Leading gemstone security specialist, Opsydia, has collaborated with ethical and sustainable emerald supplier, Myne London, to permanently place its brand logo beneath the surface of its traceable emerald melee supply from Pakistan.
The Opsydia team worked with Myne London Founders Fiona Wellington and Kate Murray Gordos, and their in-house gemmologist Charles Evans Bsc (Hons) FGA DGA, to create a procedure for placing the business’ unique ‘M’ logo beneath the surface of its emeralds, which are ethically sourced from the Swat Valley, Pakistan. The presence of this brand logo represents the authenticity of each emerald, the traceable journey it has taken from Pakistan, and the wider efforts that Myne London undertakes to support local women and their access to skills, education and training.
The Myne London ‘M’ monogram is placed beneath the surface of the table facet using Opsydia technology (Sub-Surface System D5000).
Myne London Gemmologist, Charles Evans, says: “Myne London has invested heavily in securing Swat Valley emeralds that meet their strict ethical trade criteria. Being a fresh, young business that specialises in melee sizes, Myne London has chosen to be innovative and partner with Opsydia. Its recent strides in placing identifiers beneath the surface of melee diamonds inspired us to pursue the same treatment for Myne London melee emeralds (under 2mm). Anyone who is serious about authenticating coloured gemstones and reassuring their customers can do the same.”
Opsydia successfully trialled its technology with coloured gemstones in 2019 and the results were published in the Summer 2019 edition of InColor magazine, created by the Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF). This is the first time Opsydia has worked with a coloured gemstone business on a commercial project, while also navigating the challenges of working exclusively with melee-sized emeralds as small as 1.3mm in diameter.
Myne London ‘M’ monogram placed beneath the surface of the crown using the Opsydia Sub-Surface System D5000, photographed at 100x magnification.
Opsydia CEO, Andrew Rimmer, says: “Our existing technology and available Sub-Surface ID Systems are ideally suited to diamonds and coloured gemstones. We work with our clients, like Myne London, to achieve the desired visibility of sub-surface features in the ideal configurations and locations within each gemstone. Our technology is available for others in the coloured stones trade to adopt immediately and, for those who deal in both diamonds and coloured stones, we can offer assurances that an Opsydia System is capable of processing both.”
To date, Opsydia has placed features inside Myne London emeralds without affecting their clarity grade. The ‘M’ logo is placed towards the edge of the table, approximately 250μm beneath the surface and is not visible to the naked eye. This brand feature is best seen under a microscope with at least 20x magnification using reflected light. The monogram has also been purposefully placed to ensure it is still visible when the melee emerald is set in a piece of jewellery.
Discerning buyers can now see proof that their emeralds were sourced by Myne London and validated as part of its rigorous supply chain processes. “By carrying the Myne London logo in a piece of jewellery, designers and brands can demonstrate they have played a part in bringing a premium product to market while sharing our values,” notes Fiona Wellington, Co-Founder of Myne London. She continues: “The results here are illustrated in ‘A’ clarity stones with ‘C’ colour, which is a slightly desaturated green for testing purposes. Myne London generally deals in ‘Excellent’ ‘A’ or ‘B’ stones, and we look forward to offering these with the same internal monogram in the coming months.”
Opsydia’s Andrew Rimmer adds: “As a business, we are pleased to able to support Myne London and its important mission to raise the profile of Swat Valley emeralds. A melee emerald containing the ‘M’ sub-surface identifier is part of a bigger picture that promotes equity throughout the supply chain, supports women and children, and allows designer-brands to pass ethical and origin assurances on to their customers.”
The Opsydia System uses a high-precision, ultrafast laser to place logos, alphanumeric sequences or coded shapes (known as identifiers) beneath the surface of gemstones. This laser is tightly focused only once it passes the surface of a stone, therefore only creating the identifier at a selected depth without affecting the surface condition or polish. It can be applied beneath the surface of a gem in a range of locations, such as the table or a specific facet.
By adapting its techniques to suit melee and larger gemstones, Opsydia is introducing the sector to a unique methodology for addressing its core challenges, such as enhancing stone security, establishing bold traceability initiatives and protecting against fraud, non-disclosure and other counterfeiting concerns.
Opsydia technology is deployable across the globe and can be utilised by natural diamond and laboratory-grown diamond specialists.
