A few weeks before the 2019 CIBJO Congress in Manama, Bahrain, on November 18, 2019,
CIBJO has released its Coloured Stone Special Report, the fifth of reports that will form the basis for discussions within the different sectors at the meeting.

The report, prepared by the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission, headed by Charles Abouchar, looks at opportunities provided by new technologies, and also at the vexing issue of gemstone variety names being used for marketing purposes, with few if any agreed to gemmological standards.

The report states, “One would surmise that, with the pace of technological advancement today, the challenges facing the coloured gemstone sector would be lessening in number.” It, however points out that on the contrary, and as “we discover time and time again, both technology and human ingenuity have a tendency to create new challenges and transform old ones”.

Stressing that CIBJO is committed to instilling ethical business practices through using technology to reach in ways that once were not possible, Abouchar urges the industry to utilise two landmark guides – the “Do’s and Don’ts,” which provides easy-to-understand guidelines for industry professionals about the rules and methods for the accurate disclosure and description of natural materials, treated materials and artificial products, as well as recommendations about information that should be requested from suppliers; and the CIBJO Responsible Sourcing Blue Book, which recommends procedures by which all participants in the jewellery supply chain may undertake supply-chain due diligence. Both can be downloaded at no cost from the CIBJO website.

Describing unsubstantiated coloured gemstone variety names as the “biggest challenge our trade is facing right now,” the head of the Coloured Stone Commission notes that there are numerous instances of the same descriptive names being assigned according to different standards, each time in accordance with the individual guidelines of various gemmological laboratories.

“Starting with more classical descriptive terms, like ‘pigeon blood’ and ‘royal blue,’ some laboratories began developing their own nomenclature, creating new descriptive names for a wide range of colours. Apparently, this is a mutually beneficial business strategy for both the laboratories and the dealers,” he writes.

Surmising that technology may eventually provide a solution to the problem, he says that it is nonetheless imperative that the industry act quickly before consumer confidence is compromised. CIBJO’s Coloured Stone Commission will work in close collaboration with the organisation’s Gemmological Commission to establish standards and parameters for variety names, he notes.