Clarity Verification

[gemologic]

As a professional jewelry appraiser in NYC I help a lot of people in their purchase of an engagement ring.

On observed averages, it appears I qualify 90% of what I see and the rest I disqualify for clarity or price issues.

Price I can understand, but I find clarity to be erratic, even with GIA.

If I ever had the time and the camera, I could document it!

 

[denverappraiser]

Date: 11/13/2006 1:09:31 AM
Author:gemologic
As a professional jewelry appraiser in NYC I help a lot of people in their purchase of an engagement ring.

On observed averages, it appears I qualify 90% of what I see and the rest I disqualify for clarity or price issues.

Price I can understand, but I find clarity to be erratic, even with GIA.

If I ever had the time and the camera, I could document it!


Mark Bunda, FGAA, AAA

www.jewelry-time.com

Mark,

Welcome to the forum. You don''t document your appraisals?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[cheethoe]

speaking of clarity, I had a question which I will ask in a long drawn out manner...

I bought a center stone online based on the GIA cert, it was a F/VS1/Ideal cut. What struck me is that this VS1 diamond had only one inclusion on the very edge near the girdle, a feather, and nothing else (nothing noted in comments either). I took it to an appraiser with good credentials (GG from GIA, ASA from ASA, and MGA from ASA) cause I didn''t believe it was a VS1 and at first he thought it was an IF because he couldn''t find anything. I told him it was a VS1 and he went back to searching and finally found it after I showed him where the cert had marked it. When I took it to a jeweler to get it set and looked under microscope to verify the diamond before leaving it with the jeweler we spent 20 minutes trying to find it again an turned up empty handed. Anyhow, back to the appraiser... he said it was definitely not a VS1 but a VVS1. But then he said it could argued to be a VVS2.
I didn''t ask why at the time but that''s what I want to know, why could it arguably be a VVS2? I''m sure it''s hard to answer this without looking at the diamond first, but the feather was small and very hard to find... and it was the only inclusion that GIA, and the appraiser could find. The Jeweler who was also certified couldn''t find it in the 20 minutes we looked. I know feathers are the worst inclusion.

 

[denverappraiser]

Cheethoe,

Ask these questions of the appraiser who has actually seen and inspected the stone. It’s not just difficult to reasonably answer a question like this sight unseen, it’s impossible.

GIA does not certify anyone or anything. Not diamonds, not appraiser, not their graduates, not even their own employees. A diamond is as God and the cutter made it and all GIA’s lab is doing is providing their educated opinion about certain properties. It’s possible they’ve made an error, it’s possible that there is something else present that they didn’t include on the plotting diagram and that is obscured by the prongs, it’s possible that their standards for what constitutes a VS1 are different than the standards applied by the other two graders who have examined it. It’s common for graders to disagree by a single grade, especially on the very high grades and it’s not unheard of to disagree by more than that, especially when one or more are grading a mounted stone. This is why people want GIA grading. The stone was examined loose, clean, by trained and well equipped experts and in a standardized environment. This doesn’t make them right, but it’s a pretty good place to start.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[gemologic]

cheethoe,

Your questions confirm my point that clarity grading is more art than science.

I think you have a "good" problem and if you were my client I would recommend that the diamond be resubmitted to the GIA in hope of getting the better clarity grade but would warn you that you might lose color....anything can happen

Actually, if I look back into my records here is a great example........

Respected laboratories can differ and it is acceptable in the trade. Here we find an important stone with two certificates...


PROPERTY FROM THE MARION RUMSEY CARTIER COLLECTION AT SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
AN EXQUISITE SINGLE-STONE DIAMOND RING
Set with a cushion-cut diamond, weighing approximately 19.01 carats, flanked by baguette-cut diamonds, mounted in platinum.

With certificate 11202340 dated 25 July 2000 from the Gemological Institute of America stating that the diamond is G color, VS2 clarity; accompanied by a working diagram indicating that the clarity may be improvable.

With certificate 0102142 dated 19 February 2001 from the Gübelin Laboratory stating that the diamond is F color, SI1 clarity; accompanied by a letter stating that the 19.01 carat diamond described in Gübelin Gem Lab Diamond Report No. 0102142, based on its infrared spectrum, is classified as type IIa.

Magnificent Jewels, Christie''s New York, Rockefeller Plaza, April 11, 2001 Estimate $US 500,000 - 600,000, Price Realized $US545,000

and Neil, yes I do document my appraisals, quite thoroughly actually. I just wished I had more time and a good diamond camera to "document" clarity certificate bloopers. I am sure some appraisers out there have some.

 

[denverappraiser]

I didn’t mean for that to sound snippy. It was just such an odd choice of words from an appraiser.

Good photography can consume a fair amount of both time and money and it’s definitely irritating when your equipment becomes obsolete and then you have to do it all over again. I think it’s probably worth the effort but, like all things gemological, there’s no end to the learning curve or the list of tools that might come in handy.

That’s kind of an interesting series of dates. The seller obviously submitted it to GIA, didn’t like the results and submitted it to Gueblin hoping it would get better numbers. If it had reported a better color and left the clarity the same, you can bet that the GIA report would have disappeared before the auction, never to be seen again. Since they're similar, apparently the seller decided to include both.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[cheethoe]

The appraiser I went to mentioned that at GIA most of the graders working in the lab are fresh Graduate Gemologists (he was once one) with a high turnover rate and they come to work in the morning with a large pile of diamonds on their stations to grade. As the day progresses their grading may become less accurate due to fatigue.

 

[gemologic]

Yes, as good as the labs are, there is still leeway. This is another area were it still pays to have your final selection verified.