Facets 2008 - Gem and Jewellery Show

Sri Lanka's premire gem and jewellery show "Facets 2008" will be held from 6-9 September 2008 at BMICH, Colombo. This event is organized by Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association and Sponsord by National Gem and Jewellery Authority, Export Development Boead of Sri Lanka (EDB) and Sri Lankan Air Lines. Facets exhibition is the largest gem and jewellery exhibition in Sri Lanka and listed under international trade shows in event calenders.

The first day of the exhibition is reserved for VIP invitees. Second day onward the show will be oped for public audiance. The organizers are expecting more visitors in this year than previous years, this is due to increasing demand for Sri Lankan gemstones in the international market. Many visitors are expecting from Europe, USA, Thailand and India.

All leading gem and jewellery manufacturers in Sri Lanka will participate for this event and show their latest and most valuable designs and items. This will be an great opportunity for buyers to meet and find suppliers. Exhibitors from medium to large scale businesses are here to give service to suit to different buyers.

Gifts for All Seasons - Jewelry Gifts are Forever

A gift is a reminder of your appreciation, warmth, gratitude or love for someone who has a special place in your life. When you are planning to buy a gift for someone, the gift should be chosen so as to express the depth of your emotions. A well thought of gift which is chosen with a lot of care and love makes presenting and receiving a gift, a joy.

Jewelry Gifts - Jewelry is the passion that women across the world share equally irrespective of the different cultures, traditions, racial, economic differences. Jewelry is also preferred as a gift because it marks special occasions like engagements, wedding anniversaries and many more. Jewelry gifts are precious and last for a lifetime. It indicates that jewelry gift is mostly given to the people who are precious in our life.

Shopping online has made purchasing gifts even easier for people these days. For people leading busy lives time is an important factor and internet provides a fast convenient alternative. Online jewelry retailers like Angara.com offers an exciting range of exclusive jewelry gift sets for various occasions. Visit Angara and make your choice today.

Logon to http://www.angara.com/jewelry-gifts.do for more inormation.

Cutting and polishing diamonds

India has always been regarded as the natural and ancient home of the diamonds. Up to 1728 the whole world’s supply of diamonds was found in the deccan plateu in the valleys and on the beds of streams to a depth of twelve to sixteen feet of earth. Placed there by the gods as a gem endowed with magical qualities, Indians revered the diamond as far back as 1500 BC, the age of the Vedas.

During those ancient times, diamonds were not cut. The rough stones were mounted as such in jewellery, in helmets and on swords. This is why Indians who wrote on gems, such as Buddhabhatta, Thakkura Pheru describe the shape, and nature of rough diamonds in great detail. For example, Thakkura Pheru wrote in 1315 AD: “the best rough diamond has symmetric facets, free of impurities, sparkling, flawless and ligh in weight.”

Being the hardest known mineral in nature, only diamonds can cut or abrade other diamonds. Artisan used this property to best advantage; they rubbed one diamond against another for months to get the shape they wanted. They were expert in the art of grinding and polishing diamond crystals and kept gemstone shaping a family secret, not to be revealed to the outside world. It is likely that their techniques dated back thousands of years, but there is hardly any mention of this in Indian literature. Ancient texts state that while the diamonds was extremely hard and indestructible, it could easily be split by a light blow along certain directions and that the earliest diamond workers employed such techniques to remove heavy flows and cracks and to smooth the faces of crystals. Kautilya in this Artbhashastra wrote of the ability of diamond to scratch hard metals and other gemstones. It is possible that Indian workers tried to cut and polish diamonds with other diamonds as early as the first century BC. In Europe too, as early as 77 AD, engravers embedded diamond fragments in iron to make cutting tools. According to Pliny, these tools could in turn cut diamonds. During his travels in India in the eighteenth century Tavernier who wrote extensively on the gemstone industry in the country, found artisan in India were using iron wheels with diamond grit to remove flaws in diamond crystals. At the time of his visit, most Indians were merely polishing rough stones that had regular crystallized shapes. Faults like inclusions and grains were removed by grinding, but deep faults were sought to be hidden by a great number of small facets. Some European workers who had practiced diamond cutting in Europe but had settled in India were given the larger and more expensive stones for cutting. They were better at this work perhaps because they had already attained a higher level of perfection in their work. It has been recorded that as early as 1375 AD, diamond cutters in Germany were active and had even formed a guild in Nurenberg.

