Advances in technology, the rising price of high quality natural diamonds and the profits to be made from the supply of synthetics have made such developments inevitable for some time. The gems discovered by IGI were created by Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) but there are other ways of creating synthetic diamonds which are equally advanced. No expert could detect these with the naked eye, nor even the basic equipment found in every gem lab, as the stones have the same chemical compo…

 The event held in Birmingham addressed issues including security, hallmarking and trading in second hand jewellery over the counter. Michael Allchinhig hlighted the legal requirements for the correct hallmarking of gold jewellery. The seminar also included the launch of ‘The Gold Standard’ – a new industry wide initiative to set common standards in the responsible purchasing of second hand gold over the counter and helping Police to track and recover stolen jewellery. For …