Our Grading System on Facet Rough

Universally, all Gemstones are graded by the 4 C’s (Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat).

Using our extensive experience in sourcing, buying, sorting, grading and generally acquiring Top Grade Gemstones from miners, we have a full grading and evaluation system for all stones as they come in from the mines.

We grade Facet Rough using the ‘VVS System’ and we were one of the first, 20 years ago, to start grading Colored Gem Rough in this way. We found this to be the most logical (and transparent) way of describing rough, rather than just saying ‘clean’. Most just use the ‘Eye Clean Method’ or ‘% Clean Method’ which is too vague. For example, Eye Clean in our view is SI-VS or lower. Putting a value on facet rough such as ‘VS’ or ‘VVS’ is more exact and we felt this system was fair to us and for our clients. Since all the stones we buy are mostly to cut ourselves, we thought, why not grade Facet Rough to finished result?

 

VVS-IF will cut a VVS-IF cut stone,

VS will cut a VS finished stone,

SI will cut an SI stone... and so on 

 

Abbreviations:

VVS – Very, Very Slight Inclusions (The best - These are difficult to see using a 10x magnifier and are not visible to the naked eye)

IF – Internally Flawless

VS – Very Slight Inclusions

SI – Slightly Included