Certification question for industry experts only please

[saradbx]

Alot of the diamonds in my part of the world have HRD certification. I have been told, and read online, that HRD is a very respected lab in Antwerp and Europe''s equivalent to the GIA. Can any of the industry experts here (e.g. appraisers/graders/gemologists/traders/company owners etc) tell me whether or not I can trust this certification?

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

HRD is a very respectable lab, with regards to:

- natural origin and treatments
- colour grading, in some areas sligthly stricter than GIA and possibly AGS
- clarity grading, in some areas slightly less strict than GIA, and definitely AGS

On the matter of cut-grading, HRD''s top-grade of VG is a very wide grade, and is clearly less useful than GIA''s, and definitely AGS-cut-grading. In this way, beware of sealed HRD-reports, since the seal does not allow you to have a real view of the diamond.

Live long,

 

[saradbx]

Thanks Paul, that makes alot of sense now. I had been offered a HRD diamond with the top proportion grade of ''very good'' but when I posted the specs here I was told the table was ''an aircraft carrier'' lol (64%). I thought I would be safe with a diamond from a respected lab with a top proportion grade..obviously not... lesson #1