Appriaser vs. GIA or AGS certification?

[erniepaul]

How does one rank the difference of a GIA certification or AGS certification versus an Appriasel.

 

[niceice]

The GIA & AGS laboratories do not determine the market value of the diamonds that they evaluate, they simply determine the characteristics of the diamond at the time the diamond was graded. An appraiser determines the fair market value for the diamond based upon it's characteristics...

 

[Learning Diamonds]

Generally speaking, will an independent apprasial produce a higher value than the price paid for a stone? It seems like everyone that makes reference to this price-apprasial difference, states that the appraised value is significantly higher than the price paid..

Also, what do you suggest doing after purchasing a stone.. immediately have apprasial done by an independent??

 

[niceice]

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On 3/19/2003 11:24

5 PM Learning Diamonds wrote:

Generally speaking, will an independent apprasial produce a higher value than the price paid for a stone
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Well now, that depends on how much you paid for the stone

Some retailers triple the price of the item they are selling and issue a "feel good" appraisal for twice that amount to make their customers "feel good" about their purchase... Of course, the good feeling ends abruptly when the jewelry item is lost or stolen and the customer discovers that their insurance company (usually) will only pay what they could replace the jewelry item for and not what it was actually appraised for... And you've been paying all that insurance premium based on that high appraisal value for what reason?

Most of the on-line vendors are selling diamonds at prices which are significantly lower than traditional Brick & Mortar jewelry stores sell diamonds for and thus it is fair to assume that a diamond purchased on-line from a reputable vendor will appraise at a slightly higher value than what you paid for it... Maybe 40% or so, but you don't really want it to appraise for more than that or you're just paying for insurance premiums that you will never benefit from...

There are different types of insurance policies and thus different types of appraisals, we don't have a copy of our insurance appraisal type explanation sheet with us at the moment, but if you email us during the day we'll send you a copy so that you can talk to your agent about the type of insurance coverage that best fits your needs.

We suggest taking your purchase to an independent GIA Graduate Gemologist for evaluation once you have seen the diamond and decided that you like it and want to keep it to ensure that the diamond matches the diamond described on the lab report and that the diamond was accurately graded by the lab... We frequently reject the diamonds that we bring in for evaluation because we don't feel that they were accurately graded or because they contain characteristics not portrayed accurately on the lab reports... Other on-line vendors like GOG and DBOF have reported similar occurances... We recommend obtaining clarity photographs on whatever diamond you are considering so that you have an understanding of what you can expect to see through a loupe or a microscope upon receipt of the diamond... The best way to avoid surprises is to already know what the inclusions look like - they look quite different in reality than they do on paper... For instance, take a look at the photographs we posted on this thread in comparison to how the knot is portrayed on the plotting diagram which we also posted... While the diagram is certainly helpful and presents a fair indication of what you should expect to see the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" applies...

You should also obtain a full version of the Sarin or OGI computerized proportions results for the diamond you are considering so that you can determine the range of the measurements that the average crown angle and pavilion angle measurements are based upon, this is true of AGS graded diamonds as well as GIA Graded diamonds. The AGS graded diamonds accompanied by a DQD might provide the average crown and pavilion angle measurements, but the range (high and low measurements) is not indicated. In other words, you might be able to determine that the crown angle is 34.5 degrees from the AGS DQD but you can not determine whether the average measurement of 34.5 degrees is based on an average of 34.3 - 34.7 degrees or 34.0 - 41.0 degrees... Which one would you prefer? Get the information and you can decide what range of variance is acceptable to you...