The Crystal Gazette Vol 51 # 12 December 2012 STONE OF THE MONTH (modern) Tanzanite Tanzanite Cut Tanzanite Rough Eye Visible Pleochroism Unheated Tanzanite Notices and Phone Nos Management Committee Meeting: AGM 15th Feb 2013, AGM Club rooms, 19 4 th Ave, St Peters, 7pm Start President: Sue Arthur, FGAA,Dip DT,Cert IV T&A, M 0422 609 989 Secretary: Sandra Pimlott, FGAA, Dip DT Ph 8223 2362 Treasurer: Don Bennett B.E. FGAA Ph 8296 1666 Education: Tanya Cerny FGAA M 0401 213 835 Lise Jensen FGAA M 0428 363 698
The Crystal Gazette Is Going Online!! From July, the Crystal Gazette will be on the GAA website in printable PDF format. You can also have your Crystal Gazette emailed to you in PDF format, rather than mailed to you in hard copy. If you would prefer a paper hard copy sent out to you, rather than in email format, please email your preference to Tanya Cerny at tanya@australianpublications.com Queen of Kilimanjaro The world's largest faceted tanzanite is 737.81 carats. One of the most famous large tanzanites (242 carats) is the "Queen of Kilimanjaro". It is set in a tiara and accented with 803 brilliant cut tsavorite garnets and 913 brilliant cut diamonds. The piece is part of the private collection of Michael Scott, the first CEO of Apple Computers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tanzanite
Notes & Reminders TO REGISTER for any GAA course PLEASE CONTACT: Education: Tanya Cerny FGAA,. M 0401 213 835 or Lise Jensen FGAA M 0428 363 698 or Secretary Sandra Pimlott 8223 2362, sandrapimlott676@hotmail.com Congratulations to all those students who passed Gem 2 and Diamond Technology. Also a big congratulations to all Gem 1 Students. See you next year! 2013 Courses Commencing dates Please note there has been a price increase in some courses. 1. Gemmology Diploma Gem1 February - $2950 M, $3450 NM 2. Gemmology Diploma Gem2- February - $2750 M, 3250 NM 3. Intro to Gemmology Jan 12 th & 19th, Apr, Aug, Nov- $295 4. Diploma Diamond Technology-March- $3250( Incl Dia Grading)* 5. Diamond Technology- $1750 6. Diamond Grading TBA-$1750* 7. Advanced Diamond Grading TBA-$750 8. Gemmology Update- $2750* 9. Retail Diamond Consultancy- TBA- $295 10. Pearl & Bead threading- TBA- $245 M $265 NM 11. Intro to Antique Jewellery- TBA-$275 *Course offered depending on numbers enrolling Note :- Prices given are members prices- Non-members please contact Secretary for prices ROOMS ATTENDANCE AND VOLUNTEERS The lab will be closed during the Christmas period. It will be closed from the 21 st Dec 2012, opening up again on the 25 th Jan, 2013. Membership Fees for 2013 are due. The price for 2013 is $185. Can you please forward this to our treasurer, Don Bennet. It would be greatly appreciated if they can be paid by 1 st January, 2013. Monthly Meetings: No Friday nigfht meeting in December. Everyone is off on holidays or eating leftovers. Merry Christmas from The GAA Committee Members 3
Thank You from The Education Officers. We would like to thank everyone for their support this year. This was our first year in the role of Education Officers. We have learned a great deal along the way. A big thank you to all the students and their patience with us. The Diploma is very challenging, but certainly can open open a whole new world. For those who are going into Gem 2 in 2013, Good Luck and for those who have completed Gem 2 in 2012, Congratulations. We would like to give a special thank you to Vicki Cafarella, for her help and support throughout the year. Vicki was the outgoing Education Officer, who has helped us sift through the relevant information, to make the transition as smooth as possible. She was always there to give us helpful tips on how things should be done. We could not have done the role either with out the support of both Sue Arthur and Sandra Pimlott. These two ladies, our President and Secretary, spend many hours in the GAA labs. They have been behind us, guiding us in the right direction, letting us know what and when things need doing. Thank you to all the theory lecturers this year. Edward Vabolis who has almost single handedly lectured all of Gem 1 this year, with a few special appearances from Julie Gagliardi. We had quite a few lecturers for Gem 2. Each having an area of speciality and passion. Thank you to Vicki Cafarella, David