Twenty members of Australia and New Zealand’s largest jewellery buying group received their awards from Nishit Parikh, President of the Antwerp World Diamond Council (AWDC) following a tour of the HRD diamond laboratory.
Nationwide Jewellers’ director Barry Jackson was enthusiastic that the group was able to arrange for Parikh to present the jewellers with their awards.
“This is the first time we have been able to arrange for the President,” Jackson said. “On some of the previous Antwerp trips the certificates have been presented by the HRD CEO, or the head of education at the HRD, Dr Katrien De Corte.”
In addition to the award presentation, the Nationwide members were in Antwerp on one of the group’s regular buying trips.
In what is a highly secure area, the HRD facilities in the city see over 2,000 stones pass through different grading departments each day, something very few jewellers get to witness.
As previously reported by Jeweller, Nationwide managing director, Colin Pocklington said this trip was designed as an educational experience.
“It hasn’t happened before because this laboratory in particular is highly secure,” Pocklington said.
Antwerp’s HRD diamond laboratories feature some of the world’s most sophisticated electronic grading procedures and manual checks. HRD’s certification process is considered one of the most accurate in the world.
A part of the travelling party was this year’s Nationwide Member of the year, Paul Ward of Paul Ward Jewellers, who also received his Antwerp Diamond Broker certificate from Parikh.
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