Harold Weinstein in Toronto (appraisal/grading)

[raddygast]

In the extremely unlikely chance that anyone on this forum is from Toronto, do you have any experience with Harold Weinstein (www.hwgem.com) gemmological laboratory? Supposedly they are highly reputable. I talked to a guy on the phone who seemed to know his stuff, and he answered my questions about color grading on the GIA scale. He said they did provide a color report, with first a description and then quantified according to the GIA scale like "slpR 4/5" or whatever. He said they used a comparison method called Gem. I thought it was GemScan but now I realize that''s unlikely -- he probably said GemSet (i.e. the GemSet paddles).

Anyway he said they do analysis and grading of not only color, but cut, provide measurements, ID the material of the stone, mention if there is evidence of treatment, and in some cases if it''s obvious they do probable origin. Also they provide an appraisal value.

I know their reports won''t be as extensive as Richard Sherwood''s, but apparently it''s going to be a huge hassle for me to ship stones to Richard and back (across the border), esp. considering I have 2 stones for evaluation. So I''m going to have to go with a local appraiser.

If anyone has had experience with Harold Weinstein lab in the COLORED stone domain, please let me know. Also, if there are any other appraisers that specialize in analyzing colored gems I''d like to know. I''m going to be comparing two red spinels quite different in price and I''d like an expert opinion on whether the price gulf between them is deserved or undeserved.

Thanks!

 

[Richard Sherwood]

I seem to remember hearing good things about Harold Weinstein in Canada.

I couldn''t swear to it, but I keep hearing his name rattle around in my brain with a positive connotation.

 

[raddygast]

Every jeweller I''ve gone to in town (well, I mean the ones who are real "designers"/artisans, not the stores that have a guy in a shirt and tie behind the counter) has told me the same thing. When I even mention appraisals, their eyes light up and I can tell they want to blurt out the HW name even before I finish framing the question.

They all seem to agree that lab is the best in town. Only problem to me is, if they''re so very happy with it, couldn''t it mean that the standards there are not that strict or that they over-value jewellery upon appraisal? I read a couple posts in the diamond forums here saying HW appraised some things at much more than was paid, and also that they graded some AGS-certed diamonds (without access to the certs) and came out with the same results but were slightly more lax on the clarity.

 

[valeria101]

How many speacilized gem apprasers are in town anyway ? If the number happen to be a smal digit... this pretty much explains it all.

In theory, you are right - collusion is e v e r y w h e r e

You were saying that one thing you want to hear in particular is if some serious price difference is worth it. You do have the two stones at hand though: is the difference between them worth theprice to you ?