CIBJO Releases Ruby and Sapphire Guides for Downloading

The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) made its new ruby and sapphire guides available for downloading from their website. Designed to print in a single sheet format, the guides offer retailers and consumers basic criteria for determining the quality of a ruby or sapphire. The guides compliment the Coloured Stone Blue Book, which lists a set of standards for the grading, methodology and nomenclature of colored gemstones.

Vichian Veerasaksri, CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission president, said "it is CIBJO's and the Coloured Stone Commission's purpose to make as much information available possible, which in turn helps to increase consumer confidence in colored gemstones as a whole."

Roland Naftule, President of CIBJO's Sector III, (under which natural gem materials resort,) said the guides were another step the CIBJO took, offering both professionals and consumers updated and relevant information.

President Barack Obama recently renewed the ban on all direct and indirect imports of rubies from Myanmar (Burma) to the US. Myanmar is a major source of rubies for the jewelry industry.