GIA Launches Birthstone Flipchart and Online Gemstone Education Resources

GIA’s new teaching toolkit centers on a full-color desktop product called the Birthstone Flipchart and a set of accompanying online pages that outline composition, hardness, typical treatments, and tips for care and longevity. The flipchart is presented as a sales-floor education aid and the online material supplies the basic gemological data retail staff need to discuss each stone with customers.

The Birthstone Flipchart is listed on GIA’s store as a full-color desktop flipchart sized 7” x 8.5” and offered in English only. Store copy invites users to "Celebrate the birthstones of each month with this full-color desktop flipchart." The listing notes that "With a separate page for each birthstone, educate your customers on the colors, geographic sources, and mineral specifics of each beautiful birthstone." Multiple image captions on the product page show the flipchart "standing up, opened to page displaying birthstone for each month" as well as pages "displaying garnet gemstones and garnet facts," "displaying emerald gemstones and emerald facts," and "displaying tanzanite gemstones and tanzanite facts."

The online companion material is explicit about the categories it covers: composition, hardness, typical treatments and tips for care and longevity. Those four categories form the technical backbone of the guidance GIA supplies to retailers and their sales staff, pairing the flipchart’s visual presentation with succinct gemological facts useful at the counter.

GIA is rolling these materials into its Retailer Support Program. Beginning Feb. 4, retailers will have access to gemstone counter displays, a birthstone flipchart and brochures about sapphire and ruby. Soon after, a brochure about how to understand GIA colored stone reports will also be made available to jewelers. For information about the program, visit Retailer.GIA.edu. The program expansion is presented alongside GIA’s broader colored-stone services, including the laboratory work now offered for alexandrite.

On the topic of alexandrite, NationalJeweler’s coverage ran under the headline "GIA Now Offering Origin Reports for Alexandrite." Shane McClure, global director of colored stone services, is quoted: "Offering an alexandrite Identification and Origin Report continues GIA’s mission to bring our research-based laboratory services to our clients," said Shane McClure, global director of colored stone services. "This service ultimately benefits the gem and jewelry-buying public by providing reliable reports." The NationalJeweler excerpt also contains the file string "20190201_GIA-alexandrite.jpg" among its page assets.

Retailers and educators should note the usage and legal language that accompanies the materials. The store page includes a "Free Shipping Icon" and the notice "Use of GIA Retailer Support materials is contingent upon adherence to the usage guidelines prescribed in the Terms of Use." GIA’s catalog and store identify the organization as "GIA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. All rights reserved." World Headquarters and The Robert Mouawad Campus are listed at 5345 Armada Drive, Carlsbad, California 92008, Tel: 760-603-4200, and the store page carries "CONTACT US" and "Join Our Mailing List" elements alongside multiple instances of the GIA Logo.

The flipchart and the online pages provide retailers a compact, image-led way to communicate mineral specifics and care guidance at the sales counter; the Retailer Support Program expansion makes those tools available in the context of GIA’s lab services and educational outreach. Verify the year associated with "Beginning Feb. 4" and current distribution channels through GIA before planning orders or trainings.