I am going way against the grain, here.
GIA & AGS are not the same, and it’s well known that AGS is the only lab that grades a “Super Ideal” Cut. I can’t imagine that, even if AGS is “softer” on color grading, it would be a 2 color grade difference from that of GIA. AGS will also not be “soft” on Clarity.
These labs have specific protocol to follow. Normally, more than 1 certified gemologist examines a diamond, and grades it. You can have 3 different gemologists examine the same diamond, and each can agree on some specs, but they may differ on others by 1 grade apart. If you have 2 gemologists who grade a diamond at G, but 1 grades at H, it gets the G color grade. Same can be said about clarity.
I’ve had jewelers & gemologists examine my center diamond under 10x-30x magnification, and ALL of them tell me that whoever graded my diamond had to have been on drugs because it should have been given higher color and clarity grades than it received. My DH got a HUGE bargain on my center diamond, if that is the case, and we won’t argue with the certificate.
If you ship that stone to GIA, all you’re getting is a GIA grading cert. If you want a second opinion, send it to AGS and have it re-examined by a different gemologist to find out if there is a large discrepancy. It just makes more sense to have the same lab “double check” their certificate, using a different set of eyes.
Certification and grading is subjective, based upon the eyes examining it, and what they “see”.
An appraiser (GIA graduate or not) does not work in a lab, under the same conditions, as those who do.
I purchased my Suite of 7 Vintage Cut Asschers from a diamond cutter, certified, and licensed. The stones are small, so they are not sent to a lab for certification, but he gave me his “educated estimates” based upon GIA lab grading standards.
I am satisfied with his professional estimates, and I will use them as my “unofficial” Certificate.
I doubt HIGHLY the first customer who purchased this stone and returned it rejected it due to body color issues.
Speculating any kind of “misrepresentation” by WF is ludicrous. Sales people work with hundreds to thousands of customers in a week. I am certain your salesperson was not malicious when she said, “Wife didn’t want a diamond”. She probably confused them with someone else; it’s a simple mistake. After looking into the back story,
@Texas Leaguer was able to give you a more accurate answer, as he researched. Either way, it has been confirmed that the customer returned it for reasons other than body color issues.
Quite honestly, the reason why someone else returns something really isn’t anyone else’s business. I’m surprised that information was provided to you. That was rather generous, and forthcoming of WF. I have no doubt that WF would have taken measures to confirm any discrepancies pertaining to the stone against its cert., if anyone argued it was faulty. WF has a stellar reputation, and they would want to be certain they had correct inventory.
I had my wedding set appraised for insurance purposes, last year. She appraised my set while the diamonds were in the settings, not loose. She looked at the cert., and copied the info onto the report, and evaluated the stones for their worth. FWIW, she commented that she was surprised at the color & clarity grades, as well. The appraisal still came back positive, and I was pleased with the experience.
I can promise you, if I ever decide to sell my center stone (which I can never imagine doing), I will be sending it out to a lab to get a second opinion and a fresh certificate to confirm what educated, certified, and experienced professionals in the trade have told me over the past 2 years about my center stone.
My final answer: send the diamond to AGS for a second opinion.
Fortunately it then came back into stock! I didn't even think about why it might have been returned because I still wanted it and it still met all my preferred criteria, and as it turns out, the chap who returned it was actually on this forum, and he had just decided to go a bit larger in the end.