Fennessy, Andris Kalnins, William Ashford, Paul Elliot, Harald Gallasch and Ann Hill. Gem 2 could not run without your passion to pass on your knowledge. Thank you to Sandra Pimlott and Sue Arthur, the Gem 1 and Gem 2 practical lecturers. They impart a wealth of knowledge onto the students. Diamond Technology was run this year for the first time since 2008. It was a small but intensive class. A big thank you to the lectures who shared the role, Sandra Pimlott and Angela Moore. We also ran a few short courses this year. Thank you to the specialist lecturers who helped us out there. Some local and some coming from interstate. Thank you to Vicki Cafarella who ran the Introduction to Gems and Gemmology a number of times, Bill Sechos (from Sydney) who ran Practical Diamond Grading and Advanced Diamond Grading, Katrina Marchioni (from Melbourne), who ran Retail Diamond Consultancy, Ian Strout who ran Introduction to Antique Jewellery and Jacky Hutchens who ran Pearl and Bead Threading. This year has certainly been a learning curve for both of us. 2012 saw the beginning of many changes in the structure of how the GAA will deliver it's courses. The GAA has been working very hard to achieve RTO status, which has now been granted. This of course means that starting in the near future, the Diploma in Gemmology will be an accredited course. This does not mean that students in the past who hold the non- accredited diploma hold a lesser qualification. The current and past diplomas are still recognised around the world as being of high quality and based on the scientific study of gemstones. The market place is changing though. The GAA has been working with the industry to help deliver a more relevant qualification. The new look diploma will still have a strong basis in the scientific study of gemmology, but will also have a few more industry based components. There is still a lot of work that needs to be completed before this new format will be delivered. A lot of work is being done on a federal level, along with a lot of help from the state divisions. All of this means there has been a lot of behind the scenes work to get our SA Division in line by i's dotted and t's crossed in preparation for the new format. Lastly, we would like to thank our Committee members. This group of passionate people, all volunteers, meet once a month to discuss how to help the SA Division move forward and remain relevant. We look forward to 2013 and hopefully seeing some more social events to bring like minded people with a passion in gemmology together. We both look forward to working with the GAA and meeting more present and future members and students. Regards, Lise Jensen and Tanya Cerny 4
Gem Of The Month Tanzanite Ruby in Green Zoizite Tanzanite is the blue/purple variety of the mineral zoisite (a calcium aluminium hydroxysilicate) which was discovered in the Mererani Hills of Northern Tanzania in 1967, near the city of Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro. Tanzanite is noted for its remarkably strong trichroism, appearing alternately sapphire blue, violet and burgundy depending on crystal orientation. Tanzanite can also appear differently when viewed under alternate lighting conditions. The blues appear more evident when subjected to fluorescent light and the violet hues can be seen readily when viewed under incandescent illumination. Tanzanite in its rough state is usually a reddish brown color. It requires artificial heat treatment to 600 C in a gemological oven to bring out the blue violet of the stone. Tanzanite is a rare gem. It is found only in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. Commercial history Manuel de Souza, found transparent fragments of vivid blue and blue-purple gem crystals on a ridge near Mererani, some 40 km southeast of Arusha. He decided that the mineral was peridot but quickly realized that it was not. Shortly thereafter, D'Souza showed the stones to John Saul, a Nairobi-based consulting geologist. Saul, with a Ph.D. From M.I.T., sent samples to his father, in New York. Hyman Saul brought the samples to the Gemological Institute of America who correctly identified the new gem as a variety of the mineral zoisite. Officially called "blue zoisite" it was marketed as tanzanite by Tiffany & Co., who wanted to capitalize