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Free Curriculum

The Diamond & Gem Trade Curriculum

Ten structured courses for anyone who wants to understand this business properly. Built for family business successors, serious buyers, and anyone entering the trade who wants to know what they are doing before they spend serious money.

10Courses
37Required readings
~35 hrsTotal reading
FreeAlways
Diamonds track — 6 courses Gemstones track — 4 courses No account required No deadline

How this curriculum works

The curriculum page is your guide. Click each reading link, read the full article, come back, click the next one. That is the entire system.

01
Follow the course sequence
Each course builds on the one before it. Do not skip ahead and do not skip Course 1, even if you already know diamonds.
02
The links are the course material
Every reading link opens a full Codex article. These are not summaries or extras. They are the required reading. Read each one fully before continuing.
03
Allow time per module
Each reading is 30 to 80 minutes. Each course is 3 to 5 hours. Do not rush. This is knowledge you will use for the rest of your career.
04
Complete both tracks if relevant
The Diamond track and the Gemstone track cover different businesses. Most people in the Indian trade should complete both.
Self-study: 1 course per week — 10 weeks
Intensive: 1 course per day — 10 days
Family business onboarding: 1 course per week alongside work — 3 months for both tracks

What you will be able to do

By the end of this curriculum, you will be able to do all of the following without assistance or guidance from anyone else.

💎

Identify a diamond's cut, colour, clarity and carat weight accurately and explain what each means for price.

📋

Read a GIA or IGI certificate completely and know exactly what every field means, including what the certificate does not tell you.

⚖️

Understand how the Rappaport Price List works and use it correctly in a transaction or negotiation.

🏭

Explain the full diamond supply chain from mine to polished stone and know where value is added at each stage.

🔬

Distinguish natural from lab-grown diamonds, explain CVD and HPHT production, and articulate the commercial implications of each.

🇮🇳

Navigate Mumbai, Surat and Jaipur as a trade participant with a precise understanding of how each city functions in the industry.

📿

Identify all nine Navratna gem species correctly, assess quality against classical text standards, and detect the most common fraud for each.

🛡️

Recognise and avoid every major gem and diamond fraud, from glass-filled ruby to fake GIA certificates to the Jaipur tourist scam.

📈

Evaluate whether a specific gem or diamond has investment-grade characteristics and explain precisely why most do not.

🤝

Participate competently in any trade conversation with a dealer, grader or buyer, understanding the vocabulary, the conventions and the unspoken rules.

Choose your track

Complete both if your work covers diamonds and coloured gems.

Course 1 ~4 hours  ·  4 readings  ·  Start here

What a diamond actually is

Geology, chemistry, and why diamonds form where they do

Before you can sell something, you need to understand what it is. A diamond is not just a hard, shiny stone. It is a specific arrangement of carbon atoms that took between one billion and three billion years to form under extreme conditions 150 kilometres below the earth's surface. Understanding what creates a diamond, how it reaches the surface, and why certain mines produce certain qualities is the foundation that makes every subsequent piece of knowledge coherent. Without it, you are memorising facts. With it, you understand a system.

By the end of this course you will know

Why carbon becomes diamond and not graphite, and what geological conditions are required
What a kimberlite pipe is and why diamonds are found inside them
How alluvial deposits differ from primary deposits and what that means for quality
Why the Golconda mines in India produced the world's most famous historical diamonds
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~4 hours
  1. How diamonds form The complete science of diamond formation. Carbon, pressure, temperature, and geological time. Why diamonds exist at all. ⏱ ~60 min
  2. Kimberlite pipes The volcanic structures that carry diamonds to the surface. How they are found, mined, and why their geology determines diamond quality. ⏱ ~55 min
  3. Alluvial diamond deposits Secondary deposits formed when water transports diamonds from their primary source. The origin of the Golconda stones and most Indian historical diamonds. ⏱ ~55 min
  4. Diamond vs graphite: the same element, completely different Both are pure carbon. Why one is the hardest natural material on earth and the other writes on paper. The science of crystal structure and what it means commercially. ⏱ ~55 min
Start with the first reading. Return here for the next one. Start Course 1 
Course 2 ~5 hours  ·  5 readings  ·  Foundation

The 4Cs and how they drive price

Cut, colour, clarity, carat — the language the whole world uses

The 4Cs are the language of the diamond trade. Every price conversation, every certificate, every negotiation is conducted in this language. Getting the 4Cs wrong means you cannot evaluate a stone, cannot assess a price, and cannot protect yourself or your clients from being misled. This course is the operating system for everything else in the diamond business. Take it slowly. Every page here has been read by people who spent decades in the trade and still found things they had missed.

