La 13^th Conference of the French Gemmology Laboratory (LFG) took place on 9 March 2016, in a room filled to the rafters. The subject, synthetic diamonds, is topical and of interest to many players on the jewellery market.
In the first section, Alexandre Droux, a gemmologist responsible for coloured stones at the LFG, presented numerous stones central to current interest. First of all, he looked back over the classification of feldspar with an important case study: a star sunstone boasting several dozen carats. It turns out that this sunstone was not a classic oligoclase but rather a potassium feldspar. An oiled tanzanite offered the opportunity to review the 2002 decree and traditional lapidary practices. The “gota of aceite” effect known to be found in Colombian emeralds was observable to a very limited extent in Zambian emerald. Lastly, a fibrous pink-zoned tourmaline gave rise to an article in the French Gemmology Review.

Subsequently, Aurélien Delaunay, Head of Diamonds at the LFG, took stock of the current situation of synthetic diamonds observed at the LFG. The LFG’s observations gave audiences a good general reflection of the proportion of synthetic diamonds in the French market. The conference was also written up in a summary provided below.