Ebay GIA GRS color stones

[bluenights]

Just wondering, do you trust any vendor if they include a GIA or GRS certificate in an auction?
PS, certificate can be verified online and true

Is there a chance they switch the stone? Meaning certificate is real, but stone is fake.

 

[RedSpinel]

Just wondering, do you trust any vendor if they include a GIA or GRS certificate in an auction?
PS, certificate can be verified online and true

Is there a chance they switch the stone? Meaning certificate is real, but stone is fake.

I never trust anything 100% when it comes to buying gems. If its deceptive, its been tried more than once! It seems there's deception more often than not in the world of gemstones. Most is just minor, superficial deception, like using special lighting to make a gem look better than it does under most other lighting, or altering the pictures digitally to a small degree to make the color or brightness more prominent.

I dont think it happens all the time, But I've wondered about some of the "certificates" that come with Thai gems. Who's to say that a high volume seller who uses a smaller, lesser known gem grader very often, providing them with LOTS of business, might be able to get them to 'alter' their certificates or to claim that a gem is of better quality than it really is. Or maybe to say there isnt any treatment when there really is.... Who knows?

Maybe I'm being paranoid to a slight degree, but if they will willingly set the value of a gem 100% - 1000% higher than the "true" value of that stone, then who knows what else they will do......

 

[bluenights]

It's GRS certificate we are talking about, I don't think any vendor would have the ability to manipulate GRS

What I'm interested to know is, when you have proved the certificate is authentic, how can you tell the stone is the one on the certificate? Of course you can measure the size, see the photo, but still, is there a possiblity they can make a synthetic stone, with the same size and color? meaning, certificate is real, stone is fake?

 

[Edward Bristol]

What I'm interested to know is, when you have proved the certificate is authentic, how can you tell the stone is the one on the certificate?

You can not unless the seller has a hard-worked-for reputation to loose.

 

[cm366]

The only way to be sure they're one and the same is to have the vendor send the stone to the lab and the lab send it to you. You'll have to work out with the vendor at what point you pay for the stone (pay up front and refund if not as described? deposit to cover the lab fees and shipping with payment on verification?) but reputable labs will not, as you say, be 'leaned on' - they have too much to lose to lie for even large and well-funded dealers.

It'll cost you extra for the report, but you're always going to pay for a report whether it's broken out separately or just included in the price of the stone as some dealers do. It doesn't hurt to do this even if you trust the seller - different labs have on occasion picked up trace beryllium or synthetics in stones previously 'passed' as natural, and on an expensive stone a hundred dollar report is a (relatively) small margin.

 

[chrono]

It's GRS certificate we are talking about, I don't think any vendor would have the ability to manipulate GRS

What I'm interested to know is, when you have proved the certificate is authentic, how can you tell the stone is the one on the certificate? Of course you can measure the size, see the photo, but still, is there a possiblity they can make a synthetic stone, with the same size and color? meaning, certificate is real, stone is fake?

You can have a gemmologist verify that the stone matches the memo via his/her lab equipment.