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AGTA GTC's Laboratory Update for February 27, 2006

In this message…

  1. Christie's Sets New Ruby Record
  2. AGTA GTC at the 2006 AGTA GemFair Tucson
  3. 2006 Gemstone Industry & Laboratory Conference
  4. JCK Industry Fund Supports AGTA GTC With $75,000 Grant
  5. AGS Lab and the AGTA GTC Form Strategic Alliance
  6. AGTA GTC on the Web

 

Christie's sets new record for ruby

Christie's shattered the per carat world record for ruby at their February 15, 2006 auction in St. Moritz. The final hammer price of $3.6 million for the 8.62-carat gemstone yielded a staggering $425,000 per carat, nearly double the previous record of $275,000 per carat set less than a year before. This continues the upward price trend of the past few years for fine quality untreated colored gemstones.

8.62 ct. ruby

On February 15, 2006, this 8.62-carat Burmese ruby set a new world record at Christie's St. Moritz, selling for $425,000 per carat. Photo courtesy Christie's.

     The following description of this record-setting piece is taken from the Christie's auction catalog:

 

[Rubies] universal appeal seems to lie in their unique red colour, which enjoys favourable connotations across many different cultures. The best stones have high colour intensity. According to Richard W. Hughes [of the AGTA GTC], 'this results from a mixture of the slightly bluish red body colour and the purer red fluorescent emission. It is this red fluorescence which is the key, for it tends to cover up the dark areas of the stone. The best Burmese stones actually glow red and appear as though Mother Nature brushed a broad swath of fluorescent red paint across the face of the stone' (Ruby and Sapphire, 1997, p. 331)…

The present ruby for sale is a truly exceptional gem as it combines the highly sought-after 'pigeon's-blood red' typical of old Burmese material and with a high degree of transparency, which is rather rare in rubies. Their great scarcity is underlined by the fact that most rubies on the market have undergone certain enhancement, such as heating. The 8.62 carats ruby for sale, on the other hand, does not show indications of heating and is a unique stone in all its aspects.

 

     Laurence Graff, a London jeweler, paid $3.6 million for the 8.62-carat gemstone at a Christie's sale that netted $16.7 million. "The price-per-carat was high, but the cut and spread of color is the finest I've ever seen," Graff told one journalist. He said he will call the cushion-cut Burmese ruby the Graff Ruby and may remount it in a new ring for a client. Graff is not a newcomer to the fine ruby market. The long-standing ruby record of years-gone-by was held by a 15.97-carat piece also sold by Graff.

"History was created at Christie’s in St. Moritz" said Eric Valdieu, Head of Jewelry and Vice-President of Christie's Switzerland. "This is the most important sale ever organized by Christie's in St. Moritz and, as with fine and decorative arts, the jewelry market continues to show tremendous strength, especially for diamonds and rare colored stones."

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AGTA GTC at the 2006 AGTA GemFair Tucson

The Tucson show was a great success for the AGTA GTC, which continues to grow and progress. Over the past year, the emphasis of the AGTA GTC has been on improving turnaround time, as we understand that every moment a gem is in the lab is time it cannot be offered for sale.

To improve our Tucson services, this year the AGTA GTC brought not only its full complement of world-class gemologists, but two administrative staff. This helped reduce both submission and pick-up times and ensured that most clients' goods were returned and reports generated in just 24 hours.      But when the AGTA GTC goes to Tucson, it is not just lab work. Our expert staff are in high demand as speakers, helping to inform and educate the trade on the latest gemological developments. During the show, the AGTA GTC's Lore Kiefert, John Koivula and Richard Hughes gave a series of lectures, which were extremely well attended and well received.

AGTA GTC staff in Tucson

The AGTA GTC staff at the 2006 AGTA GemFair Tucson Dinner Dance. Clockwise from top left: Min Htut, Shwewar Yee, John Koivula, Richard Hughes, Lore Kiefert, Riccardo Befi and Garry Du Toit.

     As a mark of progress of the lab over the past year, during the AGTA's annual Board of Directors' meeting, hearty congratulations to all lab staff were offered from the Board, who are pleased with the current growth and direction. A special tip-of-the-hat was also given to our New York staff, who, during the recent NY Transit strike, came in as early as 3:00 AM to ensure that clients received their gemstones and reports on schedule.

