Would you like to know the truth?

[DolceVita]

This poll is for the following scenerio: there''s a diamond which got an EGL D / Flawless. GIA gave it only a D / VVS1. The diamond is not laser inscribed, so when looking at the EGL certificate you don''t know it''s a GIA VVS1. Would you prefer knowing or not?

 

[noobie]

It depends on the price. If it''s priced as a GIA D IF, then absolutely. If it''s priced as a GIA VVS1 or less, then I''m not concerned.

 

[prettyinpave]

Ditto the above poster about the price. Also, if it''s being given to me as a gift, I wouldn''t need to know that particular detail.

 

[strmrdr]

umm can we get real here for a second.
A gia D/VVS1 is going to sell for more than an EGL D/fl.
So the smart cutter will get the gia cert.

 

[DolceVita]

Not always. In some cases, especially very large diamonds, a D / Flawless EGL would cost more than a D / VVS1 GIA. It depends on the cut and size.

 

[Mara]

yes i would want to know...GIA is rumored to be more strict than EGL....but depends on which EGL lab.

and yes if I was paying for a D/FL and another lab would grade it D VVS1 and save me a bundle, I''d want to know.

 

[Kaleigh]

Ditto what Mara said!!!

 

[Hest88]

Yes, because if I''m paying for FL I''d better be getting it. And it doesn''t matter if it''s priced for a GIA FL or not; if it''s actually VVS1 then I''m paying for EGL FL when I should be only paying for EGL VVS1!

 

[strmrdr]

lets say for a second i was crazy enough to buy a FL diamond you can bet your last dollar it would be going off to Richard for an appraisal before I paid for it or it isnt getting bought.
Then Richard's grade is what Id base it on.

note: Neil or AGA or rockdoc would be ok also.
The point is the same if im paying a ton extra for FL then id get it confirmed as a FL by atleast 3 parties.
The Lab.
The trusted vender.
The appraiser.

 

[Rhino]

You didn''t mention carat weight but when you consider there is a difference of $5,300 per carat between a D IF and a D VVS1 on stones that are 4-5 grainers, YOU BET I WANT THE GIA GRADE. That''s a very serious chunk of jing.

 

[codex57]

I''d want the truth regardless. Hell, if I were in the market for a D Flawless, I''d shell out for an independent appraiser first or possibly even ship it to AGS and see how they grade it as.

 

[AGBF]

I, also, would not want to go flawless, given that there is a price attached to so doing. I would want the GIA grade.

Deb

 

[oldminer]

The question is a good one and the responses are all excellent, too. People who want "perfection" tend to also want top flight assurance of it. However, there are some diamond dealers who look diligently for diamonds with documents that might grade higher in color, clarity or both if they were sent to another lab or re-submitted to the same lab. It isn''t all that unusual to find minor differences between labs. THe IF/VVS1 problem is one of the most touch subjects because we think we are dealing with an absolute. Either there are no flaws or there is something in the stone. If one used stronger magnification, there is no such thin as a truly flawless diamond, but by convention, we use 10X as the discerning magnification. I know it matters to people and to the price, but it is really a very fine and gray line when IF becomes VVS1 and borderline cases will always exist. There is no way around it and never will be.

We can shrpen the line and do a better job with technology, but clarity or color grading at a crossover point will always be a matter of expert opinion and not simply factual data.

 

[Diachi]

Something similar happend to us, my stone was rated using approx. GIA standards (D. Atlas and his team) and clarity was a step down (VVS2 to VS1). We just cared if the EGL cert. was way off and it wasn''t other than that so it doesn''t bother me a bit...But then again, I wasn''t looking for FL or IF anyways!

 

[Rank Amateur]

Could the two labs really be that far apart?

Flawless must be a tough grade to get no matter what the lab. I would be surprised to see a two-grade difference.

 

[hoorray]

To some people, "Mind clean" and/or flawless is important mentally. To me, at that level of clarity, it is about the price paid. If I overpaid for a supposed FL, I would certainly want to know it (and have something done about it).

 

[Giangi]

Sometimes IF vs. VVS1 is definitely a tough call, especially when the grade is determined by a natural or such. After having said that, I''d prefer to know the truth, unless the stone was priced as a VVS. But in the real world, I''d think twice before buying an EGL graded IF stone. As Jonathan said, a 1-grade difference can easily result in a $10-20K price gap.. and that''s something I wouldn''t like to see.