India: The Great Pagoda Jewels, January–February 1858. These jewels would have been used to adorn statuary on festive occasions. Click to enlarge. (Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art, courtesy Victoria & Albert Museum)

Linnaeus Tripe. Rangoon: Near view of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, November 1855. (Collection of National Gallery of Art, Washington, courtesy Victoria & Albert Museum)

Bejewelled Treasures: The Al Thani Collection

Last fall, the Al Thani Collection visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art; this fall it has a stop at the V&A, November 21, 2015 through March 28, 2016. Even if you saw it in New York, you'll want to catch it in London, because forty more objects are added to MoMA's previous sixty. The jewels come from the private collection of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani.

The Al Thani Collection. Pendant brooch set with diamonds and rubies, 2011. by Bhagat, Mumbai, India. (© Servette Overseas Limited, 2014. Photograph: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd)

The V&A exhibition is divided into sections titled The Treasury (late 16th to early 17th century Mughal creations featuring stones of size), The Court (commissioned pieces whose influence endures), Enamel (bringing enamel work out of the shadow of bejewelled pieces), The Age of Transition (Indian jewelry influenced by European designs), Modernity (ditto, but in reverse), and Contemporary Masters (a mash-up). Bhagat, a mash-up master (see above image) is interviewed in one of three films that were commissioned for this exhibition.

The Al Thani Collection. Ceremonial sword with jeweled gold hilt, ca. 1880–1900, Hyderabad, South India. (© Servette Overseas Limited, 2014. Photograph: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd)

The Al Thani Collection. Carved emerald bead, probably 18th century, Mughal Empire. (© Servette Overseas Limited, 2014. Photograph: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd)

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Road Show: Inspiring Beauty

Editor's Note: While the subject of this article does not deal with gemstones specifically, it does concern itself with the issue of African Americans' relationship with fashion in general and, by inference, with the larger world from which black people had been prohibited in the first half of the twentieth century—a legacy that lingers.

In 1946, nine years before he would become editor of The Nation magazine, Carey McWilliams shocked the likes of Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey by calling the city "the capitol [sic] of anti-semitism in the United States," in the pages of Common Ground, a periodical that had introduced the term ethnicity as a less-charged alternative to race. Indeed, the next year, even a member of the Mayor's Council on Human Rights—a realtor by trade—was found to have discriminated against Jews wanting to buy a home in the suburb of St. Louis Park. Ironically, that same suburb later would have a significant Jewish population, as depicted in Joel and Ethan Coen's feature film A Serious Man (2009).

The fact that Minnesota, as early as 1888, had enacted a ban on discrimination in public accommodations based on race or color did not keep restaurants—and even a summer camp for the blind—from barring African Americans in 1947. In 1951, black journalist Carl T. Rowan wrote a remarkable series of articles for the Minneapolis Tribune as he traveled the Jim Crow South, yet upon his return he would admit, "The fear of physical harm lessens" when crossing the Mason-Dixon line. "But the step across the boundary really is a barely discernible transition from flagrant displays of bigotry to the more subtle, surreptitious variety of prejudices." Despite this, and despite the fact that the non-white population of Minneapolis comprised less than two percent of its half a million inhabitants, the city had a vibrant African American community, with its own newspaper, the Minneapolis Spokesman, which gave voice to several engaging writers.

This, then, is part of the background to a traveling exhibition that just closed yesterday in St. Paul's Minnesota History Center, "Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair." (The show moves on to Detroit; Rochester, New York; Bellevue, Washington; and Washington D.C.) Begun in 1957, the fair leapt off the pages of Ebony magazine's existing fashion coverage when Jessie Dent, wife of Dillard University president Albert Dent, suggested the magazine put together a fashion benefit. As of 1976, according to Jet magazine, "the ultimate fashion show tours 154 cities in the U.S. with a dozen dazzling models laden with 200 of the most luxurious creations imaginable." Caption placards in the "Inspiring Beauty" exhibition state that the Fair traveled to more than 180 cities at its height, yet in the early years, the show's directors "faced discrimination from fashion designers, who feared clients' reactions to seeing exclusive designs on black bodies." According to Ebony publisher John H. Johnson, Fair organizers had to "beg, persuade, and threaten [for] the right to buy clothes."

Signs of the times. Fashion Fair program covers from 1967—"Fashion Rebellion"—and 1970—"The Liberated Look"—speak to events that were taking place off the runway. (Photocollage: David Hughes)

An exhibition news release credits the Fashion Fair with "ultimately help[ing] to redefine the concepts of beauty, style and empowerment for African Americans." The show's curator, Joy Bivins, said, "Fashion was always the draw but the opportunity that the show provided black women to see fantastic fashion on women who looked like them was equally important. On the Ebony Fashion Fair runway, black women were the beauty standard."

Christian Dior (France), evening ensemble. Haute couture, fall/winter 1968–69. Wool, plastic sequins, glass and plastic beads, metallic thread. Appeared in 'Fashion Freedom '68.' (Photo courtesy of Johnson Publishing Company, LLC)

In an accompanying video, produced by the Minnesota Historical Society, Lisa Tittle, of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, one of several Fair hosts, remarks, "There were so many models of color, of all sizes as well." Marvin Roger Anderson, a stagehand for early fairs, says, "The Ebony Fashion Fair represented a certain achievement status of the African American community; African Americans can put on this first-class show."

Todd Oldham (United States), evening dress. Special order, 1997. Silk/rayon satin blend, glass beads, plastic sequins, synthetic trim. Appeared in 'The Jazz Age of Fashions.' From the caption placard: "Dominated by the slender, fashion's runways hold little regard for real body types. After appeals from the Fashion Fair audience, [director Eunice Walker] Johnson began to include shapelier models. She custom ordered this stunning Oldham in a plus size. The shiny black beaded bodice and colorful floral embroidered skirt skillfully flatter a generous form." (Photo: David Hughes)

"Inspiring Beauty" presents nearly one hundred objects such as ensembles, accessories and archival photographs. Themes explored in the exhibition are vision, innovation and power. An accompanying catalog also is available.

