Chicago Gem Lab vs. PGS

[chicagogirl]

I understand that PGS is more of a lab than an appraiser. I am wondering which of these two you would recommend taking my ring to to be appraised (it is already mounted).

The stone has a GIA certificate, so is another certificate from PGS necessary? Or can they do a basic appraisal?

Here is what I want to get out of the appraisal process:
1. Ensure that the stone we bought was worth what we paid for it.
2. Ensure that stone is indeed a good cut, color, etc (inclusing things that the GIA cert cannot tell us)
3. Value of the ring for insurance purposes (as I assume the one we received from the vendor is a tad infkated)

Based on this criteria, which would you recommend?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Since the stone is already mounted, and I''m assuming that you don''t want the stone taken out of the mounting, I would go to the Chicago Gem Lab. I think you''ll find Lorraine Oakes a real pleasure to work with. Lorraine has appraised all of my major pieces and I''ve been very happy with her service.

 

[chicagogirl]

Thanks Dee Jay. Can you tell me a little about what I can expect during the appraisal and about how much this service runs?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Chicagogirl - generally, you will set up an appointment with Lorraine and then sit down with her and discuss you piece. You may choose to show Lorraine the certificate on your dimaond at the beginning of your appointment, or you may ask her opinion on the color and clarity of the stone without showing her the certificate first. If you ask for an opinion first, please know that it will be somewhate a ballpark evaluation on color given that the stone is already mounted, so that makes it harder to judge, and also that there may be inclusions that were purposefully placed under prongs, so that also makes it harder to judge overall clarity. (For instance, you may have an F SI1, but because of the mouting Lorraine may judge it to be an F/G VS2 because she can't see that an inclusion was pronged on the set piece). I always produce the paperwork up front so it is easier for her to match the stone to the inclusion plot, but that is totally up to you.

Then you can discuss the cut of the stone (which again will be a harder animal judge being set) and the quality of the setting and the workmanship.

You mentioned in an earlier post that you're interested in this appraisal for insurance purposes. This can go a couple of differnent ways. Some people prefer to have appraisals done at the true replacement cost becuase then the premium will be lower, or others prefer to have the appraisal done at a higher price if they feel they will need to "work" with their insurance company to get a payout or a replacement in the event of (god forbid!) loss of the item. If you have more questions about the insurance process either do a search of the forums or ask an expert to chime in; there are a lot of variables with insurance that I'm not qualifed to try to explain to you. Anyway, tell Loraine what your purpose is with this appraisal and she and you and best determine how to value the piece.

Finally, you may have to leave the ring off for a while with Lorraine so she can take photos and write up a detailed description of the piece (this is also something that you will want to submit to your insurance company).

Unfortunately I don't know how the pricing will work because I've always either gotten the appraisals at the time of purchasing a new item (so the appraisal was included in the price of the piece by the jeweler) or by having multiple items appraised at the same time. Sorry for not being more helpful on that point.

As I mentioned before, I've been very pleased with the Chicago Gem Lab and I hope you will report back on your experience and if you're satisfied with the service that you receive.

Please let me know if you have any more questions and I'll do my best to answer them!

 

[chicagogirl]

Thanks again Dee Jay for the quick response! I will give her a call tomorrow to make an appointment for sometime next week and will let you know how it went! Thanks again for your help!