By the end of this course you will know

What GIA's cut grades mean and why Excellent is the only grade worth specifying
The D-to-Z colour scale and where the value breaks actually occur
The FL-to-I3 clarity scale and what "eye-clean" means commercially
Why carat weight pricing is non-linear and how to use that to your advantage
How all four factors interact to determine a diamond's actual market value
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~5 hours
  1. The 4Cs: complete guide The overview that ties the whole system together. Read this first to understand how the four factors interact before studying each one individually. ⏱ ~45 min
  2. Cut: the most important of the 4Cs The science of how a diamond's facets interact with light. Proportions, symmetry, polish, GIA Excellent. Why cut grade determines 40% of a diamond's visual quality. ⏱ ~80 min
  3. Colour: D to Z explained The GIA colour scale, how colour is assessed, which grades represent the real value breaks, and how metal choice affects colour appearance in a finished ring. ⏱ ~60 min
  4. Clarity: FL to I3 explained Every clarity grade defined. What inclusions actually look like, which ones matter, which do not, and why SI1 is the most commercially important grade. ⏱ ~60 min
  5. Carat weight: size, price and the magic-weight premium Why a 2-carat diamond costs more than twice a 1-carat. Magic sizes. Face-up appearance vs carat weight. How buyers get more value by buying just below threshold weights. ⏱ ~50 min
The most important course in the curriculum. Do not rush it. Start Course 2 
Course 3 ~3.5 hours  ·  4 readings  ·  Essential

Grading, certification and the laboratories

GIA vs IGI, how certificates are produced, and what they do not tell you

A diamond certificate is the single most important document in any diamond transaction. But most people in the trade, including many who have been in it for years, do not fully understand what a certificate says, what it does not say, and why a GIA certificate and an IGI certificate on the same stone can come back with different grades. This course gives you that understanding. It also covers the controversies, because knowing where the system has weaknesses is how you protect yourself from being exploited by them.

By the end of this course you will know

Exactly how GIA grades a diamond: the process, the team, the instruments
The real differences between GIA and IGI grades and why they matter commercially
The grading controversies the trade rarely discusses openly
How to verify any certificate in under two minutes at gia.edu/report-check
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~3.5 hours
  1. How diamond grading works The complete process from submission to certificate. What happens inside the lab, who makes the grades, and why two gemologists can look at the same stone differently. ⏱ ~50 min
  2. GIA explained: the world's most trusted laboratory History, methodology, standards, and the GIA grading report in full detail. Every field on a GIA certificate explained precisely. ⏱ ~50 min
  3. IGI explained: India's most widely used laboratory Why IGI dominates the Indian market. How its standards compare to GIA. When an IGI certificate is appropriate and when GIA should be required. ⏱ ~38 min
  4. GIA vs IGI: the honest comparison The grade inflation question. Real-world data on grade differences between labs. The commercial implications for buyers and sellers on each side of this decision. ⏱ ~50 min
Understanding certification protects every transaction you will ever do. Start Course 3 
Course 4 ~3.5 hours  ·  4 readings  ·  Commercial

The diamond trade: how the business actually works

Rappaport, rough tenders, bourses, and the price system that runs the industry

The Rappaport Price List is the closest thing the diamond trade has to a stock exchange. Every dealer, every retailer, every buyer is either using it or pricing relative to it. If you do not understand how the Rap system works, what "back of Rap" means, why certain stones trade at premiums or discounts, and how rough tenders set the price for everything downstream, you cannot participate in the trade on equal terms. This course is about commercial fluency. The difference between someone who knows diamonds and someone who can operate in the diamond business.

