Small goods are sold by sortment, not by certificate, which makes inspection on arrival the real quality control step. Most buyers do a version of this already. Writing it down makes it repeatable — and makes it obvious which supplier to reorder from.
1. Weight and count, before anything else
Weigh the parcel and compare it to the packet. Then count a sample — a hundred stones is enough — weigh that, and extrapolate to check the piece count. Discrepancies here are the easiest thing in the world to detect and the hardest to explain away.
A small shortfall in weight is sometimes honest loss in transit. A significant shortfall in count at correct weight means the goods are larger than described, which sounds like a windfall and is actually a fitting problem.
2. One sieve plate
Take the plate corresponding to the plus size you ordered. Pour and shake. Almost nothing should pass through. What does is undersized, and the proportion tells you how seriously the supplier sieves.
If you have the plate for the minus size too, run it the other way: everything should pass. Stones that do not are oversized and will not seat.
3. Colour, as a field
Spread the parcel face-down on a white tray under a colour-corrected lamp. Do not grade stone by stone — that is not how melee is graded and you will drive yourself mad. Look at the field and ask one question: is it one colour?
Warm stones scattered through a cool parcel are the classic sign of a made-up sortment — a supplier who filled an order by combining two parcels that nearly matched. It will show in a finished piece under shop lighting, which is exactly where you do not want to discover it.
4. Cut, as a field
Turn the parcel face-up and rock the tray. A well-made parcel flashes as a unit. In a poorly-made one you will see individual stones going dark while their neighbours are bright. That is variation in pavilion depth, and in a pavé run it reads as patchiness no setter can fix.
Under 10×, check that table sizes look consistent and that stars are of even length. You are not grading; you are asking whether these stones came from one process.
5. Girdles and chips
Scan under 10× for chipped girdles, open feathers reaching the surface, and naturals left on the girdle. A few in a large parcel is normal. A pattern of them is a supplier shipping stones that should have gone back to the wheel.
Pay particular attention to girdle thickness. Too thin invites chipping during setting — and when that happens, the argument about whose fault it was is unwinnable for both parties.
What each failure tells you
| What you find | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Undersized stones through the plate | Sieving is casual, or the parcel was topped up to weight |
| Mixed colour across the field | Sortment assembled from two parcels to fill the order |
| Uneven flash face-up | Goods from more than one cutting source |
| Repeated girdle chips | Inspection step skipped before sealing |
| Correct weight, low count | Stones larger than the stated sieve range |
Say something within seven days
Whatever you find, raise it quickly. Our own terms give you seven days from delivery to notify a discrepancy with photographs, and most reputable houses work to a similar window. The claim that arrives three months later, after the goods have been through a setting shop, cannot be assessed by anybody — which is why the window exists.