on the rarity of the gem. Recent developments In June 2003, the Tanzanian government introduced legislation banning the export of unprocessed tanzanite. The ban has been rationalized as an attempt to spur development of local processing facilities, thereby boosting the economy and recouping profits. In April 2005, a company called TanzaniteOne Ltd. publicly announced that they had taken control of the portion of the tanzanite deposit known as "C-Block" (the main deposit is divided into five blocks). Prices for rough material on the open market have increased steadily as the company has solidified its control of the market. In August 2005, the largest-ever tanzanite crystal was found in the C-Block mine. The crystal weighs 16,839 carats (3.4 kg). The mining of tanzanite nets the Tanzanian government approximately US$20 million annually. The finished gems are sold mostly on the US market: sales total approximately US$500 million annually. Factors affecting value: grading TanzaniteOne, a major commercial player in the tanzanite market, through its no-profit subsidiary, The Tanzanite Foundation, has introduced its own colorgrading system. The new system's color-grading scales divide tanzanite colors into a range of hues, between blue violet and violet blue. The normal primary and secondary hues in tanzanite are blue and purple. Tanzanite is a trichroic gemstone, meaning that light that enters the stone is divided into three sections, each containing a portion of the visible spectrum. After heating, tanzanite becomes dichroic. The dichroic colors are purple and blue. The hue range of tanzanite is blue-purple to purple-blue. Heat treatment Excepting stones found close to the surface in the early days of the discovery, Tanzanite is universally heat treated to produce a range of hues between bluish-violet to violetishblue. Since heat treatment is universal, it has no effect on price, and finished gems are assumed to be heat-treated. Tanzanite is sometimes found in other colors, such as green, although technically it would be called 'greenzoisite'. Tanzanite may be subjected to other forms of treatment as well. Recently coated Tanzanites were discovered and tested by the AGTA and AGL laboratories. A thin layer of coatings was applied to improve the color of the Tanzanite. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tanzanite 5
The GAA would like to extend it's Deepest Sympathies to William Ashford FGAA, who suddenly and tragically lost one of his brothers earlier this month. Regards, The GAA Industry Analysis: Archduke Diamond Sets Price Record Elizabeth Taylor, move over for Archduke Joseph. The 76.02 ct type IIa, Golcanda diamond, which belonged to the Archduke of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, brought $21.5 million Nov. 13 at Christie s Geneva auction. The diamond, a GIA-graded diamond D-If, achieved a record per-carat price of $282,545. Elizabeth Taylor s diamond, which sold last December, brought $265,697 per carat. The buyer of the famed Archduke diamond wished to remain anonymous. The history of the Archduke diamond is obscure, but it is believed to have come from India s Golcanda mine, which produced many legendary diamonds before the 19th Century. Golcanda was a major source of Type IIa diamonds that are often more limpid than Type I stones, which contain trace amounts of nitrogen, a yellowing agent. The following day, Laurence Graff paid nearly $11 million at Sotheby's for a 10.48 ct Fancy Deep blue briolette cut diamond, also graded by GIA. The Christie s auction had 19 lots that drew bids topping $1 million. They included a 3.33 ct. fancy intense blue GIA-graded diamond that a European dealer bought for $2.47 million and a pair of Burmese ruby ear pendants (7.94 and 7.22 cts) set by Bulgari, that brought $2.1 million from an American dealer. In addition, a British jeweler purchased a 60.44 ct Ceylon sapphire for $1.86 million. http://e2.ma/webview/uyuid/0809c53743aff3c3de18f03b86c08819#industry Hi All, A Quick Thank You Message from our Secretary A big thank you to all who attended the quiz night. It was most enjoyable and as always became very competitive very quickly. A huge thank you to Ivana for organising, and for her generous donations. To all who donated goods for the silent auction thank you. Another big thank you to Ottaways Jewellers,Gerard McCabe Jewellers and Scott Langford for their donations for the raffle and auction items. Waiting for final figures from treasurer but I believe we raised over $1200.00 towards the cost of the stall with JAA for next years expo. Many thanks to all. Regards Sandra 6
