NGJA to certify gems by variety name

Sri Lanka’s National Gem and Jewellery Authority decided to modify the detailed certificate issued for gems, in the interest of the trade.
Currently the certificates are issued only by a gem stone’s family or mineralogical name. This system however, has led to confusion among gem traders. According to them this unfamiliar mineralogical name in certification makes customers confused leading to the possibility of loosing a particular sale.

In trading gem stones, the seller and buyer both generally use trade names such as Blue Sapphires, Rubies and Alexandrites.

Hence when a customer requires a certification for a gem he expects the certification by the trade name.

Certificates are issued by the NGJA branches in Colombo, Ratnapura, Beruwala and the World Trade Center, Fort. The services of all valuers /gemologists are utilized for this purpose on a daily roster basis.

When the system of certifying gem stones by the NGJA commenced in 1980, the detailed certificate was initially issued by trade names. Later on however due to conflicts of practicing criteria, usage and other matters, the trade name was changed to the mineralogical name.

Corundum is Sri Lanka’s most valuable gem resource. In the trade Blue Corundum is called the Blue Sapphire; Pink Corundum is called the Pink Sapphire, Pinkish Orange colour Corundum Padmaraga, red colour Corundum Ruby, yellow Corundum the Yellow Sapphire and so on. Most of the trade names for corundum are formed with the stone’s body colour used as a prefix.

Some gems are formed with two or more colours. Then the colour combination can be interpreted by two pairs of human eyes in two different ways. Due to this customer confusion can arise. Padmaraga, orange sapphire and Alexandrite fall into this category. To minimise such conflicting errors certificates for such gems will be issued only at the NGJA Gem Laboratory in Colombo by a panel comprising three valuers / gemologists.