Diamond Jewellery Grading
When you buy a new piece of jewellery such as a diamond ring, you may not realise that before the diamond has been set in to a ring by the jeweller or supplier, the gemstone (especially if it is of a decent quality) will have been graded by an independent laboratory who will have set down an unbiased opinion of its attributes and characteristics.
These independent certificates allow a jeweller to substantiate the cost of a ring and give provenance to the purchaser of a rings characteristics, this is essential as often many of the internal attributes known as inclusions and surface flaws called blemishes are invisible to the naked eye and need special magnification (such as that obtained when using a jewellers loupe) to spot them.
Diamonds are sent for grading usually by the mining company or a diamond dealer responsible for wholesaling items to jewellers. Once a grading has been obtained, the rings are sold on to jewellers who make them in to rings and supply the finished item with a grading certificate. There are many online companies now that allow you to choose your ring style and view a diamond and it’s certificate, prior to purchase. Although certificates can vary from one laboratory to another, most will mention the all important four Cs. Cut, colour, clarity and carat. There are many different grading laboratories situated all over the world but the top six, mentioned below have a near 75 per cent share of the market place. The six that we will encounter the most in the United Kingdom are
- THE GIA ( Gemological Institute of America)
- The EGL (European Gemological Laboratory)
- The European Gemological Laboratory United States of America (EGL USA)
- The American Gem Society (AGS)
- The Diamond High Council – Hoge Raad voor Diamante (HRD)
- The International Gemological Institute (IGI)
It’s worth bearing in mind that not all grading is the same, and some diamonds purchased from a jeweller with a grading certificate from a certain company may be more expensive than a similar diamond graded from another company.
Many of these reports are available in a database or online. The GIA for example publishes it reports online, you simply key in the unique reference code and it will display the result for the graded diamond. No personal information such as the name and address of the purchaser is ever disclosed and the certificate should accompany the diamond if it is ever sold on
At Assetsure, we find the supply of diamond certificates to be particularly useful when someone has purchased a jewellery insurance policy, in the event of a claim, we can quickly see verification of the item insurance has been purchased on and this can help the claims department deal with a loss in an efficient manner .
Click here – to obtain your diamond jewellery insurance quote.
