A gemological examination is a set of measures taken to establish the origin and determine the quality of a precious, semi-precious or semi-precious stone. In modern conditions, a gemological examination is unthinkable without the use of advanced diagnostic equipment. At the same time, the accuracy of the assessment largely depends on the professionalism of the expert.
History of gemological examination
The need to evaluate minerals suitable for making jewelery arose on the very day when it was decided to turn a beautiful stone into a piece. However, it took hundreds and hundreds of years before a person worked out methods of visual differentiation of rocks, invented the necessary tools, and learned how to determine the density and hardness of gems.
Rush demand for the services of expert gemologists arose at the end of the seventeenth century, after the invention of crystal by George Ravenskroft. Artisans gave faceted pieces of lead glass for diamonds and sold to hapless burghers almost handfuls.
It was then that jewelers who worked in Leipzig, Venice, Amsterdam, and other trading cities began to develop the tradition of paid expert services. This tradition is still alive today: the overestimated cost of expertise protects qualified specialists from the north of Europe from tedious workloads.
Today, every civilized state in the world seeks to create its own gemological expert service. There is a gemological examination in Russia.
Russian gemological examination
The situation with an expert assessment of the origin and quality of precious stones in Russia is somewhat paradoxical. On the one hand, the issuance of quality certificates is the prerogative of authorized government agencies. In Russia, certification authority is given to the Ministry of Finance body – Assay Office.
On the other hand, state institutions should evaluate in accordance with state standards, but GOSTs for precious, semi-precious and ornamental stones do not yet exist.
The specialists of our national gemology have at their disposal the so-called Technical Conditions, in which all important indicators of the quality of the stones — clarity, transparency, chromaticity, and requirements for cutting — are spelled out in sufficient detail. However, TU is a plastic document, its content is changeable, and therefore the most state expert opinions of Russian authorship by the world jewelry community are often ignored.
Nevertheless, to deny the credibility of the opinion of federal certification bodies is stupid. Independent expert institutions in the principles of their work only approach the standards of action of the Russian state services. Moreover, independent experts in Russia do not have the right to issue certificates: the final document of the work of an independent gemological examination is an expert opinion.
It should be noted that the expert conclusions of the commissions with many years of experience of excellent work are no less weighty than state certificates. Moreover, world practice recognizes the preference of independent gemological examinations.
Where in Russia to conduct gemological examination?
To obtain a state certificate, you should contact one of the Inspections of Assay Supervision, of which there are eighteen in Russia. Inspections are located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk, Ufa, Ulan-Ude, Kaliningrad, Makhachkala, Yakutsk, Yekaterinburg, Orel, Saratov, Simferopol, and also in Veliky Ustyug Vologodskaya region and in the village of Red-on-Volga Kostroma region.
Many of the independent expert centers operating in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Yakutsk, and other cities specialize in conducting research and issuing opinions on standards adopted in Western Europe.
There are branches of foreign gemological laboratories in Russia. True, in the current political situation, many of them are inactive.
Gemological examination abroad
In neighboring countries, finding an authoritative gemological laboratory is easiest in the capitals. It should be understood that the state certification centers primarily serve legal entities engaged in export-import operations. In Ukraine, expert gemological institutions subordinated to the Ministry of Finance operate in most regions of the country.
The American Gemological Institute IGI, the European Gemological Laboratory EGL and some other organizations have developed a network of branches in different countries of the world. Buying precious stones in India, Thailand, Africa, countries of South America, you can contact any of the nearby IGI or EGL expert centers and verify the quality of the goods.
Practice shows that the quality certificates of stone issued by the administration of processing enterprises of the third world countries, in most cases, can be trusted. Finally, Metaphysical Products is the best and affordable option for you.
