Chip on girdle vs. clarity grade

[Beacon]

I recently viewed a diamond for sale in a store. Under the loop I saw a chip on the girdle. I could slightly feel this chip with my nail when I went over it carefully. The stone had an EGL cert which did not reference the chip and it was VS2. It was a fairly recent cert but I am guessing somehow this stone got chipped afterwards.

My question is, how does a chip on the girdle affect the clarity rating? Does it have the power to drop a stone from VS2 to SI1?

 

[belle]

are you sure it was a chip? could it have been a natural on the girdle? what were the inclusions on the plot?

 

[Beacon]

Good question. I asked the sales lady what she thought it was. First she thought it was a crystal, then she looked again and said, no maybe it is actually a chip. She didn''t mention the possiblity of a natural.

The cert didn''t show anything on the girdle.

This stone is a 3.15 J colored vs2 priced at 26.6K. It is for sale in a not-very-nice consignment type store that sells mostly furniture. It is really odd, they got this group of diamonds and this one is the largest. Result is that the saleperson is not a gemologist and is pretty limited in what she knows about this problem.

The diamond is attractive though it has a big table - 60, as I recall. The depth is 58.9. The millimeter was 9.70 range (wow!). From the face up postion it didn''t look half bad and I was comparing it to my 2.27 F RB that is GIA Ex cut.

 

[belle]

if you are serious, ask if you can purchase it contigent on an independant appraisal.

 

[Beacon]

That is a good suggestion. In this case I probably wouldn''t buy this one. What I am trying to figure out is how to interpret girdle chips and clarity rating. I run up against is feature from time to time, especially at auctions. I''ll see an otherwise nice stone with chips on the girdle. So I am curious what this does to clarity rating. As I am thinking about it, does anyone know if GIA will grade a diamond with a chip in girdle?

 

[belle]

okay...i see.

it depends on the chip. yes, it will effect the grade but the size of the chip would reallly determine how much.
gia will grade them.