GIA Cert States H Color but Jeweler says it’s an I!

[MsCocoChanel]

Hi all,

My fiancé purchased a round diamond in a tapered baguette setting from James Allen that is GIA certified. The center stone is reported H in color with G-H side baguettes. I had purchased several diamond pieces from BGD in the past so I’m pretty good at discerning the general color range of most stones.

I felt the graded color was accurate although it’s a well cut stone so I assume any hint of warmth is compensated for. I never saw a contrast between the color of my side baguettes and the center stone although they are in the same color range.

I was shopping for wedding bands in Tyson’s corner in Virginia this past weekend at a reputable jewleler. I had noticed a contrast between my center stone and some of the diamond eternity bands I was trying on and had inquired as to the color stones they use. The jeweler had told me they use G-H and upon looking at my stone and stated it was an I .

I understand color grading can be subjective and is not accurate unless the stone is taken out of the setting. Should I have a gemologist evaluate the center stone? We paid a fairly substantial amount for an H stone as compared to warmer colors in the same carat range so I’m wondering if I should pursue this further or let it be. Thanks!

 

[LaylaR]

You took your set diamond to a competitor who undermined your confidence in your online purchase by stating that their opinion of the color of the diamond is lower than your lab report says. Diamonds are graded for color face down, under specific conditions. Not in a mall, set, and by someone who has an ulterior motive in making you doubt your purchase.

They are not a reputable place. The diamond is not the problem. They are.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

I would trust the GIA very over an individual jeweler every time. As @LaylaR mentioned, the jeweler has an ulterior motive. The GIA doesn’t.

 

[Karl_K]

"upon looking at my stone"
How did he look at your stone?
Can you describe what he did?

 

[TreeScientist]

You took your set diamond to a competitor who undermined your confidence in your online purchase by stating that their opinion of the color of the diamond is lower than your lab report says. Diamonds are graded for color face down, under specific conditions. Not in a mall, set, and by someone who has an ulterior motive in making you doubt your purchase.

They are not a reputable place. The diamond is not the problem. They are.

Exactly. Unless they took the diamond out of the setting and graded it face down against a set of GIA master stones, then they cannot even begin to speculate on assigning a color grade. Yes, color grading can be subjective, in that there are "High H's: and "Low H's" but if the color grade was assigned by GIA, you can be certain that the stone is an H. As stated above, the GIA has no ulterior motive. This jeweler does.

There have been many similar cases posted here on PS of sour B&M jewelers telling people who purchased their stone online that it is not good quality/not the color they purchased.

I'm sure it stings a bit to know that a lot of their business is being taken by the online jewelers who can offer better prices because they have lower overhead (sort of similar to the way that bookstore owners despise Amazon), but that's still no excuse for trying to deceive customers about the quality of their online purchases.

 

[TreeScientist]

As to why your stone may have looked a bit warmer than the G-H stones in the eternity band, it's probably due to the size of your center stone compared to the melee size diamonds in the bands. Larger stones will always show a bit more warmth than very small stones, so this is to be expected. Also, you usually can't see the diamonds from the profile (side) view in eternity bands, so it's very difficult to see color in such cases. Yes, an H will show a bit of warmth sometimes in larger diamonds, especially if viewed from the side, but the jeweler can't say that it is an I just because it looks different from their G-H melee at certain angles.

Bottom line: Were you happy with your center stone before the comments from this sour jeweler? If so, ignore the jeweler and enjoy your ring.

 

[Rhea]

How did this go down?

If he just casually looked at your ring and assigned a grade, that wasn't his place. He put his foot in his mouth. I wouldn't avoid that place if you like their products, but he's not a good salesman.

If he cleaned and inspected it and made an educated guess while it's set, that's fine, but it's just an opinion at that point. Still not his place, but whatever.

If he cleaned, inspected it and then argued against what a top-tier lab said while the conditions weren't the same, then I agree with @LaylaR. He's a jackass who was trying to undermine your thoughts and feelings about a ring you researched and purchased which was assessed and graded in the required conditions to get an accurate assessment. Avoid this place, he's more than just a poor salesman.

I would not, under any circumstances, take what the salesman looking at a set diamond said above the GIA grading of your loose diamond.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I agree with all of the above. I wouldn't consider buying from that jeweler. I have had a similar experience with someone in a jewelry store saying something negative about the seller of my stone. They don't like competition from vendors who are smart enough to sell on the internet. Oh well, they won't be getting my business!!!

