• Industry Analysis: Thai Business Normal as Leaders Seek End to Crisis
  
• 2009 GRC Announces Keynote Speakers and Call for Abstracts
• One Week and Counting to Carlsbad Career Fair, Open House
• GemFest Hong Kong 2008 to Focus on Country-of-Origin Research
• GIA India Names New Director of Education
• Two Rare Gem Specimens Added to GIA Museum Collection
• From Gems & Gemology: Composite of Coral and Plastic
• GIA Lab Classes -- Participate. Practice. Perform.
  

Industry Analysis: Thai Business Normal as Leaders Seek End to Crisis

Thailand's capital of Bangkok has calmed since Monday's violent demonstrations. Business leaders have called on the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and dissident groups to engage in talks to prevent a recurrence.

The protests occurred several miles from the city's business district and had "zero" effect on the gem trade, GIA's operations, "or any other business," said Ken Scarratt, managing director, South East Asia, and director, GIA Laboratory, Bangkok.

Gem dealers also reported that business was running normally with no disruptions. Somchai Phornchindarak, the CEO of the Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair, said,  "The show venue is far away from any of the civil protests held earlier this week and all popular tourist locations, hotels throughout the city, as well as the gem and jewelry district itself, are unaffected,"
 
The government imposed a state of emergency until Nov. 30, effectively banning rallies and demonstrations and imposing limited martial law. Santi Vilassakdanont, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), appealed to the government to lift the emergency decree, saying it would drive away business by conveying a negative impression about the situation.

"The longer the state of emergency remained in place, the more the country would face economic losses, especially investors' confidence, which would be difficult to bring back," he told the Bangkok Post.

The crisis began when dissident groups, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy, began staging demonstrations demanding the prime minister's resignation following allegations of corruption and election fraud. 

DIAMONDS: The De Beers Diamond Trading Company announced that it will provide additional advertising funds to help boost anticipated weak holiday diamond sales in the U.S. Like many of De Beers' previous add-on advertising efforts, this one will focus on goods with the softest demand -- currently, smaller commercial qualities. But unlike previous add-on campaigns, sightholders and participating retailers -- not De Beers -- will be the ones promoting specific stores and collections. De Beers announced earlier this year that it is curtailing the generic "Diamonds Are Forever" advertisements, which have been the mainstay of diamond jewelry advertising for more than half a century, to concentrate on cooperative promotions.

RETAIL: Quarterly retail results reflect the continued slowdown in jewelry sales, and suggest that markets outside the U.S. are softening as well.

Zale Corp., which ended its fiscal year July 31, reported that its same-store sales rose 6% in the final quarter, but that margins were down in the wake of aggressive inventory clearance programs that moved $127 million of surplus merchandise. The result was a $4.9 million loss compared to the final quarter of 2007. For the year, same-store sales fell 0.7% and the company reported a profit of $10.8 million, a decline of 82% from the previous year.

Zale said it plans to introduce new lines of fashion-oriented diamond jewelry for the Christmas season.

Tiffany & Co. reported a 2% decline in U.S. store sales -- while showing positive results internationally -- for the first half of fiscal 2008, which ended July 31. The company's worldwide earnings were $145.16 million during the first half, a 53% gain over the same period last year. The company cited aggressive expansion into Asian markets as the major contributor to its increased sales.

And Finlay Fine Jewelry, which purchased retailers Bailey Banks & Biddle and Carlyle & Co., reported a same-store sales decline of 4.6% and a loss of $23.3 million for the first half of the year.

Hong Kong is gearing up for the Sept. 15-21 Watch and Jewellery Show amid a slowdown in consumer spending in that part of the world. A Nielsen consumer confidence survey found the largest drop in two years because of inflation, a slowdown in the local property market and declines in the stock market. Retailers logged sharp declines in jewelry and other luxuries, as consumers reported they were cutting back on nonessential spending.

"We are seeing a shift in Hong Kong people's mindset where they are less confident than they have been about the state of their personal finances and are therefore likely to be more stringent in their discretionary spending choices in the next 12 months," said a press release from the Nielsen Company Hong Kong.

The rest of China, however, experienced a pre-Olympic boom in July. The nation's retail sales rose to RMB862.9 billion (US$125.6 billion), up 23.3% over the corresponding month last year. It was the country's highest monthly growth rate of the decade, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.

Gemstone dealers in China, however, reported that domestic gemstone sales declined 20% in the first four months of 2008 compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, Japan's leading retailers -- its large department stores -- recorded five months of declining sales. June sales fell 7.6%, while July's decline slowed to 2.5%. Luxury sales, however, were off 8.2% in July.

Russell Shor
Senior Industry Analyst

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Dr. George Rossman of Caltech will be the opening keynote speaker for the 2009 Gemological Research Conference. GIA file photo.

