GAL v.s. GIA

[Daisi2112]

Do GAL certificates count just as much as GIA certificates?

 

[Regular Guy]

I thought you meant GCAL, until I searched. It seems GAL is mentioned a bit, but never with confidence. No, GIA and AGS pretty well stand apart from all other certification....with some careful exceptions...which might even include GCAL, but not GAL.

 

[Daisi2112]

Not with confidence meaning it''s not standard or has lax standards?

 

[Regular Guy]

Sorry, I''ve no personal experience to share. Like me, you can search and see what others have said. Here''s one. Hit search, select Rocky Talky to contstrain, enter GAL.

 

[Daisi2112]

I googled it and can''t find much on it either.

 

[Gabes78]

Personally I think that GIA has the highest standards. After all they are the ones that created the Diamond Grading System used by other jewelers. You can be pretty sure that a diamond that comes with a GIA grading report is a quality diamond. They set the standards by which diamonds and gemstones are graded and identified.

 

[Rockdiamond]

In the trade, there''s only two labs which dealers will accept to base prices on a given grade. These are GIA and AGSL.

The second tier labs, such as IGI and EGL are not accepted by dealers, but more widely used than some of the lesser ones- such as GAL.

I feel that a dealer who offers reports which are not acceptable between dealers should educate the consumer about this subject.
It''s a shame, but many of the substandard labs pattern their names, and "certificates" to resemble a GIA report- purposefully attempting to confuse the issue.