Repaired is a gem-trade designation for a faceted stone that has been re-cut, re-polished, or otherwise reworked to remove chips, abrasions, broken corners, or worn culets, with the intent of restoring saleable appearance. The intervention typically reduces carat weight by anything from a fraction of a per cent to several per cent depending on the extent of the damage, and may alter the proportions, symmetry, and finish grade of the stone. The trade distinguishes repaired from fixer goods (stones identified as needing repair before sale) and from re-cut stones whose intervention is more substantial than minor surface restoration.

Common repair scenarios

The most frequent reasons for repair work are chipped girdles in older mounted stones removed for resale, broken corners on princess and emerald cuts that have suffered impact damage, worn or chipped culets on antique cuts, and surface abrasions on the table or crown facets. For coloured stones, surface scratches on softer materials — emerald, tanzanite, peridot — are routine candidates for re-polish.

Significant damage to large or critical facets, deep chips that breach the girdle, and any damage that compromises the structural integrity of the stone require more aggressive intervention, often crossing the line from repair to re-cut.

Disclosure and laboratory reporting

Whether repair work is disclosed in trade transactions depends on the extent of the intervention and on the laboratory practice of the issuing report. GIA and other major laboratories note observable evidence of re-cutting or re-polishing in report comments where the work is detectable — for example, when the symmetry or finish grade is affected, or when remnants of the prior cutting are visible under magnification. The laboratory does not, however, certify that a stone has not been repaired; the report describes the stone as it presents at the time of examination.

For the trade, repair work is typically disclosed informally between dealers and may or may not appear on the invoice or memo. The retailer-to-consumer relationship is governed by the disclosure norms of the relevant jurisdiction; in the United States, FTC Jewelry Guides require disclosure of any treatment or modification that materially affects value, but the application to minor re-polishing is not always clearcut.

Pricing implications

Repaired stones typically trade at a discount to undamaged equivalents, with the size of the discount depending on the species, the quality of the result, and the visibility of the intervention. For small stones in commercial qualities, the discount is often modest — perhaps 5 to 15 per cent — and the repair work is treated as routine. For significant stones — large, fine-quality, or with provenance value — the presence of repair work can be more material to value, particularly where the intervention has reduced weight below a critical price-per-carat threshold (such as 1.00, 2.00, or 5.00 carats for diamonds).

The economics of repair work depend on the relationship between the cost of the cutting labour, the value lost in the weight reduction, and the value gained in the improved appearance. For commercial stones the calculation is straightforward; for fine and significant pieces the trade-offs require judgment from an experienced cutter and dealer.

Further reading

• GIA Gems & Gemology — cut grading and gemstone restoration
• International Gem Society — gemstone repair and re-cutting
• AGTA — coloured stone trade practice and disclosure