Vancouver: With about a week to go until the 4th Mediterranean Gemmological and Jewellery Conference (MGJC) kicks off on May 18 in Budva, Montenegro, the excitement and anticipation toward the event is building.
“Organizing a gemmological conference is a challenge in many ways,” said George Spyromilios, Director of the Independent Gemological Laboratory Hellas (IGL), of Athens, Greece, and a conference co-organizer since the event’s inception. “We believe, however that we will be striking the right chords and perform in the correct pitch with the slated presentations and our planned workshops!”
More than 70 conference participants from 25 countries – a record – have registered for the half-day workshops on diamonds and coloured gemstones that will be lead and moderated by internationally renowned gemmologists and experts, such as Dr Yuri Shelementiev, managing director of the Gemmological Centre at Moscow State University; Alberto Scarani (GG), of Rome , Italy, a principal of M&A Gemological Instruments, a company specialising in the manufacture of advanced gemmological instruments; Antoinette Matlins, PG, FGA, of Woodstock, Vermont, USA, author of seven books and numerous articles in international media that focus on educating the consumer about gem identification; Guy Borenstein, FGA, EGG, of Ramat Gan, Israel, Vice President of Gemewizard, a company that specializes in gem colour grading and evaluation; and Cara Williams, of Jefferson City, Missouri, USA, Vice President and Senior Gemologist at Stone Group Laboratories and president of Bear Essentials, a wholesale coloured gemstone business.
One of the hot topics of the conference is the identification of gem quality synthetic diamonds and the instrumentation needed to accomplish this. MGCJ founder and Conference Chair Branko Deljanin said that during the past years, due to the influx of melee-sized synthetic diamonds into the market, various instruments producers and gemmological laboratories had launched screening and detection instruments to help dealers and jewellers identify undisclosed synthetic diamonds.
At the conference, an affordable synthetic diamond identification kit will be introduced as well as other portable instruments that help users to help identify loose and mounted melee-sized synthetic diamonds, as well as larger stones. MGJC, which is a gemmological conference that stands out for its practical workshops and training sessions, will offer hands-on instruction of these new instruments.
