ASA Publishes Eighth Edition of Jewelry Appraisal Handbook

RAPAPORT... The gems and jewelry discipline of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) issued the eighth edition of the "Jewelry Appraisal Handbook" in both PDF and hard copy versions.

ASA stated that the book brings together essential information drawn from authoritative sources and it helps gemologists and jewelry store personnel identify, categorize and describe gems and jewelry. The handbook features field-tested tables for estimating weights of the various shapes of mounted melee diamonds by their measurements and the latest information on the Gemological Institute of America's diamond cut grading system and plotting symbols.

Proceeds from the sale of handbooks benefit the Master Gemologist Appraiser® (MGA) program and other work across the group's gems and jewelry discipline. The handbook's original author, the late Kirk Root, was among the original MGA title holders when the program was merged into ASA from the Accredited Gemologists Association in 1987.

"Kirk was a visionary who was dedicated heart and soul to the field of gems and jewelry appraising. He began the 'Jewelry Appraisal Handbook' as an early-day wiki-guide for everyone who describes and appraises jewelry. After many years of using and refining it among ourselves, the members of the gems and jewelry discipline of the American Society of Appraisers are proud and excited to offer this legacy to the gems and jewelry industry at large, where we know it will become as indispensable  as it has been for us," said Scott Gordon of ASA.

The handbook also includes a seven-tier scheme Root devised for describing jewelry condition; ASA's Descriptive Elements for Gems and Jewelry and a means for calculating retail mark-ups from gross profit margins based on the Jewelers of America's Cost of Doing Business Survey. Other sections address pearls, gold coins, fineness marks and a list of hundreds of website links that serve as useful sources of  pricing research, and are  live in the PDF version.