Gemological Institute of Europe

[sailorneptune]

I was at a family's local jewelry store today, and most of their diamonds were from Gemological Institue of Europe (GIE). Have you guys heard of that? I told my mom not to buy diamonds there, and I never heard of GIE. She told me she thought GIE and GIA were the same thing! The diamonds they had on display with the GIE certificate did sparkle but not as much, and the F/ IF diamond just looked dull. The ones she had mounted sparkled a lot but was extremely yellow faced up.

 

[Dancing Fire]

I was at a family's local jewelry store today, and most of their diamonds were from Gemological Institue of Europe (GIE). Have you guys heard of that?

Just another brand of toilet tissue..

 

[gm89uk]

I've only seen this certificate used in the UK in Birmingham Jewellery quarter! Interested to see if it is used elsewhere..

 

[sailorneptune]

I've only seen this certificate used in the UK in Birmingham Jewellery quarter! Interested to see if it is used elsewhere..

How is their grading standard compared to GIA?

 

[MollyMalone]

I've only seen this certificate used in the UK in Birmingham Jewellery quarter! Interested to see if it is used elsewhere..

The very few GIE reports I could find on the 'net were for clarity-enhanced diamonds. Think it's quite odd that the web site gives no address, or phone number. But here's a photo of the Brenton Business Complex in Bury, outside of Manchester, England; that's the address given to ICANN when info relating to the domain name -- first registered in 2013 -- was updated in May of this year by an Issac (sic) Smith, who has no online presence so far as I could quickly find:
http://media.rightmove.co.uk/20k/19728/24382122/19728_HBP15668_IMG_07_0000.JPG

 

[rockysalamander]

The only GIE I know of is the Gemological Institute of Evaluation who are part of the Kimberly process.

So, I did a little sleuthing. I found a stone certified by them and like @gm89uk, it is clarity enhanced. http://reportcheck.gielab.com/viewpdfreportnew.php?id=420214070

So, with that number, I trolled through a random assortment of numbers starting with that known one and was unable to find many non-clarity enhanced stones or unmounted evals. They frequently have split colors and split clarity grades. All the mounted evals were for 'big box' type settings and stones. I also did not see any cut, polish or symmetry grade above "Very Good". Mostly SI stones with a few VVS...lots of D E and F colors. The lowest number in their database was ~420213727 (I guess that is like staring a new check-book at 100) and from 26 Sep 2016.

All certs are signed by the same person whose name is David something.

I did find one natural diamond that is there version of XXX. http://reportcheck.gielab.com/viewpdfreportnew.php?id=420213800

The mounted ones look like this...

 

[EDDiamonds]

from experience, the GIE lab is ONLY used by a company called diamond heaven and its affiliates in the UK. At the end of the day, if you wish to pay an unrealistic amount for your diamond and expect the impossible, then you will undoubtedly get the impossible to regret later. Stick to GIA and a reputable jeweller and you will be fine

 

[Hobby Jeweler]

Hi All.
I am an amateur jeweler and professional trader in gemstones.
GIE is an organization that grades natural diamonds that have been Clarity-Enhanced.
Enhancement involves fracture filling and surface smoothing improvements with non-diamond materials.
Laser drilling to remove internal carbon inclusions is available but not generally used by GIE.
GIE grades their Enhanced stones using the EGL (European Gemological Laboratories) standard.
Many have observed that EGL standards may be lower than GIA's standards by up to one grade for Clarity and two grades for color, however GIE's Enhancements introduce a new problem. See below.
READ THIS!! IMPORTANT!!
Clarity Enhancements are FRAGILE!
The normal cleaning process followed by jewelers (ammonia bath) will remove the enhancements!!
There is no way of knowing what is underneath those enhancements, so your VVS1 diamond could suddenly become and I-3. I have seen this happen. $10,000 dollars erased instantly.
Clarity-enhanced diamonds can only be cleaned with soap and water.
They can never be entrusted to a jeweler without disclosing their Enhancements or your diamond WILL BE DESTROYED.
The literature that says they are durable up to 1000 degrees is incorrect.
Ammonia, or any caustic acid, WILL destroy the enhancements.

 

[the_mother_thing]

@Hobby Jeweler Welcome to PS! Not sure if you noticed, but this thread is 2 years old. Also, most of us consumer-types enjoy the participation of trade members here; however, you should know that by being in ‘the business’, forum rules require that you review/agree to certain rules for trade member participation and have the ‘Trade’ badge added to your posts. There are limitations that trade members must abide by in terms of commenting on diamonds/gemstones consumers are considering as well as not self-promoting their business, among others.

If you hit “Report Concern” at the bottom of your post, you can ask the Admin to help you with those updates to your account. In the mean time, there is some information related to Trade member participation via this link: https://www.pricescope.com/content/forum-policies

 

[gm89uk]

Funnily enough the very first stone I considered was a GIE stone and the store never expressed it was clarity enhanced.