The opal nomenclature guide was presented to the organisation’s Coloured Stone Commission by Andrew Cody, director of Melbourne-based Cody Opals, who represented Australia at the 2017 Congress for the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) in Bangkok, Thailand from 5 to 7 November.
It would be an addition to the CIBJO Gemstone Blue Book – the Blue Books being manuals that contain the industry’s standards and terminology on diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls, coral, gemmological laboratories and precious metals.
CIBJO senior representative of Australia Ronnie Bauer told Jeweller an consumer app should also be developed to make the guide and other Blue Books easily accessible to industry suppliers, retailers and consumers.
“We urgently need to produce an app or a website that retailers, wholesalers and consumers can use, which would be a simplified version of those books that people can understand and refer to,” Bauer explained.
“For example, if you are using opal, [they can check] the terms to use, how to care for it or how to treat it for further use; consumers, wholesalers and retailers could understand and relate to it. In their current state the Blue Books are nothing but legal jargon of definitions and clauses that only a select few can relate to.”
Bauer added the opal guide was expected to be in use before next year’s conference.
Additional issues
One of the other main topics discussed at the Congress was an agreement to amend CIBJO’s Diamond Blue Book.
According to a CIBJO statement, the Diamond Blue Book would merge with the International Diamond Council’s (IDC) diamond nomenclature, effectively making it the industry’s “single definitive guide”.
“The true beneficiaries of this agreement are the diamond consumers, who will now be able to refer to a single set of rules for describing diamonds,” CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri stated.
“The fact that the CIBJO Diamond Book is now endorsed by the WFDB [World Federation of Diamond Bourses] and the IDMA [International Diamond Manufacturers Association] serves the interest of both the industry and the marketplace.”
Bauer agreed saying, “The relevance of CIBJO’s [Blue Books] to the Australian jewellery industry is very much under valued and underrated here – they are far more important than a lot of people give credit for.”
CIBJO (Confédération Internationale de la Bijouterie, Joaillerie, Orfèvrerie), or more commonly described as the World Jewellery Confederation, was established in 1926 and is said to be the oldest international organisation in the jewellery industry. It was formed to represent the interests of all individuals, organisations and businesses within the jewellery, gemstones and precious metals sectors, and to uphold consumer confidence across these industries.
At the time of publication, the location for the 2018 Congress had not been confirmed.
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