Provenance

Every stone and every piece offered by Exalted Exchange is selected individually. Nothing is bought in bulk, and there is no seasonal catalogue. What appears here has been examined and kept.

Sourcing

Stones are acquired from cutters and established dealers, and assessed on cut quality, colour, treatment status, origin, and carat weight against actual spread. A stone is also assessed against how it has been described. Marketing language and gemmological fact are not the same thing, and where the two diverge, the stone is passed over.

Certification

Where a stone carries a laboratory report, the issuing laboratory is named on its listing.

A laboratory report establishes identity, and where the laboratory offers an opinion, treatment status and geographic origin. It does not establish value, and it is not a judgement of beauty. Origin determination in particular is expert opinion drawn from inclusion and trace-element analysis. It is well founded, but it remains opinion.

Where a stone is not accompanied by a report and one is wanted, certification can be arranged through GIA against a deposit.

Report numbers are not published. They are provided to a client on enquiry.

Treatment

Treatment is disclosed in plain language, following trade convention. Heating is common and long accepted for several varieties, and is not a defect. What matters is that it is declared.

Appraisal

Finished pieces carry an independent appraisal. Appraisals are commissioned from accredited third-party appraisers and are never prepared in-house, for the straightforward reason that a valuation written by the seller is worth less than one that is not.

An appraisal is a valuation opinion, generally prepared for insurance purposes. It is not a laboratory report, and the two are not interchangeable. Where both exist, they are described separately and neither is presented as the other.

Colour and photography

Colour is the greater part of a coloured stone. Photography is done under consistent lighting and is never AI-generated or AI-altered.

Even so, no screen reproduces a stone exactly. Monitors differ, calibration differs, and ambient light changes what you see. The images here are worked to be accurate, but actual colour may vary from what appears on your display. Where colour is decisive to a decision, ask — additional images, video, or a viewing in Vancouver can be arranged.