diamond certifications

utexas_61

utexas_61

500+ Posts
how important is it to have your diamond certification by GIA, AGS etc compared to having it appraised by a dealer?
 
extremely, especially if it is mounted. Not to mention there are almost no stones above 3/4 of a carat that his the retail market without being certified.
 
Are you proposing to your cute girlfriend? Is she going to end up staying at your parents house too?
 
thanks for that link.

the price of the diamond with setting and at least a EGL certificate i am working on getting is about a grand less than that chart. good to hear
 
I also recommend Blue Nile for buying the diamond. If nothing else you save money on tax. I bought the setting at a store though because I didn't like what they had.
 
Depends on which EGL lab. EGL franchised out their name years ago and they have had some quality control issues our of the belgium and ramat gan labs. The US ones can be consistant, but no diamond is absolut in color or clarity. Last week I bought a half carat princess cut with a GIA certificate and accidentially sent it to EGL. The GIA certificate had it at F, VS-2 and the EGL cert was G, VS-2. Of course, I threw the EGL cert away. Having said that, I had a 1 carat princess cut which had an I, SI-1 from GIA that got an H, SI-1 from EGL. To further complicate matters, I've sent the same stone to GIA twice and gotten F, SI-1 once and G, VS-2 the next time.

Diamonds are graded on a continuum, not as absolutes. Anyway, what number does the EGL cert begin with and I can tell you the country of origin.
 
Has anybody priced diamonds/rings in the Dallas area? I've read that you should stay away from the Robbins Brothers stores, so I'm guessing that might apply to most of the big chains like Jared, or does it? If that is the case, then I'll be looking for a local joint, of which I don't know any. Any advice on specific places to find good deals?
 
I hear the EGL Israel lab is teh worst. The first time I went and looked for a diamond some cockroach (a friend of the ladys family) she showed me an EGL (Israel I think) with a 64% total depth and a naked eye visable inclusion (supposed to be a SI1.) I said no thanks, and then started really boning up on eduacating myself. A couple of months later and I still dont think I know enough not to get taken. Im starting to lean towards bluenile myself. If i get something that Im not happy with, yo can just send it back no problem from what I understand.
 
Larry - Try Calvin's, Americus, and Benolds. All family and locally owned and very nice people.

EGL - No, Belgium certs are the worst. I bought a stone the other day with a belgium certificate claiming it was an H, VS-1 and the stone was a K in color. I knew that when I bought it so I just threw the certificate away. With regards to your stone with a 64% depth, thats a function of the stone, not the cert. You can send it to any lab you want and it will still have a 64% depth. Further, when I used to deal with stores in the Islands (the stores you see when you go on a cruise) they bought the same thing every time: G, SI-1 1 carat rounds with GIA certificates and 64-66% depths. It allowed them to buy the stones VERY cheaply yet pretend to be selling decent stones... that were ****.

-buying a diamond in Austin.
I will say this on EVERY diamond thread ever: If you THINK you are buying a diamond "wholesale" or from a "wholesaler" you are VERY likely getting screwed and there is no way that you will know you are getting screwed any more than I would know if a mechanic was screwing me. I can't sell you anything but I would rather field 200 PMs with questions than see one of you get screwed.
 
Re: "With regards to your stone with a 64% depth, thats a function of the stone, not the cert. You can send it to any lab you want and it will still have a 64% depth. Further, when I used to deal with stores in the Islands (the stores you see when you go on a cruise) they bought the same thing every time: G, SI-1 1 carat rounds with GIA certificates and 64-66% depths. It allowed them to buy the stones VERY cheaply yet pretend to be selling decent stones... that were ****."

Im not saying that the diamond didnt have a 64% total depth. It did. Im just saying that, when a guy who I thought was going to hook me up tried to straight up screw me (the guy wanted 6K for the diamond alone) by tryin to sell me some POS, I knew that I was going to have to start doing some research, or I was going to get totally f'd. It is still beyond my belief that this guy even showed me this diamond.
 
guy sounds pretty shady. It also sounds like the classic bait and switch of the pretend wholesaler: They show you a stone online which costs $9000 and they show you a piece of **** that appears to be the same thing for $6000. Anyway, good thing you didn't buy it.
 
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