L'Amour (United States), evening ensemble. Special order, 2001. Leather. Appeared in 'Changing Trends of Fashion.' (Photo courtesy of Johnson Publishing Company, LLC)

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Pala International News

Pala's Featured Stones: Pezzottaites from Madagascar

This month we feature not only one, but two world class pezzottaite pieces from Madagascar. This is a truly rare collectible gem that was only identified in 2003 by Dr. Federico Pezzotta in Madagascar at the Sakavalana Mine. A newcomer to the gem world with extremely intense and saturated colors unlike any other, it is one of nature's rare beauties. Pezzottaite is a cesium (Cs) rich member of the beryl group. Pezzottaite is in the trigonal crystal system, while beryl falls into the hexagonal system.

Pezzottaites from Madagascar: An 8.20-carat cabochon cat's eye measuring 12.8 x 12.5 mm and a 4.80-carat kite shape measuring 14.7 x 10.4 mm. Both are new to Pala's inventory. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

We just recently picked up the cat's eye pictured above at this summer's Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines show and Pala International's Bill Larson pulled the kite shape out of his personal collection to offer it on the market. Pezzottaite is often included in large sizes, and in the cat's eye those inclusions lined up well enough to create a nice chatoyancy. The faceted gem is huge for the species and represents some of the best color to be found. See more on pezzottaite at Gemdat.org.

Interested? Call or email us to inquire. [back to top]

Gems and Gemology News

GIA Laboratory Bangkok: Lights, Camera, Action

The GIA laboratory Bangkok has had a website makeover, bringing it in line with GIA's main site. In the course of the facelift, the lab has added content, including many streaming videos from its various field research trips. (The lab established a field gemology department in 2008, and we have pointed to its reports over the years.) The most recent posting, "On the Track of Africa Hidden Gems," weaves together footage from expeditions in 2012 and 2014 to Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. If you were interested in BBC's look at sapphire mining in Madagascar, which we pointed to last month, you'll enjoy "Sapphires from Ilakaka, Madagascar," also based on those two expeditions.

Via GIA laboratory Bangkok's field research page you have access to reports and streaming videos for nine countries in Africa and south Asia. Above, a page with the latest reports from all countries.

Written reports also abound. Two posted in June discuss ruby synthesis and spinel treatment: "An Analysis of Synthetic Ruby Overgrowth on Corundum" and "Cobalt Diffusion of Natural Spinel." And if you're visiting Bangkok, you can plan around periodic GIA Gemstone Gatherings; those in 2015 have included the film The Italian Jewellers, Jade Nomenclature by Shane McClure, Australian Sapphire by Terrence Coldham, and more. [back to top]

The Micro-World of Gems & Gemology:
A Delicious Blend of Science and Art

By Elise A. Skalwold

The Summer 2015 issue of Gems & Gemology is hot off the press and, simply put, from cover to cover, it is stunning. Since it became large format in 1981, the covers of each and every issue over the years have featured the breathtaking work of famous gem photographers, including nearly exclusively those of Harold and Erica Van Pelt who from 1981 to 2009 graced the covers of 93 issues; a fine tradition which has continued ever since with the work of others such as the celebrated photographer Robert Weldon of GIA.

The current issue marks the third time in the journal's history that the work of photomicrographers has taken its place in this prestigious lineup. More than three decades ago, master photomicrographer John I. Koivula—a pioneer of this specialized art form and of the science of inclusion study itself—had his image of a euhedral spessartine garnet crystal seemingly floating in a quartz universe featured on the cover of the Fall 1981 issue (above left), heralding one of his early articles on photomicrography within: "Photographing Inclusions."

Twenty-two years later, Koivula's phenomenal rendering of a Deer Creek fire agate's micro-features found its way onto the cover of the Spring 2003 issue (above right) containing his now classic article "Photomicrography for Gemologists." As some readers may already know: mineralogist, chemist, and gemologist John I. Koivula is the analytical microscopist at GIA and is a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. In addition to hundreds of articles and peer-reviewed scientific papers, Koivula is author of the book The MicroWorld of Diamonds and co-author of the three-volume set Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones, which features over 5,000 of his unique photomicrographs.

Mentored by Koivula himself, Nathan Renfro makes a grand debut with the third photomicroscopy cover (right): a splendid image of modified trigons on the surface of a Kelsey Lake diamond crystal. Geologist and gemologist Renfro is the analytical manager of the gem identification department and an analytical microscopist in the inclusion research department at GIA in Carlsbad, California.

Following Koivula's earlier publications, which in turn cover advances in techniques and instrumentation over those decades, in this issue Renfro contributes a masterful updated article entitled "Digital Photomicrography for Gemologists." Together with the '81 and '03 issues, this triad will become an enduring reference for professional and budding photomicrographers everywhere. Not only that, the techniques taught within all three will advance microscopy skills at all levels.

As one well-known gemologist/appraiser wrote to this author: "Thanks, Elise, for highlighting this fabulous article by Nathan Renfro, a protégé of John Koivula who, along with Edward J. Gübelin, is a top name in photomicrography of the internal world of gemstones. A study of this article alone is all that is needed to bootstrap one's self to a high level of competence and skill in this wonderfully rewarding, artistic and scientific field of endeavor. Nathan has covered it all, and nothing of significance has been omitted." (Michael D. Cowing, Owner, A. C. Associates)

Nathan Renfro’s photomicrography is no less beautiful nor less scientifically accurate than his great friend and colleague's, but neither does it mimic those of his mentor. Renfro's work is uniquely his own style, and just as Koivula's does, transcends simple recording of gemological features and finds its itself crossing specialties—arguably taking its place in high art itself as the following images from his portfolio attest:

Aquamarine Prism Faces: Using differential interference contrast, the prism faces of an aquamarine crystal show an interesting barrel-shape etch pattern. Photomicrograph by Nathan Renfro; field of view 0.25mm.

