European Gemological Laboratory Diamond Reports

Diamonds.co.nz recently came across the following article on the Gemlab NZ blog at http://www.gemlab.co.nz/blog/article/17/consumer-alert-egl-diamond-reports and the following is an excerpt from the blog:

“Two of the largest jewellery trade supply channels in the United States have just announced that they will no longer list diamonds with European Gemological Laboratory (EGL) Diamond Reports. The reason given is, quote...

"We are concerned about the misrepresentation of diamond quality through the abuse of the GIA grading standard. We oppose the misuse of GIA terminology by applying alternative grading standards that overstate the quality of diamonds. We support the GIA standards as defined by the GIA grading laboratory in their diamond grading reports."

The following is the background to this…..

The GIA (Gemological Institute of America) at http://www.gia.edu invented a diamond grading scale in the 1950s. This described diamond quality in terms of colour on a scale of D to Z, with D being absolutely colourless and Z a noticeable yellow colour and clarity from Flawless to Included (Fl-VVS-VS-SI-I). Although it was designed for teaching purposes, over the ensuing years the system gradually became more and more accepted in sales situations”

This is a very interesting article as it is a very relevant subject considering the increased purchase of diamonds and diamond jewellery online by members of the public. The public must be made aware of the fact that not all diamond reports are equal and that it is very unwise to buy a diamond from a diamond report only.

Diamonds.co.nz does not list EGL reports on their website and they have never sold diamonds with EGL reports. This is why they provide a Diamond Verification service when a diamond is selected from their website and they have their offshore office inspect the diamond before purchase to ensure it is close to the quality stated on the report. Diamonds.co.nz can also disagree with some of the grading done by the GIA because, at the end of the day, diamond grading is subjective and is the graders opinion, especially concerning clarity. Diamonds.co.nz owns a master colour grading diamond set with masters from D to M colour which is used to check diamonds once they are landed in New Zealand.

Please visit the website at http://www.diamonds.co.nz for further information.