Wholesale diamond trade -- no AGS?

[nissan]

This statement was made to me recently by someone in the wholesale diamond business (personal friend of mine). Is there any truth to this? It seems pretty inaccurate based on what I''ve read about on PS?

"AGS is not a reliable laboratory. GIA & EGL labs are the only ones used in the wholesale diamond trade. I recommend staying away from AGS certs as EGL certs are more reliable."

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 8/5/2009 5:33:13 PM
Author:nissan
This statement was made to me recently by someone in the wholesale diamond business (personal friend of mine). Is there any truth to this? It seems pretty inaccurate based on what I''ve read about on PS?

''AGS is not a reliable laboratory. GIA & EGL labs are the only ones used in the wholesale diamond trade. I recommend staying away from AGS certs as EGL certs are more reliable.''

rule #1...never trust a friend whose in the "wholesale diamond business"

 

[Richard Sherwood]

While it''s true that the majority of papered stones in the wholesale trade are GIA and EGL, it is not true that AGS reports are not reliable, and not as good as EGL reports.

GIA and AGS are the two "top tier" laboratories in the United States. The reason there''s not as many AGS reports in the wholesale trade is because usually only ideal or near-ideal make diamonds are submitted to them.

Your friend might not be as familiar with them for this reason.

 

[denverappraiser]

GIA and EGL are both considerably bigger operations, as is IGI. AGSL graded stones only represent something like 1% of the market. That said, bigger is not the same as more reliable. Stones with AGS reports are most definitely made available to jewelers, jewelers definitely rely on them, and if market dynamics are to be believed, they clearly are willing to pay a premium for AGSL grading. All other things being equal, an AGSL graded stone trades for more and sells faster than a similarly graded stone from EGL or EGL-USA. There are some smart people in the chain and I assure you, if they believed that they could increase the selling price or move things faster by submitting them to AGSL instead of EGL, there would be a line of clients waiting to do just that. Their market share would skyrocket. There’s only one explanation. They believe that a stone graded by AGS will get a different and presumably lower grade than that same stone would get at EGL. This lower grade offsets the ‘premium’ price that AGS graded goods command. To me, this screams votes for the reliability of AGSL grading by the wholesale community, even if there are individual dealers who don''t work with them.

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