Crystal within Obsidian: Polarized light was used to reveal the twinned structure of this unidentified crystal in obsidian. Photomicrograph by Nathan Renfro; field of view 0.25mm.

Not stopping there, Nathan Renfro is Lead Editor of an all-new quarterly column along with John Koivula and this author as Contributing Editors: G&G Micro-World. The column features images, techniques and new findings contributed by various authors including those of its Editors. As G&G's Editor-in-Chief Duncan Pay writes in his editorial for this issue: "With this new regular feature, section editors Nathan Renfro, Elise Skalwold, and John Koivula aim to foster the wider appreciation of inclusions and to bolster practicing gemologists' observational skills by providing concise reports accompanied by stunning photomicrographs of specially chosen specimens. The authors invite gemologists to take a closer look at the astounding beauty and variety of inclusions in gems."

Growth features on the surface of a fluorite. Photomicrograph: John I. Koivula

The outpouring of positive feedback has been gratifying, including this from a retired lawyer enrolled in GIA's distance program: "Hello Elise, I am so engaged by the Micro-World article and photos in [the] G&G summer issue that I decided to subscribe to get the hard copy issues. While the online downloads are great, I am so impressed by these super cool images that I plan to put the issues out in my living room for guests to peruse. Table top worthy!" (Kimberly Arpaia, owner Arpaia Jewelry)

I am so thrilled by this comment especially. It speaks to the continued need and desire for hardcopy journals, as well as appreciation for an idea John I. Koivula proposed to me nearly two years ago which has finally come to fruition and a warm welcome under Nathan Renfro's leadership.

Elise A. Skalwold (Accredited Senior Gemologist, Contributing Editor G&G Micro-World and Consulting Gemological Curator Cornell University)

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Lydia Ainsworth's "Rock" Music

Labradorite has a relationship with "the past and future," singer-songwriter Lydia Ainsworth writes on her Instagram page.

Joan La Barbara is a giant in the world of avant-garde music. The "extended vocal techniques" for which she is famous have been featured in her own works as well as those by John Cage, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, and even The Living Theatre and Sesame Street. One of La Barbara's students at New York University, Lydia Ainsworth, might not have incorporated voice into her own compositions for film had it not been for La Barbara's encouragement in 2011. That vocal work eventually led to an invitation of Ainsworth to perform that same year at a party; problem is, she had no songs. No stranger to composition, of course, she wrote a couple, and they formed the heart of her 2014 debut pop collection, Right From Real.

Like singer-songwriter Björk, whom Ainsworth counts among her influences, two songs from her album have mineral references. In "Moonstone," she sings in 6/8 time of walking to "the city of jade," facing danger and moving through the dark toward light. The chorus is a recitation of thirty-two names of colored gemstones and minerals. "Malachite" has a single reference to that mineral: black "with veins of green." Its anachronistic chorus—inspired by Verdi's Requiem—announces the demise of the Internet. We're grateful the Net's not dead, since it provided us introduction to Lydia Ainsworth. [back to top]

Industry News

Mining Hazards

Two stories about mining in South America caught our eye recently…

Paraiba Plunder

London's Telegraph (and other sources) reported two months ago on a multi-million pound tourmaline mining operation in Paraíba, Brazil's São José da Batalha. Problem is, the mining was conducted illegally, with operators being arrested after a six-year investigation. Six out of eight suspects were nabbed, including a state deputy named João Henrique de Sousa, who was permitted to mine the Paraíba state's famous tourmaline, but who allegedly did not declare the mining output to the national department of mineral production.

Long gone. These Brazilian paraiba tourmalines were our featured stones for January 2012, but they have long since been snapped up. Blue green center oval, 2.8 carats, 9.22 x 7.8 x 5.57 mm, and the green teardrop pair, 2.51 carats, 7.5 x 6.3 x 4 mm. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

After being mined in Paraíba, the stones were moved one state north, to the city of Parelhas in Rio Grande do Norte. There they received licensing illegally before being moved south to the state of Minas Gerais for cutting. Using a network of offshore accounts, the operators sold the stones in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Houston and Las Vegas. Ten million pounds in assets were seized.

Colombia Collision

Meanwhile, in Colombia, the Washington Post reported on August 9 about that country's largest emerald mine, two years after it was bought out by Charles Burgess and his Houston-based Minería Texas Colombia, or MTC. Controlling interest was obtained from "emerald czar" Victor Carranza, who died in April 2013. Carranza was a peace-keeper, but without his protection MTC is seeing its shafts seized by locals.

See this profile of Victor Carranza produced by Al Jazeera in July 2012, prior to the death of the "emerald czar."

After reciting the recent history of emerald mining and Carranza's place in it (see our own story from 2012), the Post turns to Burgess, who was a newcomer, and who was married to a Colombian woman by the same archbishop who brokered Carranza's peace deal in 1990. Carranza seemed to think that the outmoded emerald mining could use a modern shot in the arm. Burgess, who had no experience, provided that remedy, but with those changes came resentment. Like the gleaners of Mogok ruby mines, local Colombians had been used to picking over mining waste, but that changed with new mining processing that leaves little left over except a residual resentment. The Post tells of mobs invading the mines. Obviously, a new peacekeeper is needed. [back to top]

Burma Bits

Jade Jottings

Jade dealers in Mandalay are complaining about a severe slump in sales. Myanmar Times on July 29 quoted traders as saying this was the worst market in years, that jade could not be sold at a profit. And the quality is no good as well. One dealer said he was selling at prices twenty-five percent less than in previous years.

This sentiment echoes that of traders exiting the most recent gemstone emporium, conducted earlier this summer, as reported by Nikkei Asian Review. Jade sales at the emporium were down sixty percent compared with last year. The article blamed two factors: imposition of austerity measures in China that dampen enthusiasm for luxury goods and the seemingly eternal warfare in jade-producing Kachin state.

