October 29, 2011

Certified Diamonds – GIA, EGL, AGS, Which Diamond Grading Lab Is Absolute Best

Diamonds

There are lots of opinions in the jewelry market about which grading lab is best after selecting a diamond. The problem with these opinions is that they’re commonly jaded due to the fact the person/business giving you the opinion demands to market you their diamond. Their opinion on which grading lab is finest is decided by what lab has graded their diamond, how convenient is that? If they very own a diamond certified by EGL then they tell you that EGL is best, if they’ve one more diamond owned by GIA then GIA is best. They’re biased opinions and you need to be extremely cautious as to how significantly pounds is given to them during your decision making process.

How are diamonds certified?
The “Big Three” grading laboratories as I like to call them have similar processes for certifying diamonds. This procedure involves many Graduate Gemologists independently assessing and agreeing on the color, clarity, and carat weight in the diamond. This helps reduce the possibility for human error when determining the final grade for the diamond, while it does not remove it. You need to look at the indisputable reality that there is no definite science behind diamond grading. I know the grading systems sound official and science like but they’re very aren’t. Ponder this statement to your moment, “No 2 diamonds are exactly alike.” With that getting said, how could a couple of several diamonds which are not exactly alike be graded exactly alike? In fact they can not be.

The other important reality is how the final high quality grades are decisions or opinions not scientific calculations. So if they are opinions and every diamond is graded by various labs and various graders then how could there be any consistency? Truth be known, grading labs have a tough time with that, regardless of which lab you talking about. Let’s say for example, that you send a diamond to GIA for certification and it comes back carat pounds – .50ct, clarity-SI2, Color-H. Then, you throw away the certification and send the diamond back for a second grading as if it had been never graded before. The chance of it coming back SI2, H once more is almost certainly 80% and 20% that it is going to occur back different. So the grading and certification procedure is somewhat flawed to start with. Should you cannot get a single grading lab to consistently agree with its individual grades, how could you expect other labs to agree with another? Again, there’s no easy answer to that question and as an marketplace we nevertheless don’t have it figured out.

From a customer standpoint probably the most approach to buying a diamond is to use your best judgment. Read the grading report from whatever lab certified the diamond and check both the diamond and also the certification. Use the certification as being a rule of thumb or a commencing point, do not use it as the end all be all. Understand that the grading program works after which compare diamonds side by side under the microscope and decide for yourself which diamond seems better.

GIA, EGL, AGS, GIA – Gemological Institute of America EGL – European Gemological Laboratory AGS – American Gem Society
Recently, GIA looks to have one of the most status for grading diamonds accurately. I challenge this because I’ve seen and compared quite a few diamonds from all three labs and seen inaccuracies in GIA grades as usually as EGL and AGS. I believe that GIA, EGL, and AGS are the three greatest products for purchasing diamonds however, I do not consider one is far better than the other. 1 intriguing fact is that you’ll pay 15% much more (on average) for a diamond certified by GIA simply because their reputation appears much better than other labs. The problem with that’s that EGL and AGS are perfectly in a position of grading a diamond as accurately as GIA, and typically do.

So if which is the case, then why would pay additional for your GIA certified diamond that has the same grade as an EGL or AGS diamond? The answer is that you shouldn’t! A single in the finest deals in the jewelry market is often a diamond certified by EGL; that is due to the fact some jewelers assume that EGL is not graded as conservatively as being a GIA. During the end many jewelers cost an EGL certified diamond at a smaller amount than GIA or AGS stones. This I think is a mistake due to the fact in my experience the grading for all 3 labs is similar. For your buyer though, purchasing an EGL certified diamond is an very good opportunity to purchase a well graded diamond for less than you’ve to. You’ll be able to find out far more about diamond certifications at certified diamonds.

AGS has turn into quite notable for their knowledge about cut and grading a diamond for its ability light performance. Most of what the jewelry industry uses to see if a diamond is optimized for brilliance is based on AGS’s research. If a jeweler suspects that a diamond is cut really well then he may possibly send the diamond to AGS for certification. Should you are seeking a diamond using a quite high cut grade you need to take into account searching at engagement rings that were certified by AGS.

Final recommendations
Get additional involved in the diamond buying system and understand how the 4C’s work, not just what it stands for. Ask to use a jeweler’s loupe (eye piece) or a microscope to determine the diamond under magnification. Once looking at the diamond under magnification check the inclusions for each grade you happen to be thinking then compare them side by side to determine if a single appears better than the other. For example, let’s say you are searching at a couple of SI1 diamonds – one is a certified by EGL and also the other GIA. Right after comparing them, you decide how the diamonds appear similar but the EGL diamond is 15% much less in price. Who cares what lab certified them! Just mainly because some jewelers believe that GIA is really a better grading lab doesn’t make the diamond certified by GIA better. The grading labs don’t make the diamonds, they merely grade them, a diamond isn’t produced better by its certification. A certification is just a piece of paper; you can not put a piece of paper in a ring and propose. If one diamond looks better than another it most likely is, regardless of the grade or what lab assigned it. So in this situation the logical alternative is to get the much better looking diamond, forget about what lab is better and save your money.

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