Congratulations to Lisa West of TW Gaze LLP, who is the winner of this week's competition! The answers to the questions were as follows; 1) 3 of the sponsors at the Gem-A conference this weekend Apsara Gems Gem World AnchorCert Gem Lab 2) Where did the Gem-A conference take place? London Business Design Centre 3) What does FGA stand for? Fellowship of the Gemmological Association Many Thanks to Cooksongold for supplying us with the prizes. If you took part…

EU rules about which chemicals can be used in toy jewellery or kids’ pieces cannot be ignored. We asked the Analytical Laboratory's Michelle Cartwright to talk us through the issues. Restrictions relating to nickel were followed by the control of cadmium in December 2011. While this legislation is chiefly intended to protect those in the manufacturing part of the supply chain where fumes from molten cadmium can cause severe health hazards, it has imposed a significant cost on the fashion…

Assay Office Birmingham has seen a big increase in sales of both its AnchorCert Gem Weight Estimator app and Help with Hallmarks app. If you would like to purchase the AnchorCert Gem Weight Estimator app, you can do so by downloading it from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store for a price of £14.99. The app contains useful information relating to hallmarks, and is an invaluable “on the go” tool for retailers, collectors, antique and second hand dealers, silver expert…