{"id":1058,"date":"2023-04-05T14:50:11","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/?p=1058"},"modified":"2024-01-31T02:09:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T02:09:39","slug":"gcal-joins-the-american-gem-society-ags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/gcal-joins-the-american-gem-society-ags\/","title":{"rendered":"GCAL Joins the American Gem Society (AGS)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of 2023\u2019s biggest news stories in the jewelry industry has been the agreement between AGS members Sarine Technologies and Gem Certification & Assurance Lab, Inc., better known as GCAL. In January, Sarine announced that it had signed an intent to acquire a majority stake in the diamond grading lab.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to join AGS because protecting the consumer is the reason for and focus of our existence,\u201d said Angelo. \u201cIt is included in our Mission Statement, explained throughout our website, and discussed in webinars and videos. Consumer protection is proven in our grading guarantees. Our ISO 17025 Forensic Accreditation substantiates it. And it is a promise we make every single day to our retailer and supplier customers and the ultimate consumer.\u201d      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since\nits inception, GCAL has been very involved in the industry and is a proud\nmember of several jewelry associations, including the Jewelers Vigilance\nCommittee, Appraisal Society of America, Jewelers Board of Trade, MJSA, and the\n24 Karat Club, and most recently, AGS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GCAL\u2019s\nfounders, Don and Pam Palmieri, have had a long and rich history in the jewelry\nindustry. In 1999 they were contracted to open an internal lab for one of\nthe first online sellers of diamonds to the public. They founded Gem\nCertification & Assurance Lab, Inc. in 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within\na couple of years, GCAL acquired a light performance laboratory, incorporating\na scientifically-based technology for quantifying and demonstrating the optical\nbrilliance and optical symmetry of diamonds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angelo\njoined the firm in 2005 as both COO and partner. Since then, GCAL has continued\nto expand its services and verified processes. \u201cWe\u2019ve had the great fortune of\nhiring some of the industry\u2019s finest gemologists and technicians for our GCAL\nTeam,\u201d said Angelo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GCAL\noffers a suite of certification, identification, and forensic services for natural\nand laboratory-grown diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry. \u201cGCAL\u2019s mission is to\nprovide gemological services with uncompromising integrity and unparalleled\ncustomer care,\u201d said Angelo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception, the company has been focused on innovation and technology. \u201cWe are constantly looking to improve our process and add relevant, useful, visual, and analytical information to our certificates,\u201d said Angelo. \u201cA primary intent is to aid our customers in making confident and informed decisions when choosing a diamond. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe partnership with Sarine enables us to further our technological capabilities,\u201d noted Angelo Palmieri, GCAL\u2019s COO and partner.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, GCAL continues to introduce and add new technologies and upgrade existing technologies and systems through acquisitions and integration and by adding new products like the 8X\u00aepremium diamond cut grade. The recently announced partnership with Sarine is another advancement in this mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GCAL\noffers a money-back consumer guarantee, and they also offer direct assessment\nlight performance for optical brilliance and symmetry, high-quality 360\u00b0 videos\nand Fire videos, and direct assessment Hearts & Arrows. All images on GCAL\ncertificates are actual photos including high-resolution\nphotomicrographs of the diamonds taken through the crown and pavilion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the Sarine agreement, we can add services like Diamond Journey Traceability to our products,\u201d said Angelo. \u201cWe also are launching AI-powered diamond grading to our customer base. Recently, GCAL introduced the 8X Cut Grade for Patented and Proprietary Shapes, and we will soon introduce two new shapes to the program, cushion and radiant, with other traditional shapes coming online this year. All this will provide extraordinary benefits and advantages to the AGS community and the entire diamond and jewelry industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of 2023\u2019s biggest news stories in the jewelry industry has been the agreement between AGS members Sarine Technologies and Gem Certification & Assurance Lab,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diamond","category-newsletter","category-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1368,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions\/1368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcalusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}