In Tucson, AGTA GTC Director Lore Kiefert stressed the importance of building a reference and teaching collection of specimens of known origin and treatment. The response to this challenge was terrific. We would like to give public recognition to those who have already donated specimens:

     If anyone else would like to donate to this collection, please contact us.

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2006 Gemstone Industry & Laboratory Conference

This year's Gemstone Industry & Laboratory Conference (GILC) included discussion of several controversial topics, including use of the words "enhancement" versus "treatment" for lead glass-filled rubies, and the use of the word "Paraíba" for all blue-to-green copper-bearing tourmalines, no matter what their country-of-origin.

The Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee (LMHC) presented their amended Information Sheet #3 for lead glass-filled rubies, and the new Information Sheet #4 for padparadscha. Other non-member labs presented their suggestions for these cases.

A. Peretti of Bangkok's GRS lab gave a presentation about blue sapphires tested by his lab which showed traces of beryllium. Whether this represents commercial development of a treatment long predicted by corundum expert John Emmett, or simply accidental contamination from heat treatment in ovens previously used with beryllium diffusion remains to be seen. We will give more information on this subject in the near future.

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JCK Industry Fund supports AGTA GTC with $75,000 grant

The AGTA is proud to announce that the JCK Industry Fund has selected the AGTA Gemological Testing Center as a recipient of a $75,000 grant for the purchase of a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS).

"The AGTA Gemological Testing Center was a project we felt compelled to support," said David Bonaparte of the JCK Industry Fund. "The effort that AGTA has put behind this effort, matched by the overwhelming support from the industry at large made the laboratory a perfect fit for the criteria of our grant guidelines. We are pleased to help bring such a worthy undertaking to the marketplace."

"With the increasing sophistication of treatment techniques it is ever more important for our laboratory to keep pace," said Dr. Lore Kiefert, Director of the AGTA GTC. "The addition of the LIBS spectrometer to the laboratory will allow cost effective and accurate detection of beryllium diffusion and is a vital component in our efforts to serve the gemstone industry."

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AGS Lab and the AGTA GTC form strategic alliance
The American Gem Society Laboratories, LLC and the AGTA Gemological Testing Center (AGTA GTC) announce that the two organizations are entering into a strategic alliance to service their global expansion. The AGS Laboratories have opened their international distribution channels to the AGTA GTC, so clients can submit colored gemstones to the AGS Laboratories’ take-in windows in Antwerp, Dubai, India and Israel. 

"We're very excited about this alliance," said Peter Yantzer, Executive Director, AGS Laboratories. "AGS Laboratories and the AGTA GTC both stand for the highest standard of ethics and grading in their respective niches. It is a natural fit for us to work together to expand our markets globally."

"I couldn't imagine a more perfect strategic alliance," said Douglas K. Hucker, Executive Director of the AGTA. "This allows the AGTA to achieve its goals of expanding service internationally and to work with a partner with whom we can have complete confidence."

Clients of AGS Laboratories' take-in windows now have greater options. They may submit either colored gemstones or diamonds to their local AGS Laboratories' representative and receive a diamond grading document from AGS Laboratories, or a colored gemstone report from the AGTA GTC. The AGS Laboratories' take-in window representatives include GSI in India, Elmyr Services in Antwerp, the Dubai Metals and Commodity Center in Dubai, and Eli Dori in Ramat Gan.

AGS Laboratories made headline news in 2005 with the release of their newly enhanced documents using the AGS new Cut-Grading System. The system is the first of its kind, where all facets of a diamond are measured in three dimensions rather than two dimensions. The measurements are used by a computer program to trace light rays traveling through a diamond. The ray-tracing program shows the quantity and quality of the light being returned to the viewer. In addition to proportion, symmetry, and polish, AGS Laboratories also considers brightness, dispersion, leakage, contrast and spread in assigning the final cut grade.

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AGTA GTC on the Web

A number of clients have asked us to make our gemological bulletins available to a wider audience. Towards that aim we have built a website specifically for the AGTA Gemological Testing Center. It offers a complete archive of our e-mail bulletins, along with a full description of the lab and its services.

See it at www.agta-gtc.org or link from AGTA’s regular site, www.agta.org.

AGTA on the web

The new AGTA GTC website offers the most up-to-the-minute gemological news, along with a full description of the lab and its services.