This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 4 in 2018. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
Sharing research projects or training platforms is quite a rare event in gemmology. There is no memory of many examples involving independent entities that joined forces apart from occasional reasons determined by common interests. For example, in November 2015, SSEF and Gübelin Gem Lab, announced their decision of joining forces to harmonise their classification criteria concerning the use of the Pigeon Blood and Royal Blue terms. In March 2018 Gem Alliance was established, a partnership between AIGS and GGTL Laboratories that will share information and data for the activity of their respective laboratories. It will be interesting to test how the meeting with two entities characterised by different paths as for interests, history and operational areas will develop. AIGS (Asian Institute for Gemmological Sciences) was created 40 years ago out of the commitment of a captain of industry of Burmese origin, Waing Kong Ho, who made the history in the field of Thai precious stones. Among the many initiatives of AIGS founder, we should remember the building of the well-known JTC, the skyscraper of Silom Road that, since 1996, has been one of the most important centres for the gem trade in Bangkok.
GGTL, instead, was established by the merging of two independent laboratories founded in 1996 respectively by Franck Notari in Geneva and Thomas Hainschwang in Balzers, Liechtenstein. The two researchers have in common their academic relationships with the university of Nantes.
Gem News by Trasparenze News, published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #4, Summer 2018.