On the other hand, the pearl emporium, held in conjunction with the gems sale, saw its most successful result in years, according to another July 29 story by Myanmar Times. Ninety-eight percent of the total offering was sold, at $3.3 million. One lot, offered at €7,000 went for four times that price—€30,000. Other lots did nearly as well.

Linnaeus Tripe. Amerapoora: Colossal statue of Gautama, close to the north end of the wooden bridge, September 1–October 21, 1855. From the exhibition of Tripe's work at the Victoria & Albert Museum, above. (Collection of Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro, courtesy V&A)

Bite-Sized Bits

Myanmar Times: Mogok residents to receive ruby mining licences
Myanmar Times: Minister of Industry U Aung Thaung, who used his family's influence to benefit from jade, dies at age 74
Myanmar Times: Hilton to partner in complex that will include gems mall

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— End August Newsletter • Published 8/17/15 —

July 2015 Newsletter

Loving middle age. Last month, Pala International celebrated 46 years in the business. Above, a vintage advertisement from the 1980s. (Click to enlarge)

Passing…

Photographer Tino Hammid Dies at 63

Shows and Events

Pala at JA New York Summer Show: July 26–28, 2015
First International Emerald Symposium: October 13–15, 2015
Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum
Rock Bands at the Met
Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty in Denver

Pala International News

Pala's Featured Stone

Gems and Gemology News

GSA 2015 Call for Abstracts: Gemological Research in the 21st Century
Diamond News

Passing…

Photographer Tino Hammid Dies at 63

And what more could I possibly ask as an artist than that your most precious visions, however rare, assume, sometimes, the forms of my images?

— Maya Deren

Noted gemstone photographer Tino Hammid died July 11 after nearly two years of struggle against colon cancer. Tino leaves behind his wife Petra, young twins Antonia and Tobias, and adult daughter Evelyn. Prior to his death, Tino's family sold their Los Angeles home, buying one in New Jersey so he and his children could visit his upstate New York farm house, according to his GoFundMe page. No public funeral will be held in Los Angeles; a private memorial at their New Jersey home will be held later. Petra plans to mount an exhibition of Tino's work in the next year.

Tino Hammid was the son of filmmaker Alexander Hammid (1907–2004; see obituary), who collaborated with his wife, the polymath Maya Deren, on the classic experimental film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), two decades later winning an Academy Award for To Be Alive! (1964, shown on three screens at the New York World's Fair). Tino's mother, Hella Heyman Hammid (1921–1992; see bio), collaborated with both Hammid and Deren as cinematographer and actress before marrying Alexander in 1948 following his divorce. Hella (daughter of artist Lette Valeska) had a career as a still photographer, being included in the 1955 MOMA exhibition The Family of Man and the 1967 World's Fair exhibition The Camera as Witness.

Tino Hammid himself was prone to experimentation, as revealed by a 1995 profile by fellow photographer Robert Weldon, who wrote that Hammid, "who has been photographing gems and jewelry for 15 years, is branching out: he has flung himself into the mysterious world of 'virtual reality'" via Apple's Macintosh computer. Hammid was manipulating his own images using a 3-D rendering application, having begun his exploration in the fall of 1991. On Monday, Weldon and others recalled the photographer's artistry in JCK, with longtime collaborator David Federman calling Hammid "the Richard Avedon of gem photography." Gemologist and author Richard W. Hughes posted his own tribute to his friend on Facebook.

Pala International president Bill Larson remarked on Hammid's passing, "Tino was a good friend to Pala. All of us. We were often honored when he would select and photograph a gem [of ours] for his books."

Even after his cancer diagnosis, Tino Hammid somehow found the stamina to work and work. In July of last year, Tino told me he had contributed many new photographs to the second edition of The Handbook of Gemmology. We leave you with one such image.

From page 553 of The Handbook of Gemmology. This wonderful 39-carat fancy-cut gem sphalerite was sold to Pala International's Bill Larson at last year's AGTA GemFair in Tucson by Tino Hammid, whose hundreds of photographs are featured in the book.

Editor's Note: The above was written without the benefit of fact-checking; any corrections are welcome. —David Hughes

Shows and Events

Pala at JA New York Summer Show: July 26–28, 2015

Pala International heads to the East Coast later this summer for the trade-only JA New York Summer Show. Stop by to see one of America's largest selections of fine colored gems.

See this list of seminars to be held at the show.

When: July 26–July 28, 2015
Where: Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Hours: AGTA Gemstone Section
   Sunday, July 26: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
   Monday, July 27: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
   Tuesday, July 28: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Pala International will be represented by Gabrièl Mattice, Jason Stephenson, Carl Larson, and Alison Collins. They are excited to travel to the East Coast to visit Pala's friends and customers in New York City.

Pala International is in booth 2573. See the JANY website for more information. Visit the Pala International Show Schedule for future events. [back to top]

First International Emerald Symposium: October 13–15, 2015

Details are forthcoming regarding this symposium, sponsored by Fedesmeraldas, the Federación Nacional de Esmeraldas de Colombia. It will be held in Bogotá at the Sheraton Bogotá Hotel. Visitors to the symposium website can sign up for more information.

Click to enlarge (a little bit…)

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Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild by Hay (not identified), Vanity Fair, 15 June 1889.

Last month, the redisplay of a sumptuous collection opened at the British Museum in London. Known as the Waddesdon Bequest, the collection was bequeathed to the museum in 1898, the year of his death, by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, who was a banker, a Member of Parliament and, of course, a collector of art. Born in Paris in 1839 and raised in Vienna, Baron Rothschild eventually became a British citizen. He built Waddesdon Manor, named after the village in Buckinghamshire, to display his collection. In celebration of the redisplay in London, the manor features a special exhibition, "Treasures from the Smoking Room" through October 25. This exhibition looks at the Baron's choice to decorate the Bachelors' Wing in the style of the Renaissance, mirroring much of the contents of the collection.

