The Ministry Index is our monthly reading of the natural-gemstone market as we see it — not from a trading desk, but from the mine floor, the cutting wheel and the gemmologist's bench. Every figure below is drawn from our own catalogue and vault records as at July 2026. Numbers are rounded; stones are individual.
The vault in numbers
| Pieces in the active catalogue | 616 |
| Loose stones in the vault | 81 |
| Median vault stone | 2.00 ct · A$1,632 |
| Largest stone currently held | 16 ct |
| Stones priced above A$10,000 | 8 |
| Gems yet to be added to the vault | ≈ 3,700 |
The heartland of the vault sits at 1–2 carats — 38 of 81 stones — the band where fine natural colour meets an attainable price. A further 18 stones open below A$1,000: proof that a natural, FGAA-assessed sapphire is not the preserve of five-figure budgets.
The colour ledger: blue reigns, the southern spectrum rises
Blue remains the reference: 25 vault stones declare a blue-family colour, from soft cornflower to deep royal. But the story of this edition is the southern spectrum — 29% of our Australian holdings are teal, parti or green, the colours no two of which are ever alike. The modern engagement market keeps asking for them, and the teal & parti collection keeps answering.
Origins on the shelf
Australian fields — the basalt country of Inverell and Anakie — dominate current vault holdings at 68 of 81 stones, with Ceylon parcels arriving in smaller, faster-moving consignments from our own workings. It is the shape of a house that mines in both hemispheres.
The unheated skew
Among vault stones whose treatment status is declared on the listing, unheated stones outnumber heated five to one. That is curation, not accident: as miners we can vouch for a stone's journey from the ground, and untreated colour — with its 50–300% collector premium, as of August 2026, — is where provenance earns its keep. See the unheated collection, or read our treatments guide.
The wider house
Across the full catalogue, sapphire leads with 204 pieces, ahead of diamond at 132 — a coloured-stone house by conviction as well as name. This quarter also formalised three new rooms in the maison: Rubies (19 pieces), Emeralds (22, led by natural Zambian stones) and Other Gemstones — spinels, garnets and pearls among 83 pieces.
Methodology & contact
Figures are computed from Ministry of Gems catalogue and vault data, July 2026; treatment percentages reflect stones with declared status. The Index is published monthly. Media enquiries and dataset requests: Press & Media.