April Bead Society Program Meeting: Evolution of Diamond Cutss Plus!

The April 2nd Bead Society Program meeting will be held in Culver CIty at the Veterans Memorial Building at 12:30 pm. Our guest speaker is Renée Newman, gemologist and a frequent speaker for our group. The title of her talk is Evolution of Diamond Cuts & Qualities in Jewelry from 1300 until Now. 

The cutting styles and quality of the diamonds in estate and antique jewelry provide important
clues about when it was made. Renée’s PowerPoint will show

• How diamond faceting has evolved over the past 900 years.
• Examples of jewelry in the Renaissance, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian, Art Deco,

Retro and Mid-Century and Modern jewelry periods.

• How the concept of acceptable diamond qualities for fine jewelry has gradually changed.

Industrial-grade rough that was once considered unacceptable for jewelry, is now being
used in high-end designer jewelry while industrial diamond users are now enjoying much
higher qualities of lab-grown diamond in their industrial products.

• How the evolution of diamond cuts and faceting styles has ended up where it began.

Modern diamond rings are now being set with table cuts, rose cuts, old mine cuts and
even uncut octahedrons.

​Come see her slides and insight! 

​Renée Newman developed her interest in gems while conducting tours to Asia, South America
and the South Pacific. Her passengers wanted information about the gems displayed in hotels and
stores so she signed up for a colored stone grading course at GIA in order to answer their
questions. The teachers there inspired her to complete the GIA colored stones and diamonds
program.

After receiving a graduate gemologist diploma from the GIA, Renée was hired as a
gemologist at a diamond wholesale firm in downtown Los Angeles. It provided hands-on
experience grading diamonds and selecting colored gems and pearls for their jewelry. Armed
with trade experience and gemological credentials, Renée decided to create books that showed
readers how to visually evaluate the quality of gems. Her first book, the Diamond Ring Buying
Guide, was published in 1989. Since that time, she has written 13 more books on gems and
jewelry, including the Diamond Handbook geared to trade professionals and her large-format
book, Diamonds: Their History, Sources, Qualities and Benefits. Information about the book is on  Renée’s website. 

Renée’s books are used as consumer guides, gemology course textbooks, sales training tools
and appraisal references and are listed here.

The meeting will be held in the Uruapan Room of the Veterans Memorial Building at 12:30 pm. The Bead Society business meeting will take place at 12:00 noon in the same room. 

​Join us, all are welcome!