"Features of Evaluating Artistically and Precisely Cut Stones"
Dear ladies and gentlemen!
1. I am delighted to welcome you and grateful to the organizers for the opportunity to share my thoughts on pressing issues of our work. The essence of a gemologist's work is to analyze and confirm the characteristics that influence the value of a particular gemstone. And since appraisal is the ultimate goal of our work, we need to cover as many of these characteristics as possible so that the appraiser can provide the most objective conclusion possible based on our materials. I will not discuss factors that have already been thoroughly explored and which you understand better than I do—the stone's material, color, clarity, origin, and treatments. I would like to discuss two factors, one of which is seemingly well-known, yet is rarely used by gemologists and has little impact on the stone's valuation. The second has not yet been considered at all in relation to cut stones.
2. So, the cut stone market is changing, and this change is called development. I begin my speech with these words again and again. Year after year, they remain relevant. This is perfectly natural; only things that are dead remain unchanged. But in what directions is the cut stone market developing? I'll make it clear right away that I won't be discussing the diamond market—it's too formalized, too conservative, and too monopolized to lend itself to objective analysis. We'll be discussing the colored stone market—more dynamic, more spontaneous, and therefore more predictable for a good analyst.
It's easy to see that the development trends of the gemstone market are directly linked to the very price-determining characteristics I just discussed. Remember: the first thing that influences price is the stone's material and its origin. The first development trend that can be noted is the emergence of new materials, such as nanosital, or the synthesis of well-known ones. The second trend is related to color and clarity characteristics and is called enhancement. But the third trend, although present in the market, is not reflected in the work of gemologists, and I see this as an unfortunate omission—our omission, my friends. I'm talking about the development of cutting.
33Indeed, while other fields are developing thanks to the efforts of gemologists, cutting is evolving, rather, in spite of them. Or rather, it's evolving despite the fact that gemologists are actively turning their backs on it, seemingly oblivious to this development. Cutting brands are emerging spontaneously—in various countries of both the Old and New Worlds. Given comparable (or nearly comparable) prices, preference is given to stones with a higher-quality cut. But no one can define this "almost" until they can more or less objectively say how much better the cut of one stone is than that of another.
Today, the only gemological center—the Spain Gemological Institute—has begun including cut grades in gemstone certificates. They use a system similar to the one developed by the GIA for assessing diamond cut quality: symmetry, proportions, and finish—five grades for each criterion. But what are these five grades, for example, for the entire spectrum of finish options? It's a discrete scale with an incredibly wide range of values. Furthermore, there are no strict rules for these grades, and the assessment is highly subjective.
4. So what can we offer now? Over the past few years, I have developed a unified system for evaluating the quality of gemstone cutting. In it, I have summarized and developed all my experience participating in, judging, and organizing gemstone cutting competitions, as well as my experience teaching precision cutting in Russia and Thailand. The key point of this system is that I consider the stone not only as a whole, but also as a collection of individual design elements, the correctness of which is determined during the diagnostic process. This allows the evaluation to take into account such an important aspect as the complexity of the design. After all, it's one thing when three facets are defective on a simple design – say, with 17 facets – and quite another when the same three facets are defective on a complex artistic cut with 300 or more facets.
So, the design elements. These include: a facet, an edge, a point where facets meet, and pairs of facets that are symmetrical according to the cutting design. Here, a "point of intersection" refers not to every vertex, but only those where four or more facets converge. This point must be a point, not a line segment. Before evaluating the quality of the cut, some preliminary work is necessary. It is necessary to count the total number of design elements on the crown, on the pavilion, and on the girdle, if it consists of individual facets corresponding to the facets of the top and bottom. Then, carefully examine the stone with a 10x magnifying glass, count and enter into a special electronic table the number of design elements that have defects – scratches, chips, extra facets, unaligned points of intersection, or symmetrical facets that differ in shape or size. It is advisable to divide these defects into three categories:
A) difficult to see with a magnifying glass;
B) clearly visible with a magnifying glass and difficult to discern with the naked eye;
C) clearly visible to the naked eye.
When calculating points, these defects are weighted at 25%, 50%, and 100%, respectively. A separate criterion in the table indicates the presence of a "window" in the stone and its approximate size as a percentage of the cross-sectional area of the stone's girdle plane. After all fields are filled in, the table calculates the total number of points using preset formulas on a 100-point scale with four decimal places.
