The Greenland Ruby Grading Process
The Greenland Ruby grading process for rubies and pink sapphires is conducted at our offices in Thailand, where skilled graders with years of industry experience and expertise perform scrupulous evaluations at every step of the grading process.
The grading process consists of four stages in total, during which gems are classified by their dimensions and weight, clarity, and color, plus a final review.
Dimensions & Weight
Our rubies and pink sapphires are cut as both cabochon and faceted gems, according to their crystal orientation. Shapes include: oval, round, pear, cushion, long cushion, heart and sugar-loaf and range in sizes up to 50cts.
Cabochons are calibrated. Faceted gems are free-size. Diamond Cuts are calibrated from 0.9mm to 3mm.
All gems are tracked and traced from the mine and come with a Card of Authenticity of a Certificate of Origin, which bears the gem’s unique identification number.
Rough sourced from primary hard rock deposits is best suited to cabochon gems. Greenland Ruby is the first colored gemstone mining operation to responsibly bring ruby and pink sapphire calibrated cabochons into the marketplace.
Clarity
Clarity of our rubies and pink sapphires is graded accordingly:
Cabochon
- Transparent (T): Light penetrates the stone, fire and brilliance are present.
- Translucent (TL): Light penetrates the stone, fire is absent.
- Opaque (O): Light does not penetrate the stone.
Within each cabochon clarity, our gems are further categorized
- A: No visible inclusions
- B: Inclusions are visible on the side of the gem but cannot be seen from the top.
- C: Inclusions are visible on the surface/top view of the gem.
Faceted
- A – Inclusions do not reach out to the surface
- B- Surface-reaching inclusions, which remain invisible face-up
- C- Surface-reaching inclusions, which may be visible face-up
- D- Translucent material
All Greenland Ruby gems are heated with flux (Borax). The treatment is permanent and irreversible.
Color
The rubies and pink sapphires from Greenland range in color from deep red, known as ‘Pidgeon Blood’ in the gem Industry, to light and icy pink.
Purple, grey and black gems from our mine in Aappaluttoq are known as our Northern Lights, while the blues are our Northern Nights sapphires.
Final Review
The last step of the grading process includes a final review by an expert grader who oversees and double checks all aspects of the process.