Should I find an appraiser?

[TEA]

The stone I am going to buy has GIA laser inscription. I believe it should be the same stone matching the GIA report. Do I still need to spend $100 or so to get the diamond verified against the GIA cert? This is my 1st experience purchasing diamond over the internet. I appreciate any help.

 

[newenglandgemlab]

Hi,

It may be a small price to pay just to make sure everything is ok with the stone vs the report. In the past month we have had three GIA reports with basically typos...i.e the width of a fancy cut may have had the numbers transposed thus throwing off all the proportions. The stnes and the reports got sent back and redone. $100 seems a tad steep for just verification. Cindy

 

[oldminer]

The process of "verification" for a consumer almost never stops at the point where the diamond is said to be correct. In almost every case we are then asked about how well the customer bought the stone. What were the financial considerations? Now, that is another task and not at all a part of verification.

We used to offer a simple verification service and found that consumers were totally angered at our unwillingness to do more. It was clear to me that what was really wanted by the vast majority was a complete service with absolutely zero extras. That's why we verify, create an AGA-CERT with a cut grade, and do a retail appraisal on the stone while including a final appraisal on the finished item of jewelry when the piece has been completed. We spend the necessary time to discuss what a fair price might be and answer all the questions people want to know about thier major purchase.

We are glad to "verify" a diamond matches for a small sum, but I doubt many would truly let the flow of information available come to a stop at that point. This has been our experience over thousands of stones and clients. There are always exceptional cases and I never say we refuse to help people. It just would be most unusual....

The full service is $125. Verification alone is just $35.
Verification is a one sentence result which states we examined the diamond presented and that we are satisfied that it matches, or does not match, the document. We give no advice or further details.... If that would make you or others happy, no problem. We just have found it does not.

 

[Rank Amateur]

Well said Dave. I know I wanted the full Monty since the vendor was 1000 miles away. TEA may not realize that there is more to look at than just assuring that the stone matches the cert.

 

[TEA]

Thanks for all. I guess i did make myself clear. Since the GIA dossier has inscription, can I assume the stone is right if it has the GIA inscription? How easy (or often )for someone to put the same GIA inscription on a different stone? Have you ever heard of or seen this kind of cases?

By the way, what is the difference between a GIA grading report and a GIA dossier grading report? How do they decide to do one but not the other? I checked GIA website and it does not say why they have two.


Thank you. People are so nice here and I love this place.

 

[niceice]

You should always have any diamond that you purchase verified by an independent GIA Graduate Gemologist regardless of the presence of a lab report or inscription. The fact is that laser inscription can be forged which is why it is not considered to be a valid form of identification by the U.S. Court System. The other thing is the labs can inscribe the wrong diamond... No joke! A few months ago we purchased a ninety + pointer from one of our cutters that was accompanied by an AGS Lab Report... Upon evaluation of the diamond we determined that the diamond had been inscribed with a different AGS report number, now this was not an error on the part of the AGS Laboratory - we want to make this point VERY CLEAR!!! What had happened was the diamond cutter had sent the diamond into the AGS for grading and didn't like the results so he waited a few weeks and resubmitted the diamond for grading to the AGS a second time and this time the diamond was inscribed with the lab report... The cutter apparently forgot what he had done and sent us the diamond with the lab report issued the first time around by the AGS - the two lab reports matched by the way in terms of the characteristics described for the diamond, the difference was the lab report numbers... It was quite a mess! The answer to your next question is "Yes - the cutters do frequently submit diamonds to the various labs repeatedly in an attempt to win a minor victory in the paper game"...

 

[Richard Sherwood]

-----------
By the way, what is the difference between a GIA grading report and a
GIA dossier grading report? How do they decide to do one but not the
other? I checked GIA website and it does not say why they have two.
-----------

The only difference between the two appears to be size of the report and the absence of the characteristics plotting diagram on the dossier. This should make it cheaper, although I've not ordered one.