About me
Al, currently the Project Manager of Cut-Research at GIA’s Carlsbad Laboratory, was raised in the lapidary (gem-cutting) business and eventually managed a high-end AGS retail jeweler whose shop employed several custom goldsmiths. He later owned a high-end trade shop specializing in several areas, including platinum fabrication and antique jewelry restoration, and an appraisal service serving over 70 jewelers. Al holds a Graduate Gemologist Diploma (1979) from GIA and an American Gem Society Certified Gemologist title (1979).
Al is best known for his work on the appearance of gems and diamonds. He is the sole inventor of two cut-evaluation patents acquired by the American Gem Society, which form the basis of ASET technology. GIA hired him in 2000, and he is one of GIA’s researchers who helped create its cut grading system for the round brilliant. Al is a rigorous and exhaustive researcher, well known for his book American Cut — The First 100 Years, a comprehensive historical record of the development of round brilliant-cut diamonds from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. Al was approached in 2017 to build and teach a class on Jewelry Forensics.
Al received the Accredited Gemologists Association’s Antonio C. Bonanno Award for Excellence in Gemology in 2017, and in 2025, the American Gem Society honored him with its highest distinction, the Robert M. Shipley Award, for his lifetime achievements in gemological research and service.