Spend A Minute With Your Council Members... Ron is our current Librarian, but has also held other positions such as President and Vice President. He completed his Diploma in Gemmology in 1983, 1, What is it about gemmology that you love and what first attracted you to gemmology? The challenge of identifying unknown gemstones. It was a natural progression from being a member of AGMC, collecting minerals and fossiking. 2, What is your favourite gemstone or mineral? Why? Aquamarine, because of the almost perfect symmetry of some crystals. I also love organics, some of which were ancient forms of jewellery. 3, How long have you been a member of the GAA? 30 years 4, What is the best advice you have ever been given? Never stand in front of a moving tram 5, What is your favourite book/song? That's a hard one! 'The Demon Haunted World 'by Carl Sagan or any books on antiques! 'Imagine' by John Lennon 6, Where was you favourite holiday, or where would you love to visit? Norfolk Broads, Egypt. 7, What is your earliest memory? Chewing the varnish off my cot rail when I was two. 8, If you could invite 3 people over for dinner, who would they be? David Attenborough, Eric Morecambe, Spike Milligan Thank You All Lecturers! Thank You to all those people who have put their hand up to lecture both Gem 1 and Gem 2 during 2012. Of course, you are all invited to lecture again in 2013. Over the break period, the roster will be set for 2013. If you have a particular topic you would like to teach, please feel free to let the Education Officers know. If you have not lectured the course before, but have a particular interest in a gemstone that is within our curriculum, and would like to try you hand at lecturing, please don't hesitate to contact the Education officers. We will be having an Orientation evening for the Diploma in Gemmology in the labs on the 21 st January at 7.30pm. If you are interested in doing the course or know of someone who is, please feel free to come along. We are currently taking enrolments for Gem 1 of the Diploma in Gemmology. 7
Proxy Voting Form FOR THE AGM OF THE GEMMOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA SOUTH AUSTRALIAN DIVISION INC. I hereby appoint... to be my Proxy at the Annual General Meeting of the Gemmological Association of Australian Division on Friday 15 th February 2013 at 8.00pm Signed... [Please hand proxy votes to the Honorary Secretary at least one Hour before the start of the AGM] NOMINATION FORM FOR OFFICE BEARERS 2013 NAME POSITION PROPOSER SECONDER SIGNATURE OF NOMINEE Nomination forms are to be posted or handed to the President to reach her one hour before the start of the Annual General Meeting. Members wishing to stand for office must be financial Members of the Association. Subscriptions for 2013 is $185. Please ensure this is paid before voting. 8
In Case You Were Wondering What The GAA Has Been Up To in 2012... The SA Division of the GAA has been quite busy during 2012. As always, we have been trying to get the good name of the GAA out into the public. We had representatives at various event s during the year, like the Adelaide Gem and Mineral Show and Body Mind Spirit Expo. We have been actively trying to work more closely with the JAA, to forge closer ties. We were invited to attend the JAA Trade Night and JAA Christmas Party. Another event were we were represented was at a WIMnet (Women in Mining Network) function. As mentioned in the article on page 4, the GAA has been working very hard to get our courses Government Accredited. The GAA has been accepted as an RTO (registered training organisation), where one by one, the nationally run courses will be updated to meet certain requirements. So far, Practical Diamond Grading is the first course that has been accredited. It has been run in the accredited format in late 2012 already. The next course to be accredited will be the Diploma in Gemmology. A lot of work by some dedicated people is being done on this. For those who have