Spring 2016ISSUE 31

TRAPICHEThe Rising Star

Gemstones’ 2016 Price Level TrendsVan Cleef & Arpels at Singapore MuseumMontana Sapphire Deposits Under The Spotlight

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4 InColor Spring 2016

Spring 2016ISSUE 31

CONTENTS

Cover images:Tourmaline: courtesy of Ian Kalway. Sapphire and ruby:

courtesy of Jeffrey Scovil, ©Primagem.

Spring 2016ISSUE 31

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TRAPICHEThe Rising Star

Gemstones’ 2016 Price Level TrendsVan Cleef & Arpels at Singapore MuseumMontana Sapphire Deposits Under The Spotlight

Foreword

Industry News6 GILC Offers Valuable Insights From Industry Leaders10 Jade Mining Expanding in British Columbia As Demand Rises11 Gemmological Association of Great Britain Appoints New CEO11 Petra Diamonds Sells 32.33-Carat Pink Diamond For $15 Million12 Singapore Museum Displays ‘Art & Science of Gems’ Exhibition13 Tanzania Aiming To Increase Gemstone Polishing Sector14 Rio Tinto Reveals Largest Violet Diamond Recovered from Argyle Mine

Gemology18 Harvard Mineral Heritage Collection Goes on Display in Arizona 21 Investigating The Montana Sapphire Deposits 26 PerettiiteClassifiedByIMAAsNewMineralDiscovery

Cover Feature 32 Trapiche: The Rising Star45 ‘Trapiche’ Vs ‘Trapiche-Like’ Textures in Minerals

Sales and Trends48 Tucson Provides Market Snapshot And Gemstone Price Levels

Exhibitions54 Fabergé Collection First U.S. Exhibition To Be Displayed in Beijing

Jewelry Trends and Designs 58 Australian Puts Color Into Japanese Fashion Design

Auctions62 Gemstones Sparkle at Bonhams London Auction64 ‘Jubilee Ruby’ Is Highlight Of Christie’s Sale, Selling For $14 Million

Trade Shows65 Hong Kong - The Global Rendezvous for the Gem & Jewelry Industry68 Color Abounds in Ladies Watches at BaselWorld64

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InColor Spring 2016 5 www.gemstone.org

FOREWORD

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InColor Editorial CommitteeClement Sabbagh - Chairman

Jean Claude Michelou - Editor-in-ChiefGary Roskin

Gaston GiulaniElise Skalwold

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of their authors.

ISSN: 1158934X Tracing Origin: Marketing or Confusion?

It may be that marketing and branding origins of gemstones can lead to confusion related to the appreciation of the quality of the material.

When speaking about the three big colored stones, emerald,rubyandsapphire,thenameofaspecificcountry,such as Colombia, Burma or Ceylon, is tied to the higher quality and helps command a premium for the selling price and thus, the value, even for medium and low-grade qualities.

Now, with the surge of traceability and ethical origins marketing based campaigns, we are seeing a trend of linking the provenance of colored gemstones all the way to the mine that produce the stone. The vertically integrated operations of companies such asGemfieldsPlc,Muzo,andTrueNorthGemsareamongthebetter-knownexamplesof this phenomenon.

Alloftheselargecompanies,withtheirsignificantandongoingproduction,areseeking to build up lasting alliances with large distributors and manufacturers as part of the control of the supply chain through to the end customer.

Thematerialminedisthencarefullygradedandselectedtofitinthebestpossiblewaywiththemarket,bothintermsofdemandandprice.Confidenceisincreasinglytied to transparency and provenance.

A new premium concept has appeared gradually as the ethics and traceability from mine to market is being developed strongly. As a result, consumer marketing and branding strategies are increasingly being related to mine sites, local towns or geographical areas.

There are several well-known instances that we have all come across – Mogok rubies and Muzo emeralds to name just two.

High-end luxury brand retailers are launching collections of jewelry set with top-quality exceptional emeralds from origins as diverse as Colombia, Zambia, Afghanistan, Madagascar, and Russia.

Leading auction houses even present high-quality color stones with as many as threedifferentoriginscertifiedbyasmanylaboratories.

Mogok rubies are not necessarily any different from rubies found in the rest of Mayanmar (Burma) and the same applies to emeralds from the other regions of Colombia.

However, it can cause confusion for consumers who are sold a romantic or a dramatic story about the supposedly famous area from which the stone was recovered, but who need educating about such issues. Very few gemstone jewelry buyers will even know in which country the Mogok and Muzo areas are located.

In the case of a Kashmir sapphire, an exception could be made since the geology oftheareaishighlyspecific.

In general, however, the locality of a mining area cannot be realistically used as a trade name in order to promote and advertise a gemstone. In most cases, it has almost no value in terms of marketing the stones to the general public. Do buyers know about a Kagem emerald or a Montpuez ruby?

Jean Claude MichelouEditor-in-Chief