Please note that I have excluded the criterion of stone proportions. Unlike diamonds, which are artificially cut into a few standard shapes, the world of colored gemstones is so diverse that the concept of ideal proportions becomes quite conditional. As for the overall symmetry of the stone, if the pairwise symmetry of the facets intended by the design is maintained, then the overall symmetry will also not be violated.
I use this system when grateful clients ask for a certificate of authenticity for a stone I have cut. This certificate always includes a description of the cut quality. But I don't limit myself to just numbers – that's illustrative, but not very convenient. As an addition, I use a simple classification based on the described methodology. Depending on the points scored, the stones are divided into three classes: Commercial, Quality, and Elite. Each of them, in turn, has three subclasses. And, while the subclasses of the first two have numerical designations – Commercial-I, Quality-III – the subclasses of the Elite class have their own names: Elite Premium, Elite Extra, and Elite Ideal. The requirements for stones aspiring to the Elite Ideal subclass are the highest. In addition to quality points, of which there must be at least 99 out of a hundred, there are a number of other restrictions. For example, the presence of even one defect of category B excludes the possibility of assigning the stone to the Elite Ideal subclass, and the presence of a "window" completely prevents it from entering the Elite class (unless, of course, this is provided for by the cut design).
Of course, this system is still far from ideal and does not claim to be a market standard in its current state. For example, I'm not sure about the name of the second class – it might change, say, to "Improved" or something else. The value ranges might be slightly modified, some evaluation criteria might be added, and the classification of defects might be refined. Any system is alive if it is dynamic and subject to change and development. The main thing is that it can serve as a foundation, a basic principle, which each of you can use to form your own approach to evaluating the quality of the cut.
I haven't yet mentioned another very important advantage of this system – it's easily automated. Today, there are already quite accurate 3D scanners used for analyzing raw materials and choosing the optimal cutting shape, as well as evaluating the proportions of the finished stone. I think it wouldn't be too difficult to reprogram them to analyze cutting defects. At least, as a former programmer, I can imagine how to do it. And when it becomes clear how rarely stones of the highest subclasses are found on the market and how difficult they are to produce, then there will also be an understanding of how to justify their higher price.
5. Everything we've discussed so far relates to the first of the two factors I mentioned at the beginning. The second factor is the cut of stones, which can be considered art objects.
What is the defining characteristic of art? First and foremost, it's the ability to evoke chains of associations in people's minds, evoking specific emotions. Cut stones themselves also evoke emotion: you look at them and they appeal to you. It's also important to be able to capture the charm and beauty of a stone. But a true artist can do more: create images in our minds using the beauty and design of a stone. Moreover, the design doesn't necessarily have to be complex; a true artist can sometimes be content with a minimum of visual means. Let's recall the short story—just six words!—by the great Hemingway: "For sale: Baby shoes... Never worn." And so: the grief of a family who has experienced a terrible tragedy—the loss of a small child—rises before us. And a wave of compassion rises in response, a desire to help and support. This brilliant writer makes us experience powerful emotions—in just six words.
Of course, words are one of the most powerful means of artistic expression. But a faceted stone can also be such a means. And in this case, words can also help the artist who is faceting the stone. I will explain with an example. Several years ago, I faceted an aquamarine of a completely irregular shape. It had no symmetrical facets at all. It seemed like just a faceted abstraction. But – pay attention! The stone was called "The Sprout of the Universe." Why? One day I read a hypothesis that our Universe is a kind of crystal, each facet of which is a three-dimensional space. But how to show a multidimensional object? Only in a three-dimensional projection. A painting or a photograph is a two-dimensional (flat) projection of a three-dimensional (volumetric) object. I tried to imagine (and facet!) a three-dimensional projection of the Great Cosmos, where numerous spaces intersect with certain lines and points. Of course, the stone is so small, but it's only a sprout! Imagine how it can grow and become more complex... That is already art.
