Tanzanite Grading

28th March 2017 | 3 min read Share This Story:

Tanzanite is a stunning pinkish blue gemstone discovered in Tanzania 50 years ago. Tanzanite is famed for its pleochroism – the ability to show more than one colour in different directions through the stone – in this case, blue is the primary colour, with beautiful flashes of pink. But how can you tell if you’re buying a great piece? Here at Gemporia, we grade our Tanzanite by a strict set of guidelines.

There is no official Tanzanite grading system as there is for Diamonds. In fact, other than the GIA’s grading system for colourless Diamonds, there is not a standardized grading system yet in place for any other gemstone in the market today.

But some of you may have heard Tanzanite described as AA, AAA, or AAAA. So what’s the story?

Back in 2004, when our company was founded, there was no simple recognized grading system in place for Tanzanite. We developed a simple system known as the ‘A Grading System’.

A few years later on, the Birmingham Assay Office and the grading company Anchorcert, started to use the same methodology as us. To this day, we both use very similar grading criteria.

The ‘A Grading System’ is now being used by many other companies across the globe, but you will find that many of them do not adhere to the stringent grading criteria we first developed.

Here at Gemporia, you can rest assured that our Tanzanite is fairly and consistently graded, and has been since we developed the scale back in 2004.

So How Does it Work?

If a Tanzanite is eye clean and well cut, it is then simply graded A, AA, AAA or AAAA depending on the intensity of the saturation, and the depth of the tone.

Tanzanite Grading

So what is the Best Grade?

It is important to note that although there are fewer AAAA Tanzanites available on the market and many people prize them above all others, they do come with a higher price tag due to their scarcity. They usually don’t offer as much pleochroism as lighter grades will, so it’s really a matter of taste.

For this reason, many people will aim for AAA grade as it is usually a great compromise between the darker hues of an AAAA, and the more feminine pinks and purples you will see in the AA grades.