Question about Tiffany''s Grading

[carebearz]

I was going through my stuff yesterday when I came across a little blue book that I took from Tiffany a couple of years ago. The book was on their engagement ring diamonds and in it, it said that their diamonds'' colour are graded according to GIA''s standards.

The general perception I get is that AGS standards are more stringnet than GIA''s , that''s why AGS diamonds come at premium prices.
I browse through Tiffany''s website just now and it said that their diamonds are graded according to Tiffany''s in-house standards.

Has Tiffany moved away from GIA and developed standards of their own? Or do they still tagged their standards to that of GIA''s? I also understand that Tiffany diamonds used to come with both the GIA and Tiffany certificates but now they just come with Tiffany certs?

 

[JulieN]

Tiffany no longer uses GIA because they consider themselves to be more accurate.

 

[SandraPaneczko]

Tiffany is very strict with their diamonds. I have seen a Tiffany with its own T&C report and one from GIA. The color and clarity came back the same. I was in Tiffany about a week ago. The lady there told me that if they cant decide if its G or H color, it automatically gets graded as an H and that''s why you rarely see a D color Tiffany

 

[oldminer]

Tiffany used to spend a huge sum of money on GIA grading. They had many stones which they felt were not correctly graded and returned them to the GIA for review and many of these were changed by GIA. Many of these were sent back because of overgrading, not just to get a grade improved. In the end, Tiffany is one of the very few that could use their own credibility and the quality of their own gemologists to do what they need at a lesser cost and with their own standards of performance. It is my understanding that they use GIA standards, but since they only sell a limited set of colors and clarities they are more likely to become more consistent in the grading process. They do prefer to sell borderline colors or clarities to the lower grade. This builds their continued brand name, but it does cost them a lot of money in lost diamond value. It is their choice and one of the unique features of such an unusual establishment.

 

[suchende]

Date: 1/13/2009 7:57:18 AM
Author: oldminer
Tiffany used to spend a huge sum of money on GIA grading. They had many stones which they felt were not correctly graded and returned them to the GIA for review and many of these were changed by GIA. Many of these were sent back because of overgrading, not just to get a grade improved. In the end, Tiffany is one of the very few that could use their own credibility and the quality of their own gemologists to do what they need at a lesser cost and with their own standards of performance. It is my understanding that they use GIA standards, but since they only sell a limited set of colors and clarities they are more likely to become more consistent in the grading process. They do prefer to sell borderline colors or clarities to the lower grade. This builds their continued brand name, but it does cost them a lot of money in lost diamond value. It is their choice and one of the unique features of such an unusual establishment.

Oh... I don''t know that T&C loses money in "lost diamond value" with mark-up like that!