GIA Certs Emerald Origin

In a reversal of a long-standing policy, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has begun offering origin reports for emerald.

In the past, the GIA did not offer origin reports for any gemstones because of the ambiguities in the process: In order to determine origin, gemologists look at a number of factors, such as growth structures in the crystal and other minerals that may be present as inclusions. However, not all gemstones from a given country – or even a single deposit – will have the same characteristics, and in some cases there may not be enough information to decide where the gem is from. For that reason, even laboratories which do offer origin reports stress that origin identification is an “opinion” rather than a known quantity like weight or refractive index.

“The other important reason is we have always maintained that gemstones should be judged by their quality, not by where they came out of the ground,” said Shane McClure, director of West Coast identification services at the GIA Laboratory in Carlsbad, California. “The fact that a stone came out of the ground in any location should not immediately make it more valuable than the same quality of stone coming from a different location. However, this philosophy no longer adequately reflects the current evaluation structure of the industry. For better or worse, country of origin has become an important factor in determining a stone’s worth. For this reason, and at the insistence of our clients and the trade in general, we will do our best to provide the information they need in the best manner we can.”

Initially, the reports will only separate Colombian emeralds from emeralds of other origins.

“Emeralds, particularly Colombian emeralds, are somewhat less complicated than corundum and other gems in terms of origin determination, so we chose to start there,” said McClure. “It is our understanding from our clients and colleagues that the greatest interest in country of origin for emeralds is for Colombian emeralds, and they comprise the vast majority of those emeralds being submitted for this service.”

In the event that the laboratory cannot determine whether or not the emerald is from Colombia, the lab will simply issue a standard identification report on the stone. If the emerald is not from Colombia, but the laboratory feels confident in identifying a specific country of origin, that country will appear on the origin report.

In time, McClure added, the GIA will expand its offerings to include origin reports on other gemstones. “We plan to move forward with adding this service to other gemstones, but will only do it when we feel we are ready,” he explained. “You can expect a phasing in of these services throughout 2007.”

Posted: December 18, 2006

November/December 2006 • Kenya: With Open Arms • Women With Tools • News & Updates • In This Issue • Visit the Tucson Show Guide