Cutting and polishing diamonds

India has always been regarded as the natural and ancient home of the
diamonds. Up to 1728 the whole world's supply of diamonds was found in
the deccan plateu in the valleys and on the beds of streams to a depth
of twelve to sixteen feet of earth. Placed there by the gods as a gem
endowed with magical qualities, Indians revered the diamond as far
back as 1500 BC, the age of the Vedas.

During those ancient times, diamonds were not cut. The rough stones
were mounted as such in jewellery, in helmets and on swords. This is
why Indians who wrote on gems, such as Buddhabhatta, Thakkura Pheru
describe the shape, and nature of rough diamonds in great detail. For
example, Thakkura Pheru wrote in 1315 AD: "the best rough diamond has
symmetric facets, free of impurities, sparkling, flawless and ligh in
weight."

Being the hardest known mineral in nature, only diamonds can cut or
abrade other diamonds. Artisan used this property to best advantage;
they rubbed one diamond against another for months to get the shape
they wanted. They were expert in the art of grinding and polishing
diamond crystals and kept gemstone shaping a family secret, not to be
revealed to the outside world. It is likely that their techniques
dated back thousands of years, but there is hardly any mention of this
in Indian literature. Ancient texts state that while the diamonds was
extremely hard and indestructible, it could easily be split by a light
blow along certain directions and that the earliest diamond workers
employed such techniques to remove heavy flows and cracks and to
smooth the faces of crystals. Kautilya in this Artbhashastra wrote of
the ability of diamond to scratch hard metals and other gemstones. It
is possible that Indian workers tried to cut and polish diamonds with
other diamonds as early as the first century BC. In Europe too, as
early as 77 AD, engravers embedded diamond fragments in iron to make
cutting tools. According to Pliny, these tools could in turn cut
diamonds. During his travels in India in the eighteenth century
Tavernier who wrote extensively on the gemstone industry in the
country, found artisan in India were using iron wheels with diamond
grit to remove flaws in diamond crystals. At the time of his visit,
most Indians were merely polishing rough stones that had regular
crystallized shapes. Faults like inclusions and grains were removed by
grinding, but deep faults were sought to be hidden by a great number
of small facets. Some European workers who had practiced diamond
cutting in Europe but had settled in India were given the larger and
more expensive stones for cutting. They were better at this work
perhaps because they had already attained a higher level of perfection
in their work. It has been recorded that as early as 1375 AD, diamond
cutters in Germany were active and had even formed a guild in
Nurenberg.

JCK New Delhi 2008 Keeps Getting Bigger & Better!

JCK New Delhi 2008, the jewelry exhibition is catching up in the country on a great pace and is now all geared up to brighten Delhi in July at Pragati Maidan. The show will see the best of jewelry manufacturers, wholesalers, exporters and retailers gather and explore huge business opportunity offered through this platform. The exhibition has set new benchmarks in the field of Jewellery trade fairs in India since its inception in 2006 and is on the way of scaling bigger heights year after year.

JCK New Delhi 2008 is backed by Delhi Jewellers Association, World Gold Council and GJEPC and offers a strict business-to-business platform for the most suitable business environment to trade. The exhibition is not only classy & luxurious but is also very meticulously planned out. There are well segmented pavilions of Gold & Fine Jewelry, Diamond & Fine Jewelry, Gem Stones & Gemstone Jewelry, Laboratories, Silver Jewelry & Hollowware, Machinery and Tools for focused exhibition browsing. The show will bind the traders from across India along with various other countries, and would also deliver a world class ambience and a show experience to remember!

Learn more by visiting www.jcknewdelhi.com or click here to contact JCK New Delhi 2008.