done it, know it is a pretty hard and intensive course. But is well overdue for an overhaul. Watch this space for updates on how that is going. We had a series of very exciting lectures on our Friday Night General Meetings. We would like to thank those speakers. Thanks to Scott Langford who gave us a live demonstration on lapidary, Anthony Ried who gave a lecture on using zircons for dating, Lee Chapman who gave us a lecture on gold, the fantastic tour of the SA Museum mineral collection thanks to Alan Pring, Ben McHenry and Joel Brugger and Anna Griffin who spoke to us about De Beers. We have more exciting lectures planned for 2013. If anyone has any ideas on what they might want to hear about or indeed if anyone would like to volunteer to give our lecture, please let us know. We hosted the ever popular Quiz Night which was a combined event with our Christmas Party. Students past and present battled it out to see who knew the most random information. For 2013, we are planning on doing more social events, where our members are able to mingle with people who share the same passion. The GAA is also going to be sharing a booth with the JAA at the Skillex Careers Expo in 2013. This should be an exciting event as well as get our name out there. A big thank you to all the lecturers who have helped out with lecturing this year. We can't do this without you. If anyone is interested in trying their hand at lecturing in 2013, please don't hesitate to contact us. As always, the GAA offices have been open on Fridays between 10am-2pm. Thanks to all those volunteers throughout the year who have come in and helped out. This has been invaluable as many Jewellers come in to get gem tested. It is also a great opportunity for prospective students to come in and view the lab. We would also like to thank our sponsors and businesses who advertise in the Crystal Gazette. The GAA is here for you, but we need your feedback to know what you want out of the association. 9
Sixty Fifth Annual General Meeting Agenda for Friday the 15 th of February 2013, at the AGMC Rooms, 19 4 th Ave St Peters. 7pm Meeting Preliminaries including payment of subscriptions and finalising of nominations and proxies for AGM. 8.00pm Annual General Meeting- Business Agenda 1. Confirmation of minutes of the Sixty Third Annual General Meeting 2. To receive the Annual Report and Balance sheet for the period ending 31 st December 2012 3. Elect a President. 4. Elect a Vice President. 5. Elect an Honorary Secretary 6. Elect an Honorary Treasurer. 7. Elect an Honorary Minutes Secretary. 8. Elect an Honorary State Branch Editor. 9. Elect Honorary Education Officers. 10. Elect an Honorary Federal & Constitutional Officer & State Division Representative to the GAA. 11. Elect an Honorary Social Secretary 12. Elect an Honorary Librarian. 13. Elect an Honorary Program Officer 14. Elect an Honorary Membership Officer 15. Elect such number of councillors to bring the number of elected to Council to a maximum of 17. 16. Elect an Honorary South Australian Agent for Auditor. 17. Elect two delegates to the Federal Council and Conference 18. To transact any other business of which due notice has been given Reminder: In order to vote or nominate at the AGM, members must be financial. Proxy and Nomination Forms are on Page 8 10
TERACAST Diamond Merchants T 08 8223 1123 F 08 8227 1050 Suite 403, 38 Gawler Place Adelaide SA 5000 www.teracast.com.au louise@teracast.com.au Contact Louise *Star of Lanka 393 Carats* The Star of Sri Lanka has the reputation of being the third largest star sapphire of similar quality in existence. This splendid phenomenal gemstone is a rich deep blue in colour and has a well-defined six rayed star. It is another sensational discovery in the gem mining history of Sri Lanka. This exquisite gemstone is owned by the Sri Lanka National Gem & Jewellery Authority. * Ray of Treasure 105 Carats* An exquisite Chrysoberyl Cat's Eye of 105 carats, recently mined in the gem gravels of Sri Lanka. It displays the most desirable qualities of a 'Milk and Honey' effect, good transparency and a well-defined silver ray. While being a nearly flawless specimen, its cut and proportions are excellent. This splendid Cat's Eye forms a part of the gem collection of Sri Lanka National Gem & Jewellery Authority.