A gem dealer's journal — color type
A Gem Dealer’s Journal: How Do Gem Labs Test Your Stones, with Lotus Gemology’s Billie Hughes:
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AsiaLounges: Following your last answer, do you think that removing colour calls / colour types and origin determination in order to stick to strictly provable data would help labs to be more coherent with one another or is this a fool’s errand either way?
Billie Hughes: Certainly having fewer subjective factors on the report could reduce the number of discrepancies on lab reports on the market, but you wouldn’t eliminate them completely. There may also be ways to modify the way we treat color calls and origin determination that could create more consistent results without doing away with them altogether.
Color types like Pigeon’s Blood and Royal Blue can be highly subjective, so removing those from reports could create more consistency. But it wouldn’t fix the problem of subjective color calls on colored stone reports, because the nomenclature for colored stones has been inconsistent for many years. Many variety names rely on judgements on color. For example, distinguishing between ruby and pink sapphire or green beryl and emerald is subjective. Which tourmalines get called “rubelite” or “indicolite?” Is the trade comfortable with removing “Padparadscha” from sapphire reports?
With regards to origin, moving to broader origin categories might be a middle ground between issuing very specific country of origin comments vs. getting rid of origin. For example, it can be difficult to separate blue sapphires formed in similar metamorphic deposits like Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and Kashmir (India). But the vast majority of these stones are easy to separate from blue sapphires from magmatic deposits like those in Australia and Thailand. Classifying stones in these kinds of categories would be more consistent. Stones from different types of deposits also tend to be more similar in appearance. However, there are always outliers so this wouldn’t eliminate the problem. Furthermore several years ago one of the world’s most well-known lab tried a similar system, and it never really took off. It seems the market was not ready for this type of system.
We must keep in mind that it is not as simple as just collecting data. How the data is collected can have an impact on results. A lot of our work involves the interpretation of data, and this interpretation is depending on the knowledge, attention to detail, and experience of the gemologist.
A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Interview with an Early Adopter: Hemi Englisher
A Gem dealers journal ArjunaIrsuttiPhotography Asia Lounges asialounges Asscher Bangkok blog branding color type cut discovery ethical mining ethics fanta Field Gemology gem Gem Cutting Gem Scout gemological laboratory gemology gems gemstome Gemstone Hemi Englisher interview jedi lotus gemology Myanmar news one of a kind Photography Richard W Hughes Simon Dussart Simon Sai Dussart spessartite spinel Thailand tradition Yuval Englisher
AsiaLounges: I understand that you are, still to this day, the person that takes the pictures and takes care of the web site for your company. Do you believe that the period we are in, late 2020 early 2021, with COVID forcing us all to stay put that online sales are becoming the new normal? Is it, in your opinion, a viable alternative to trade shows such as the Hong Kong Gem and Jewellery show?
Hemi Englisher: Although technology today allows us to transfer images of very high quality, I still think that the personal touch, human interactions, is still prevailing. More than that, the proliferation of gem dealers on the internet is clearly bringing down the level of professionalism overall. While it is true that not every gem dealer is a gemologist, one must wonder, when reading things like “nearly eye clean”, “assuming no heat” or the fact that every square stone is considered to be an Asscher, whether there are any professional gem dealers left at all... That being said, whether internet and E-marketing is a threat to existing, established wholesalers, time will tell. Even as a school master of the old school, I really cannot say.
A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Interviewing Navneet Agarwal of Navneet Gems:
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Hey Loungers, Today we have the pleasure of interviewing Navneet Argarwal from Navneet gems and learn more about how and why he entered the trade. Today, Navneet is known for having a wide range of semi precious as well as for his love of teal sapphires! Navneet, the floor is yours, Navneet Agarwal is with us today - Photo Credits: Navneet Gems AsiaLounges: First of all thank you for being with us today in the Lounges. Can you tell us more about yourself? Who are you Navneet Agarwal? Navneet Agarwal: Hi, thank you for having me over today. It...
A Gem Dealer’s Journal: A rare encounter with the talented yet quiet Gemmologist and Photographer: Wimon Manorotkul
A Gem dealers journal aigs Asia Lounges Billie Hughes blog color color type gem gemological laboratory gems gemstome Gemstone interview introduction to gemology lotus gemology Natural Gems origin Photography photomicrography Richard W Hughes ruby sapphire Simon Dussart treatment Wimon Manorotkul
Hey Loungers, By now we have all heard of the legendary Lotus Gemology team. We all know via papers and interviews, the ruby & sapphire colossus, Richard W. Hughes, and his equally talented daughter, E. Billie Hughes. Yet little is known about the missing link in that trinity. Wimon Manorotkul is not only a talented gemmologist in her own right, and a skilled photographer to boot, But she is arguably the person that brought the other two members of her family to the world of gems. You read that right, she is the one who enrolled Richard for his first...
A Gem Dealer’s Journal: Interviewing the Russian Gems Bond: Dmitry Zyubenko:
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Hey Loungers, His name is Zyubenko, Dmitry Zyubenko and the trade has about as many urban legends about his past as there are stones available. Today we receive the cheerful Dmitry to learn more about his path and his trade. Today we get to see another facet of our Eastern friends and the east European gem trade! Dmitry, tovarish (comrade), the floor is yours! Dmitry Zyubenko is with us in the Lounges today - Photo Credits: Dmitry Zyubenko AsiaLounges: Privet, Dmitry! Thank you very much for being with us today. Let’s start with learning a bit about...