Reference Collection
Dr. Eduard Gübelin was a pioneer in many respects. From his numerous travels to various gemstone mines, he brought back to Switzerland countless gemstone samples from renowned mines and locations, which he examined and documented. His passion for the microscopic inner workings of gemstones, his scientific insights, and his insatiable curiosity led him to classify and characterize these samples based on their microscopic features. With this work, he laid the foundation for Gübelin’s gemstone collection.
The collection, comprising over 28,000 gemstones, serves as the basis for the daily work of the Gemmological Laboratory. It is arguably the world’s most comprehensive collection of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, chrysoberyls, alexandrites, and other colored gemstones from all the world’s economically important mines. The stones also originate from mines with depleted deposits or mines that closed decades ago. The value of the collection is extremely difficult to estimate. However, thanks to this collection, we can compare gemstones from our physical stock with antique pieces from customers that supposedly originate from the same sources. Naturally, the collection also includes hundreds of diamonds, pearls, and other gemstones.
Determining the origin of Gemstones
The comprehensive description of gemstone deposits laid the foundation for an additional piece of gemological information: the country of origin. In the early 1950s, Dr. Gübelin began determining the geographical origin of gemstones and including this information in the reports of the Gemological Laboratory. This emerging method of determining origin led to a growing awareness of the diverse sources of gemstones. Consequently, some mines gained a certain prestige; gemstones from these mines benefited from this and were able to fetch higher market prices.
Unfortunately, not all gemstones from a famous country are of high quality. Even the most prestigious mines yield gemstones of low to medium quality. On the other hand, high-quality stones are now being mined in recently discovered deposits. This is particularly true for sapphires found in Africa. Some of the gemstones discovered in the mines of this continent are very impressive and of considerable size. However, for dealers, they lack a certain characteristic: they have no provenance. We at the Gemological Laboratory are convinced that the reputation of some of these stones will improve due to their beauty, thereby enhancing their provenance, as has happened with other stones in the past.
Research and scientific publication of the Gemmological Laboratory
Three articles by Gübelin’s gemological laboratory on the topic of origin determination were published in Jewellery News Asia. Learn more about gemstone origin determination here:
