AGS Certified Gemologist Appraisers

[student]

I am wondering how a Certified Gemologist Appraiser from an AGS member store compares to an independent appraiser. The advantage for me of going to an AGS CGA is that I could actually go in and talk to the person and look at the stone before committing to buying it, instead of doing everything at a distance. The risk, as the info on your site says, is that the appraiser would discourage me from getting the stone just to try to sell me one of hers. But are the chances of this high enough to rule out appraisers who sell jewelry altogether? Would an AGS CGA be likely to be sufficiently thorough? Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

They may not be educated in the recent trend of Super Ideal Cuts - very few trade people are since they are a recent phenonamon. They usually believe all AGS 0's are equal.
In general avoid these if the crown is near or above 35 and the pavilion is near or above 41 degrees. They will talk %, you are only interested in angles.

If they are online you can do an HCA from their store?

Do you have an ideal-scope? They probably wont as we have sold far more to consumers than the trade.

 

[student]

It sounds like an independent appraiser would be the way to go to get a real connoisseur's opinion. Thanks for the advice!

 

[newenglandgemlab]

The AGS has a designation for their firms that are strictly Independent Appraisersand not retailers, ICGA. There are only 7 of them in the United States and they are the only appraisal association that requires its members not be selling or buying and just doing appraisal work. They are required to maintain a fully accredited laboratory with specific requirements as far as equipment, have a Certified Gemologist Appraiser that was trained in residence to oversee the lab,and perform in the high ethical standards maintained by the AGS. Hope this helps! Cindy Konney

 

[oldminer]

There are many great independent appraisers out there. AGS has an extremely restricted system of qualifying their independent CGA category. Not that being picky is all bad, but the AGS does not want to create a large category of "appraiser only" members. The AGS did this to accomodate retired, one time retail members of AGS who did not want to have a store, but wanted to have some activity in the jewelry business and to keep their AGS credentials active. With only 7 labs, this is an idea that has had "limited" acceptance or enthusiasm one might surmise, but those who have the CGA credential and operate as an independent lab are surely among the very best of appraisers with long records of integrity.

They are far from the only knowledgeable players in the Independent Appraiser marketplace, however. NAJA has 750 members and many of them are practicing, ethical and independent members of the appraiser community. The majority are working inside retail stores as in-house appraisers and not as independent one. The same is true for the majority of AGS CGA's who are employed in-house for retail AGS jewelry stores.

AGS has earned a great re****tion shared by the fine and independent retail jewelry store members and their supplier members.

When you need an independent appraisal, do not use an appraiser attached to a retail sales operation without being very cautious. Bias or the appearance of bias is an issue only true independence can solve.

ASA and ISA also have some great and truly independent appraiser members trained in jewelry. Do not overlook their attrributes, either.

 

[newenglandgemlab]

Hi Dave,

Nice to meet you! Just for an aside....and a chuckle for the day...I am far from retired! Love doing appraisals and have the retail background of having run a very high end AGS store for many years and we are doing work for many guild type of stores in our area. We serve the public and the retailer, thus keeping us in contact with the various markets (I think )I have looked at all of the appraisal associations out there and may pursue ISA in the near future. Just waiting for the final on the Advanced Personal Property Appraisal Course through the AGS. Something that has been a long time in coming. Hope it is warmer down in PA than it is here...single digits! Cindy

 

[oldminer]

Glad to see that AGS has opened the doors a wee bit more to let a non-retiree take a turn at being an independent appraiser. When you are picking other associations for consideration, please keep NAJA in mind. We are way less costly and offer a lot of member only benefits that other associatioons do not offer.

I admit to a bias as I am a 1/4 owner of NAJA. We own this association to benefit the industry and make every effort to keep the profit motive a distant last place in the priorities of running a very good organization. That's why we have 750 members who are all jewelry appraisers. The other appraisal associations fall way short in that number of jewelry appraisers. All our efforts are directed at one area of specialization.

 

[newenglandgemlab]

AGS has some pretty strict guidelines and made us operate for over a year without using our titles to make sure we were quite serious. I may be very interested in the NAJA. There are two of us running the lab, both CGA's, so we can each take on a little more in affiliations. This works. It is also very nice to bounce things off of each other. I did work over 30 years in the retail environment, but I started at 16! Darn, now you now my age...you gave me a good laugh today. Thank you and get me the info or point me inthe right direction of the NAJA. Cindy

 

[ccuheartnurse]

Gary,
I have to ask you why not a crown thats 35.0 or above? My stone has a crown of 35.1 & it rates a 1.4 on your HCA scale. There are a lot of ideals with this crown. Just thought I'd give my 2cents Canadian. Well, its worth more than your Australian 2 cents now isnt it?? LOL

Judy

 

[pricescope]

Judy,

I guess your diamond has pavilion angle less than 41 degrees. Garry is talking about steep/deep combinations of crown and pavilion angles.

Btw, Canadian dollar is going up