By the end of this course you will know

How the Rappaport Price List works and how to use it in any transaction
How rough diamonds are sold through tender and why this controls global supply pricing
How diamond bourses operate and what membership represents
The complete flow of money and stones from mine to retail and where margins sit at each stage
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~3.5 hours
  1. The Rappaport Price List explained The pricing benchmark that controls every diamond transaction. How to read it, how to use it, why "back of Rap" is the most important phrase in diamond trading. ⏱ ~60 min
  2. Rough diamond tenders How De Beers, Alrosa and the major mines sell rough. The tender process, sightholders, and how upstream price controls everything below it in the supply chain. ⏱ ~50 min
  3. Diamond bourses: the trading floors of the world What diamond bourses are, how they operate, the major bourses in Antwerp, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Dubai and New York, and what bourse membership means in practice. ⏱ ~50 min
  4. How diamond trading works The complete commercial chain: rough purchase, cutting, trading, wholesale, retail, and where the margins sit at each stage. How money actually moves in this business. ⏱ ~55 min
The course most family business successors skip. Do not skip it. Start Course 4 
Course 5 ~3 hours  ·  4 readings  ·  Current

Lab-grown diamonds: the disruption you cannot ignore

CVD, HPHT, the price collapse, and what this means for the natural diamond business

Lab-grown diamonds are the most significant structural change to the diamond industry in 150 years. Between 2016 and 2024, the price of a 1-carat lab-grown diamond fell approximately 90%. Lab-grown now holds a majority share of engagement ring diamond sales in the United States by volume. Every conversation in the natural diamond trade now happens in the context of this disruption. If you do not understand lab-grown deeply, you cannot understand the natural diamond market correctly.

By the end of this course you will know

The two production methods (CVD and HPHT) and the diagnostic characteristics of each
Why lab-grown prices collapsed 90% in eight years and what that trajectory means going forward
The detection instruments that identify lab-grown and why disclosure matters for trust
How to position natural diamonds when a customer asks "why not lab-grown?"
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~3 hours
  1. What is a lab-grown diamond The chemistry, the history, and the commercial context. Why lab-grown diamonds are physically real diamonds and what makes them fundamentally different from natural. ⏱ ~45 min
  2. CVD: chemical vapour deposition The dominant production method. How it works, what it produces, and the diagnostic characteristics that identify CVD diamonds under laboratory examination. ⏱ ~48 min
  3. Natural vs lab-grown: the honest comparison Value, durability, rarity, resale, disclosure obligations, consumer attitudes across markets. The framework for having this conversation with any buyer. ⏱ ~38 min
  4. The lab-grown price collapse How the price fell 90% in eight years. The supply-demand dynamics that drove it. What this means for natural diamond values and what it does not mean. ⏱ ~32 min
Essential for anyone in natural diamond retail in 2025 and beyond. Start Course 5 
Course 6 ~3.5 hours  ·  4 readings  ·  India-specific

The Indian diamond market: Surat, Mumbai, and how India runs the world's trade

90% of the world's diamonds are cut here. This is how that business works.

India cuts approximately 90% of the world's diamonds by piece count and 80 to 85% by value. Surat is the cutting capital of the world, Mumbai is the financial and trading hub, and the Bharat Diamond Bourse in BKC is one of the largest diamond exchanges on earth. If your family is in this business, this is your home market. Understanding it precisely, including the regulatory environment (GST, import duties, BIS hallmarking) and the trade infrastructure (bourses, banks, manufacturers), is the foundation of commercial competence in India.

By the end of this course you will know

How Surat became the world's cutting capital and how the industry is structured today
How the Mumbai market operates: the BDB, the banks, the trading conventions
The complete GST and import duty structure for diamonds and jewellery in India
How BIS hallmarking works and what it means for retail jewellery compliance
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~3.5 hours
  1. The Surat story How Surat became the global diamond cutting centre. The family networks that built it, how it operates today, and what makes it unlike any other manufacturing hub on earth. ⏱ ~22 min
  2. The Mumbai diamond trade Bharat Diamond Bourse, Opera House, the banking relationships, the trading conventions, and how to navigate the Mumbai market as a buyer or seller. ⏱ ~36 min
  3. GST and import duties on diamonds in India The complete regulatory framework: GST rates on rough, polished and jewellery, import duty structure, and what has changed in recent Union Budgets. ⏱ ~35 min
  4. Buying diamonds in India: the complete practical guide Where to buy, how to verify, what certification to require, what overpricing looks like, and how to protect yourself in every channel. ⏱ ~45 min
Your home market. Know it better than anyone else. Start Course 6 
Course 7 ~3.5 hours  ·  4 readings  ·  Foundation

