GSI HAS ANNOUNCED NEW HIGH-TECH WEBSITE
Only Lab to Offer View of Actual Grading Reports Online and Real Time Diamond Tracking
(August 16, 2006)

Gemological Science International (GSI) has launched a high-tech website called “The GEM Experience” that provides the trade with two important tools for the first time: 1) the ability to view online their actual final grading report as soon as it is printed and 2) to track the status of their diamonds 24/7.

“Both the online actual report accessibility and the real-time tracking system significantly reduce the communication time between the lab and its clients, which is a benefit for both parties,” said CEO Mark Gershburg, the lab-industry veteran who opened GSI late last year. No other lab provides real-time tracking to its clients as well as the ability to view actual reports online.

GSI has addressed any security issues regarding an actual online grading report by requiring a unique combination of proprietary registration numbers known only to the lab and the stone’s owner. “In fact, being able to see the actual report helps customers in identifying counterfeit reports,” said Gershburg.

GSI’s revolutionary real-time tracking system, based on the Federal Express model, allows its clients to find out exactly where their diamonds are in the grading process at any point. GSI has tested its tracking system with its clients for the past four months.

In addition to offering these unique trade benefits, GSI envisions its new website as the perfect vehicle to educate consumers about gem grading and to excite them about gemstones in general. “The human relationship with gemstones is an important yet often overlooked aspect of what we all do, which is why we named the website ‘The GEM Experience,’” Gershburg said.

On the GSI website, one can “scope” a diamond at 60 power or take a virtual tour of its lab. To help create “The GEM Experience” website, GSI approached companies within and outside the industry to provide rarely seen diamond images. “The 4Cs in Motion” features a fast-moving, fun 4Cs video of magnified diamonds, courtesy of Sarin, along an explanation of diamond quality. PhotoScribe Technologies contributed a photograph of a bar code on the girdle of a diamond to illustrate the range of laser inscription possibilities. A photo of The Ten Commandments Diamond™, created by the Trillion Diamond Company, provides another visually exciting example of high-tech inscription.

A pictorial “Tour Our Lab” section invites web visitors inside the lab to have a better understanding of how a diamond or colored stone is graded. The virtual tour begins with the security features of take-in, where the diamond is identified for tracking purposes, and then follows the diamond through color and clarity grading, gem identification, and laser inscription, among other services. It concludes with the printing of the report and an interactive explanation of each term.

GSI markets its grading services mainly to large manufacturers, major jewelry chains, department stores, and online jewelers. It is headquartered in New York City’s Diamond District at 581 Fifth Avenue. For more information, visit www.gemscience.net or call Debbie Azar, Executive VP, at 212-207-4140 Ext. 202.