2009 GRC Announces Keynote Speakers and Call for Abstracts

GIA is pleased to announce the keynote speaker lineup for the second Gemological Research Conference (GRC), which will take place Aug. 21-23, 2009, in San Diego, California. Gemology's premier scientific event will feature keynote addresses from 16 internationally recognized speakers.

Opening Keynote

Track 1: Gemology

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Platinum, gold and jewels make up the "Balboa Park Carousel Egg," which weighs nearly 80 pounds and contains more than 4,000 parts, including detailed paintings and molded carousel animals. Photos by Kevin Schumacher.

One Week and Counting to Carlsbad Career Fair, Open House

It's not too late to make plans to attend the GIA Jewelry Career Fair and Open House at the Carlsbad, California, campus on Sept. 12. Career Fair, the gem and jewelry industry's premier recruiting event, attracts up to 1,000 job seekers and prominent jewelry companies looking for new employees.

GIA will also host its annual Open House, where visitors are invited to explore the historic and educational exhibits on display throughout the campus. They'll be the first to see the "Balboa Park Carousel Egg," a replica of an 1890s carousel that will be unveiled at Career Fair. The objet d'art, reminiscent of decorative eggs by Peter Carl Fabergé, sits atop a music box that plays songs from the era.

The "Balboa Park Carousel Egg" is the centerpiece of the Facets of GIA exhibit, which portrays the mission and history of the Institute and features more than 30 pieces of gems and jewelry. Classroom demonstrations will also take place throughout the day so visitors can learn more about gemology.

Career Fair will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with registration starting at 8 a.m. For more information, visit www.careerfair.gia.edu.

GIA holds two Career Fair events every year, in the summer in New York and in the fall in California. GIA's Jewelry Career Fair was founded by GIA and The Jewelers 24 Karat Club of Southern California. The prime sponsor for GIA's Carlsbad Career Fair is The Jewelers 24 Karat Club of Southern California. Also joining as a sponsor is the JCK Publishing Group.

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Dr. Jim Shigley. Photo by Melissa Jacobs/GIA.

Ken Scarratt. GIA file photo.

GemFest Hong Kong 2008 to Focus on Country-of-Origin Research

GIA will host GemFest Hong Kong 2008 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on Sept. 19.

Dr. Jim Shigley, the Institute's distinguished research fellow, will present "Adventures on the Gem Trail: How GIA Research Uncovers Country of Origin." Shigley will discuss the steps GIA researchers take to accurately identify the geologic and geographic sources of colored gemstones in the Institute's new country-of-origin reports. He'll review the types of gemological, chemical and spectral information that go into a determination of the geologic and geographic source of a gem corundum.

Shigley will also present the findings of a recent GIA staff trip to gem mines in Tanzania.

The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session featuring Shigley and Ken Scarratt, managing director, South East Asia and director, GIA Laboratory, Bangkok.

GemFest Hong Kong is a free event organized by the GIA Alumni Association. A continental breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m., followed by the presentation at 9 a.m.

Please RSVP at www.gia.edu/alumni or by e-mailing events@gia.edu by Sept. 12.

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Manoj Singhania. Photo courtesy of Manoj Singhania.

GIA India Names New Director of Education

Manoj Singhania, recently named GIA India's new director of education, says he will work with industry members and businesses in India to show them how the Institute can meet their needs for quality gem and jewelry education.

"The Indian market has a great appetite for quality education. With the growing number of professionals needed in the gem and jewelry industry here, the GIA course portfolio and teaching methodology is the right answer to cater to these requirements," Singhania said. "I have a firm belief that the GIA India Education team will be able to reach out to all aspirants in the next couple of years."

Singhania was an executive at Aptech Ltd., a leading information technology (IT) training and education conglomerate present in more than 20 countries -- including India, China and Vietnam -- before coming to GIA. He served in several roles during his 11 years at Aptech, including regional head for East and West India, country manager for Aptech Own Centers and brand head for N-Power. Singhania helped launch the N-Power brand, which marked Aptech's foray into high-growth hardware and networking training in 2007.

"We are pleased that education at GIA India will be led by Manoj," said Nirupa Bhatt, GIA's managing director of India and the Middle East. "He has successfully operated in a very competitive IT environment and understands education. His business acumen and ability to remain focused will take GIA Education to greater heights."

Singhania formerly owned his own manufacturing and marketing company and studied finance and marketing at business school in India. His focus areas include business directions and development, operations and channel management.

"It is a great feeling working with GIA, an institution with a legendary past that commands respect in the world of gemology," he said. "I will definitely put my best foot forward to live up to the expectations."

