Provenance

Provenance is the documented history of a stone after it left the ground: where it has been, who has owned it, which reports and invoices have travelled with it. It is not origin. Origin is where the stone formed, and a laboratory gives an opinion on it from inclusions and chemistry; provenance is the paper trail after the stone surfaced, and no laboratory can supply it. The two get muddled in listings, usually in the direction that helps the seller. A ruby from the collection of a named house has provenance. A ruby from Mogok has an origin opinion, or should have.

In practice

Provenance shows up as documents, not as a line on a report. An auction catalogue entry with lot number and date. A run of laboratory reports across decades, each with its number, all showing the same weight and measurements. Invoices, insurance schedules, an old Gübelin certificate from the 1970s beside a new one. Where the chain is verifiable, from a named collection, an estate or a saleroom record that can be checked, it adds value, and at the top of the market it can add a great deal, since a stone that has been examined and sold in public several times is a stone whose identity has been tested several times. Where the chain is a story told across a counter, it adds nothing and should be priced at nothing.

Every transaction is a chance to extend it. Keep the reports, keep the invoices, note the date and the seller, and pass the whole file on when the stone moves. Ask a dealer what came with the stone and whether the earlier reports can still be checked against their laboratories. A dealer who has kept the paper is telling you something about how he trades, and it is usually good.