Current listing: Black, Paper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Green, Purple. I can't believe we never found a reason to suggest these made more in line with each other. How about: Tar, Paper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Emerald and Amethyst? Would still be visually the same - but feel more logical in terms of progression than just... colours? Only downside to this is the higher qualities are introduced and has to be slotted into logical holes in the structure.
People already call Green "Emerald" anyway, and I thought it was weird that this quality WASN'T called "Emerald" in official parlance. I'd say go for it. However, if done, it might also be logical to swap Emerald and Amethyst in the ranking: "Emerald" is more valuable by far.