Shipley lost his jewelry stores in a divorce and went to Europe, where he completed the Great Britain National Association of Goldsmiths gemological correspondence course. He brought his newfound expertise back to Los Angeles, where he founded his own preliminary course in gemology on September 16, 1930. For the next few years he worked to promote the need for gemological education and train a new breed of "certified" jewelers. These jewelers would form the foundation of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and later the AGS.