Well supported by the industry, the show features 250 prominent exhibitors both in national and international league like:

Aashna Diamonds, Abhay Navinchandra, ACPL, Amore Jewels Pvt. Ltd., Apple Gems International, A'Star Jewellery, Bhavani Jewels, Ciemme Jewels Ltd., CVM Exports, Diam Circle Mfg. Pvt. Ltd, European Gemological Laboratory Pvt. Ltd., Forever Precious Jewellery & Diamonds Ltd., Gitanjali Gems Ltd., GDK Jewels Pvt. Ltd., GIE Gold Creations Pvt. Ltd., Golkunda Diamonds & Jewellery Ltd., H K Jewellers, Hammer Plus Jewellery Pvt. Ltd., Hariprasad Gopikrishna Jewellers Pvt. Ltd., IGI, J.B. & Brothers, Jindal Diamonds and Gems Pvt. Ltd., Kantilal Chhotalal, KGK Creations (India) Pvt. Ltd., Kothari Jewels, Kundan Hut, M.R. Chains Pvt. Ltd., Majestic Gems, Nolkha Jewellers, Osia Gems, P. Manoharlal Jewellers & Exporters, Panache Exports Pvt. Ltd., Pranda Jewellery Pvt. Ltd., Ridhi Sidhi Gems, RMC Gems India Limited, Sanghavi Exports International Pvt. Ltd., Shanti Gold, Sheetal Manufacturing, Shivin Jewellers, Solitaire Diam, Sri Balaji Jewellers & Exporters, Suashish Diamonds Limited, S K Chains, Shashwat Jewels, Uni-Design Jewellery India Pvt. Ltd., Vikas Chain, Laxmi Dia Jewel Pvt. Ltd., Ary Gold Designers, GIA India, IDL, IGL, Reliance Money Ltd., Ashlyn Chemunnoor Instruments Pvt. Ltd., Nickunj Eximp Entp P Ltd., Citizen Scale (I) Pvt. Ltd., N Jewellery Techniques Pvt. Ltd., Tache, B&S Antwerp NV, Baymonte, Colombian Stone Co., Ltd., SIDRA S.A.R.L., Siam Shine Star Co. Ltd., Bassano Collection, Jewels & Nuggets and many, many more!

This year JCK New Delhi brings together exhibitors covering the entire jewelry segment & offers a complete range in trends and prices to ensure a reason for our visitors from every segment including organized, family owned, large and small buyers to do profitable business at the show. To ensure that the platform is approachable, various customized marketing initiatives and efforts are being taken for each segment simultaneously, consequently facilitating activities to meet the business objectives of all the exhibitors. Many programs are also undertaken to maximize business transaction possibilities for the exhibitors at the show. Minutest details are being given extra care to deliver a flawless show this time.

Some key show highlights:

~Features an wide variety from each jewelry category - gemstones, diamonds, gold, fine jewelry, high Italian jewelry, machinery & tools, silver jewelry and CZ jewelry to cater to all the retailer's need.

~Special Delhi Pavilion to showcase Delhi manufactures and wholesalers.

~Features unique exhibitor offers for the visitors exclusively for JCK New Delhi 2008.

~A true national scale exhibition covering with enhanced international participation from Thailand, Dubai, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Lebanon, US, Japan and so on.

~No pre-registration fee for Visitors to encourage the trade to approach keeping the onsite registration fee to Rs. 1000!

~Offers desired serious business environment for pure business and transactions.

~Planned in July, which is the most favorable month for Retailers to buy and browse through the opportunities [Source: as per the survey conducted by the research agency, Facts & Opinion].

Reed Exhibitions Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mandeep Singh added "We are 90% sold out in the month of April already with prominent players. Also, to pull buyers of various capacities we have special buyers proposition from the exhibitors only available in the 4 days of JCK New Delhi. We also have various campaigns running like Progressive Buyers CRM program to acknowledge leading buyers per city on certain parameters gaining popularity, along with Foot Soldier activity encompassing 9 cities ensuring penetration and high visitor registrations. This should ensure right crowd in right number at the show."

Various facilitation initiatives have been taken like recognizing preferred Airlines by negotiating rates between the ranges INR 499 to 999 from various sectors to Delhi, launching Key to business in India for international participants, doing a Travel Guide for all participants, online meeting scheduling facility for visitors, and so on!

JCK New Delhi 2008 is building to be a complete solution to all the buyer's needs from loose stones to a fine jewelry, from technology to packaging. The show promises to be a comprehensive showcase of ideas and concepts delivering an experience to its visitors!

Why all the hoopla over that curious copper color?

And why is Oregon Sunstone Labradorite so very, very special?

