{"id":32228,"date":"2025-05-16T09:59:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T07:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/what-is-top-wesselton\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T13:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:19:11","slug":"what-is-top-wesselton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/what-is-top-wesselton\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Top Wesselton?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"row\"  id=\"row-1465568877\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1332531965\" class=\"col small-12 large-12\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner text-center\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div id=\"text-1044983708\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<h1>What is Top Wesselton?<\/h1>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-1044983708 {\n  font-size: 2.55rem;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"text-3024842884\" class=\"text text-beige\">\n\t\t\n\n<br><p>Traditional European Colour Grading System<\/p><br>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-3024842884 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#col-1332531965 > .col-inner {\n  margin: 0px 0px -30px 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row align-middle align-center\"  id=\"row-1991882007\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1851225667\" class=\"col medium-5 small-12 large-5 small-col-first\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_842125051\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner image-cover dark\" style=\"padding-top:100%;\">\n\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"1020\" src=\"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GIA-1024x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GIA-1024x1024.webp 1024w, https:\/\/apshaps.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GIA-100x100.webp 100w, https:\/\/apshaps.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GIA-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/apshaps.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GIA-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/apshaps.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GIA-768x768.webp 768w, https:\/\/apshaps.se\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GIA.webp 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" loading=\"eager\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#image_842125051 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1654678742\" class=\"col medium-7 small-12 large-7\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner text-left\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h2>Historical context<\/h2>\n<p>Before the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) color grading system became the international standard, European diamond traders and jewelers used their own terms to describe color. &#8220;Top Wesselton&#8221; was one of those \u2013 derived from a diamond mine called Wesselton in South Africa, which was known for producing high-quality stones.<\/p>\n<h2>Regional tradition &amp; consumer familiarity<\/h2>\n<p>In countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, many jewelers still use terms like River, Top Wesselton (TW), and Wesselton (W) because: Consumers are familiar with them, Jewelers have used them for decades and it adds a sense of tradition and regional trust<\/p>\n<p><strong>Old European Term &#8211; GIA Equivalent<\/strong><br \/><strong>River &#8211; D-E\u00a0<\/strong><br \/><strong>Top Wesselton &#8211; F-G<\/strong><br \/><strong>Wesselton &#8211; H<\/strong><br \/><strong>Top Crystal &#8211; I-J<\/strong><br \/><strong>Crystal &#8211; K<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So, a Top Wesselton diamond is essentially a high-quality near-colorless stone (F\u2013G on the GIA scale).<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<h2>The origin: Wesselton and the mines of South Africa<\/h2>\n<p>In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when diamonds began to be mined on a larger scale in South Africa, several major mines emerged, including the Wesselton Mine in the Kimberley region.<\/p>\n<p>Diamonds from the Wesselton mine were especially prized for their brightness and whiteness.<\/p>\n<p>As diamond trading developed in Europe, traders began to associate color quality with the names of mines.<\/p>\n<p>Terms like &#8220;River&#8221;, &#8220;Wesselton&#8221;, and &#8220;Cape&#8221; were born, named after rivers and mines that produced diamonds of certain color qualities.<\/p>\n<h2>How the old scale worked<\/h2>\n<p>Unlike the standardized GIA D\u2013Z scale (created in the 1950s), the European system was more descriptive and experience-based. Here&#8217;s how they used it:<\/p>\n<p>River: the whitest diamonds, as &#8220;pure as mountain river water&#8221;<br \/>Top Wesselton: slightly less white but still excellent<br \/>Wesselton, Top Crystal, Crystal: increasingly more yellow tones<br \/>Cape: distinctly yellowish stones, often from the Cape Province of South Africa<br \/>These names became part of the diamond trade vocabulary in Europe, particularly in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Scandinavia.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row align-middle align-center\"  id=\"row-1295601705\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-446920266\" class=\"col small-12 large-12\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner text-left\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h2>Why it survived (even after GIA came along)<\/h2>\n<p>When the GIA introduced its D\u2013Z scale in the 1950s, it quickly became the global standard \u2013 especially in the US and international trade. But in Europe, the older system persisted for several reasons:<\/p>\n<p>Tradition: jewelers and customers were already used to it.<br \/>Trust: terms like Top Wesselton became a shorthand for quality \u2013 consumers associated them with prestige.<br \/>Marketing appeal: some felt that words like River or Top Wesselton sounded more luxurious than just a letter.<\/p>\n<p>Certifications: European gemological institutes (like HRD or IGI) often used both systems in parallel for clarity.<\/p>\n<h2><span data-sheets-root=\"1\">Today: A dual system<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Today, both systems are often used side by side on diamond certificates in Europe. For example:<\/p>\n<p>Color: Top Wesselton (F\u2013G)<\/p>\n<p>This helps bridge tradition and standardization, allowing European jewelers to maintain their heritage while aligning with international trade standards.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1291,1292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32303,"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32228\/revisions\/32303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apshaps.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}