GCAL RATED MY STONE LOWER THAN AGS???

[Marshalls]

I was originally under the impression that AGS was the most stringent grader possible... guess I was wrong because GCAL just called and they think my stone is an I colored, not H colored. They had 3 gemologists grade it separtely and independent of each claim its an I colored. I'm really confused... Should I be worried or should I just ask GCAL to not complete the certification and pretend like it never happened? Should I continue with GCAL, they will evaluate the appraisal at an I color- which will mean the appraisal will be less than what would have been otherwise...

 

[kelpie]

Won't you have to pay for it anyway? In a perfect world there is a "truth" about diamond grades within their narrow set of parameters but it is up to people to place them in those bands and yours is apparently at the border of the H/I band. I have heard GCAL is quite respected.

 

[nfowife]

Some have said on here that AGS is much stricter on cut but looser on color than GIA. Yours might be a low H per AGS and would be an I per GIA. It is still the same diamond.
FWIW, I have an I AGS stone and I took it to an appraiser to have it looked at before purchasing. Before looking at my cert. he said in his opinion it was a J. I still love the stone and it's perfectly white to me, alongside F/G sidestones I can't see even a hint of color. So if you are happy with the stone I wouldn't worry.
There isn't a stone certificate database that follows your stone around. Whether you choose to use the GCAL for your appraisal is your decision and if not, no one will know you had it done.

 

[Dreamer_D]

The determinant of market value for the stone is the AGS cert, not the appraisal. Your appraiser should give you a value for insurance purposes that is for a diamond with the specs on your AGS cert, because that is the final word on the diamond. This issue came up before, and that is what the appraisers on PS said should happen. From the perspective of replacement value, all that matters is the cert, and the appraiser confirming that the diamond matches the cert (i.e. is the stone described in the cert).

As to whether you care about the GCAL color rating versus AGS, that is up to you. You can call the vendor and tell them of the appraisers opinion, maybe they will want to regrade the stone by sending it to AGS again. I doubt it. AGS trumps an appraiser, and color grading is subjective anyways. You can keep it or exchange it, up to you.

 

[yssie]

Colour grading isn't yet an exact science - goodness knows why, we certainly have the technology for it.

That said - given that, the stone is the same stone, and if you loved it before nothing's changed! The only times it matters are for insurance and if you sell, and you can certainly insure and sell with the (very much valid) AGS.

 

[DanMgy]

After doing LOTS and LOTS of research and reading everything I can on the AGS and GIA websites I have determined a few things and to put it simple GIA rounds down and AGS rounds up.

When you look at a stone top down that is a H, I or even J color you will/should not see the presence of any color.

So don't get upset becase the color of the stone is not going to impact the brilliance, fire and life the stone has.