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To Certify Or Not To Certify
Subheadline
The question: how
important is it to get a lab certificate when buying a diamond?
The answer: it's not. Most often just the *threat* or suggestion
of certification is enough to keep most jewelers relatively honest.
The only times a certificate is essential are:
1. You are a diamond
investor buying investment-grade diamonds (Flawless, Internally
Flawless, VVS1 or VVS2 D, E and F color grades).
2. You are a diamond
investor buying a fancy colored diamond and you need certification
that the color origin of the diamond is natural.
When diamond shopping,
always ask the jeweler if the stone you're interested in has a lab
certificate. If it doesn't, ask if he would mind certifying it.
If the response is, "Sure, no problem, I'll get that for you
within ten days at no cost," you can be pretty sure it's not
necessary. But if the dealer tries to weasel out of it, and gives
you excuses about long delays and extra fees, you can be pretty
sure that dealer isn't being honest aobut diamond grades.
If you are doing
long-distance diamond trading, and the buyer isn't able to see the
stone before purchase, a certificate can be crucial. REMEMBER: A
certificate must be recent (within six months) and the diamond must
not have been worn since certification.
If a jeweler shows
you a certificate for a stone, and the certification was done five
years ago, it's meaningless! The diamond could have been anywhere
and undergone many changes since then.
The best thing to
do is find a jeweler who will give you an open-ended certification
policy - that is, he will certify the diamond for you, free, at
any time in the future. This way, if you need to resell the diamond
you can certify it.
There are three
certification centers in the U.S., all regulated by the Federal
Trade Commission, and all of equal value:
- Gemological Institute of America (1-800-421-7250
or 1-212-221-5858)
- European Gemological Laboratory, Inc. (1-800-235-3287)
- International Gemological Institute (1-212-398-1700)
by Fred Cuellar,
author of the best-selling book "How to Buy a Diamond." More questions?
Ask the Diamond Guy®
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