the following list of national, regional and state associations includes the most up-to-date information jck had received as of press time. national associations accredited gemologists association. thom underwood, president, c/o san diego gemological lab, 3309 juanita st., san diego, ca 92105; (619) 286-1603, fax (619) 286-7541.

“diamond beads threaded as a necklace may be the ultimate in casual chic.” in a 1993 essay, dodie kazanjian, the irreverent former art and fashion critic for vogue, described a necklace “made out of old indian round diamonds strung on platinum wire, with nine very rare diamond briolettes hanging down from it like teardrops.

primetime alive on may 1, rutherford, n.j.-based utime co. officially became swiss primetime inc. the name change, announced by parent firm bhg group, confirms a philosophy change at the company, which in the past year ended its relationship with three brands it had distributed in north america. the new organization is owned by bhg group in partnership with charles r.

if the civil war had been fought with jewelry instead of guns, u.s. history might have been quite different. the deep south may no longer be known for its cotton crop, but after the 1998 jck retail design competition, there’s no doubt about its pool of talented jewelers! in fact, one of this year’s winners, jewelsmith of durham, n.

oroamerica launches brand name 14k jewelry clothes, watches, cars, food – almost every product category seems to be brand name-dominated these days. now, branding is coming to affordably priced gold jewelry. oroamerica inc., the largest u.s. manufacturer of gold rope chain, is launching its own branded 14k gold jewelry this month under the name “beverly hills gold.

russia, with de beers’ help, to develop huge diamond mine russia almost certainly will have a new world-class diamond mine within the next decade – and preliminary findings at another site indicate there might be two. de beers is significantly involved in both ventures. the new finds are in the archangel region in russia’s far north, close to the white sea, but within reason…

what’s a nice girl who used to work in catholic social services doing designing erotic jewelry? the answer spans a couple of decades, but it makes for a fascinating story. michele wiener grew up in a world of art and creativity – her father was renowned jeweler ed wiener and her mother, doris, was an asian art dealer.

part two: the world is full of noteworthy jewelry designers, but the work of some has already been pegged as future collectibles. part one of this report explored what elevates a piece of jewelry to collectible status. now jewelry historian elise misiorowski asks a panel of experts to predict whose jewelry will join the select.

mining disaster puts tanzanite on endangered list el niño monsoons destroyed mines and killed more than 100 miners in april in the gem areas of meralani, tanzania, threatening the supply of tanzanite over the next few months. at least a dozen tanzanite pits in an area called block b have been completely shut down.

desert pearls of scottsdale, ariz., sells cultured abalone mabés grown in north american waters. while the colors are not as dramatic as the new zealand natural and cultured mabés, current production continues to look promising, says raymond mason, president of dp. orient is the iridescent spectral colors seen coming from the surface as you rotate a pearl.

a young couple come into your store for the first time, seeking a baptismal gift for a niece. it’s great to make that sale. but it would be even better to see them again and again. you’d like your business to be the first one they visit as each birthday, anniversary, graduation and holiday approaches.

bvlgari, the italian international jewelry, luxury goods and fragrance firm, is the jewel in the crown building, on the southwest corner of new york’s fifth avenue and 57th street. across from bvlgari on opposite corners, tiffany & co. and van cleef & arpels, venerated jewelers to the rich and royal, cast raised eyebrows in the direction of the roman neighbor who moved into 730 fi…

as a luxury retailer, does it matter to you if the boom goes bust? instinct says “of course,” but going by recent economic history, perhaps it matters less than you think. remember the oct. 19, 1987, crash, when the stock market plunged 23%, wiping out a half trillion dollars in capital? “black monday” was an unnerving experience, all right, but the market fully rebounde…

store design profile: affordable panache client: “customers have to feel very comfortable when they come into our store,” says howard a. sherwood, co-president and owner of daniel’s jewelers, a 36-store chain in southern california. “our new design works almost like a vacuum cleaner raising their curiosity; and there’s no threshold they have to cross that makes the…

the movado group of lyndhurst, n.j., is opening three new stores this year and plans to add four more annually for the next several years. the shops feature jewelry collections, accessories and decorative objects for the home designed exclusively for movado, in addition to the company’s watches and a new line of clocks.

many dividing lines run across and through the jewelry industry. manufacturer. . . retailer. chain store. . . independent. importer. . . manufacturer. under 40. . . over 40. men. . . women. perhaps none is as little noticed as association member. . . non-association member. for a small industry, jewelry seems to have an extraordinary number of associations, well over 100 by conservative count.

a few years ago, a client chipped her diamond and needed a damage claim appraisal. i provided what appeared logical, namely an appraisal based on: i judged the amount of the client’s loss to be the difference in value between the two and added the cost of cutting, resetting and polishing. the insurer rejected the appraisal.

why put limits on buyers’ choices? frank dallahan (counterpoint, march 1998) is quite right when he says that a buyer would be foolish not to accept the right of return. but when a buyer has to commit all his or her open-to-buy only to those vendors who unconditionally grant the right of return, even of others’ merchandise, then indeed he or she is doing the company a great disservice.

your best customers, mr. and mrs. stone, come into your store, hoping to purchase emerald earrings to go with the five-carat emerald you sold them four years ago. the federal trade commission (ftc) tells us that consumers have the right to know about gem enhancement – and the list of enhancements that need to be disclosed is long.

radical changes are likely in the diamond market here and around the world in the years immediately ahead. there are new challenges to the traditional channels of distribution. powerful new consumer markets are emerging. marketable synthetic diamonds are not far off. since diamond jewelry accounts for about half of the industry’s u.

7966; www.fhusa.com. peter laetsch, president. founded in 1948 to promote swiss-made watches, the center is the u.s. office of the federation of the swiss watch industry, based in switzerland. it provides information and assistance on swiss-made watches and clocks to retailers, watchmakers, importers and the consumer.

get ready, america. jared is coming. sterling inc., the second largest retail jeweler in the united states, is projecting that “several hundred” of its superstores, “jared – the galleria of jewelry,” will open in 100 markets nationwide in the decade ahead. ten will open this year.

returns revisited several months ago i wrote about the growing volume of merchandise returns. it prompted a number of supporting responses from manufacturers, who told me they’re cracking down on excessive returns, particularly from major retailers. several will no longer accept carte blanche returns, and they say it’s working.