The French Gem Connection:
Heres a quick summary of our 2016 annual  Gemmologists Conference. Our devoted Gem-A professor and Owner of Gem Lab of Marseille Agata Cristol, (far right) put on an excellent show! Thanking everyone for such a great day together!
So grateful for her organisation and time! From left to right: Alexander Eichler, Cecile Agu, Katherine Palthey, Bruno Cupillard, Thierry Pradat and Agata Cristol.

On Sunday December 11th, the Gem Lab of Marseille held their 5th annual Gemologists Conference at the Mercure Hotel in Marseille France. The Gem-A’s School Director, Agata Cristol offered an amazing opportunity to cooperate with Thierry Pradat of Gems-Plus and guest speakers: Alexandre Eichler, Katherine Palthey, Laurent Seneca and Bruno Cupillard.

The theme was centered on gem treatments and their impact on retail prices. Alexandre Eichler, FGA, Director of Gems River, specializes in sapphires, and has spent months in numerous sapphire mines this year confronted with both ‘old burn’ (traditional heating) and ‘new burn’ (heating with diffusion) treatments. He pointed out in detail the difference of both methods and the impact they have on today’s market prices.

Katherine Palthey, FGA, Gem Expert Consulting, presented Burmese lavender jadeite, and the origins of its color, Manganese in its chemical composition. Burmese lavender jadeite shows an absorption band at 437 nm and a large absorption near 580nm for manganese: the color treated jade and imitations proved to show another spectrum. After an intricate explanation on differentiating natural Jade A from treated Jade B and C, she announced her research results on over 50 jadeite pieces and shared her inside secrets on how to identify high quality jadeite.

Laurent Seneca, FGA lives between Colombia and Monaco and is dedicated to fine quality Colombian emeralds. Laurent explains how the past 20 years have seen an enormous increase in the use of synthetic epoxy resins to enhance emerald’s clarity. He sees an alarming rise in polymer resins such as Gematrat and Permasafe being used on Colombian emeralds and explained the long term implications of their treatments. In the Bogota market alone, he estimates up to 95% of the emeralds are being treated with hardened epoxy resins today.

Demonstration stations with microscopes were quite busy as guests rushed to see the latest in sapphire, jadeite and emerald treatments being introduced to the market this year. There was so much interest, Agata added an extra hour at the end of the day for our guests!  This was followed by our next speaker: the guest of Honor, Bruno Cupillard, FGA from Aventures Cristallines. Bruno is a successful mineral and gemstone photographer known for his unique and emotionally triggering views inside the gemstones. We were taken behind his camera to see his secret photographic techniques, and he generously shared his tips on diffused lighting, background settings and more. He shared a breathtaking video on his photos of scenes and natures beauty presented in inclusions such as Paesine – a limestone that has split and shifted to create a scenic landscape… we were all mesmerized!

Hotel Mercure served us their lovely French cuisine, and after digesting our expresso’s, we jumped in to the annual gemology tournament. Organized by Thierry Pradat of Gems-Plus, we were each passed 40 different gemstones and with one minute and just the loupe, we had to identify with precision all the material. The ambiance was relaxed and lots of laughter was bouncing off the walls, but all eyes were on the loupes. Thierry Pradat is one of Frances largest gemstone dealers and his site Gem-Plus is a true reference point for professional jewelers, designers and avid collectors. Thierry generously offered an amazing Rhodolite Garnet for the winner who was no other than our Guest speaker Bruno Cupillard!

Agata Cristol took another minute while waving the Gem Guide in order to remind all of us to be  cautious while classifying treatments on certificates and disclosing them to all customers. The overall atmosphere during discussion was aimed at seeking international agreements on classifying treatments within these materials, and to improve our commitment to ethical mining issues such as dynamiting the beautiful mountains in Colombia.

Follow this link to see Gem-A's article published December 2016:
https://gem-a.com/component/k2/news/the-french-gem-connection

Here are a few more pictures from the Conference: enjoy! Thank you for looking!