A world leader in coloured gemstone, diamond and pearl testing
Get your items tested by us.
- Fast shipping and safe door-to-door delivery
- On-site testing in Bangkok, Hong Kong and USA
- Easy order and secure payments by credit card
- SSEF Report verification*
*Verify your SSEF report and download a digital copy at www.myssef.ch
Upcoming on-site testing
Get your gems tested at SSEF’s office in Tucson from 31 January to 05 February 2023.
Celebrating 50 years of SSEF
Some 150 industry leaders and opinion-makers from around the world gathered in Basel in September 2022 to celebrate the golden anniversary of SSEF.
Auction highlights
A selection of remarkable jewels recently tested by SSEF and sold at auction.
Become a gem expert
Since its successful beginning in 2001, SSEF’s education department has offered a broad spectrum of gemmological courses to thousands of students from industry, trade, and academia.
Discover our courses
- All levels of gemmology
- Large course collection of stones
- Leading gemmologists as lecturers
- Highly practical courses in small groups
We also provide tailored courses for individuals and companies.
Free online courses by SSEF
Understanding Gemstones
Start your journey to becoming a gem expert with these introductory online courses.
Research at SSEF
Since its beginnings over 50 years ago, the Swiss Gemmological Institute SSEF has been a driving force and at the forefront of scientic innovation in gemmology. Our dedication to gemstone scientific research is an important foundation to our expertise and reliability in testing.
Hundreds of publications, presentations and much more!
Also follow our latest research in:
The value of pearls: A historical review and current trends
The value of pearls: A historical review and current trends. Published in GemGuide, May/June 2022, 1-8.
Natural pearl necklace with one imitation pearl
Our testing not only revealed the presence of 40 natural pearls of a quite remarkable diameter (8-11 mm), but in addition one imitation pearl consisting of a plastic bead covered by a ‘lacquer’ coating that seeks to mimic a pearly lustre.
Heated spinel from Tajikistan
The spinels were nearly free of any inclusions except for a few tiny colourless forsterite inclusions. In combination with trace element analyses, the origin of these spinels could be unambiguously attributed to the famous spinel mines near Kuh-i-Lal, located in the Pamir mountains in southern Tajikistan, close to the Afghan border.
The science of gem testing at SSEF: a fascinating tale
Gemmology is a science with its foundations more than a hundred years ago, specifically driven by the emergence of synthetic stones and cultured pearls in the gem trade in the early 20th century.