Gemscan question....should I feel better or worse?

[SparklingDaisy]

I''ve been lurking on the PS boards for the last two weeks or so since I got engaged. My fiance gave me an engagement ring and the diamond came with a Gemscan certificate of evaluation. He is from Canada where we currently live but I am from the US and had never heard of gemscan (only GIA and EGS). The diamond is radiant cut and the Gemscan cert contained the same basic information (carat, color, clarity, and cut...which I didn''t even think they gave for fancy shapes) that others have previously noted on the PS boards, which bothered me quite a bit. It did also gave the dimension (l x w x d), but nothing else - no percentages, angles, etc. I have also come to suspect that the clarity grade maybe one off...It is graded SI1 but at a certain angle I can see a obviously visible white line inclusion and I thought SI1''s were eye-clean?

Well....after a little investigate and reading some reassuring and some alarming things about gemscan, I contacted them and asked about the certificate of evaluation.....It turns out that you can get a more detailed report from them with all of the percentage and inclusion plot information (Who knew right????) This made me feel better once they told me that. Of course, you have to pay them more money to get a copy of the report (about $70), they only accept cash or check, and you have to pick it up from their office in person betwen 9:30am-4:00pm?????

Should I be feeling more confident about them or less? Beause this does not sound like a particularly professional and up front way to do business to me.

On a separate matter....how to I even begin to talk about this with my fiance? He doesn''t seem to think any of this is a problem because he looks down and sees a beautiful diamond...it''s not that it isn''t nice, it''s just that I don''t think any research was done prior to this purchase and he has limited experience for basis of comparison. I think he just chose to emphasize size versus quality. Mention depth percentage and table size to him and he doesn''t seem to know at all what I am talking about...I am not stuck on size at all and I have definitely seen better performing stones (also, I am not saying I wanted him to spend more, I just wanted him to spend the money he spent on Carat on other C''s like Cut...just didn''t want any confusion or to sound demanding and spoiled...I know his intentions were really good)...

 

[dageman]

The majority of diamonds sold in Canadian stores come with GemScan certificates. It is very difficult to find a GIA or AGS stone in a B&M store, even in big cities like Toronto (as GemScan is located right there as well in Vancouver I believe).

Anyways I was having the same doubts about GemScan (as I am also Canadian) but they have been around a long time and do quite a large number of gradings (I realize this doesnt mean much if all gradings are usually off from GIA or AGS ...i.e. EGL) however it is better than an uncerted or ungraded stone obviously.

You mentioned that you thought all SI1s were eye clean, but this is not the case. In RBs you can usually find SI1s that are eye-clean, but there are many that are not. Also, you have a radiant cut, which does not hide inclusions as well as RBs. So you should not feel as though all SI1s will be eye clean. Even some VS2s are not!

Anyways I just purchased an emerald cut with a GemScan cert and it did not have all the "high tech" numbers with it. But I louped it and looked at it for a long while, and it was a great looking stone so I bought it anyways. I think all GemScan certs come "bare bones" unless you ask for the "better" one.

I dont know if this helps you at all, but at least its a little more info than you had before (hopefully). As for you husband, if hes got zero diamond knowledge you cant expect PS quality stones from him. Count yourself lucky that he at leats got a stone with a cert!

Good luck with whatever you choose to do!

 

[sillysimms]

I know how you feel about Gemscan. I''m in Toronto too and have had my e-ring for almost a year, but it took us a year to find it. My (now) fiance let me be fully involved in the process and we went to many stores and after learning a lot about diamonds online, were very disappointed with the information contained on the Gemscan "certificates". Gemscan calls them Precerts and it seems that those are what most of the stores in this area use and people have not yet become educated enough to realize you need more info than just cut (and what is the cut based on??? - no #''s so you can''t tell), colour and clarity.

We went many places and in the end did not feel confident spending the amount of money that was to be spent on a stone with a Gemscan precert. We went to Damiani''s in Woodbridge who has some GIA and AGS stones, but they did not have what we were looking for. We went to 2 diamond brokers and finally ordered online. We ended up getting a beautiful GIA certed stone and I couldn''t be happier.

However, just because a stone has a Gemscan cert, doesn''t make it bad. If it''s beautiful and YOU love it, that is what''s important. Most people in Toronto have Gemscan stones.