The IIGJ-Research & Laboratories Centre (IIGJ-RLC), a unit of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), is now offering pearl identification services in Jaipur. 

Nawal Kishore Agrawal, director of board of IIGJ-RLC, said IIGJ-RLC is the first and only gemmological laboratory in North India to provide pearl assessment using state-of-the-art equipment. 

“Jaipur, being one of the most important trading hubs for pearls, after Hyderabad and Mumbai, will now have access to pearl identification reports locally, at cheaper costs and low turnaround time. However, the laboratory will keep serving markets outside Jaipur through its logistics support,” Agrawal noted. 

According to Nirmal Kumar Bardiya, regional chairman of GJEPC in Rajasthan, the GJEPC laboratory has been providing coloured gemstone and diamond identification services for 52 years – these will now be extended to pearls. 

“This new service will facilitate buyers to make quick buying decisions, thereby, boosting pearl trade in and around Jaipur,” added Bardiya.

The pearl identification service will include loose pearls (single or multiple) and pearl strands. The report will provide an analysis of the pearl type – whether natural or cultured (beaded or non-beaded); freshwater or saltwater; and identifiable treatments like artificial colour modification.

The lab will use advanced pearl testing equipment such as Laser Raman, UV-Vis-NIR and EDXRF Spectrometers alongside real-time microradiography and X-Ray Computed microtomography (μ-CT). 

“Having the capability to perform microradiography in real time as well as detailed microtomography enables gemmologists to analyse a pearl in multiple dimensions, thereby, separating natural, beaded cultured and non-beaded cultured pearls. Whereas, separation of freshwater and saltwater pearls will be based on chemical analyses, considering Mn/Sr ratios,” explained GJEPC.