It is my experience that you can tell how well a student understands the subject being taught based on the questions they ask. And given the questions that we are receiving about the Oregon Sunstone Labradorite issues, I can tell that there are a lot of people who really don’t understand exactly how all of this plays out regarding copper and the feldspars. So I thought that this week we would take a look at this curious copper color and why there is so much hoopla over the issues.

First, let’s take a look at the most simple type of copper coloration in a gemstone. At left you see native copper, the metal that U.S. pennies and water pipes world wide are made from. This is what it looks like coming out of the ground. But if you take a close look at the image (as well as the banner image at the top of the page) you will see some green color patches forming on our native copper. This is oxidation.



The mixing of the copper with oxygen causes the copper to expand and get all bubbly due to the oxidation as you can see in the image at right. When copper oxidizes it turns green and eventually bluish green in color, and forms what appears to be the bubble formations known as botryoidal formation that we see in malachite. And the image at right is indeed malachite, an oxidation of copper as we saw above that can be cut and polished into the beautiful gemstone that you see below.



But this is a very common gemstone formed by the actual copper itself. Much the same as azurite and turquoise are both combinations of copper and other elements forming into a single massive formation.

But what about the Oregon Sunstone Labradorite? What makes it so rare and different? Well, in the Oregon formations the copper is not a prime ingredient of the feldspar, but instead an inclusion. An impurity. So rather than the copper forming the gemstone, it is the cause of the color in the gemstone, and by virtually all of the textbooks it is effectively the only place on earth you can find copper as a coloring element in labradorite feldspar. And not only that, the result of the copper in the Oregon Labradorite formations produces gemstones that are unique in the world of gemology.



At left you see a slide show of increasing magnification where the copper grains inside the Oregon Sunstone Labradorite create the shiller effect, and as you increase the magnification you can actually see the minute grains of copper inside this Oregon Sunstone Labradorite.

But it gets better. In an exceptionally rare occurrence, the copper is extremely small in the feldspar and rather than occurring as a shiller effect in the stone as we saw at left, it actually imparts a remarkably beautiful solid red and/or green color to the labradorite. Why two colors? This is because copper has what is called multiple valences. Meaning that it can form more than one type of bond with other elements to form different types of molecules. Sort of like when you hold both hands with one person you form a group of two people. But when you hold one hand each with two other people, you form a group of three people. This is one of my now famous (or infamous to the science geeks) grass roots explanations to help you understand that just like you holding hands with one or two other people will create different types of groups, copper can do the same with other elements, which is how the Oregon Labradorite can offer the different colors due to different types of copper bonds. And I know that the techies will have fun with that one.

But in truth, this is very much how it works. And when it does it is not only beautiful, but quite rare and valuable. Below are photographs of the red and green rough, and a beautiful faceted Oregon Sunstone Labradorite from the Desert Sun Mining website.



So what we have is a very rare, very beautiful and very valuable gemstone that is native to Oregon in the United States . But there are many types of feldspar out there, and some gemstone dealers in places like Thailand and China know how to do some pretty creative stuff to make cheap gemstones look like expensive gemstone, and then pass them off for the real thing. So what if someone could take a cheaper and more plentiful form of feldspar such as an oligoclase (as seen below left), cook it up and infuse it with some form of copper to make it appear to be the far more rare and expensive Oregon Labradorite, even though it was not the Oregon material? (as seen below right).



It might look like the real Oregon Sunstone Labradorite. But it would actually be a much cheaper result of artificial color treatment of the stone, and would require that buyers be properly informed about the treatment to understand that they were not getting the real thing. But would the treaters do that? Or would they try to claim that they had found yet another very rare formation just like the Oregon Sunstone Labradorite, but in some far off place like the Congo , Mongolia , Tibet or other hard to reach spot. And if the Thailand or Chinese dealers did this, what might the story sound like, and how could we identify the treatment so we could separate it from the real Oregon Sunstone Labradorite? Maybe we could take a stone from the Congo and have a lapidary cut the ends off so we could transmit a light through it and see the infusion boundaries. Or perhaps run more Raman scans to get even better and more accurate results.



We are going to bring you the rest of this story next week. But for this first part I wanted to lay the foundation of this issue regarding the Oregon Sunstone Labradorite so you could understand the background to the issues. Next week we will finish the saga of this curious copper color in feldspar gemstones.

Robert James FGA, GG
President, International School of Gemology