|
|
|
Colored Gemstone
Taking The Challenge
By Sheryl Jones
In August 2015, Gary Roskin became executive director of the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA). A Graduate Gemologist (GG) from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and a Fellow at the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA), he has over 40 years experience as a gemologist and journalist. He is also currently editor-in-chief and publisher of the online Roskin Gem News Report and adjunct instructor, jewelry design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Roskin recently sat down with Rapaport Magazine to discuss major issues affecting the gemstone industry and his agenda for ICA going forward.
Rapaport Magazine: What are some new initiatives that you plan to implement in your new position?
Gary Roskin: ICA is all about promoting colored gemstones. While my day-to-day job is to oversee all of the organization’s membership benefits, what you will soon see coming from the ICA office will be monthly or possibly biweekly news releases with regard to color trends, fashion and colored gemstones.
RM: What is the Common Disclosure Code (CDC) and what impact do you see it having on the industry?
GR: The Common Disclosure Code (CDC) assigns a letter code to indicate a specific treatment. The CDC includes codes used by CIBJO for international trade and American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) for trade in the U.S. The time is right to engrave our history even more deeply into the core of the gemstone sector by leading the global industry of gems and jewelry with proper disclosure by indicating CDC on every sales document produced. From now on, all sales invoices will not be completed with just the ICA logo, but must also exhibit the CDC indication. The gemstone business has always been built on trust. Disclosure of gemstone treatments and care requirements is a prerequisite for ethical business practices in the gemstone business. Using common disclosure codes is an essential part of that trust. Our members are charged with proper and full disclosure for every sale of gem materials. It all makes perfect sense if you think about it. You don’t want to make just one sale. You want to create a business relationship for future sales. Being honest and knowledgeable about your gemstones helps to seal a client relationship and instill friendship that makes for better business.
RM: What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the gemstone industry?
GS: The biggest challenge is always keeping up with treatments. Part of the solution to knowing whether or not your gemstone has been treated is the ability to trace your gem back to its source. When that’s not possible, you hope that the laboratories are up to date with the treatments that are out there and how to detect them. ICA members are always willing to help the major laboratories collect known natural gem materials for their database, which is used to help uncover treated gems.
RM: There has been a lot of discussion about color grading reports and country of origin on reports. What are your thoughts?
GR: I wish it were easy for the gemological labs to identify color origin — natural versus treated — and country of origin or geographic locality, but it’s not. Some gemstones do not give us enough information to make those determinations. Knowing whether or not a gemstone’s color has been enhanced is extremely important for certain gem materials — diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire — and not so much for others — quartzes, including citrine and agate, for example. However, it is becoming more important to know whether or not a tanzanite has been heated. It used to be assumed that almost all tanzanites were heated to improve color, but now there are tanzanites that come out of the ground ready to be cut and polished. These gems are highly prized by collectors, and so a laboratory report is necessary for the color origin determination. There are many treatment processes that mimic Mother Nature and the labs are having difficulty determining whether the color was produced naturally or in some laboratory. Traceability helps to remove this question.
Country of origin is an interesting question. Whereas color affects beauty, knowing from what country a gemstone was found does not. We are now talking about a gemstone’s legacy, a gemstone’s lineage. Should this affect a gemstone’s value? What we are looking for is a gemstone that has the historical lineage along with the beauty that locality represents. We want a Kashmir sapphire that looks like a Kashmir sapphire of fame. We want a Burmese ruby that has the classic Burmese beauty that has been written about in history. And we want a Colombian emerald with the traditionally important saturated Colombian green color.
RM: As gemstone mining increases in African countries like Nigeria, what are some of the ethical practices you would like to see implemented?
GR: Whether it’s Nigeria, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Nepal, Kashmir, Mozambique, Madagascar, Peru or Bolivia, or any other country for that matter, the ICA has been at the forefront of ethical protocols and has had standards in place since its beginnings in 1984. All members of the ICA must practice business in a responsible and ethical manner, not only disclosing all treatments and enhancements, but tracing their gems back to responsible sources, making sure that socially and environmentally responsible mining practices are adhered to, with ethical and responsible quality of life standards for the people who are mining and cutting these beautiful gemstones. It’s an incredible gift to be a part of a global organization that doesn’t just promote its standards, but lives by them.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - December 2015. To subscribe click here.
|
|
|
|