The Gübelin Gem Lab is one of the world’s leaders in the analysis of precious gemstones. For its ground-breaking research into determining the age of precious gems, the laboratory has been nominated for the 2016 Jewellery News Asia Awards in the category “Industry Innovation and Sustainability Initiative of the Year”.
On 14 September 2016, the JNA Awards will be presented in Hong Kong. Founded in 2012 by Jewellery News Asia (JNA), they are considered the Oscars of the jewellery and gem trade. JNA, one of the industry’s leading magazines, instituted the awards to promote innovation and set standards in the precious gem trade. The Gübelin Gem Lab has been nominated in the category “Industry Innovation and Sustainability Initiative of the Year”.
Dr. Raphael Gübelin –
Gübelin Gem Lab nominated for 2016 JNA Awards 2016
“I am very pleased that we have been nominated in this important category and proud that the scientists working in the Gübelin Gem Lab are perpetuating the work of my great-uncle Eduard Josef Gübelin”, says Raphael Gübelin, CEO of the Swiss family-run business in its sixth generation, of which the laboratory is a fully independent subsidiary.
Last autumn, Klemens Link, Head of Development of the Gübelin Gem Lab, was first able to determine the absolute age of a gem based on radiometric analyses. To do so, he used ICP mass spectrometry, coupled with a laser ablation device. Based on a zircon inclusion, he established that the facetted, pink-colored sapphire from Madagascar is 650 million years old. It is assumed that the inclusion developed syngenetically, that is, while the sapphire itself was being formed.
Furthermore, to determine the age of sapphires from Kashmir, the Gübelin Gem Lab initiated a research project together with Prof. C. Liu and Dr. C. Zhang from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) in Peking. Again, radiometric methods were applied on zircon inclusions to determine the age of the sapphire. In cooperation with the IGGCAS, secondary ion mass spectrometry was used to verify the research results from the Gübelin Gem Lab.
The geochemist Klemens Link published the research results in the renowned Journal of Gemmology. In the meantime, Gübelin Gem Lab has applied this procedure on a considerable number of high quality rubies and sapphires to determine their origins based on their age.
Gübelin Gem Lab nominated for 2016 JNA Awards 2016
Gübelin operates one of the world’s most respected gemmological laboratories. A completely independent subsidiary, the Gübelin Gem Lab provides analyses of diamonds, colored gemstones and pearls, and is particularly known for its expertise in colored gems. Keen to share this expertise with the wider public, in 2013 Gübelin opened the Gübelin Academy in Hong Kong. Geared to professionals as well as enthusiasts and connoisseurs of colored stones, the Academy offers a series of modular programs providing unique fast-track training into the wonderful world of colored gems.
