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Wink and thousands of his nearest and dearest at JCK this week

Wink

Wink

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
May 24, 2021
Messages
844
In another hour or so, I will go to the Venetian here in Vegas and pick up my badge. I am going to try to get interesting tidbits to share with you here.

I should be able to get good photos, perhaps links to short videos and news for the faithful here at Pricescope.

I encourage others here at the show to share too, so we can make this a great glance at the show for our friends on Pricescope.

There are a wide variety of educational programs today. I am especially interested in a presentation later today on lab grown Diamonds by Avi Levi and John Pollard.
 
Have a good time!

DK :))
 
I would love to be able to attend a JCK in Vegas...if only. Hope you have a great time, Wink!
 
Have a great time Wink. I am looking forward to your reports.
 
This is so cool, such good news.
 
I am at dinner now. What a looooooooomnnnnnggggg day.

I will do a longer write up in the morning. Let’s just say I learned a lot. Especially at John Pollard’s presentation. Now I just want to call Uber and go to bed.
 
Okay, Nothing like a good night’s sleep to get you back on track after a long day and a great dinner with other members of the Continental Diamond team.

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Here is a photo of the hallway as I arrived at the Venetian and was walking down the long hallway to get to the Show. Yesterday’s activities were primarily educational tracks and the showroom floor itself was closed to us mere attendees. The people you are are others, like me, who are here to pick up their badges for the actual show which opens tomorrow, and the vendors who are in for a LONG day of booth set up activities.


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I attended three interesting educational sessions, each officially 45 minutes long, and all three ran an hour or more with the questions being asked.

The first two were about Gen Z. I did not realize Gen Z will soon outnumber Millennials. Of course, we baby boomers are so rapidly shrinking in numbers we no longer seem of interest to the youngsters…

According to the presenters, one of the things I found very encouraging about Gen Z is they care about the culture of their vendors. They do not want to see a black square on Black Lives Matter month or a rainbow in the window of LGTBQ month, they want to know it is part of your culture, and you need to have some employees who reflect your culture.

It was stressed to us, this generation is the first to be raised in a digital world. I was in my forties before commerce was legal on the internet. I started using primitive email on a modem in my late thirties or early forties, I am not sure which.

Why do I find this encouraging? Because Gen Z is used to interacting with people, not knowing where they are from or what race they might be or sexual orientation unless it is purposely shared. They are used to dealing with people and liking or disliking based on what was said, not on appearance. In my opinion, having lived through the sixties and the racial turmoil, IT IS ABOUT FREAKING TIME!!!

I was blessed to live in many places when I was in the Marine Corps and in every country I lived in, when I was not in a war, I met and liked many people of many religions, races and political beliefs.

Personally, I think this is important, and I am strongly encouraged to see this as a natural side effect of growing up in a digital world.

I am going to walk Pete’s dog now, I will write more about the fantastic presentation put on by John Pollard in a later post.
 
Sigh, Tempus Fugit…

Here is a very short beginning to my post about John Pollard’s excellent presentation. I will have to come back later for a more complete discussion.

World wide, IGI does more than 7 million reports from 29 Laboratories in ten countries.

On June 9, 2022 IGI issued a report on the worlds largest Lab Grown diamond, a 30 character. They have recently done one much larger than this, The size will be revealed today at the IGI booth.

They are also going to release data and photographs of a CVD created in Kiev with color zoning in the colors of the Ukrainian Flag.

Oh, and for those of you who like to bash CVD diamonds as inferior to HPHT diamonds, John told us this is no longer true. When top of the line equipment is used, there is no visual difference between polished HPHT and CVD diamonds, NONE!

Time for me to get and UBER and get to the show.
 
Tempus has again fugited.

I misstated the type of the blue and yellow diamond created in Kiev. It was HPHT.

I saw many wonderful things today and after I finish my promised discussion of John Pollard’s presentation, I hope to write about some of the things I saw.
 
Wink said:
Oh, and for those of you who like to bash CVD diamonds as inferior to HPHT diamonds, John told us this is no longer true. When top of the line equipment is used, there is no visual difference between polished HPHT and CVD diamonds, NONE!
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This is great news! I wonder if we have to wait for the "old" stuff to cycle through existing stock?
 
Wow! Thank you for sharing. I eagerly await hearing more!
 
Wink said:
Oh, and for those of you who like to bash CVD diamonds as inferior to HPHT diamonds, John told us this is no longer true. When top of the line equipment is used, there is no visual difference between polished HPHT and CVD diamonds, NONE!
Click to expand...
I wonder if this will become something that’s a tangible screen to vet out. Like another category on a lab report.

Or an intangible “known from x vendor” basically blind trust, or another choose with your eyes/perception/taste.

Interesting.
 
dk168 said:
Have a good time!

DK :))
Click to expand...

