Selling Coloured Gemstones with Confidence
The knowledge to sell, and the confidence to do it without overclaiming.
Customers arrive having read about heat treatment, about origin, about laboratory reports. A salesperson who cannot discuss any of it either loses the sale or says something that is not true.
A day of practical, hands-on work with coloured stones, in the heart of Hatton Garden.
Who should be in the room
Jewellery retailers
Shops selling coloured stones alongside diamonds, where the questions are getting harder.
Sales professionals
Anyone who needs to describe a sapphire or an emerald accurately and still make the sale.
Valuers and buyers
Those who need the treatment and origin picture to put a figure on a stone.
What you will be able to do by four o’clock
- 01Identify and describe the key characteristics of a wide range of gemstones
- 02Understand how colour, clarity, cut and weight influence beauty and value
- 03Explain and identify common treatments and enhancements accurately
- 04Understand how origin, rarity and certification affect desirability and price
- 05Describe what makes a stone unusual in terms a customer responds to
- 06Sell coloured gemstones with knowledge, confidence and credibility
Shaheen Bandukwalla
A gemmology consultant and educator with more than sixteen years in gemstones. Graduate Gemmologist and Graduate Pearls diplomas from the GIA, and the DUG in Advanced Gemmology from the Université de Nantes.
Shaheen taught as a GIA instructor and was Head of Education and Training at SGL, where she built the training programmes used by gemstone professionals.
Register now
Registration for every LDB course goes through the same form. There is no separate booking system and no payment at this stage.
Complete the form
Your details, the course you want and a short summary of your experience in the trade. Photographic identification and proof of address are required, as they are for anyone coming into the building.
We contact you within 24 hours
The office confirms the next available date, the fee and whether the member rate applies to you. Nothing is charged until the place is agreed.
Your place is confirmed
An invoice follows, with joining instructions and what to bring. Dates are set against demand, so tell us if you have a deadline.
Included in the fee: your own loupe, tweezers and cloth to keep, and a certificate of completion. Courses can also be run privately for a team — ask the office for a quotation.
Other courses
Practical Diamond Knowledge
A day of handling, grading and talking about polished diamonds, so that nobody on your counter has to guess at an answer again.
Diamond Manufacturing
The route a diamond takes from rough to polished. Get hands on with rough diamonds.