And, GIA is pretty strict on color, so I wouldn't give a second thought to that jeweler's comments!!!

 

[oldminer]

I'd be far more inclined to doubt the jeweler who decided to put fear into your mind. There is a potential there for bias, and sure enough, it can be highly effective. If there was some material discrepancy, such as an incorrect depth measurement, an incorrect or missing laser inscription, a counterfeit GIA document that was uncovered, then "possibly" such a jeweler is doing you a true service. I don't think that is happening here. Using fear tactics over the retail counter to combat Internet sales has been going on for years. It i9s the modern equivalent of a retailer "knocking" (disparaging) his nearby competitor when everyone used to go to a jewelry store. I know of no gemologist who would stake their color grading reputation* on their ability to differentiate an H from an I color diamond when the stone is mounted in a ring. So the likelihood is that this jeweler feels he or she has *nothing to lose. Probably they don't.

 

[GolfingGreen]

Hi! First, congratulations to you on your upcoming wedding.

I would think your GIA diamond from JA is authentic. Does the diamond have the serial number etched on the diamond? If yes, you could go to a retail store to confirm it is the same diamond. You can also call GIA and let them know your certificate number to have them verify it is indeed a H stone.

I am assuming your stone is truly a H... and that said... I had a similar problem with color match. I have a Tiffany VS2 H diamond with a GIA certificate and the serial is on my stone so I do know it’s the same stone. It looks great by itself and is sparkly, white, blah blah blah. I wanted my diamond to shine without any other diamonds competing so my wedding band is the thin knife edge.

A few months later, I got on an eternity band kick thinking I wanted one. My husband and I went back to try on their eternity bands. And lo and behold... yes... my diamond looked yellow against the eternity. The yellow was the first thing my husband saw! Tiffany eternity bands are F-G. Not a good look at all. Plus, the bigger issue... all that tiny bling now took the focus away from my diamond.

And lastly, I agree 100% with what @TreeScientist said... he made two very key points... smaller dismonds bling out more (like eternity bands) and larger stones show yellow more. So now you have little diamonds that may look a bit whiter and a bigger diamond that may look a bit yellower which adds to the contrast as I saw with my comparison.

My opinion is I would let your diamond shine. I have seen photos of big diamonds (with much lower color grades though) with eternity bands. The diamond looks yellow and the eye first goes to the eternity band. There is no focus and the eye just wanders. I would let your diamond to be star.

This is just my two cents to share with you. I hope this helps with your wedding band decision.

Good luck!

 

[denverappraiser]

A grader can have four scenarios, here and the paths are very different:

1) They’re calling the lab wrong.

2) They’re saying the stone is not the one described on the lab report or the docs are altered or counterfeit.

3) There’s a technical error, like a typo on the document.

4) They’re saying something has changed since the lab looked at it.

5) Viewing conditions are different, like lighting for example, and they are seeing the same thing but seeing it differently.


Realistically, GIA grading standards on mounted stones says +/- 1 grade is the margin of error, and that's with a trained grader in standardized conditions with a carefully cleaned stone. Worse conditions increases this margin. That #5, and it means they don’t even disagree. FWIW, this is the reason that the GIA lab won’t grade mounted stones.

#1 is an ego contest bu it happens. Even GIA will give two different grades to the same stone when submitted twice. Who do you count as the most credible source? That’s up to them (and GIA) to convince you that they're using the right tools and methodologies. #2-4 are fighting words. By all means, if that’s what they’re calling it, you want to know. Have them put it in writing and sign it. Dollars to donuts they back off when it gets out of the hands of the sales staff.

 

[bmfang]

+/- 1 grade is what I would expect. Between the same lab. And the diamond is graded unmounted, table down with appropriate lighting.

The jeweller may in his experience say that it’s an I mounted, but he is not a lab or an appraiser. All they care about is getting you to return that stone and returning back to him for a purchase.

If you have a GIA grading report, verify the number against the girdle inscription and if it matches up, that is enough IMHO vs the jeweller’s opinion.

 

[Serg]

Hi all,

I had noticed a contrast between my center stone and some of the diamond eternity bands I was trying on and had inquired as to the color stones they use. The jeweler had told me they use G-H and upon looking at my stone and stated it was an I .

What are sizes for center and and surround diamonds? has the center diamond a leakage?
what is ring color?

Ring color changes color for diamonds with leakage .