Diamond Certificates

Diamond Certificates

Knowing the difference between the various diamond certificates is important.  What you are about to purchase is always important.  It is especially important knowing when your buying a diamond, gemstone or even a jewelry set.  There are several legitimate certification companies that provide a wide variety of service to the consumer.  The purpose of these certification is not only to verify the authenticity but to provide the customer with a map to there gemstone or diamond.  Many of these companies also can appraise and certify jewelry as well; service for jewelry includes detailing the carat weight of a diamond, as well as identifying the color and clarity.

Diamond Certificates and the American Gemological Laboratories

American Gemological Laboratories (AGL) Based out of New York, AGL specializes in only in testing and grading colored stones.  AGL provides two main types of certificates but also does specialized reports tailored to the customers requests.  AGL uses its own criteria for grading color, cut and clarity of gems and uses a 1-10 scale with 1 representing excellent and the 10 representing poor.  Moreover, the color grade is based on the purity of the primary color.  AGL has strict standards and rarely are gems grading above a 3.5 in color.   The cut grade is based on the overall appearance of the gemstone includes in polish and symmetry.  The lab also has a proprietary scale for determining the color of tone which ranges form very light to very dark along with a corresponding measure of 0-100.  For clarity they use the the following grades: FI or free of inclusions LI or lightly included MI or moderately included HI or heavily included EI or excessively included (each E1 clarity also has a corresponding number of either 1,2 or 3 with 3 being the worst)

Diamond Certificates and the American Gem Society Laboratories

Based in Las Vegas, The American Gem Society Laboratories or AGS non-profit organization.  AGS is world renown for its for Performance Cut Grade which uses advanced techniques that capture the light tracing through the diamond.  Only the most optimal and precise measurement capture the coveted "o cut grade" from AGS.  What really makes AGS special is that it is the first company to offer cut grades for fancy shaped diamonds.  Fancy shaped diamonds are all other diamonds besides the round shape.  AGS has it own grading standards for color and clarity that correspond with a number from 0-10 with "0" being completely colorless and 10 being XYZ colors.

Diamond Certificates and EGL USA

Located in both Los Angeles and New York EGL USA and offers a variety of services and reports.  Services include reports for loose and mounted diamonds, colored diamonds, gemstones, and pearls.  Take note that EGL USA and EGL Canada are separate companies.  EGL uses the international standard nomenclature for its grading criteria with an additional clarity grading for the Si3; the Si3 clarity diamond is a split between the I1 and Si2 clarity and is not internationally recognized despite the fact that the clarity is traded on the Rap diamond industry trading list as well as other trading networks.  Furthermore, EGL offers several different diamond reports, these include The Diamond Analysis Report. the Gemstone Analysis Report, The Colored Diamond Report, and the 360' Diamond Report.

Gemological Institue of America and Diamond Certificates 

GIA is the first gemological laboratory of its kind.  Known as the foremost authority with respect to its grading methods.  GIA has very strict standards for its grading criteria; with diamonds, determining the color, cut and clarity is everything with respect to the value, strict interpretation of a diamond is of the utmost importance.  Furthermore,  GIA is a non-profit organization and does not offer appraisal services.  GIA does not contribute to pricing diamonds on the market. Diamond Demand http://guide.diamondpriceguru.com/diamond-and-ring-basics/certified-diamonds/gia-ags-egl-and-other-diamond-grading-certificates/