Engemma Oy “Bringing the gemstone business into the 21 st Century”
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Transcript of Engemma Oy “Bringing the gemstone business into the 21 st Century”
Engemma Oy
“Bringing the gemstone business into the 21st Century”
About
• Kari Niskanen• (IP) Networking background– TeliaSonera, Nokia Networks– Finland, Middle-East, Far-East
• Graduate Gemologist– 2009 – 2010 at GIA (Gemological Institute of
America)– Bangkok campus
Starting gemstone business
• Problems– No sufficient funds– No contacts– No practical expertise on gemstone pricing
• Solution– www-site for gemstone brokering services
The Big Problem
• Gemstone price is based on several individual quality factors
• Delivering these quality factors through electroning channels is… The Big Problem
Quality factorsQuality Factors i.e. Rarity FactorsIdentity Blue topaz
(Blue) Sapphire$20$2000
NaturalnessRuby, syntheticRuby, heat treatedRuby, natural
$25$750$7500
Size (weight) Pink tourmaline, 3.00 ctPink tourmaline, 15.00 ct
$200$2200
Color Sapphire, strong blue with greenish hintSapphire, strong blue with violetish hint
$1300$3300
Cut Tanzanite, face-up brilliance 55%Tanzanite, face-up brilliance 75%
$750$1400
Clarity Diamond, slightly included 2 (SI2)Diamond, very very slightly included 1 (VVS1)
$4000$6700
Origin(ruby, sapphire, emerald, tourmaline)
Ruby, MadagascarRuby, Burma (Myanmar)
$2800$3800
Assessing Quality Factors 1/2
Method
Measure
Unaided eye Magnification Gemology report
Identity Yes NoYes, Round Brilliant Dia.
Yes, Fancy Diamond(Yes), Colored Stone
Yes
Naturalness No No Yes Yes
Weight (size) Yes No No Yes
Color No Yes NoYes, Round Brilliant Dia.
Yes, Fancy DiamondNo, Colored Stone
Cut No Yes NoYes, Round Brilliant Dia.
No, Fancy DiamondNo, Colored Stone
Clarity NoNo, Round Brilliant Dia.
No, Fancy DiamondYes, Colored Stone
Yes Yes
Origin No NoN.A. Round Brilliant Dia.
N.A. Fancy Diamond(Yes), Colored Stone
N.A., Round Brilliant Dia.N.A., Fancy Diamond
Yes, Colored Stone
Assessing Quality Factors 2/2
Method
Measure
Unaided eye Magnification Gemology report
Equipment• Refractometer• Scale• Caliper
• Tweezers• Proper lighting• Neutral background tray• (Comparison stones)
• Bright Field loupe• Dark field loupe• Gemology microscope
• Full laboratory equipments
Procedure
•Identity- Refractometer•Weight- Scale•HxWxD-Caliper
•Usually done by the seller
•Color- slightly rocking between the tweezers•Cut - slightly rocking between the tweezers, “on the move”- shape, symmetry and polish from static positions•Clarity- Colored stones
• Separation synthetic from natural gemstones- Identification of “birth marks”, i.e. inclusions•Detecting gem treatments-Identification of altered “birth marks”, inclusions- Identification of inclusions created by gem treatments•Clarity- Diamonds
Provided by a gemological laboratory, e.g.
• American Gem Society• Asian Institute of Gemological Science• Gemological Institute of America• Swiss Gemological Institute
Conclusion
• Gemstones have to be assessed on site in person in order to evaluate them fully– Requires Training and expertise
• Exception: Round Brilliant diamonds can be purchased without seeing the product based on a Gemology Report
Gemstone trade centers
The problem
• Sufficient and diverse gemstone supply is available only at certain trade centers over the globe
• Gemstones need to be assessed on site in person for a complete evaluationRequires time and money consuming trips on sites
and browsing numerous wholesalers• Exception: Round Brilliant Diamond
But what about current gemstone www-sites?
• http://www.gemselect.com/sapphire/sapphire-368934.php
• Based on photographs or simple videos– Cannot deliver sufficient visual information for
complete evaluation– Serious gemstone dealers are not attracated to
them
The Solution
• New photography technique provides a remote gemstone assessment with the same functionality and accuracy as with on site– full 3D view and motion control by a mouse– Zoom-in up to 10 times magnification– Bright field and dark field views– Controlled lighting– Plus more: measuring grid, light adjustment, color
samples and full depth of field
The imaging solution
1. Gemstone is photographed with macro lens in four degree-incremento 4050 separate camera angles
2. From each camera angle several photographs are takeno ~10 000 photographs totally
3. Photographs taken from the same imaging angle are combined using special softwareo High Dynamic Range (HDR)
imageo Utmostly sharpo Better color reproduction
Post processing
• Combined photographs are post processed in two ways:1. The subject is centered
o This eliminates a wobbling effect in a final video or 3D-applet
2. A shadow is added for the subjecto This creates three dimensional experience in the final
video or 3D-applet
• Both processes are done automatically by an external software
Final video and 3D applet
• Photographs are “fed” to video processing in predefined order– Like creating a movie from still photographs
• 3D applet on a user computer requests photographs from the server in a stream-like manner as the object (gemstone) is being handled using the computer mouse– i.e. turning, tilting, rocking, rotating, zooming in/out,
switching the background between dark field and bright field
Why Innofun?
• Idea from Digipolis (Jukka Auraneva) which provides services for start-up businesses
• This type of concept has many motion related aspects video is practically the only media for presenting the concept
Video production
• Straightforwarding– Startp-up meetings
• information exhange (gemstone and evaluation 101, material)
– 1. script• wants vs. no-can-dos
– 1. version• Test audience
– 2. script– Final version
• Test audience
• Feedback via e-mail– Not the best practise– Face-to-face meeting, video or phone conference better
Putting the video to work
• Investors• Subcontractors• Partners• Customers
Benefits
• Visuality– Motion, motion, motion
• Time saving– 3 minute video vs. 10 minute power point
presentation• Some motion related aspects nearly
impossible to present using static pictures or text