Let me give another example – this time a comparison. In Germany, in the town of Idar-Oberstein, the craft of stone processing has long been developed – not only cutting, but also carving. The figurines of animals and insects are often magnificent in their quality of execution. Mice, frogs, butterflies, snails – they look lifelike, so carefully and meticulously are they carved. But can this be called art? Yes, the mouse looks alive – so what? It's no coincidence that the local craftsmen value their products very simply – the price of the material plus the cost of labor, based on the time spent. Therefore, such objects don't even have names – why give a name when it's already clear what you're looking at – a frog, a snail, or a parrot? But here's another work – by a Russian stone carver who has been working in New York for a long time, Slava Tulupov, entitled "Balance." It's also a snail made of blue chalcedony and smoky quartz, decorated with gold and diamonds and mounted on a round, mirror-polished platform of black obsidian with a similar gold border. Or rather, above the platform – as if balancing a few tenths of a millimeter above the surface. According to the artist's intention, it should rotate, and its spiraling shell seems to screw into space, associatively resembling the spiral of the evolution of life. At the same time, its flat reflection in the transparent obsidian, above which it seems to float in serenity, evokes thoughts that our world and our life are merely a three-dimensional imprint of some more complex and multidimensional images and processes. This is no longer craftsmanship. This is art.
Another example, at first glance unrelated to the stone market, depicts an installation featuring a pile of rubbish. Nothing out of the ordinary, it seems. But with just the right lighting and shadow, the shapeless pile forms a precise, detailed image of two young people. They sit in a relaxed pose, leaning back against each other. He holds a half-smoked cigarette, she a glass of wine. The shadows even reveal the details of their hairstyles. This is not just a photograph or a painting. In this composition (light source – pile of rubbish – shadow on the wall), an open mind can discern the essence of the creative process. After all, in order for a work of art (a shadow on the wall) to be revealed to the public, the artist must take some set of "building materials" (be it paint and canvas, pen and paper, guitar and microphone, stone and grinding wheel, or simply rubbish), arrange them in a specific order, and illuminate them with a powerful beam of inspiration. And then, on the “canvas” of our three-dimensional world, images appear – projections of higher dimensions…
Similar examples have already existed in history. Let's recall the ancient Japanese art of Netsuke. These are miniature sculptures depicting people and animals at certain moments in their lives. Each sculpture is accompanied by a short poem expressing the idea of the subject, or conceptually related to it. In this case, the sculpture served as a key, unlocking a chain of associations in the viewer's mind, a foundation upon which the edifice of experiences and reflections is built. To continue this comparison, the poem here is the building material, and the complexity, beauty, and grandeur of the edifice depend entirely on the depth of the viewer's inner world. This is an important point. The transformation of a passive viewer into an active creator – this is the essence of true art.
In such cases, we must use other evaluation criteria, completely different from, say, the GIA grading system. How obvious are these images to people? What associations do they evoke? How powerful are their emotions in the public? How accurately does the artist convey their message? Of course, all of this depends on the artist's talent and greatly influences the price of the art object.
6. I am confident that cut stones as art objects will find their niche in the market – both in terms of consumer appeal and price. Regardless of the industry we focus on – clothing, footwear, accessories, watches, or jewelry – we can roughly identify four large product groups, fundamentally different in quality, marketing, and, consequently, price. The first are handcrafted products, typically of low quality. The second are high-quality factory-made items. The third are pieces from famous brands. And finally, the fourth are unique creations by true artists. Prices vary not by a percentage, but by a factor of several times. I don't think cut stones should be an exception. It's simply a matter of time.
7. So, what would I like to say in conclusion? The general framework for a gemologist's work requires adjustment. We can't ignore entire trends in evolution—if these trends are objectively present in the market, they must be taken into account in our work. Today, consumers are already asking questions about cut quality. Tomorrow, they'll take this question to appraisers, and appraisers will come to us. And if we're not prepared to answer this question, they'll turn not to us, but to more agile competitors. A wise man once told me, "If you can't prevent a drinking binge, you must lead it." We can't stop evolution. But we can offer a tool that will direct it in the direction we need. I don't know why this hasn't been done before. One possibility is the influence of that very diamond market, which I promised not to touch on in my speech. But what applies to a formalized and conservative market is a drag on a free and dynamic market. You can't tie a donkey and a horse in the same harness.
But if we give the market a simple and effective tool for evaluating and classifying stone cuts, today's timid attempts by individual daredevils will grow from small streams into a powerful torrent, and those of us who are the first to adopt this tool will truly make history.
Thank you for your attention!