While several highlights of the Bequest will delight the gemstone enthusiast, let's begin with a masterpiece crafted only in silver. The "Cellini" Bell is from the mid-16th century. Its surface is encrusted with intricate objects and animals both natural and fanciful: berries and leaves; plaited rope; escutcheons bearing pods; scallop shells; land snails; chameleons and other lizards; leonine visages bearing branches; Pan-like grotesques. All of this is overseen, in the form of a loop handle, by a matriarch, Charity, with babes in arms. According to the museum, "The insects, animals and plants on this bell were cast from life." The bell originally was attributed to Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571), the Italian goldsmith and polymath. But Sir Hugh Tait, in his multi-volume catalog of the collection, credits Wenzel Jamnitzer (1507–1585), who worked in Nuremburg. The bell was owned by Horace Walpole (1717–1797), who bragged,

I have changed all my Roman medals of great brass, some of which were very fine […] for the uniquest thing in the world, a silver bell for an inkstand made by Benvenuto Cellini. It makes one believe all the extravagant encomiums he bestows on himself; indeed so does his Perseus [Cellini's masterpiece, compared with Michelangelo's David]. Well, my bell is in the finest taste, and is swarmed by caterpillars, lizards, grasshoppers, flies, and masques, that you would take it for one of the plagues of Egypt. They are all in altissimo, nay in outissimo relievo and yet almost invisible but with a glass. Such foliage, such fruitage! In short, it is fit to keep company with your eagle and my Caligula—can one say more!” [As cited by the British Museum]

"Cellini" Bell. Silver, mid 1500s. Height 13.3 cm, diameter at rim 9.7 cm. The Waddesdon Bequest. It is thought that the loop in the handle originally held an inset of some sort, such as found in a similar bell by the actual creator, Wenzel Jamnitzer. (Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum)

If the collection has a centerpiece, it could be the Holy Thorn Reliquary, which actually dates from the late Medieval, in the 1390s, but one would be hard-pressed to locate it in the style of that period. (There is nothing stiff or awkward about the figures, as in so much Medieval art.) It is thought to have been created in Paris for Jean, Duke of Berry, whose arms are displayed in panels on the fortress base. The reliquary contains a Thorn supposedly from the "crown" that features in the Christian Passion. And it is front-and-center, seen through a rock-crystal window, mounted vertically on a cabochon sapphire that, by my calculation, measures more than a centimeter in length. Behind, Christ is seated on an orb (the world), displaying each of his five wounds. His Mother and St. John kneel at each side. Above, angels at each side hold the implements of his torture, the spear and the nails; together they hold the crown of thorns aloft. The reliquary's frame is lavishly decorated with alternating rubies and pearls, behind which sit busts of each of the twelve Apostles. God the Father overlooks it all, framed by a starburst accented by rubies, pearls and single sapphire. Below, atop the fortress turrets, angels herald the resurrection of the dead, who escape the confines of their caskets. Above their heads, inscribed on a scroll: Ista est una spinea corone Domini nostri ihesu xpisti (This is a thorn from the Crown of Our Lord Jesus Christ).

The Holy Thorn Reliquary. Gold, enameled, with sapphires, rubies and pearls, 1390s. Made to display a Thorn, supposedly from the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ at his Crucifixion. Height 30.5 cm, width 15 cm, depth 7 cm. Click to enlarge. The Waddesdon Bequest. (Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum)

The Lyte Jewel is a portrait of King James I, painted in about 1610 by Nicholas Hilliard (1537–1619). At the time of its painting, James would have been entering middle age, so the portrait appears to depict the monarch as a younger man. The jewel was presented by the king to Thomas Lyte (1568–1638), an academic and genealogist from Lytescary in Somerset, who laid out James's lineage. It is a pendant fashioned from gold and set with twenty-five table diamonds. When open, as in the view below, colorful enamel work is revealed; when closed, the curtain is decorated by eight diamonds attached to the initial R (Rex) and five more designed as florets linked by enameled bines. James I can be remembered for: having posited the divine right of kings, having presided over the union of Scotland and England, having commissioned what is known as the Authorized Version of the Bible, and, like Horace Walpole, having little to do with members of the opposite gender.

The Lyte Jewel. Enameled gold set with diamonds, 1610. The locket contains a portrait by Nicholas Hilliard of James VI and I of Scotland and England. The Waddesdon Bequest. (Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum)

The Hippocamp Pendant depicts a plumed Native American riding a seahorse that's adorned, appropriately, with Colombian emeralds and flecked with transparent chartreuse enamel. In terms of provenance, the British Museum is all over the map, literally. Its origin is given as Spain, late 16th century, and "it is tempting to surmise that this remarkable jewel had been brought to Paris following Napoleon's victorious occupation of Spain (1808–12)." Yet it could be "German, c. 1575." Presenting yet another option, the Museum's Waddesdon Bequest home page states, "It was probably made in Paris in the early 19th century, but is modelled on jewels made in the 16th century that were intended to show off massive deep-green emeralds from Colombian mines in the New World." Regardless, visitors to this collection will enjoy taking a 360-degree view of this lovely jewel. And the pendant is the cover star for a 352-page book about the Bequest, A Rothschild Renaissance, featuring 300 images of the collection's highlights.

Hippocamp Pendant. Enameled gold, emeralds and pearls. Height 7.3 cm, width 6.4 cm, depth 2.4cm. The Waddesdon Bequest. (Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum)

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Rock Bands at the Met

Through October 18, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art presents Treasures and Talismans: Rings from the Griffin Collection, at The Cloisters, the Met's adjunct devoted to Medieval art and architecture. The collection is not named for a family, but rather for the fabulous creature pictured in the tapestry at right (c. 1450, Basel). The griffin is a guardian of treasure. Paradoxically, "In Christianity it depicts evil as the Devil flying away with souls, also those who persecute Christians," writes J. C. Cooper in An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols (1978). Yet, "Later, with Dante, it became the two natures of Christ and the role of the Pope as spiritual and temporal power." Both the spiritual and temporal are conveyed in The Cloisters' remodeled Glass Gallery, which has replaced opaque, bulky display cases with the gallery's namesake—freestanding glass cases that allow natural light from the Gothic windows to illuminate the rings and other objects on view. (And the glass is recycled—from a 2013 exhibition at the Met's main building.)