How coloured gems work: grading, treatments and laboratories

The system is different from diamonds. Here is why and how to navigate it.

Coloured stone grading is fundamentally different from diamond grading. There is no single universal standard. More importantly, treatment is the most commercially significant factor in coloured stones and also the most abused. A heated ruby and an unheated ruby of identical apparent quality can differ in price by a factor of ten. If you cannot assess treatment, you cannot price coloured stones. This course builds that foundation.

By the end of this course you will know

How the GIA coloured stone system works: hue, tone, saturation, Type I/II/III clarity
Every significant treatment: heat, oiling, lead glass, beryllium diffusion, and how each affects value
What a GIA, AGL and Gübelin coloured stone certificate each tells you
How origin determination works and why "Burma" or "Kashmir" on a certificate is worth real money
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~3.5 hours
  1. How coloured gems are graded The GIA coloured stone system in full: hue, tone, saturation, Type I/II/III clarity. How it differs from diamond grading and why those differences matter. ⏱ ~45 min
  2. Gem treatments: the complete guide Every treatment from heat to lead glass filling to oiling. What each does to the stone, what it does to the price, and how laboratories detect each one. ⏱ ~55 min
  3. Heat treatment: the science and the commercial reality The physics of how heating changes ruby and sapphire at 1,600 to 1,900 degrees. What silk dissolution looks like under microscopy. Why unheated stones command 3 to 20 times premiums. ⏱ ~50 min
  4. Gem laboratories: GIA, AGL, Gübelin, SSEF, Lotus What each laboratory is known for, when to use each, the hierarchy of trust in the international market, and how to verify any certificate online. ⏱ ~45 min
The foundation for the three species courses that follow. Start Course 7 
Course 8 ~5 hours  ·  6 readings  ·  High value

The big three: ruby, sapphire and emerald

The three species that drive 80% of the high-value coloured stone market

Ruby, sapphire and emerald are the species where the real money in coloured stones moves. A fine unheated Burmese ruby above 3 carats is worth more per carat than most diamonds. A Kashmir sapphire at auction has broken price-per-carat records. Understanding these three species deeply, their origins, quality distinctions, treatment implications and fraud patterns, is the core competency of anyone in the Indian fine gem trade.

By the end of this course you will know

The ruby origin hierarchy (Mogok, Mozambique, Vietnam) and the price differences between them
What "pigeon blood" actually means and why it is commercially significant
Why Kashmir sapphire commands 10 to 20 times premiums over equivalent Ceylon sapphire
How to identify glass-filled ruby, the most damaging fraud in the Indian market
The emerald oiling scale (AGL minor/moderate/significant) and what each grade means for price
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~5 hours
  1. Ruby gemstone: the complete guide Chromium colour science, origin differences, heat treatment, the unheated premium structure, and how to buy ruby safely with correct certification. ⏱ ~55 min
  2. Ruby quality: pigeon blood, colour grading and what to look for How colour quality is assessed. The pigeon blood standard. Mogok vs Mozambique vs Vietnam quality differences. What GIA says vs what the market actually pays. ⏱ ~50 min
  3. Blue sapphire: the complete guide Fe2+Ti4+ charge transfer colour science, origin hierarchy, heat treatment effects on silk, the padparadscha definition, and how to buy sapphire with proper certification. ⏱ ~55 min
  4. Kashmir sapphire: the most valuable sapphire in the world Why Kashmir sapphire commands premiums that have no parallel in coloured gems. The deposit history, the velvet quality, certificate requirements, and the current auction market. ⏱ ~80 min
  5. Emerald: the complete guide Chromium and vanadium colour, Colombian vs Zambian vs Brazilian origin, the jardin system, why virtually all emerald is oiled, and the AGL treatment grading scale. ⏱ ~55 min
  6. Emerald treatments: oiling, resin and what the certificate says The full oiling treatment taxonomy. What cedar oil, Canada balsam and Opticon look like under microscopy. What AGL's minor/moderate/significant/extensive grading means for value. ⏱ ~40 min
These three species will define most of your high-value client conversations. Start Course 8 
Course 9 ~3 hours  ·  2 readings  ·  India essential

