BURMESE RUBIES & SAPPHIRES
with
ROLAND & NATA H. SCHLUESSEL
PILLAR & STONE INTERNATIONAL, San Francisco

Nata and Roland have traveled to gem source locations in over 50 countries and in this evening’s presentation they will share information from their extensive travels in Burma. This is a unique opportunity to experience many facets of the most precious gemstones from the MOGOK area in Northern Burma and their journey through the chain supply:

- Discover the latest geologic scenarios about the formation of the World’s best and most complex source for Rubies, Sapphires and Spinel.
- See the mines in the legendary Valley of Rubies and Sapphires and hear about the most amazing treasures unearthed.
- Hear about the rarest collector’s gemstones found in Mogok and the characteristics of Rubies from the various Burmese sources.
- Be familiarized with the qualities and treatment techniques applied to Burmese gemstones.
- Hear about the trade practices and pricing of Burmese gemstones.
- Experience the “Pillar & Stone Disclosure Module©” for Rubies and Sapphires.

Gary Roskin
"Diamond Night"

Evening Highlights
by Suzanne Martinez

A big thanks to Gary Roskin for taking time out of his busy schedule to visit our chapter. He covered many topics of current diamond interest and I will do my best to synopsize.

1. “Let’s Talk” Fair Trade Practices:

Fair trade diamonds and gems are certainly buzz words in the industry these days and for good reason. The public is concerned about how their gems are mined and delivered to market. Is it OK for children to mine diamonds even if it is the only way they and their families can buy food? Is it OK for precious metals extractors to devour land and create toxic waste in the process. The “Blood Diamond” movie will certainly get the publics hackles up and they will vote with their pocketbooks when it comes time to make a socially correct purchase. It is important for all of us in the industry to be aware of what has been done to contribute positively to the mining communities as well as asking our suppliers to provide “fair trade” information on our purchases so we can assure our customers that we are doing everything we can to uphold high ethical standards. Tiffany is doing it, Canadian diamonds are doing it and the Kimberly process is working on it. To find out more Roskin shares these websites:
www.diamondfacts.org
www.realdiamondfacts.org
www.jckgroup.com

2. Antique & Period Diamonds & The House of Asscher:

The resurgence in popularity of old cuts and old style cuts has never been stronger. In 1902 the patent was taken out on the Asscher cut diamond. Roskin showed us the patent illustration that showed a square diamond with high crown, deep pavilion, “big fat corners”, small table (40- 48%), open culet, three crown steps and at least 7, yes 7, pavilion step facets. However, according to Roskin’s interview with the Asscher family they never found any stones cut with that many pavilion steps. The stones cut into the 1930’s by the Asscher family were typically larger stones and more often than not were rectangular in outline. Today there are many companies cutting a modern modified square, rectangular or octagon cut with high crown angles, “big fat corners”, with a closed culet. These are marketed as Asscher cuts and are typically square.
Gary also showed stones comparing antique cushion, European cushion and modern cushion cuts. The antique cushion cuts have the highest chunkiest crowns, small tables, high square corners, open culets and fat mains. The next transition, the European cushion cut, is marked by more symmetry, rounder high corners and still have wide pavilion mains and open culets. The modern version of the cushion brilliant has greater symmetry, narrower pavilion mains and closed culet.

3. Magnificent Jewels, Christies New York October 6th , auction tidbits:

The Black Orloff, a 67.5 carat black diamond, magnificent only in size according to Roskin as it was color zoned with surface pits, sold for $350,000 (approximately $4,400 per carat). Was its history of a bad luck curse (it was said to have had three owners who committed suicide) or the lack of beauty that kept the price low?
Ellen Barkin’s 16.94 carat pedeloque briolette cut D Flawless diamond sold for $800,000 (approximately $47,000 per carat). Was the price associated with the gossip that the Revlon heiress wore the pendant to bed every night?

4. The 2006 Argyle Pink Diamond Offering:

The best of the Argyle Pink Diamond annual tender was the highlight of the evening. Once a year 100 brokers and a retailer or two are invited to bid on the top pink diamonds culled from Argyle’s 2,500,000 carat output. This year these diamonds included 65 diamonds with a total weight of 61.43 carats with the largest stone just over 2 carats. Argyle takes the diamonds on a six city tour where the invitees make the best use possible of their 45 minute time slot to decide which (or all) diamonds to bid on and place a sealed bid. All the diamonds had been carefully graded by three laboratories, the NY GIA, HRD and AGT Japan with colors including intense, vivid and fancy dark pink and three grey blue violet stones (whose color may be attributed to Hydrogen and Boron says Roskin), with a clarity range from VS to I2.
When Gary got the invitation for himself and a guest by Joseph Cossello, Rio Tinto, he selected Colored Diamond expert Steve Hoeffer to accompany him. During their brief 45 minutes Hoeffer measured the 3D color space of the diamonds using a colorimeter calibrated to the Munsell system. Roskin brought with him his Nikon Coolpix and a square of non glare glass and used daylight to photograph the collection. There were lots of emerald cuts this year and Roskin had fun speculating as to the possibilities of re-cutting them as radiants to deepen their color towards red. The colors were so rare and intense that you hardly noticed the imperfections.
This year every diamond sold. To whom and for what price remains a secret. Roskin surmises the per carat price to range up to $450,000.

Michael Goldstein
"The Glory of Old Europeans"
Michael Goldstein presented a "hands on" demonstration on the sizing, pricing and grading of old-style diamonds.He touched on re-cutting value and weight loss, emphasizing that this is NOT the proper criteria to use when assigning a value to diamonds with older cuts. With several examples, Michael explained how to identify older cuts and seperate them from modern reproductions. He handed out a flier with formulas for weight estimation of mounted antique-cuts and gave us several sample pieces to practice with. His knowledge and insight into the antique diamond market left us all with a greater confidence in buying and appraising antique diamond jewelry.
Click here for the Michael Goldstein weight estimation tables.
Click here for Antique-cut Diamond Price Lists

Alan Hodgkinson
Alan Hodgkinson, accompanied with his lovely wife, Charlotte, opened the lecture with some demonstrations of the diagnostric spectra of ruby & sapphire, using the "pocket" version of the OPL Diffraction Grating Spectroscope. He followed with some slides illustrating how to positively identify gems using the spectroscope, and the refractometer with a fiber optic light positioned over the gem when placed on the hemicylinder. In addition, he touched on many subjects that will be included in his long awaited book, Alan Hodgkinson's Gem Testing Techniques, which along with traditional methods used for gem ID, will explain gemological tricks using water, syrup, tape, hair, the sky, a fishing rod, copper & paper.

Richard W. Hughes
Dick Hughes opened his lecture by sharing a series of slides describing various emerald treatments, with tips on how to determine if fractures in an emerald happened before or after the stone was cut. The second half of the lecture centered on his recent trip to Madagascar, with excellent slides giving us a glimpse into the geology, gemology and culture of this vastly diverse island in the Indian Ocean, off Mozambique. He reported that geologic surveys have indicated that as much as 90% of this country could be gem bearing. Phenomenal potential.
He will be lecturing in Tucson with Vincent Pardieu (the head of the Lab at A.I.G.S.), again focusing on the Gems of Madagascar:
When: Thursday, Feb. 2, 1-2 p.m.
Where: Tucson Convention Center, Maricopa Room

Don Kay from
Mason-Kay
Don Kay speaking on jade-
the "Jade Sage" is what I'd call him. He is an incredible expert in this unique and esoteric field where the handling of the jade everyday is necessary to stay abreast of the changes and pricing of the materials