education

IGI provided a ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour to attendees of last month’s NYC Jewelry Week in Manhattan, showcasing the institute’s grading and appraisal processes for diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry.

On November 17 IGI honored Leysen with a diamond craftsmanship award, recognizing the jewelry Maison’s ‘Blue Flame Diamond.’ The ceremony, attended by diplomats, industry principals and members of the press, took place at the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Belgium in Shanghai.

Last month IGI instructed a Polished Diamond Course in Antwerp attended by 15 students from 12 different countries; the most nationalities hosted in one class at IGI’s 14 worldwide schools since the pandemic.

A 20 minute bidding war for a pink diamond culminated in a final bid of $49.9 million, exceeding the pre-sale estimate by over 230%, and setting a record for the highest price per carat ever paid for a diamond at auction.

Diamond Standard’s coin, the world’s only market-traded diamond commodity, is up 30% in the two years since launch, outperforming gold by almost 40% and the S&P 500 by 20%. Last week that commodity’s first spot market was established, giving all investors in the product liquidity.

The IGI GemBlog has earned a top position among thousands of blogs and websites, ranked by traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness according to Feedspot, the internet’s largest human-curated database of bloggers.

Earlier this month IGI participated in a presentation at the Antwerp Diamond Bourse. The session, staged in the heart of Antwerp’s historic diamond district, was part of a ‘diamond immersion tour,’ arranged for a group of 60 jewelry enthusiasts.

Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas has now yielded 35,000 diamonds to visitors – and counting – since opening to the public 50 years ago. The park’s 37.5-acres field is the world’s only diamond-bearing site accessible to the public.

Over 400 exhibitors gathered at the Colorado Convention Center, many for the second consecutive year, to take part in the only USA show to bring mineral & fossil dealers and jewelry & gemstone companies together under one roof.

IGI has added a grade for cut to fancy shape diamond reports. In addition to traditional polish and symmetry analysis, the institute is now assessing the influence cut quality has on light behavior seen in shapes other than round.

IGI has partnered with Luxus, a new platform permitting people to invest in a “best in class” selection of precious gems, high jewelry and rare watches. The institute will serve as Luxus’ independent valuation partner, setting the value of pieces listed on the platform. 

Gem Diamonds, with offices in the United Kingdom and Belgium owns the Letšeng Diamond mine in Lesotho and the Ghaghoo mine in Botswana. Year on year those operations produce a number of delightfully large, white, exceptional rough crystals.

The spellcaster in L. Frank Baum’s fictional land of Oz may have been a charlatan, but the appropriately named Merlin diamond mine in Australia could potentially restore gem-quality diamond sparkle to that country.

Forbes.com, “Home Page for the World’s Business Leaders,” has published an article describing IGI’s new eLearning Courses on diamonds as “first-rate professional online gemological education, ideally suited and ideally timed for a global audience.”

Representatives from more than 300 independent jewelry stores around the United States gathered at the Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota last weekend for the biannual Retail Jewelers Organization (RJO) Show.

Calling all rebels with a cause: London-based jeweler CHELSEA ROCKS has launched a competition inviting creative university students around the world to design a lapel pin incorporating lab grown diamonds as a symbol of generational expression, societal comment or social activism.

Van Cleef & Arpels combined an exceptional rough diamond with state of the art planning and inspiring jewelry design to create 25 stunning mystery set pieces, all with diamonds cut from the same rough stone. 

SWA Diamonds of India has produced a ring set with 24,697 diamonds, a new world record. Designed by Rijisha TV, a post graduate in lifestyle accessory design, from the National Institute of Design, the ring has been named ‘The Touch of Ami.’

Mahenge is a small village in the Morogoro region of Tanzania, East Africa. In 2007 deposits of high quality pink and red spinel, discovered there revived the spinel market. Last year a deposit of cobalt blue material was discovered in the same region.

Diamond lovers in London are invited to a seven-room display at the Saatchi Gallery, featuring over 400 items from Tiffany & Co’s illustrious history. Open through August 19, the exhibition will travel to New York this fall.

As people across America celebrate their Independence Day, we’d like to celebrate these distinctive diamonds in Fancy Red, White and Vivid Blue. Each one appeared separately in IGI GemBlog posts during the past year. Today we’ll revisit them together.

Diamonds de Canada (DdC) has been awarded the Polar Bear Diamond™ license, allowing them to bring the iconic trademark back into the market with a renewed look and feel.

A new exhibit has been unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. “Great American Diamonds,” featuring four of the most significant diamonds found in the United States.

On June 13 the International Gemological Institute, Italy and Gem-Tech presented a workshop entitled “Sales Support Tools: Magazines and Certificates.” The well-attended session took place at Officina Vanvitelli, in the Monumental Complex of the Belvedere di San Leucio, Caserta, Italy.