Navratna: the nine gem system of Jyotish

The system that drives a significant share of Indian gem retail and how to serve it correctly

Navratna purchases are driven by faith and intention, not aesthetics. A buyer purchasing Neelam for Saturn is not comparison shopping for the best-looking sapphire at the lowest price. They are looking for the right stone for a specific ritual purpose. This changes the entire sales conversation. It also creates a specific fraud risk: a motivated buyer with limited gemological knowledge is the primary target of species substitution fraud. Understanding what the classical texts actually specify, what quality is required, and what fraud patterns target this buyer is essential for anyone selling gems in the Indian retail market.

By the end of this course you will know

The nine planet-gem assignments and the historical Sanskrit text basis for each
What quality the classical texts actually specify, which is more demanding than most dealers acknowledge
The species fraud pattern for each Navratna gem (topaz as Pukhraj, topaz as Neelam, etc.)
What certification is required for each Navratna gem purchase above meaningful value
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~3 hours
  1. What is the Navratna system The nine planets, the nine gems, the historical development from Brhat Samhita through the Ratnapariksha tradition. What the classical texts actually require in terms of quality. ⏱ ~50 min
  2. All nine Navratna stones: quality, fraud risks and prices Each of the nine stones covered individually. What meets the classical standard, the specific fraud pattern for each, certification requirements, and current India market price ranges in rupees. ⏱ ~55 min
Understanding Navratna is understanding the Indian gem retail buyer. Start Course 9 
Course 10 ~3.5 hours  ·  4 readings  ·  Protection

Buying safely: fraud, the India market and protecting every transaction

The practical skills that protect money. Every buyer needs this. Every seller needs this too.

Gem and diamond fraud is not rare. It is systematic, well-organised, and specifically targeted at buyers who have enthusiasm but incomplete knowledge, which describes most family business successors at the start of their careers. The fraud patterns in this course have cost Indian buyers collectively hundreds of crores of rupees. Glass-filled ruby, synthetic sapphire sold as natural, fake certificates, the tourist market scam, lead glass fraud in Jaipur. These are not edge cases. They are the baseline experience of uninformed buying in this market.

By the end of this course you will know

Every major fraud pattern in the Indian gem market and the specific detection method for each
How to buy gems in Jaipur and Mumbai without being defrauded
The complete step-by-step purchase process that protects against every major fraud category
What to do if you have been defrauded: the Consumer Protection Act process and practical options
Required reading — in this order ⏱ Estimated reading time: ~3.5 hours
  1. Gem scams: every fraud pattern documented Glass-filled ruby. Synthetic as natural. Species substitution. Fake GIA certificates. Tourist scams. Social media fraud. Every fraud with specific detection guidance. ⏱ ~55 min
  2. How to buy gems in India safely Jaipur wholesale, Mumbai certification, finding reliable dealers, the step-by-step purchase process, and what to do when it goes wrong. ⏱ ~50 min
  3. How to buy any gem: the complete framework Define purpose first. Where to buy for each purpose. What every certificate must say. The 10-step purchase process that protects against all major fraud categories. ⏱ ~50 min
  4. Gem investment: the honest framework What makes a coloured gem investable. Liquidity realities. Auction market mechanics. Historical price data. Who gem investment is appropriate for and who it is not. ⏱ ~50 min
The last course. The one that protects everything else you have learned. Start Course 10 

Begin with Course 1

No account. No fee. No deadline. The Codex articles are the curriculum. Read them in sequence, come back here between each one, and move forward when you are ready.

Start: Course 1 → Start: Course 7 (Gems) →