Editor’s Note
The Gübelin Gem Lab’s new “Emerald Paternity Test” marks a significant advancement in gemstone provenance, using nanoparticle technology to trace emeralds to their exact mine of origin. This innovation promises to reshape transparency and trust within the colored gemstone industry.
The Gübelin Gem Lab, one of the world’s leading gemstone expertise laboratories, has developed a new “Emerald Paternity Test” technology. This technology uses specific nanoparticles derived from DNA testing to determine the origin of emeralds down to the precise location of their extraction mine.
This new technology constitutes a true revolution that will change the rules of the game in the colored gemstone industry. It is the first in a series of new technologies and services developed by the Gübelin Gem Lab to bring more transparency to the gemstone industry and promote a unified provenance label (Provenance Proof Label).
This cutting-edge technology uses DNA-based nanoparticles that are applied directly to rough emerald crystals as they come out of a mine. Specifically developed to survive all the usual processes an emerald undergoes before reaching the end customer (such as cleaning, cutting, polishing, transport, setting), these nanoparticles can be sampled and decoded at every stage of the supply chain. This technology offers mines (whether large groups or cooperatives of small artisanal mining companies), governments, marketing bodies, the industry and its regulatory authorities, jewelry brands, and end customers a new and unique level of transparency for determining the origin of emeralds.
This is the first time nanotechnology – a branch of technology dealing with dimensions smaller than 100 nanometers – has been used in such a context. The size of these particles makes them invisible to optical microscopes; the appearance, quality, and properties of the gemstone are therefore not affected in any way.
Gübelin Jewellery is the first jewelry brand in the world to offer emeralds containing these particles. This new technology was used for the first time on the emerald that crowns Gübelin Jewellery’s platinum “Ancient Path” ring. Thanks to this “Emerald Paternity Test,” the origin of this emerald, weighing over 6 carats, can be clearly traced back to the Belmont mine in Itabira, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Since then, this gemstone can be clearly linked to its origins.
Gübelin’s “Emerald Paternity Test” has just been awarded the JNA Award in the “Industry Innovation of the Year” category in Hong Kong.
