CURRENT CHALLENGES FOR THE GEMOLOGICAL ID ENTIFICATION AND QUALITY-GRADING OF GEM DIAMONDS

Much effort is currently underway to locate, mine, manufacture, and ma rket diamonds for retail jewelry purposes. However, both the stability and growth of this jewelry market rests in part upon two foundations: (1) the identification that the gemstone is in fact a natural, untrea ted diamond; and (2) the grading systems used to evaluate the quality of the diamond that are provided by various gem testing laboratories. Research efforts at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) are dir ected toward addressing the challenges posed by practical diamond iden tification and grading procedures. If unresolved by gemological resear ch, such challenges could affect the retail sales of gem diamonds, whi ch in turn can adversely influence diamond exploration, mining, manufa cturing, and marketing efforts.