Is Your Diamond Certified

The identity of your diamond is often the provided through a certificate. You should see to it that when you buy a diamond it is certified. There are several Independent Laboratories out there that certify diamonds. The most well-known is GIA, the Gemmological Institute of America. GIA has done a great service by providing the public a metric to compare Diamonds and Diamond prices from different suppliers and jewelers.

Nonetheless, if you don't know the rules of the game, even this won't help you. For example, you should be aware of the differences between an appraisal by a G.G. (GIA Gemologist) as opposed to a GIA GTL Certificate. Beware of no-name brand Laboratories, no-name brand Certificates and no-name brand Appraisals. You may wind up with something "less" than agreed upon.

There are respectable non-GIA Laboratories out there. For example, EGL, the European Gemological Laboratory. Please note that EGL has several Labs all around the world, each is independently owned, and may have different procedures and even grading. If you have any doubts, feel free to post your message on certified diamonds at DiamondChitChat.com.