Polished Stone
Polished Stone
The generic trade term for any finished, cut, and polished gemstone ready for sale
A polished stone is any finished, cut, and polished gemstone ready for setting or sale, as distinct from rough, which is uncut crystal or aggregate as recovered from the deposit. The term is genus-neutral, applying to diamonds, coloured stones, opal, and any other gemstone material that has been worked from rough through to a finished form. It functions in the trade primarily as an inventory and customs category, identifying the state of the goods rather than the gemmological identity of the species.
What the term covers
Polished stones encompass faceted gemstones, cabochons, beads, briolettes, carved pieces, and any other finished form that has progressed through the cutting and polishing operations. The category does not specify shape, weight, quality, or species; it identifies only that the stone is in finished form and is ready for the next stage of trade or use. A polished stone may be loose or set; the term applies to the stone itself regardless of mounting status.
Trade and customs use
The term polished stone appears in customs documentation, trade-statistics aggregations, and inventory-management systems precisely because it allows finished gemstone goods to be tracked separately from rough material. Customs duties and trade reporting on rough versus polished diamonds and coloured stones are typically structured differently, with rough subject to its own documentation requirements and polished stones subject to the controls applicable to finished goods. The polished-rough distinction is therefore a meaningful classification in the regulatory frame as well as in commercial use.
For dealers, the term functions as a sorting category. Inventory listings, parcel descriptions, and trade quotations frequently identify lots as polished, drawing the line between finished goods ready for retail or onward wholesale and material still in process at a cutter or returning from a recutting operation. The shorthand is convenient and unambiguous within the trade.
Pricing implications
Polished stones command higher prices per carat than the rough from which they were cut, reflecting the value added by cutting and polishing labour and the loss of weight inherent to the process. Recovery percentage — the ratio of polished weight to rough weight — varies by species, shape, and clarity of the rough, with diamonds typically yielding around half their rough weight in polished form and coloured stones varying widely. Pricing the rough requires the buyer to estimate the polished yield and the polished prices that the resulting stones will command, which is one of the principal skills the rough buyer brings to the trade.
In the trade
The polished-stone designation does not on its own provide useful gemmological information. A trade document describing a parcel as polished stones is identifying the state of the goods only; species, quality, and weight identification are separate matters covered by accompanying grading reports, descriptions, and certificates. The term should be read in this context as a category indicator, not as a quality marker or a species statement.