Treasures and Talismans was described by the Wall Street Journal as "a compact but beguiling exhibition," and the following couple of lines from curator C. Griffith Mann sum up the show nicely. The Griffin Collection, which is on long-term loan to the Met,

soon became the spine of an exhibition concept that not only considered rings as a special form of bodily adornment, but also explored the broader themes of goldsmiths' work and the connection between rings and their wearers in the ancient through Renaissance periods. The more than two dozen rings selected for installation were chosen with an emphasis on quality, rarity, and their relationship to other works of art in the Metropolitan's collection.

Several of the Met's departments have contributed to Treasures and Talismans, which focuses on Classical, Medieval and Renaissance objects and artwork. Brief videos demonstrate the craft employed in creating the rings. The intersections of "religion, superstition, love, marriage, and identity"—in the context of finger rings—also are explored.

As explained by Jeffrey Spier, the Getty Museum's senior curator of antiquities, rings in antiquity actually had their critics. [1] Roman author Pliny the Elder (25–79 C.E.) wrote that the wearing of rings, and jewelry in general, was a sign of Rome's corruption and decline. During the early years of the republic (5th and 4th centuries B.C.E.) only diplomats donned gold rings, and only while on their missions abroad. But the conquest of Greece and the birth of the Empire gave Rome's citizens a taste for luxury goods. Even if no jewels had survived the ages, we have the many mummy portraits from Roman Egypt that depict the departed draped in jewels. [2]

The subject of this mummy portrait (110–120 C.E.) was named "The Jewellery Girl" by Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, who excavated the portrait at the archaeological site of Hawara in Egypt's Fayum Basin, southwest of Cairo (Walker 2000, 52). In her coiffure, the sitter wears a hairpin of pearls and garnets. The topmost necklace matches the hair ornament, but includes other stones that may be aquamarines or sapphires. Below that, a necklace and plaited chain both feature emeralds.

The "key ring" below embodies several aspects of jewelry discussed by Spier. As time passed, styles changed, with innovations cropping up in the late 2nd and 3rd centuries, including openwork as well as key rings. Originally crafted in bronze with functioning, unlocking appendages, gold and silver key rings largely were symbolic, signifying that the wealthy wearer had something at home worth protecting. The stone in this ring is "nicolo,"which almost certainly was the product of treatment applied to improve a natural sardonyx or create a "sardonyx" layer on common chalcedony. Characteristically, it is a near-black substrate overlaid with a white or bluish white layer, often engraved, sometimes unengraved, and popularized in Roman glyptic (engraving) beginning about the mid-1st century B.C.E. but also popular later, in Byzantine and Christian glyptic (5th–7th century C.E.). This intaglio depicts winged Victoria (Victory) carrying a laurel wreath and a palm branch (?). The inscription around the ring's band, per Spier, reads: M[ULIER] SUI P[UBLII] MARCI DAPENI HOMONOEA ("Homonoea, wife of Publius Marcus Dapienus").

Late Roman Key Ring "Homonoea," Roman Empire, late 3rd- to early 4th- century. Gold and nicolo. Griffin Collection. Bezel 13 x 18 x 2 mm. (Photo: Richard Goodbody)

We know that the couple depicted on the marriage ring below was of elevated status due to their garb, as described by Spier: the man, left, wears a fibula, a decorative fastener of clothing; the woman is adorned with pendilia, the sort of ornamental pendants that might be seen dangling from the crowns of Byzantine monarchs on coins. The inscription below the couple reads OMONOIA ("concord"); Concordia is the Roman goddess representing harmony in marriage and in society. Eventually, as Spier tells us, Concordia would be replaced by Christ, who would join the two in what had become a sacrament of the Church.

Gold Marriage Ring, Byzantine, 6th–7th century. Griffin Collection. Bezel 9.7 x 9.1 mm. (Photo: Richard Goodbody)

The image of the aquamarine ring below does not show off the breadth of its lovely design (we were unable to obtain permission to reprint other images by e-press time). Trapezoidal panels of the center bezel, framed by jutting corner prongs, lift the stone from the band, each of the panels featuring a single, conical gadroon, themselves mirrored by the conical bezels of pearls at left and right. (The pearls can be seen peeking from behind these forms.) The design is further enhanced by granulated gold accents.

Byzantine Gemstone Ring. Byzantium, Constantinople, 12th-13th century. Gold, aquamarine, and pearls. Bezel 23.5 x 19mm. Griffin Collection. (Photo: Richard Goodbody)

Three gallery talks are offered at The Cloisters next month: "The Industry of Art Production in the Middle Ages" (twice on August 8) and "A Goldsmith in His Shop: A Close Look" (August 15).

References

1. Spier, Jeffrey. Byzantium and the West: Jewelry in the First Millennium. London: Paul Holberton, 2012. All references to Spier come from this volume. I am indebted to Lisbet Thoresen for bringing this text to my attention.

2. Walker, Susan (ed.). Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. New York: Metropolitan Museum of New York and Routledge, 2000.

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Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty in Denver

Beginning September 18, Denver residents and visitors can take in a retrospective by visual artist Marilyn Minter, whose imagery beckons the viewer: stop, look and listen. There is a surface sheen that grabs the eye, a double-take that averts, and a perusal that yearns to behold beauty, if that be possible. It is embodied in the multiple meanings of the exhibition's title, Pretty/Dirty.

