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

We are an independent Swiss non-profit foundation Trusted by major dealers, brands and auction houses Excellency in science
We are an independent Swiss non-profit foundation Trusted by major dealers, brands and auction houses Excellency in science

Upcoming on-site testing

Get your gems tested during in Bangkok, Hong Kong and the United States.

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.

ASDI-500 in Antwerp

Join us for live presentation of ASDI-500 (screening diamonds down to 0.5mm size) at the Antwerp Diamond Bourse on Thursday March 21st.

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.

Facette

Facette is the annual magazine of the Swiss Gemmological Institute SSEF. 2023 marks its 28th issue. Starting as a humble leaflet with a few black & white pages in a very basic layout, Facette has evolved into a magazine rich in information about recent research findings and activities at SSEF.

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 scientific 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:

chine
chine
burmese
thai

It is always a pleasure for our team to analyse gemstones which are not so common, or sometimes even very rare, but which may compete in beauty and quality (but often not in hardness) with the most prestigious classic gemstones.

Since about three years, we see at SSEF occasionally chrysoberyl samples of very dark purplish to purplish brown colour, sometimes of quite impressive size (>10 ct). Based on chemical composition, these chrysoberyls show distinct concentration of chromium, but no evident change of colour, thus do not fit the criteria to be called alexandrite