Naming for the trade
Shahabad, Tandur and Dove Grey — the same stone explained.
Buyers often meet this limestone under more than one label. The names are not three different materials. They are trade and place names for stone from the same limestone belt, and knowing which name your market uses keeps quotations, samples and purchase orders aligned.
Geography
One belt, two place names
Shahabad and Tandur refer to the same limestone belt. Shahabad is the name used on the Karnataka side; Tandur is the name used on the Telangana side. The stone is a fine-grained limestone worked for flooring and paving across India for generations. What changes in conversation is usually the place name attached to the bed, not a separate geological product.
Catalogues and stock lists rarely spell that out. An enquiry that says “Tandur” and another that says “Shahabad” may be asking for the same family of stone. Treating the names as rivals is how colour, finish and bed choice get confused before a sample is cut. Our quarry and polishing yard sit in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka, on the Shahabad side of this belt — when we write Shahabad, we mean the limestone we quarry and finish there.
Export markets
Why UK and European merchants say Tandur or Dove Grey
In the United Kingdom and across much of Europe, merchants often stock and sell this material as Tandur and Dove Grey. Those names travel with the trade on yard tickets, showroom boards and importer price lists long before anyone asks where the quarry sits. Dove Grey is typically a colour-facing name for the cooler grey beds; Tandur is the place-facing name many European buyers already recognise.
None of that makes Shahabad a different stone. Your sales desk may search under the name the market knows, while the quarry documents the same material as Shahabad limestone. Map the names early: confirm bed, finish and colour family, then keep those facts constant on the sample, the quote and the purchase order. If a schedule already says Tandur Grey or Dove Grey paving, say so in the enquiry — we will answer against the bed and finish you mean to buy.
Ordering
How to order without getting lost in the names
A clear order starts with application, finish, format and colour family — not the most fashionable market name. Write the name your buying market uses if that helps your paperwork, then pin the specification to facts the yard can cut against: bed colour, face finish, thickness, sizes and quantity.
When Shahabad appears on one line and Tandur or Dove Grey on another, treat it as a naming question to resolve once, not as two parallel products. Confirm whether the buyer means the same grey limestone bed, a warmer or cooler tone, and a natural face for external work or a honed face for interiors. Settle that in writing before production is scheduled. Repeat orders should copy the approved sample reference and the same naming map: warehouse tickets may say Dove Grey while the packing list says Shahabad Grey, and both can be correct if sample, finish and sizes match.
Approval
Sample approval is the control, not the catalogue name
Photographs and catalogue names help first contact. They are not enough to lock colour and finish. A physical sample cut from current stock lets a merchant, specifier or contractor judge tone, face and condition before committing. Approval is sample-based: the piece you sign off becomes the reference against which the order is checked at the yard before it is crated.
That also settles naming disputes. If your market calls the stone Dove Grey and we supply it as Shahabad Grey limestone, both sides are matching the approved sample — not arguing about the place name on the crate mark. Ask for the sample under the name your customer recognises and keep the approved piece with the purchase order. Where a warmer buff or red-brown bed is under discussion, say so explicitly: grey is the volume conversation in many import markets, not the only bed on the belt. Approve finish against the real use — natural for external paving, honed for most interior floors — rather than against a name alone.
Our range
Four Shahabad limestone beds we supply
Whatever label your market uses, orders here are cut from these four beds at our own quarry and polishing yard. Open each stone page for colour, finishes and packing notes.
01
Shahabad Blue Limestone
Cool blue-grey
02
Shahabad Grey Limestone
Cool mid-grey
03
Shahabad Yellow Limestone
Warm golden buff
04
Shahabad Reddish Limestone
Muted red-brown
For end use, see external paving— the application most often specified when merchants already know the stone as Tandur or Dove Grey paving.
Next step
Approve the stone under the name your market uses
Request a sample box against the bed and finish you intend to stock or specify. Tell us if your paperwork says Shahabad, Tandur or Dove Grey — we will cut against the sample you approve.