Grading Certificate Question

[dageman]

Hi everyone

I went to one of the B&M stores I have been dealing with today and he had in a gorgeous emerald cut in the range of what I am looking for. Here is my dilemma... the stone had a certificate but only from GemScan... which is the largest appraiser in Toronto and apparently they are large in Dallas as well. So yeah, there was no cert from GIA or AGS... which I found odd but the jeweller told me that he routinely gets all his stones graded by GemScan, even if they already come with a cert from GIA or AGS. Does anyone know of the reputability of GemScan? He did show me a couple other stones that he had both GIA and GemScan certs for and they matched up bang on... but that wasn't quite enough to comfort me fully.

He said if I want a GIA cert its $250 and I have to pay for it myself. The thing about the GemScan cert was that it doesnt have the stone layout with the inclusions, which I like so that I can see if I can spot the inclusions. The stone is a 1.02 ct vg polish, vg symmetry, vg cut E VS2 and I spent about 5 mins with the loupe and only saw one tiny cloud in the corner just off table.... Buuuuut GemScan certs also dont have crown height, table, depth or girdle listed... only dimensions!! :S

He had an idealscope and I have been studying what to look for and the stone looked great, its not 100% ideal but the price is quite good at $5500 tax in. I've been reading that with emeralds the numbers are only half the battle, and what it looks like counts for a lot. I've looked at maybe 15 stones so far this week at various places and this one just out-sparkled the rest, even in natural light.... would it really be that sparkly if the numbers were bad?

Any suggestions would be appreciated... am I being too rash thinking this is a great buy even without knowing the "official" numbers?

Thanks

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Hard to advise you.
Consider an appraiser?

 

[oldminer]

I may be incorrect, but isn''t GemScan the sort of in-house Zales appraisal operation? I think that is why they located to Dallas.

 

[denverappraiser]

With emerald cuts the ‘numbers’ are considerably less than half of the battle. Looking and comparing the stone with 15 others in a variety of different lighting conditions and choosing the one that suits your fancy is a far better test.

If you want a GIA exam you can get it for less than that by going directly to GIA at www.gia.edu but as Garry points out, there are far easier and less expensive ways to get a plotting diagram. For most people it’s worth your trouble to get it appraised by your own expert anyway and this will routinely be part of the service.

David, Gemscan is a large Canadian firm offering sales documentation to jewelers. Their expansion into the US is relatively recent but they've been a big player in Canada for many years.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[dageman]

Thanks for the heads up so far... good to be reassured that the numbers don''t mean quite as much as in other cuts. I guess lurking for so long and reading all these threads about "hard" numbers and facts have really stuck in my head.

Anyways the jeweller says that he always gets another independent appraisal once the setting comes in and everything is finalized for insurance purposes. If I were to go with this stone should I get the stone and setting appraised independently BEFORE he sets the stone? Or can it be done effectively once everything is set?

Thanks again,