Gemstone / Jewelry expert for more than 50 years.  Experiences in newly manufactured items, and estate items.  Independent appraiser, Instructor for NAJA, as well as an Associate Director and Chairman Emeritus Ethical Issues, NAJA.  Past professional senior titles with ASA and AGS including teaching and leadership roles in ASA and the Accredited Gemologists Association.

1975 GG (GIA)

Certifed Senior Member, NAJA

AGA, NAJA are current.

I am a past member, leader, instructor and one-time student with ASA-ISA-AGS

Past International Chairman of ASA Gems and Jewelry Committee in the early 1990’s.  Past President of the Philadelphia Chapter of ASA.  Past member of the AGS Nomenclature Committee. Past Chair of Ethics for AGA.  Instructor for teaching the early versions of USPAP.  Main grader and test creator for NAJA Certifed Member program before it was automated a few years ago.

Consultant and Appraiser. Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office during the Ron Perlstein prosecution in the misrepresentation of diamonds. 1985-1987.

 Internal Revenue Service Appraiser. Worked on two separate appraisals of donated gems: large topaz located in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; large selection of kunzite crystals located in the American Natural History Museum, New York City, 1986.

 Consultant and Appraiser. FBI, Philadelphia District Attorney’s Offices, and US Customs.  Worked in all matters of confiscation of seized jewelry property. Making auction estimates. 1989-2004.

 Consultant. Philadelphia Redevelopment  Authority in the condemnation of a local business property that included jewelry stores and their inventories. 1990-1993.

 Consultant and Instructor. American Society of Appraisers, Master Gemologist Appraiser Program. Developed instructional materials and coordinated testing of candidate members. 1988-1992.                       

Consultant and Instructor. National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, General Appraisal Course. Developed instructional materials and instructed classes. 1993 to present.

 Past-Instructor, The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. A Pennsylvania State Certified Course of 15 hours. Mandatory for real estate appraisers and for all NAJA Members.

 Consultant to the Federal Trade Commission 1993 to 1995. In regard to colored gem scams via telephone solicitation.

 Consultant to the Gemological Institute of America in the development of their appraisal course 1995/96.

 Consultant to ImaGem, Inc. 1997 to 2015. A digital diamond analysis technology and data management firm.

 Appeared as an expert panelist several times on radio and television. WWDB radio, KYW TV, WHYY TV (PBS).

 Used as a source for information and mentioned as an expert in National Jeweler Magazine, Jewelers Circular Keystone Magazine on several occasions. Used as a named source in an April, 1987 issue of U.S. News and World Report, and mentioned as “the acknowledged dean of jewelry appraisers in this area” (Delaware Valley) in an article titled Are Diamonds Forever? published in Inside Magazine, Winter, 1987 issue.

 In the Winter, 1988 edition of the Personal Property Journal published by the American Society of Appraisers, an article titled

Old Cut Diamonds: Description, Valuation, Estimation, Availability. Also acknowledged as a contributor to Anna Miller’s book titled Gems and Jewelry Appraising, Techniques of Professional Practice. 1988.

 1990: Creator of the AGA-CERTâ, the successor to the Diamond Report Card.  This unique diamond grading report gives the trade and the consumer ALL the facts in regard to a diamond’s quality and description.

 Served as an expert through TASA, Technical Advisory Service for Attorneys for past and ongoing matters. Hired as expert counsel for INOA, a French governmental agency which successfully sought to prevent the trademarking of the French words Champagne and Cognac which are in common usage here and abroad, by Argyle Mines of Australia for their brown color series of diamond production.

 Writer of an article titled A Practical Approach to the Four GIA Cut Class Grades. Publication in the “Jewelry Appraiser” June 1993 issue. Primary publication of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers. Mr. Atlas is the first to publish a practical system on the cut grading of fancy shaped diamonds that meshes with the cut grading of round diamonds. A single cut grade can be established which permits the trade and especially the consumer to know how well their diamond is cut compared to other stones in the market.

 Recognized in Modern Jeweler Magazine, Sept. 97 issue as the innovator of diamond cut grading reports beginning as early as 1985.

1983 Atlas developed a price matrix of Old European Cut diamonds that was published by two nationally known and recognized publications. THE GUIDE, and THE NAJA APPRAISER. A specialty of the firm was the buying and selling of antique diamonds, 1983 to 2005.

 Also in the same June 1998 issue of Rapaport the AGA Cut Parameter charts for fancy shaped diamonds were published at the end of an article that quoted all the other major diamond labs as not being ready yet to describe the quality of cut in fancy shaped diamonds. Rapaport said “Atlas does it in writing”.  We have been doing this work for over ten years already while the bigger labs get their act together.

 Quoted as the originator of the SI3 grade for diamonds in an article found in JCK Magazine , June 2000 issue. Page 226.  The original intent of suggesting an additional clarity grade was to solidify the subjective nature of clarity grading, not to further muddy the waters.  SI3 in its present use is not what was being suggested.

 “Seeking the Ideal in Fancy Cuts” an article published in the Rapaport Diamond Report Magazine of 4/6/2001

 Published February 2008, Rapaport Magazine of the AGA-DFS system for diamond Durability, Finish and Size grading developed by David Atlas with the technical assistance of Dr. Lalit Aggarwal, ImaGem, Inc.

 Several other articles and many thousands of comments by Mr. Atlas on the subject of diamonds or appraising are found on the Internet at www.pricescope.com, www.datlas.com