For instance, the earliest images, when Minter was 21, are from a series of black and white photos titled Coral Ridge Towers (1969), named after a Fort Lauderdale residential high rise complex. Depicted is Minter's mother, primped on pills with liver spots, reflected in a gilt mirror clad in dressing gown and comely wig, getting ready, but never ready enough. It's as if Minter glimpsed behind the scenes of a society fraying at the edges. In the series Big Girls, Little Girls (1986–87), Minter portrays young girls on canvas, this time reflected with social distortion—in fun-house mirrors—ever with their eye self-consciously on their form. Also in that series, a girl is juxtaposed with one of the most famous "big girls"—Jane Mansfield.

We can't help but be reminded of the fact that it is a woman, and a feminist, who has created these works of art, which comment on Woman's Day (and night). Variations of the word critical appear nine times in the exhibition's news release. Minter's explorations into the realm of skin and sex in the early '90s earned her the label of "traitor" from many feminists. Yet this alienation from the majority provided introduction to a minority of women artists, filmmakers and journalists who met to engage in discussions of, well, critical theory. Since the 2000s, Minter's oeuvre has employed elements of popular culture as well as haute couture. Last year, in an interview with HuffPost cultural critic Malcolm Harris, she said that one advantage of becoming more recognized is being able to borrow various accouterments directly from designers (although the state in which they are returned might pose a question). In the 2007 monograph Marilyn Minter, the artist told painter/sculptor Mary Heilmann that fashion photography was her "biggest inspiration." But her images are like outtakes: freckles before makeup's masking, pimples and perspiration under the lights, goop and grime, lipstick on teeth. An iconic example is the painting Strut (2005), a bejeweled pump, complete with Christian Dior logo, topped by a well-traveled human heel ("It's only dirt," she told Heilmann), the skin at the ankle creased from flexion. While a common sight in our cityscapes, it was Minter who chose to compress it into a painting eight feet tall. In this regard she can be seen as a pop populist.

The three examples of Minter's work below are from the triad of her elected media: painting, video and photography. If her paintings—executed in enamel on metal—appear to be replications of her photographs, Minter explains in the above monograph that this is not the case, and that the up-close nature of the focus of the paintings renders them, instead, abstract—the opposite of the stance taken by the "original photorealists." Thus she refers to herself as a "photo-replacer."

For those who wish to dig deeper, a new monograph accompanies the retrospective, and includes a lengthy interview of Minter by critic and novelist Linda Yablonsky as well as texts by artist K8 Hardy, musician/writer Richard Hell, and poet/writer Eileen Myles, among others.

Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty will be on view September 18 through January 2016 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, which co-organized the exhibition with Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. The retrospective travels to Newport Beach, Brooklyn and Kansas City.

Marilyn Minter, Torrent, 2013. Enamel on metal, 96 x 60 inches. Private collection, Palm Beach, FL.

Marilyn Minter, Still from Smash, 2014. HD digital video, 7:55 minutes. Courtesy the artist, Salon 94, New York, and Regen Projects, Los Angeles. See a teaser for the video.

Marilyn Minter, Vampire, 2004. C-print, 86 x 60 inches. Courtesy the artist, Salon 94, New York, and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.

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Pala International News

Pala's Featured Stone: Yellow Sapphire from Sri Lanka

This month we feature a stunning yellow sapphire from Sri Lanka. This intense 6.40-carat sapphire exhibits the best qualities of yellows from this dominant source of fancy colors. Fine yellow sapphire can range from pastel yellow to intense golden varieties with a stronger orange component. Demand for yellow, purple, green, white, and many variations of sapphire hues has increased as curiosity beyond the standard blue and red (ruby) varietals has surged. With so many unique colors of sapphire to explore, the market has been growing and appreciating. Our yellow sapphire is featured below with a golden mountain lily flower, which was recently plucked from above the Mountain Lily mine here in San Diego County, where Pala International is currently mining.

Not a mellow yellow. The 6.40-carat yellow sapphire from Sri Lanka rests next to a mountain lily taken from the hills of Pala International's Mountain Lily Mine. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

Interested? Call or email us to inquire. [back to top]

Gems and Gemology News

GSA 2015 Call for Abstracts: Gemological Research in the 21st Century

Once again this fall, The Geological Society of America (GSA) includes a major session devoted to gemology, under the sponsorship of GIA (Gemological Institute of America). Abstracts are being accepted for this session and must be submitted by 11:59 p.m., Pacific Time, 11 August 2015. The session title is "T131. Gemological Research in the 21st Century: Exploration, Geology, and Characterization of Diamonds and other Gem Minerals" (see full list here). GSA 2015 will be held November 1–4 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The session's conveners are Dona Dirlam, Jim Shigley, and Wuyi Wang of GIA, with distinguished advocates Lee Groat, Thomas Stachel, Barb Dutrow, Howard Coopersmith, Nancy McMillan, and Skip Simmons. Posters and oral presentations are being solicited.

As Cornell University's Elise Skalwold wrote in our pages at the conclusion of her report on the 2013 session:

While not the first time that individual gem and gemology related topics have been presented at the GSA—notably such papers as Annibale Mottana's 2006 "Italian gemology during the Renaissance: A step toward modern mineralogy" (see abstract)—2013 marks the first time a session exclusively devoted to the science of gemology has been officially part of the GSA meeting. This is an auspicious and historic event in its own right within the larger context of the GSA's history and statement of purpose. Future such participation in this and other mainstream geo-science conferences could lead to wider formal acceptance of gemology as a science unto to its own, with all the advantages of such status, including the conferring of academic degrees and awarding of funding for gemological research, all of which will benefit the gem industry. In any event, more people will come to recognize the value of gem materials and related topics to a variety of academic and pedagogical pursuits.

Now that GSA's arms are open, we encourage the gemological community to embrace this opportunity. [back to top]

Diamond News

Pig Pen Yields Diamond Porker

Bobbie Oskarson of Longmont, Colorado was rummaging around what is affectionately known as the Pig Pen area of Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds State Park on June 24, searching for what the park is famous for: diamonds. In a news release, Park Interpreter Waymon Cox said, "Ms. Oskarson and her boyfriend Travis Dillon saw the Crater of Diamonds State Park on an Arkansas highway map while in the nearby town of Hot Springs and decided to visit the park. And what a lucky first visit it was for her!"

