Award-winning veteran journalist William George Shuster, JCK Senior Editor and author of Legacy of Leadership: A History of the Gemological Institute of America, will hold book signings at the JA New York Winter Show and the AGTA GemFair Tucson.

At the JA Show, Shuster will sign copies of the book in booth 2024 Jan. 26, from 11 a.m. to noon. In Tucson, visit Shuster at GIA’s Gems & Gemology booth in the Galleria Level during the AGTA GemFair for a book signing Feb. 6 from 10 a.m. to noon, and from 2 to 4 p.m. A limited number of copies of the book will also be available for $49.95.

Shuster chronicles the Institute’s extraordinary history in a colorful narrative that “is as much about the people as it is about gemstone facts and figures,” said GIA President William E. Boyajian. Written for jewelers, gemologists, gem enthusiasts, and the public at large, the book describes founder Robert M. Shipley’s cross-country travels to spread the word about gemology in the 1930s, the late Chairman Richard T. Liddicoat’s creation of the International Diamond Grading System, and many of the people and events that made GIA what it is today.

“I was honored to be asked to write GIA’s history, and feel privileged to have done so,” Shuster said. “The GIA story is a fascinating one, involving and affecting myriads of people, not only in North America, but worldwide, in terms of its impact on the gem and jewelry industries and on consumers in general.”

JCK