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This corundum specimen was donated by Israel and Oren Eliezri. It will be part of the GIA Museum's permanent collection. Photo by Robert Weldon.

This garnet, donated by Christopher Johnston, changes color when exposed to daylight (left) and incandescent light. Photo by Robert Weldon.

Two Rare Gem Specimens Added to GIA Museum Collection

The GIA Museum recently received two unusual donations: a corundum specimen from Madagascar and an andradite garnet from Namibia. The pieces, contributed by Israel and Oren Eliezri and Christopher L. Johnston, respectively, will become part of the Museum's collection.

"Our goal is to build a collection to educate the Institute's students and the public," says Kimberly Vagner, GIA's manager of in-kind gifts. "Beyond putting them on display, we often take unique pieces such as these to the classrooms for students to study."

Israel Eliezri describes the corundum specimen, found in southern Madagascar near Bekily, as "very rare," and says the size and shape of its crystals make it a museum piece. The specimen is in matrix and contains corundum crystals in many colors, some of them with well-defined terminations. "It is in fact a collection of fancy-colored sapphires and may even include a ruby crystal," he says.

"GIA is a very important center for knowledge, education and information about colored gemstones," says Eliezri, explaining why he chose the Institute to receive the specimen.

Johnston describes his donation, a 14 ct flawless andradite garnet, as "optically extraordinary" and "an exceptional specimen of the species." The garnet, which weighed 26.45 cts before it was re-cut and polished, was found in the Green Dragon Mine in Namibia's Namib Desert.

"I have made donations over the years to the [American] Museum of Natural History, to the Smithsonian, to Los Angeles County, to Houston and the British Museum," Johnston says. "In recent years, though, with the expansion of the GIA Museum and the arrival of [Curator] Terri Ottaway, it seems as though GIA may offer the best long-term repository for gem-related donations for study and viewing."

In-kind donations to the Institute include gemstones, mineral specimens, and jewelry, as well as books for the Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center -- anything that's not cash or of a financial nature, Vagner says.  If you're interested in making such a donation, contact Vagner at (760) 603-4150 or kimberly.vagner@gia.edu.

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Figure 1. Sponge coral, because of its porous nature, is often impregnated with plastic to strengthen it. Note the continuous pattern of plastic-filled cavities in this 54.88 ct piece. Photo by C.D. Mengason.

Figure 3. After it was soaked in methylene chloride to remove the plastic, the bead in figure 2 disintegrated into fragments. Photo by C.D. Mengason.

From Gems & Gemology: Composite of Coral and Plastic

Kimberly Rockwell of the GIA Laboratory in Carlsbad, California, submitted the following entry to the Gems & Gemology (G&G) Lab Notes section.

The GIA Laboratory in Carlsbad recently began to receive multiple beads of various sizes and shapes for identification. They initially appeared to be a plastic-impregnated variety of coral often referred to as "sponge coral" because of the numerous natural voids typical of this material. It is a common practice to fill these voids with plastic to strengthen the coral and make it more suitable for jewelry use (figure 1).

Close inspection of these beads, however, showed a lack of continuity in the pattern of round- to oval-shaped cavities that are characteristic of sponge coral. There were large areas that had no structure at all and were filled with numerous tiny irregular pieces of some other material (figure 2). It became clear that these samples were in fact a composite of fragments of sponge coral held together with an orange plastic that had been mixed with a ground-up material, probably coral or shell.

To confirm this identification, we soaked a single bead in a bath of methylene chloride for approximately 48 hours. This caused the plastic component to dissolve and the bead to disintegrate into its composite pieces (figure 3).

This is the first time we have encountered such an assemblage with coral, although a similar intent was evident in recent samples of ruby fragments held together with a high-lead-content glass. Therefore, we described the new material on the laboratory report in the same manner, calling it a "coral/plastic composite."

For more of the latest from the GIA Lab, read the Lab Notes section in every issue of G&G. To subscribe, click here or contact Circulation Coordinator Debbie Ortiz by calling toll-free (800) 421-7250, ext. 7142. From outside the U.S. and Canada, dial (760) 603-4000, ext. 7142.

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Students gain the practical experience needed to succeed in the jewelry industry in GIA's Lab classes. You can take a Lab class on its own, or as a part of your GIA diploma program. These classes also provide the perfect opportunity for trade professionals to refresh important gemological skills. Lab classes are offered at each of GIA's campus locations and in various cities throughout the world.

Please note: GIA Los Angeles classes are available only through Nov. 14. Enroll today to take advantage of taking classes there. Space is limited.

GIA Lab classes offered through October 2008 are:

Apply online, e-mail GIA Education or call (800) 421-7250, ext. 4001, for more information. Outside the U.S., call (760) 603-4001. For a complete Lab class schedule visit the Education section of the GIA Web site.

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