Oskarson had it made in the shade, so to speak, having taken shelter from the sun near some trees. After only twenty minutes of digging in the Pen (so named for its muddy condition after rainfall), she found an 8.25-carat colorless diamond. Oskarson has named her find the Esperanza Diamond, after her niece, and has no plans to sell it. Interpreter Cox described the stone as "about three-quarters of an inch long and as big around as a standard No. 2 pencil."

The park, which tracks such things, said the Esperanza is the seventh largest diamond to have been found in the area, two of those being unearthed prior to the state park's formation.

Making the Grade (a bit too high)

JCK news director Rob Bates reported on July 1 about industry efforts to halt the practice of over-grading diamonds. "Sell a bad cert, you might get hurt," he wrote, following the adoption of a one-page grading agreement at this year's biennial Presidents' Meeting of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), held last month in Tel Aviv. The agreement also was endorsed by the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO). Two key bullet points in the document read:

Within current industry expertise, the industry-accepted standards and nomenclature based on master color sets (D-Z scale) of the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and the IDC (International Diamond Council), the development of new technology and present code of best practices, the WFDB, CIBJO and IDMA stipulate that the color grading of a diamond more than one grade from a broadly accepted industry benchmark, is unacceptable.
In the event of a complaint, or a challenge to a report brought before the authorised body of a Bourse (including mediation or arbitration), the authorised body will determine the broadly accepted industry benchmark (GIA and IDC standards). In addition, the authorised body will submit the diamond to a leading, respected laboratory or to three (3) recognised expert gemologists or diamantaires, qualified to provide a report on any diamond in question in terms of which it shall determine whether the color grading exceeded accepted industry benchmark (GIA and IDC standards) by more than one grade.

Bates points out that the agreement is mute on the issue of clarity. In his July 6 follow-up, Bates was cautiously optimistic that the agreement will have teeth in the industry, but he also bemoaned the absence of a universal, consumer-friendly diamond grading scale.

Making the Grade (really high)

About a month before the Presidents' Meeting, GIA announced an oddity discovered at its laboratory in the Tel Aviv area. "GIA reasonably suspects that approximately 500 colorless to near colorless diamonds submitted primarily to our laboratory in Israel potentially were subjected to an undisclosed temporary treatment," reads a May 12 lab alert. GIA believes that the treatment could lead to an erroneous elevation of as many as three grades by temporarily masking the "inherent color" of a diamond. The lab alert lists reports numbers for stones that are suspected of having involved this treatment.

Shortage? What Shortage?

One of the issues discussed at the Presidents' Meeting in June was profitability. As Israel Diamond Exchange president Shmuel Schnitzer said, "We touched on the very serious issues confronting the industry. The most crucial part is lack of profitability. No business can last in such circumstances. We mentioned this to the diamond producers to see what they and we can do to improve the situation."

A July 3 Bloomberg article discusses the issues of supply, demand, and pricing. Titled "The Missing Diamond Shortage," it addresses the fact that aging sources, and lack of new ones. have not had a lasting effect on pricing. [back to top]

Industry News

Seeking to Influence: Action and Ethics

JAPAC

Did you know that the jewelry industry has its own political action committee? Trade organization Jewelers of America has set up JAPAC and, according to its website, has held annual face-to-face meetings with legislators in the nation's capitol, and over the last two election cycles has supported 75 Congresspersons. A June 23 news release details this summer's annual fly-in to D.C., which took place on June 17. Issues dear to dealers included: "e-fairness," or the sales tax disparity between online and brick-and-mortar jewelers; repeal of the accounting method known as LIFO (last-in, first-out, discussed here); and extension of 15-year leasehold improvements depreciation (versus the current 39 years).

AGTA Ethics

In 1983, two years after its inception, AGTA crafted the first iteration of its Code of Ethics and Fair Business Practices. Last week the gemstone industry group released a revision of the Code, which each member must endorse annually in order to remain in good standing. In brief, by signing the Code, the member pledges to:

Have the knowledge of and to inform their customers of all treatments, natural origin and all areas necessary for legal compliance and to allow the purchaser to make informed choices
Operate in full compliance with all laws, local, state and federal, and to comply with Federal Trade Commission and other applicable industry guidelines and standards
Operate in full compliance with the laws of the countries from which we import and distribute, including those laws relating to labor and environmental protection
Shall not support nor participate in any activities that are illegal or in support of terrorism, smuggling or theft

The full text of the Code of Ethics is available here. [back to top]

BBC: Sapphire Mining in Madagascar

Blue buy, you? Natural blue emerald-cut sapphire, 1.43 carats, from Madagascar. Inventory #22471. (Photo: Mia Dixon)

On the United States of America's Independence Day, citizens browsing the news of the Old Country via BBC came across a brief pictorial look at sapphire mining in Ilakaka, Madagascar. Sapphire was discovered in the area in 1998, turning a rural village into a boom town of tens of thousands.

BBC's reportage begins in the river, with workers sifting sediment through sieves. Then to the mines, which fill with gas that must be flushed out using a manual bellows crafted from plastic sheeting. Even so, miners can only stand the atmosphere for thirty minutes at a time.

Dealer Faranirina Tandu, pictured examining a yellow stone, told BBC that the quantity of the most valuable stones has diminished over the last ten years. Declining output and the risk of disability or death has not deterred the hopeful, who continue to take the plunge, either into the river or into the pit.

Madagascar has multiple gemstone-producing localities. Above, a large blue sapphire seen in Didy, from our December 2012 newsletter item "Giddy in Didy – Part Two." (Photo by Vincent Pardieu. © GIA)

For an in-depth examination of mining in Ilakaka, see Vincent Pardieu's "Update on Sapphire Mining in Ilakaka-Sakaraha, Madagascar," published two years ago by GIA. [back to top]