Tom Herman of Seven Fingers Jewelers will give a talk called “Chasing Gold to Where it Has Taken Me” here on Jan. 16, a lecture presented by the Alumni Manhattan Chapter of the Gemological Institute of America.

Clients submitting gems for testing to the Gübelin Gem Lab here now have access to a weekly shuttle service operating between Switzerland and London.

The GIA Alumni Manhattan Chapter will present “Updates and More from the Lab” this month, a lecture with graduate gemologist Donna Beaton and the color stone department staff from the GIA’s New York laboratory.

The American Gem Trade Association has just updated its gemstone enhancement brochure, a 20-page booklet that provides comprehensive information on 16 different gemstones.

The Gemological Institute of America now is referencing lead glass-filled rubies as “manufactured product” on reports, the institution revealed in a new video designed to educate the trade and the public.

The man who owns the stone being touted as the world’s largest cut emerald was arrested on unrelated fraud charges on Friday. One day later, his 57,500-carat stone failed to sell at auction, with no bidders stepping up to match the $500,000 reserve price.

A Canadian auction house is set to sell what is being called the world’s largest cut emerald, a commercial-quality, 57,500-carat behemoth mined in Brazil and purchased via the Internet from a dealer in India.

The GIA will be at the Tucson Convention Center from Jan. 30-Feb. 12, offering laboratory services, classes and free seminars to attendees of the upcoming American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) GemFair Tucson and the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.

American Gemological Laboratories announced that it has recently identified a number of Colombian emeralds that have undergone irradiation treatment.

An increasing number of lead-glass filled rubies are being sold without proper disclosure in U.S. department stores and at shops in the Caribbean, a practice that industry leaders warn could impact consumer confidence in the jewelry industry.

Tanzanites, spinels and opals will be the topics at hand at the Gemstone Industry & Laboratory Conference’s annual meeting, scheduled for Jan. 30 amid the Tucson shows.

The American Gemological Laboratories and GemResearch Swisslab have developed a system of cross-referencing lead-glass treated rubies on their respective grading reports, the organizations announced.

Stone Group Laboratories, a Missouri-based gemological testing facility, recently identified several black opals from Wollo, Ethiopia, that were enhanced using the smoke treatment method but submitted as natural.

GemClear, the laboratory that opened four years ago in response to new federal regulations regarding irradiated gemstones, has "suspended operations indefinitely," the lab’s co-founder announced recently.

The Gemological Institute of America recently announced that Jan Iverson is the new editor-in-chief of its quarterly research journal Gems & Gemology.

The GIA’s Manhattan Chapter will be presenting “Everything You Wanted to Know about Opals,” an alumni lecture featuring Donna Beaton, G.G., as well as the color stone department staff from the GIA New York laboratory.

Following months of discussion and debate about what jewelers should say when selling lead glass-filled rubies to consumers, the Gemstone Industry and Laboratory Conference (GILC) ruby committee--which held a meeting about the issue during the Tucson gem shows in February--has reached an agreement on disclosure.

The American Gemological Laboratories (AGL) is alerting the trade to its studies on a new ruby treatment that combines fissure healing and in-filling to improve the stone's appearance, but that is distinct from the type of treatment that "composite rubies" undergo.    

Jewelers who are concerned about how to identify glass-filled "composite rubies" versus rubies that have undergone more routine heat treatments can get a simple, hands-on lesson during the week of the upcoming Las Vegas jewelry shows.

In what is being called an "unprecedented cooperative effort," three major organizations that represent the colored gemstone industry worldwide have adopted a uniform set of codes that will be used within the trade to describe gemstone treatments.

A TV news report claiming that lead-glass filled rubies were sold without proper disclosure at Macy's stores aired earlier this week on the West Coast, marking at least the second time that the stones made consumer news headlines. 

New York--In response to a recent news segment that revealed glass-filled "composite rubies" being sold without proper disclosure, the Accredited Gemologists Association (AGA) is offering retailers information on how to identify and care for the treated stones.   

New York--American Gemological Laboratories (AGL) is modifying the disclosure terminology it uses for treated rubies by exchanging the term "inorganic (fluxtype)" with "heating residues" in its descriptions of heat-treated rubies, the lab announced.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates--The CIBJO Pearl Commission has voted on a number of amendments to the Pearl Blue Book, a definitive set of standards for pearl grading, methodology and nomenclature that the commission has updated each year since the guide's publication in 2006.

The American Gem Trade Association Gemological Testing Center (AGTA GTC) has issued a lab update regarding dyed tourmaline.