I am having a fantastic time. I have not been able to come for several years, It is such a treasure to be here and to see so many old friends. (Lol, I just now realize, so many of my friends here are literally old. Time will have its way with us. Pete Yantzer, a great friend retired years ago, and his brother Phil retired two days ago from GIA.)

Every morning, I get up and when Pete gets up we walk his charming dog in the park. Here is a view that always takes my breath away, I love the dramatic uplifts and of course the often seen clouds forming in the morning as the moist air is thrust up into the sky.

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DejaWiz said:
I would love to be able to attend a JCK in Vegas...if only. Hope you have a great time, Wink!
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All you would have to do is give up your amateur standing and join the trade. Then you, along with thousands of your nearest and dearest, can join the show. Warning, it is highly addictive!
 
oncrutchesrightnow said:
Hand shots of try-ons!
Click to expand...

How about this hand shot of the worlds current largest faceted Lab Grown in the world, 50 carats?

Oh heck, it is a video. Can one of you youngsters explain to this geezer how to get a link from a video on my phone? It is too large to post…
 
SparklieBug said:
This is great news! I wonder if we have to wait for the "old" stuff to cycle through existing stock?
Click to expand...

What a great question! You absolutely do NOT have to wait, You only need to know and trust your vendor and let him/her know what you want.

I have been going from appointment to appointment with Andy Furman from Continental Diamond. We made a point of visiting with vendors who are using Solar and Wind power so we can offer “green”diamonds. We also met with a company from Kiev who make HPHT diamonds in Kiev.They make incredible diamonds, and we will be buying from them to support them in their valiant efforts. One of the treasures I saw with them yesterday was a diamond with yellow and blue in it, representing the colors of the Ukrainian flag. They currently have world records for the largest finished lab grown diamonds, many of which have been exceeded by their own diamonds.
 
Rfisher said:
I wonder if this will become something that’s a tangible screen to vet out. Like another category on a lab report.

Or an intangible “known from x vendor” basically blind trust, or another choose with your eyes/perception/taste.

Interesting.
Click to expand...

As stated above, you will want to know and choose your vendor carefully. There are literally thousands of vendors right now. Many of the start ups are using impure carbon, oops. Some of the startups in an unnamed country are using equipment formerly used for creating industrial quality diamonds, oops.

Some of the growers who are polishing their diamonds in house are doing a great job, some, not so much.

What does this mean to the buyer? IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR VENDOR RATHER THAN JUST BUYING THE CHEAPEST LAB GROWN DIAMONDS ON THE MARKET. Oh gosh, that sounds just like the natural market. If you are just buying the cheapest three carat diamond of a given color and clarity you can find, you can be sure you are NOT getting the most beautiful three carat out there. Hmmm, kind of sounds like what the good folks on PriceScope have been aware of since the “Cut Wars” of the early 2000’s.

As a lover of beauty, is it any wonder I love PriceScope so much???
 
I am going to share a couple of fun shots, running out of time this morning…

Here is a ten carat earth grown diamond briolette. If memory serves, it is a ten carat F-IF. What a joy to see.

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An AI color grading machine from Sarine.
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From John Pollard’s presentation, some of the colors being grown.

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That’s enough for now, there is work to be done!
 
Thank you, Wink!
 

iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud

View, organize, and share photos and videos with iCloud Photos on the web. Changes will sync across your devices with iCloud.
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Testing link
 
Wink said:

iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud

View, organize, and share photos and videos with iCloud Photos on the web. Changes will sync across your devices with iCloud.
share.icloud.com share.icloud.com

Testing link
Click to expand...

Haha! Love, "Oh, my goodness!" in the video, @Wink. Thank you for sharing this!

Wink said:
What a great question! You absolutely do NOT have to wait, You only need to know and trust your vendor and let him/her know what you want.
Click to expand...

Great! How would we ask a trusted vendor for the latest n' greatest in lab diamonds? What sort of terminology would be used so that a vendor knows specifically what's being asked for?
 
SparklieBug said:
Great! How would we ask a trusted vendor for the latest n' greatest in lab diamonds?
Click to expand...
what I’m seeing with lab diamonds is so similar to Earth Mined diamonds. A large percentage of the stones on the market are undesirable to me. The same sorts of issues in lab and earth diamonds. Poor cut and transparency issues are really the top two. I guess the point is that a dealer worth his salt is going to weed out the best in either lab or earth.

Texas Leaguer said:
This is epic!
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I agree!!!
We recently sold a drop dead gorgeous emerald cut that was grown and cut in Kiev in April of this year.
They’re doing amazing things- even more so given the hell they’re living through.
Also amazing was the color. It was identical to an earth mined Fancy Light Yellow. Oddly enough- based on the goods we see in the market: light yellow is a tough color to either grow or treat to.

Ps- thank you @Wink for giving us a tour without having to walk the 10+ miles I know you’ve been doing:)
 
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