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Thomas Hainschwang made his second appearance on the Rapaport Diamond Podcast to discuss trends in gemology and why fluorescent stones have a bad name.
The cofounder of GGTL Laboratories discussed the dangers of people setting up grading operations with insufficient experience.
“Anybody and everybody can open a gem-testing lab, and you can call yourself a gemologist,” said Hainschwang in conversation with Rapaport’s Joshua Freedman. “The shortest courses are probably a few weeks, and you are a gemologist… Nobody questions your competencies or your experience. And if you have money behind [it], somebody pushes in a million or so, you can even get a [well] equipped gem-testing lab.”
Based in Liechtenstein, Hainschwang founded Gemlab in 1996. This merged with GemTechLab in 2011 to form GGTL Laboratories. He runs the Liechtenstein branch, and GemTechLab founder Franck Notari heads the Switzerland lab.
Hainschwang, who was last on the podcast in 2023, also explained how the diamond trade penalized fluorescent diamonds in the D to Z range because the physical phenomenon masks a possible lower color. “It used to be the exact opposite,” he commented. “Blue fluorescent diamond[s] used to be searched for. There used to be a positive. It became a negative not that long ago.”
Furthermore, Hainschwang discussed the challenging state of the market and his recent book on fluorescent diamonds.
Listen to the podcast here:
This podcast is sponsored by Del Gatto Finance Fund, the largest non-bank lender to the global diamond and jewelry industry.
