CIBJO Coral Commission
First Coral Blue Book to be submitted for consideration
at CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil
By Vincenzo Liverino, President
CIBJO Precious Coral Commission
By Vincenzo Liverino, President
CIBJO Coral Commission
A
milestone will be registered when the
CIBJO Congress gathers in Salvador,
Brazil, in May 2015, because for the
first time in the history of the organisation it
will be asked to authorize a document listing
terminology, rules and standards of business for
coral. In so doing, the CIBJO General Assembly
will accept a new Coral Book, which will take
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CORAL
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its place alongside CIBJO’s other Blue Books of
industry standards and nomenclature, including
Diamonds,
Coloured
Gemstones,
Pearls,
Gemmology and Precious Metals.
Precious coral has been a fixture in jewellery
for much of recorded history, but it was only in
2012, at the CIBJO Congress in Vicenza, Italy,
that a Coral Working Group was created. The
initiative to establish such a forum came through
ABOVE: A coral necklace by Bulgari. Part of the
Faerber Collection.
contributions from the CIBJO members with
the intention of putting the final touches to the
Coral Blue Book, which will then be submitted
for approval to Sector A, and consequently to
the CIBJO Board of Directors.
The steering committee also provided support
to an informative website about precious coral
called Sustainable Coral (www.sustainablecoral.
org). Its purpose is to inform consumers, media
and trade about different types of corals, where
they come from and possible treatments.
Furthermore, this platform aims to raise
awareness about sustainability issues in the
coral industry.
Vincenzo Liverino,
Commission.
President,
CIBJO
Coral
the efforts of a number of coral jewellery dealers
and manufacturers, who not only felt that coral was
under-represented and not properly understood
in the jewellery industry, but also believed that
the processes and methodologies that had been
developed in CIBJO for other industry sectors could
greatly enhance the position of their product.
During its first year of operation, the Coral
Working Group produced a 38-page educational
document, which described for the industry what
precious coral is, where it is found, how it is
harvested, manufactured and applied.
In many respects that document was a
precursor for what would be done later, and that
was to compile a fully-fledged Coral Blue Book.
To put that process in motion, the Coral Working
Group was transformed into a Coral Commission
last year at the CIBJO Congress in Moscow.
The leadership of the commission included:
the President, Vincenzo Liverino, from Enzo
Liverino 1894 in Italy, and the Vice President,
Pornsawat Wathanakul from GIT in Thailand,
along with steering committee members, Laurent
Cartier, Elfriede Schwarzer, Janice Lu and Nilam
Alawdeen. Other experts from around the world
were consulted as well.
During the congress in Brazil, the steering
committee intends to collect suggestions and
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Objectives of the commission and Blue Book
The purpose of the CIBJO Coral Commission
is to both preserve and develop trading in coral,
and jewellery comprising coral, through the
development and codifying of regulations and
standards that promote consumer confidence
and fair trade.
The Coral Blue Book will be an integral part
of this process. It has been designed to provide
knowledge about the product, as well as to assist
all those involved in the trade, by recording
the accepted and common trade practices, and
creating a set of standard nomenclature for the
industry throughout the world.
Pornsawat Wathanakul, Vice President of CIBJO’s
Gemmological Commission.
Corals can be treated to enhance their
appearance, and such processes typically include
bleaching, dyeing, waxing and impregnation, to
enhance colour or the stability of the material. The
Blue Book describes treatments and the methods
by which they should be disclosed.
The Precious Coral Blue Book is organized
according to normative references. The terms
and definitions are expansive and are extensively
cross-referenced throughout, associating the
classifications of materials, with normative clauses,
annexes and tables.
The standard and rules are non-judgmental. The
definitions and processes contained in the document
have been formatted and worded to ensure that
the handling and trade of coral is transparent and
honest.
The stability of the marketplace depends on the
declaration of all known facts about the product,
using proper and standard nomenclature, thus
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ensuring a fully informed purchase or sale. This
needs to be the case throughout the distribution
pipeline, all the way to the final consumer.
A jewellery product for more than 2000 years
Corals are marine invertebrates that have
formed in nature without human intervention.
Living in colonies comprised of genetically
identical polyps, they secrete calcium carbonate
to form a hard skeleton that is characteristic of
their particular species. Billions of superimposed
skeletons thus create impressive underwater
constructions of different structures, forming
cliffs, reefs and atolls.
The vast majority of coral is referred to as
common, and these are mostly calcareous types
that are usually found in reefs from zero to 15
meters deep.
Precious corals are those varieties that are
used in jewellery and decoration. Typically they
are red, pink and white varieties, and usually found
in deep-sea coral banks. They frequently are cut
and polished, and develop a porcelain-like lustre
after processing.
According to CITES (Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora), which is an international agreement between
governments, most coral species are protected.
Only a few (the corallium species) are allowed to
be used for jewellery.
Precious coral has been used in jewellery for
more than 2,000 years, as amulets, ornamental
objects, currency, medicine, aphrodisiac, art
material, talisman and even tiles. It was bartered
in many Asian markets, years before the birth of
Christ, taking on the function of currency. But its
primordial use has always been as an amulet and
personal ornament.
A partnership with environmentalists
Corals are a precious and threatened
resource. Speaking at the Pacific Precious Coral
Forum in Taiwan last year, CIBJO President
Gaetano Cavalieri noted that our industry and
the environmentalists are on the same side.
“The precious coral industry cannot be
branded as an environmentally insensitive
business sector,” Dr. Cavalieri told the forum.
“On the contrary, it needs to be seen that it is
acutely aware of the environment, because it
depends on a healthy environment and healthy
coral for its livelihood.”
“People need to associate coral jewellery with
good environmental management,” he said.
“Environmentally conscious consumers should
go out of their way to purchase precious coral
jewellery, and certainly not avoid it.”
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
© CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation 2015
www.cibjo.org
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