GIA Launches Redesigned Website and Gem Reports

GIA Launches Redesigned Website and Gem Reports

Public benefit institute upgrades online services and information

In mid-March, trusted information on gems and jewelry will be available in a content rich format with the re-launch of GIA’s (Gemological Institute of America) website and the Institute’s introduction of a revised format for its global-standard gem grading and identification reports.

Featuring photography from GIA’s unparalleled collection of historic and contemporary images of gems and jewelry, the site will deliver timely and engaging information for visitors of every interest level. Laboratory clients will have secure online access to their GIA identification and grading reports with the enhanced GIA Report Check service. Prospective students will be able to easily find in-depth information about GIA’s globally-recognized diploma programs in gemology, and jewelry design and manufacturing.

Later in the spring GIA will add an exciting collection of gemological information. The public, students, scientists and industry professionals will have ready access to information and insights drawn from more than 80 years of research, study and education, including the latest news from GIA’s research department and the archive of Gems & Gemology, the Institute’s award-winning, peer-reviewed professional journal.

“We are excited to share what we have learned and developed in GIA’s eight decades of public service in this new and engaging way,” said Donna Baker, GIA’s president and CEO. “These advances are the next steps in our continuous effort to serve the global public by bringing the fascinating world of gems, gemology and jewelry to people all around the world and helping to ensure their trust in gems and jewelry.”

Beginning March 15, GIA will issue its gem identification and grading reports in a revised format. The reports will continue to be based on GIA’s rigorous, research-based standards for gem identification and grading. The new format will consume less paper and other materials, and offer enhanced security features, including a unique and durable proprietary paper, that exceed document security industry guidelines.

QR codes printed on each report will verify the document’s authenticity through direct access to GIA’s online Report Check service that now includes all GIA grading and identification reports. There is also a new, streamlined process for consumers and occasional laboratory clients to submit gems for grading and identification services.

“The revised format GIA Diamond Grading Report is half the weight of the previous version, which will reduce storage and postage costs for our clients and further increase the overall efficiency of the Institute’s grading and identification services,” said Tom Moses, GIA’s senior vice president of laboratory and research.

GIA will offer no-cost reissues for reports issued on or after July 1, 2012. Reissues of reports dated Jan. 1, 2012, to June 30, 2012, will be available for a nominal fee. The previous reports must be returned to GIA before any reissues can be processed. Laboratory clients may check GIA.edu or contact their GIA client service representatives for further information.

Revised format of GIA’s Diamond Grading Report.

About GIA

An independent nonprofit organization, GIA (Gemological Institute of America), established in 1931, is recognized as the world’s foremost authority in gemology. GIA invented the famous 4Cs of Color, Cut, Clarity and Carat Weight in the early 1950s and in 1953, created the International Diamond Grading System™ which, today, is recognized by virtually every professional jeweler in the world.

Through research, education, gemological laboratory services, and instrument development, the Institute is dedicated to ensuring the public trust in gems and jewelry by upholding the highest standards of integrity, academics, science, and professionalism. Visit www.gia.edu. 

AGS Labs Wholly & Completely Owned By The Society

A large group of the Press present here at the JCK Show in Las Vegas attended a big reveal yesterday. 


Invited by the American Gem Society we all waited noisily for the announcement.  Ruth Batson, AGS Executive Director and CEO, quietly took the stage to announce that the American Gem Society (AGS), has acquired the remaining forty-nine percent (49%) interest of American Gem Society Laboratories (AGS Labs) that it does not currently own, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of the AGS. AGS previously held a fifty-one percent (51%) majority stake in AGS Labs since its formation in 1996.


A little bit of history may help you realize the importance of this move and the effect of the AGS Lab on the Diamond Industry...in particular in the area of recognizing the influence of CUT!



AGS Labs was created more than 15 years ago when the Society recognized the diamond world (suppliers, retailers and consumers) would benefit from a laboratory held to a higher standard of diamond grading. With that in mind, AGS and private industry investors founded AGS Labs to ensure consistent diamond grading reports that specialized in the Cut Grade.


The Society knew its cut grading system would change the world of diamond cutting, giving the consumer a more beautiful product, and providing the AGS retailer with an important tool that would help build value in their service.


In a nutshell, the AGS had what no one else had: a standard for grading cut on a round brilliant diamond. More than15 years later, AGS Labs is still the recognized leader for the Cut Grade.


“While AGS needed private investors to launch AGS Labs, the original intent was to always have it be a wholly-owned subsidiary,” said Ruth Batson, AGS Executive Director and CEO.  “The buyout benefits the AGS members and the AGS Lab’s clients allowing the combined forces to work more closely together to better service the customers of the Labs and the members of the AGS. AGS Labs will continue to have its own board of directors and will keep its focus on consumer protection.”



“When our AGS committee; made up of myself, Mark Moeller, Andy Meyer and Bob Speisman, made the recommendation that AGS open a Diamond Grading Lab taking advantage of its strength of having a standard for Cut Grading diamonds, we all knew that we had a pretty solid idea that we could sell to jewelry industry investors that would help AGS deliver on its mission of protecting the consumer,” said Clayton Bromberg, Managing Member of the AGS Lab Investors and President, Underwood Jewelers, Inc. “What none of us knew then was that what the Lab did was going to change the world of diamond cutting for the better, not just for the consumer but also for the diamond cutting trade and the honest, ethical retail jeweler. The day has come when AGS now owns the Labs, wholly buying the investors out and we all look forward to watching both AGS and the AGS Labs continue to soar.”

Incoming President of the Board for AGS, David Gardner referred to the group of supporter/investors that got the AGS Lab up and running as "...the most visionary, risk taking group of individuals in the history of the AGS!"

“I want to thank the AGS Lab Board of Managers and the investors for their forward thinking, which helped put the Lab on the map,” said David Gardner, of David Gardner’s Jewelers, and President of the AGS Board of Directors. “We’ve had an incredible past; here’s to an even more incredible future!”


Gardner also took a moment to recognize the diligent efforts of out-going President of the Board of Directors, Cathy Calhoun who was present for the announcement!


About American Gem Society
The American Gem Society, founded in 1934 by Robert M. Shipley, is a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to proven ethics, knowledge, and consumer protection within the jewelry industry. The American Gem Society is a professional organization awarding credentials for its members, who are held to the highest ethical and professional standards in the industry and must pass annual recertification examinations to maintain their titles. Less than five percent of jewelers in the country have met the exacting requirements necessary for membership. 


For more information regarding the American Gem Society, please call 866.805.6500, or visit 
www.AmericanGemSociety.org.

About AGS Laboratories
The AGS Laboratories, established in 1996, is committed to protecting the consumer by providing unbiased reports based on the highest standards of diamond grading. Well-known for its famous cut grade technology, the American Gem Society Lab offers the premier scientific, peer reviewed, and repeatable diamond grading methodology for the jewelry industry.


For more information on the AGS Performance-Based cut grade system, or any of the AGS Laboratories’ products and services, please visit www.agslab.com or email support@agslab.com.

GIA Unveils Gem Project Based on the Edward J. Gübelin Collection

New online resource provides easy access to colored stone data

CARLSBAD, Calif. – March 4, 2010 – The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) recently launched the Gem Project. Comprised of data collected from gemstones in the Edward J. Gübelin collection, which the Institute acquired in 2005, the online resource includes a photo, description and gemological properties for each sample.

The GIA Gem Project is free to the trade and public at any time from anywhere in the world. The gemological information on these gemstones is also available in PDF format.

For the complete article see the GIA Website here.