0 AGL announces grading report alterations

New York--The American Gemological Laboratory (AGL) announced a number of alterations and additions to its operations at a recent meeting designed to put to rest any rumors that the lab is struggling. Held on Oct. 22 at the lab's headquarters in New York City's Diamond District and attended by the lab's entire six-member team, the meeting comes in the wake of an up-and-down year for the colored gemstone-grading laboratory.
The lab was shut down for a time earlier this year after former owner Collectors Universe, a public company, opted to exit the gem-grading business.

However, former AGL Vice President and Chief Gemologist Chris Smith, who now serves as president of the lab, acquired the operation and reopened the AGL on April 1.

Among the changes discussed during the brief meeting was the lab's decision to use the term "heating residue" instead of "flux-type enhancement" to identify the treatment done to rubies in which the stones are heated to modify color and heal fissures.

"It puts us more in line with the terminology other labs are using," Smith said during the meeting.

In addition, the AGL has developed the term "composite ruby" to distinguish lead glass-treated rubies from regular heated rubies.

Also discussed at the meeting was the lab's use of the word "although" when describing country of origin in its reports; for example, "although this stone exhibits characteristics of stones found in Burma, we believe it to be from Sri Lanka." From now on, according to the presentation given at the meeting, the lab's reports will only mention country of origin if it has sufficient evidence to determine origin; there will be no "although" mentions.

Smith explained in a later interview with National Jeweler that the purpose of the changes is to make the lab's reports as understandable as possible.

"Any aspect of our report--could be identification, or enhancement, or treatment or grading--we're in the process of refining the terminology we use to bring better clarity and reduce confusion," he said.

The AGL will update reports to reflect these changes at no cost for any certificates issued since the lab's re-privatization on April 1.

In addition, the AGL announced during the meeting that:

• It has acquired the rights to JewelFolio, the high-end, hardbound reports issued for stones such as Colombian emeralds and Kashmir sapphires once trademarked by the now-shuttered American Gem Trade Association Gemological Testing Center.
• In increasing its collaboration with the Tanzanite Foundation (TF), the AGL has finalized an agreement to include the TF color-grading information on all of its tanzanite reports.
• It has acquired a Renishaw Raman spectrometer and additional portable analytical equipment to further support laboratory and identification services.
• The AGL held its first off-premise testing (OPT) in Hong Kong this past September and plans to hold OPT sessions in Thailand and Sri Lanka in the next several months and in Tucson and Las Vegas during the gem and jewelry shows next year.

ABOUT: American Gemological Laboratories