Press Releases

Vibrant Gemstones Make a Splash in Gems & Gemology

Summer issue features chart of inclusions in natural, treated, imitation and laboratory-grown opal.

Published

6 years ago

August 19, 2019

INSTORE Staff

(PRESS RELEASE) CARLSBAD, CA – Dive into the Summer 2019 Gems & Gemology (G&G), GIA’s (Gemological Institute of America) quarterly professional journal, for insights into Mozambique ruby, Madagascar sapphire, black nephrite from China, pearls and opal inclusions. The latest G&G is available in print by subscription and in the GIA Store, and digitally – at no cost – on GIA.edu.

GIA field gemologist Wim Vertriest and senior manager of identification Sudarat Saeseaw open the issue with a review of ruby from Mozambique that explores a decade of production, distribution, gemological characterization and the most common treatment processes applied to material from this locality. Billie Hughes of Lotus Gemology and Rosey Perkins with Fura Gems present their findings of low-temperature heat treatment experiments on sapphire from Madagascar and the means for separating unheated from heated stones. Also, lead author and PhD student of mineralogy at Tongji University Qian Zhong shares the study of black nephrite jade from Guangxi, southern China that appears to be part of a large-scale jade formation belt in the region.

Pearls are the focus in two of the articles in the summer issue. Jean-Pierre Gauthier from the Gemological Research Center of Nantes and his coauthors characterize “flame structure” in 37 pearls from bivalves of the Tridacnidae family that revealed evidence of rotation during growth. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, and GIA’s New York and Bangkok laboratories share a pearl identification challenge, where two pearls could not be positively identified at any of these gemological laboratories.

In the final feature, GIA manager of colored stone identification Nathan Renfro and coauthors present a large and colorful opal inclusions chart that is also available as a laminated wall chart from the GIA Store online. Lab Notes includes a rough diamond with fake green “radiation stains,” a study on the separation of kornerupine and prismatine, and the first report of a color-change spessartine garnet examined by GIA.

The issue is rounded out with the regularly occurring features G&G Micro-World, Diamonds from the Deep and Gem News International.

This and every issue of G&G since 1934, including full articles, lab notes, photo galleries and exclusive video footage, is available at no cost on GIA’s website GIA.edu/gems-gemology.

Additional research articles are available at GIA.edu/gia-news-research.

Print subscriptions and copies of back issues are available at http://store.gia.edu/.

Four Decades of Excellence: How Wilkerson Transformed a Jeweler's Retirement into Celebration

After 45 years serving the Milwaukee community, Treiber & Straub Jewelers owner Michael Straub faced a significant life transition. At 75, the veteran jeweler made a personal decision many business owners understand: "I think it's time. I want to enjoy my wife with my grandchildren for the next 10, 15 years." Wilkerson's expertise transformed this major business transition into an extraordinary success. Their comprehensive approach to managing the going-out-of-business sale created unprecedented customer response—with lines forming outside the store and limits on how many shoppers could enter at once due to fire safety regulations. The results exceeded all expectations. "Wilkerson did a phenomenal job," Straub enthuses. "They were there for you through the whole thing, helped you with promoting it, helping you on day-to-day business. I can't speak enough for how well they did." The partnership didn't just facilitate a business closing; it created a celebratory finale to decades of service while allowing Straub to confidently step into his well-earned retirement.