Certification # doesn't match inscription. Help!

[Mellymel3000]

I'm hoping someone here might have some insight. I purchased a secondhand diamond ring from an online retailer. I can return it for any reason so I'm thoroughly checking it over now that I have it in hand. It came with a EGL U.S. Certification. I took it to a local jeweler who took a quick look at it and thought it looked good. She said it would be a grade lower on clarity if it was a GIA certified but that was expected as I've read that is common with EGL certified diamonds. i then showed her the certification and she said the number inscribed on the girdle of the diamond does not match the certification. The number on the diamond is an 8 digit number. When I got home I tried plugging it into all the websites for certifications and it is not valid on any of them. The number on the certification however checks out with EGL U.S.. I called the jeweler and asked if she gave me the whole number or if there was anything before the number and she said there was a symbol there, a trademark. Does anyone know what this number on the diamond might be? And is it possible the certification I have is still the right one for this diamond? The jeweler thought It was a good looking diamond and nothing jumped out as being wrong except the numbers not matching.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[likes_shiny_objects]

If it makes you feel any better not all EGL diamonds are laser inscribed so you certainly may have the very same diamond as on the certificate especially if all the other information matches. I always verify expensive jewelry purchases with an independent appraiser and use a GIA graduate and the one I used actually worked at the GIA for a time and has all the appropriate designations. I suggest if you have any doubt from the person you consulted to go to a qualified appraiser as it is worth it for the piece of mind.

I have read certain branded diamonds inscribe their own marks and numbers on diamonds and that is what you may have on your stone.

I have an EGL ring that is not laser inscribed and do agree the standards used are not the same as GIA and I also did not expect them to be.I also have GIA and had a much higher expectation. Hope everything is as you expected.

 

[Mellymel3000]

Thank you!

Yes, I will be getting an appraisal this week. I'm new to the area so I am relying on word of mouth recommendations for a good jeweler. I've actually been to see 3 already concerning this ring.(The first two times, was just with pictures). I'll be taking it to a 4th place this week that comes highly recommended but wasn't open this weekend which is why I stopped in the other place for a quick look.

My thinking at this point is as long as it appraises well that I will keep it. If it had not come with a certification I would have been happy with the appraisal on its own and not concerned with the number inscription.

 

[JoshuaNiamehr]

Does the certificate imply that it IS laser inscribed with the EGL report number?

 

[denverappraiser]

Anyone with the tools can inscribe things on diamonds and they can write pretty much anything they want. Realistically, the tools are sort of expensive and it's the labs who generally do it. All of the major labs offer this service. If the inscription was there when EGL looked at, it should be mentioned in the comments section of the report but it's always possible that they either missed it or it was applied after the lab looked at it.

What could it mean? It might be as simple as a serial number. It might be the report number from a different lab where they didn't provide the report. Yes, it's a bit of a flag but no, it doesn't mean that it's not the same stone that EGL saw.

 

[Mellymel3000]

The EGL certificate does not mention an inscription of any kind.

 

[Mellymel3000]

The seller has responded to me. I had asked if they knew about this other number and why it did not match the certification. There response was this "We received this preowned item without a certificate. We took the diamond out of the ring and although there was an inscription on the diamond, we were unable to locate a source of certification. Therefore we sent the diamond to the lab to be certified again. I hope I addressed your question. You're welcome to call me or have your jeweler call me."

Does this sound plausible? FYI: the EGL certification is from December 2012. And I have not called them because I wanted all conversations documented.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

The seller has responded to me. I had asked if they knew about this other number and why it did not match the certification. There response was this "We received this preowned item without a certificate. We took the diamond out of the ring and although there was an inscription on the diamond, we were unable to locate a source of certification. Therefore we sent the diamond to the lab to be certified again. I hope I addressed your question. You're welcome to call me or have your jeweler call me."

Does this sound plausible? FYI: the EGL certification is from December 2012. And I have not called them because I wanted all conversations documented.

It now sounds like the seller was aware of the fact that the diamond had an inscription, which means technically that the diamond and the report do not match (even if it is the same stone). I am not sure from what you posted if this means the jeweler is suggesting the lab missed it or that the inscription was done subsequent to the report. Inscription issues are not uncommon and are not necessarily indicative of a major problem. But if a seller is representing a diamond as lab certified and does not perform a thorough inspection before delivering the diamond, that is sloppy practice. If the seller knows the stone does not match the cert and passes it along anyway, that is an ethics issue. The seller is basically passing on a known issue, without telling you, that could become a problem for you if you ever go to resell the diamond yourself.

The fact that it is a second hand piece is not a reason to play fast and loose with quality control or ethics in my opinion. One could argue that in some ways it makes the seller's duty to be vigilant and transparent even greater.

 

[Karl_K]

The seller has responded to me. I had asked if they knew about this other number and why it did not match the certification. There response was this "We received this preowned item without a certificate. We took the diamond out of the ring and although there was an inscription on the diamond, we were unable to locate a source of certification. Therefore we sent the diamond to the lab to be certified again. I hope I addressed your question. You're welcome to call me or have your jeweler call me."

Does this sound plausible? FYI: the EGL certification is from December 2012. And I have not called them because I wanted all conversations documented.

It sounds plausible but they should have contacted egl and told them hey you did not document the inscription and got a corrected report as Bryan said.

 

[denverappraiser]

What does the inscription say?

 

[Mellymel3000]

It is an 8 digit number (no letters) which I tried on the GIA website and it didn't come up. It doesn't seem to fit the format of any of the others. The jeweler also said she saw some sort of trademark or symbol before it but I didn't see the symbol so I don't know what it was exactly. It is a tacori ring if that helps at all.

 

[Mellymel3000]

Guess it won't hurt to post the number since it does t seem to correlate to anything. The diamond has 40526138 on it. If anyone knows what that could be, I'd love to know.

 

[denverappraiser]

I'm not going to take the time to try and hunt it down but if anyone here wants to try they'll need the weight too.

 

[VRBeauty]

I might be worth your while to contact taccori with this information to see whether they use their own inscriptions on stones they set, and whether they can provide you with a certification for this stone.

If not, it appears that what you have is a stone that has been appraised to match the description provided you by the seller - and basis on which you decided to pay what you paid - with one exception: because the certification does not mention a girdle description, it does not have a valid certification. I guess the question is back to you - do you consider this ring to be worth what you paid without a valid certification? Bear in mind that getting the diamond certified would involve the cost of removing the stone, sending it to AGS or GIA by registered, insured post, and the actual cost of the certification itself.