Gemstone Passports: The Origin Story of a Precious Stone
As the importance of ethical sourcing increases, ethical origin, and supply chain can make a big difference to a gemstone’s value in the market. GIA’s initiative to educate consumers and sellers alike about understanding the origin of a gemstone is a huge step towards making ethical jewellery purchases easier than ever before.
Image Source: Visual Research
The sparkling ruby that adorns your finger; or the emeralds in your heirloom necklace, where did these gems come from? Did the miner who extracted it get their due? What impact did it have on the ecosystems of the surrounding area? As consumers become increasingly aware of a single diamond extraction’s impact on the environment and the people who work in mines, traceability has become an increasingly important factor in determining whether a conscious consumer would prefer that stone or not. GIA’s Gemstone seminars are a gateway for everyone involved in the process of making, selling, and buying diamond and gemstone jewellery to know their jewels better.
Image Source: National Jeweler
A GIA Alumni Collective Initiative
The GIA Alumni Collective has started multiple programs for industry experts and gem lovers alike to get to know more about their gems. It has seminars for understanding the origin of every gem ranging from rubies to sapphires. These courses, as the website says, ‘are passports to learning the fundamentals of how gemstone origins are determined in a laboratory.’ It helps one understand the complex nature of determining a stone’s origin and how that plays a significant role in a gemstone’s value. More so in today’s market where sustainability is a crucial component impacting a consumer’s buying decisions. This course is also a huge step in establishing a system for marking traceability, just like the ones we have for purity. In fact, authentic origin determination is already considered an important factor in determining the value of a gemstone, alongside shape, colour, and size. The value of a coloured stone can increase pronouncedly depending on its country of origin. These courses provide essential knowledge to sellers about the value of a gemstone and instill a sense of confidence in buyers during their conscious buying journey.
Image Source: National Jeweler
Helping Customers Buy Truly Ethical Gemstones
Jewellery featuring any precious stone is a symbol of a person’s happiest moments. It’s something that they’ll cherish for life and pass down as heirlooms tied with deep sentimental values. Now, today’s conscious consumer wouldn’t want something riddled with ethical concerns to feature in their happy memories. As the term ‘blood diamonds’ became popular in the 90s, people got increasingly aware of the impact of mining on a miner’s life in African countries, the lack of safety measures, and the prolonged impact on the surrounding environment, transparency in the origin and methods of extraction of gems and diamonds became a popular demand among consumers.
Answering The Call For Transparency
Now this initiative by GIA is tailor made to answer the call for transparency on the origin of gemstones. It also helps sellers cater to the need for gemstones with traceable origins with their new-found knowledge of which countries produce ethical gemstones. It also teaches you how to determine the origin of the gemstone you possess and figure out whether it’s ethical or not, and give the said stone a value based on its ethical origins. Although a gemstone passport is not just restricted to origin, it stretches to various levels in a supply chain as well and seeks to question whether everyone involved in the process gets their due or not. Also, as identification methods have become more advanced, there is a constant need for retailers and wholesalers alike to keep upskilling themselves to manage new data and present it effectively. For retailers, this is important so they can answer consumer questions about all aspects of a gemstone accurately. Wholesalers need to know the origin of a gemstone as they need to answer how that might affect the availability, value, and quality of a gemstone.
Image Source: National Jeweler
The Chance To Grow Awareness On Ethical Jewellery
The gemstone passport initiative will not only be important for takers of ethical jewellery but also for spreading awareness among consumers about ethical sourcing and the impact the simple knowledge of where your sparkling purchase comes from can have on the environment, and the improvement each conscious purchase can bring to mining systems around the world. As sourcing gets weightage in deciding the value of a gemstone and consumers are made aware of it by an official marker, they would definitely give more importance to the same whenever they decide to buy gemstones or jewellery. This also gives indirect support to the ethical jewellery market.
Increasing Gemstone’s Story-based Value
Knowing the source and journey of a gemstone gives it a story, making it more appealing to the modern consumer seeking something that has sentimental value and helps them stand apart from their peers. This makes origin a central aspect of the brand and story value of fine jewellery. People would like to know which country and mine their precious gemstone came from and what was the journey of the stone before it ended up in their jewellery box. The region- the geography, the history, and aspects of the culture give a vibrant and memorable background to a gemstone. Now, it’s only reasonable that a cherished heirloom’s story starts from its inception instead of the time of its purchase. A story that features in the happy moments of everyone involved in the process not just consumers and retailers, helps the gemstone take a place of pride in a wardrobe for generations to come.
The GIA seminars on understanding the origin of diamonds might give way to actual gemstone passports in the future, an official document that authenticates a gemstone’s origin and becomes an important point of consideration while procuring gemstones. Until then, all the stakeholders of jewellery can give ethical sourcing the much-needed push by participating in such seminars and workshops and doing their research before buying jewellery. The increasing volume and importance of research and the vast impact it can make on people and the environment is testimony to the difference slow and conscious purchases can make.