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Appraiser requires to see GIA certificate. Is this common?

bigfish007

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 16, 2011
Messages
2
I will be purchasing a diamond from Abazias likely in the next week or two. Looking at 2ct, G, VVS1, Excellent. Heeding the advice from the wise, I wanted to schedule for the diamond to be independently appraised by a local gemologist. I have never got a diamond appraised before but I was surprised when the appraiser told me that he needed to see the GIA certificate during the appraisal. Is this common? I thought the idea is to get it appraised independently (without the appraiser seeing the lab grading ahead of time) then compare the appraised results with the certificate. Would seeing the certificate ahead of time cause to appraiser to be biased? Wouldn't he tend to agree with the certificate?
 

marcy

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
Messages
26,275
Re: Appraiser requires to see GIA certificate. Is this commo

I don't know if that is common but I don't see how it can be an independent appraisal if they have the original in hand. That doesn't make sense to me.
 

crbl999

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
562
Re: Appraiser requires to see GIA certificate. Is this commo

I would say it depends on if they want to see it before or after they look at the stone. If they want to look at your stone first to evaluate the stone and then compare it to the cert is OK IMO. Any appraiser should be confident to evalate a stone without looking at a cert first. If they sell diamonds find another appraiser as they are not truly independent.
 

Christina...

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
5,028
Re: Appraiser requires to see GIA certificate. Is this commo

I had a similar experience as well, when I was looking for an appraiser. He asked me to bring in any information that I had on the diamond. I had metioned though, that I was buying online and wanted to be sure that what I purchased was what I got, therefore, he would need to see the report to make that determination. So if you asked for some verification that the stone you bought was the stone you got, I can see why he would ask. If you asked for an independant eval though, I would think that he would do it without the cert.
 

nfowife

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Mar 15, 2011
Messages
544
Re: Appraiser requires to see GIA certificate. Is this commo

before I bought my diamond I brought it to a local appraiser for a consult (an independent appraiser, not an appraiser/jeweler). Anyhow he first looked at the stone himself and told me his opinions on the color and clarity as well as the cut. Then he compared it to the cert. to confirm it was the same stone and discuss with me.
 

Dreamer_D

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
25,238
Re: Appraiser requires to see GIA certificate. Is this commo

There are lots of different types of appraisals.

Generally speaking, in my experience, if an appraisal for insurance purposes, usually the appraiser wants to see the report and will verify the diamond matches the report, and then gives a value to the diamond based on the specs on the report. That can be done with the ring set into a mount. And in that case, I WANT the appraiser to look at the cert because he cannot actually judge clarity or color (especially) or carat weight accurately for a set stone. And the GIA/AGS lab report is the final word regarding the diamond's qualities anyways. So I don't really care about the appraisers opinion of the specs of my stone if set and in that context, other than his assurance the diamond matches the lab report.

If you want the appraisers opinion of the stone's specs to compare to the cert you need to a) give him the stone loose, and b) choose your appraiser carefully because in my opinion, fewer appraisers are really qualified to do this. But this second type of appraisal is, to me, less common and more typical for very large purchases or for ungraded stones. Why? Because if you have a GIA report, and know the diamond matches it, are you honestly going to trust the appraiser over GIA? The lab report sets the stone's value. All you really need to know is that the stone matches the cert.

Now there have been rare cases where the latter type of appraisal suggested that GIA or AGS were mistaked about flour or color or clarity. If you are concerned with that, go ahead and have your stone appraised loose by a qualified appraiser. But it is a rare scenerio.
 
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