News

Here is where I will put some interesting stuff that makes headlines
in the jewellery world but may not make it into the national news

	AGS labs have added a brilliant page to their website, called Diamond Buying 101 it tells you so much about buying diamonds that you will wonder how you managed without it. It selld the AGS Lab report a bit hard but try and read past that see if you know as much about diamonds as you thought http://www.agslab.com/video_db_101.html

	Oh Dear, Is it trouble at mill for lifeGem? There seems to be trouble brewing for the diamonds "made from the remains of a loved one", the process seems to be coming under investigation from some pretty high powered gemmologists. See http://www.lifegem.com/ Now I am ignoring the pros and cons of the ethics of having a synthetic diamond made out of the cremated ashes of a loved one but the patent seems to be flawed and from a cost point of view, they seem to be charging a fairly high price for a diamond that does not seem to be quite what it's made out to be. I have put some links here, read and decide for yourself. http://www.pricescope.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=87521 You need to read down a fair way but its worth it I assure you

	If you have been following my previous news about the Andesine labradorite controversy being sold as "natural" and then "Heated but natural" by one ogf the so called Jewellery Television Channels, you may be interested to know that the ISG (link on my site) has made a News announcement that it is being completely colour altered by an as yet unknown process and is in fact ordinary yellow andesine. Please note that this is not connected with the Oregaon Sunstone which is a truly beautiful material. Suspicions were aroused by the inability of anyone to actually produce a mine for this material and then the so called retailers published a photo of a mine where yellow andesine was being found at 19,000 feet, with trees in the background. You do not need to be a genius to know that trees are not that common at this height! A Class action for damages has been launched in America against the TV channel selling this stuff for an amount of $5 million. Check out the ISG Forums and website for even more detail. Selling Chemically Altered material as rare and valuable Gems, does the jewellery Trade no good whatsoever, The padparadscha sapphire swindle blew the market for this rare and valuable gem out of the window for several years. My advice, stick to reputable gem retailers with proper gem knowledge. You may pay a bob or two more but at least you know its genuine and you have a real person to ask to when anything worries you. The TV channel that seems to have perpetrated this con has even had to close its web forum "for upgrade purposes" and it has made several of its salesmen redundant, but the boss is still there. There are plenty of these sites here in the UK also and please note, never believe the hype, the price you pay is the real value of this pretty costume jewellery. The so called start price is a new twist on what used to be called a Dutch Auction and Trading Standards Jumped on that many years ago. I am not sure what their attitude to this con really is.

	Whilst on the subject of cons, I had an interesting claim past my desk recently. It was for the loss of a 6 plus carat diamond bracelet. It had been valued by some amateur idiot in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham at £3500. It was also accompanied by the receipt, from ebay stating "stunning 6.6ct diamond bracelet, £30.00 (plus post and packing) Yes thats right, not a misprint £30.00!! I had to investigate this and found a couple of con persons selling Diamond Earrings, Diamond Pendants and Diamond Rings on ebay but buried way down in the bottom of the blurb it became clear that these were not genuine. It was not obvious unless you are a gemologist. It mentioned that the hardness was 9 where "river diamonds" (whatever they are?) are 10 and there was usually a strange Russian word (written in Cryllic) in front of the word diamond. When I translated this word, it means "The Formula". Now in the UK and in fact all over Europe and even in America, It is illegal to describe a gem stone as say Diamond or pearl or whatever if it is not natural. So if a pearl is cultured the word Cultured must proceed the word pearl in the same size, font and with the same emphasis. It cannot even have a note at the bottom stating this if it is not immediately clear that the pearl is not a natural one. Same with Imitations, but these are not even synthetic Diamonds, they are some imitation material, but the receipt actually states "Diamond" I have reported these conners (they live in France but goods in Scotland!) to Trading Standards who seem a little confused. I advised them that when I ran a shop, they would have closed me down and prosecuted like mad if I had advertised like this but the web is apparently a funny place and they dont know who has jurisdiction. I will keep you informed. Oh and about the so called valuer who couldnt tell imitation material from diamond, again ensure that the person valuing your goods knows what they are on about, ask about qualifications and experience, but if they hesitate or cannot show you NAG or GIA qualifications, turn round and walk out, you dont want to be there.

	Consumers 'might find their jewellery in not covered by insurance' Published On 13 May 2008 People in the UK are at risk of finding themselves underinsured, as they are not having their jewellery regularly valued, a new study has shown. Halifax Home Insurance found that there is a total of £52 billion's worth of jewellery in homes across the UK and that much of it might not be covered by insurance policies. This means that the average home in the country contains £1,986 worth of jewellery. Despite the fact that five million people in the country have over £5,000 of jewellery, 35 per cent have never had their collection valued and ten per cent have not had a valuation in the last decade. What's more, over a quarter (28 per cent) of those who had recently found out the true value of their collection have not yet informed their insurance provider, the study showed. Martyn Foulds, a senior claims manager at Halifax Home Insurance, commented: "It seems many people with expensive jewellery collections may be selling themselves short by not getting their articles valued fully and insured for the correct amount. "We would advise anyone wearing particularly valuable items outside the home on a daily basis to make sure that they are fully insured for loss, damage or theft when outside their property."