NEW YORK- March 26, 2008 – Specific comments on risks and requirements of enhancement disclosure are now available on video featuring Robin Spector of the Federal Trade Commission, Cecilia Gardner of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee and Christopher Smith of American Gemological Laboratories, Inc. as recorded at the Winter JA Show held in March in New York.
"Knowing that a gemstone has been treated is a material aspect of the product," commented Ms. Spector. "It is something that can affect a consumer's decision on whether to purchase it," she continued. The FTC Guidelines provide that it is "unfair or deceptive to fail to disclose a material aspect of a jewelry industry product." Ms. Gardner, Chief Executive Officer of the JVC, summarized the entire event by saying, "Disclosure of gemstone treatments in today's marketplace is going to become a vital part of the jewelry industry. What will not be positive for the industry is if a consumer buys a treated gemstone and does something to it that they were not warned about and then it changes in appearance entirely, they will have thought they were tricked and that they bought something that is not worth what they paid for it." Ms. Gardner continued by stating, "In my estimation, and I am always in favor of this, is disclose, disclose, disclose and do so in a positive manner that allows the consumer to feel very good about what it is that they purchased."
Mr. Smith described the many ways that gemstones are treated with a list of treatments including, dyeing, impregnation, chemical bleaching, combinations of all of these treatments, and further, surface coating and various clarity enhancements including organic materials such as oil, wax and polymers, along with inorganic materials such as glass, metals and oxides, and finally heating at both low and high temperatures, with and without chemicals for diffusion and irradiation with and without heating.
"When it comes to treatments, in particular, I think the most prolific treatment that is out there today in the industry is actually clarity enhancement," stated Mr. Smith. "Tourmalines are commonly clarity enhanced, alexandrites are commonly clarity enhanced, we see non-heated rubies that are commonly clarity enhanced, but this extends on to garnets, tanzanite, to quartz, we have seen it in virtually every gem variety you can think of," commented Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith also noted that many surface coatings to change, alter or modify color of gem materials are not very stable or permanent and often need special care, which under the FTC Guidelines would require disclosure. In addition, Mr. Smith explained that there was an increasing number of lead glass filled rubies in the marketplace which utilized the lead glass to not only enhance clarity but also to enrich the red color. He noted that in some cases, these lead glass filled rubies were more glass than ruby as the glass was used almost a "glue" to hold chunks of ruby together to form the stone. Clearly, Mr. Smith stated, this requires disclosure under the Guidelines.
The complete videos of each of the presentations of Ms. Spector, Ms. Gardner and Mr. Smith, along with the question and answer session, are available on the AGL website at www.aglgemlab.com and will soon be available on the website of JVC at www.jvclegal.org.
DVDs of the online videos, suitable for play in virtually any DVD player, are available from AGL by sending an email to schung@aglgemlab.com.
About American Gemological Laboratories
Founded in 1977 by C.R. "Cap" Beesley, American Gemological Laboratories (AGL) has been a pioneer as the first gemological laboratory to offer colored stone grading reports and comprehensive gemological origin reports. AGL is also the Official Colored Gemstone Laboratory of the JA Winter and Summer Shows and the JCK Las Vegas show, as well as the official North American Laboratory of ICA and the 2007 Platinum Sponsor of the ICA (International Colored Gemstone Association) World Congress in Dubai.
About Collectors Universe
Collectors Universe, Inc. is a leading provider of value added services to the high-value collectibles, diamond and colored gemstone markets, with the Company's common stock traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol CLCT. For the most recent fiscal year, CLCT authenticated and graded over 3 million items valued at just less than $2 billion.