Diamond Certificates

A diamond certificate is also known as a

Diamond Grading Report. This report comes

from the Gemological Institute of America

(GIA), and you should require this report

when you are purchasing a diamond.



With a diamond certificate, you can verify

the color, cut, carat, weight, and clarity of the

diamond. You don’t have to worry about a

diamond dealer telling you anything less than

the truth, because the certificate comes

from the GIA – not the dealer. You may be

required to pay for the certificate, but the

cost is usually low, and in many cases, it

will help you negotiate a better price on the

diamond – or keep you from purchasing a

lower quality diamond altogether.



If you buy a high quality diamond, and then

later decide to sell the diamond, you will

need to have the certificate, or you will have

a hard time selling it to someone else.

Furthermore, you can use the Diamond

Grading Report to look up the wholesale

value of the diamond in question. Use the

guide that is used by the diamond cutting

industry.



With the Certificate, or Diamond Grading

Report, there won’t be any doubts when you

are trying to purchase a diamond. You can

easily find out what the diamond is worth.

This will prevent you from overpaying, and it

can prevent a seller from under-charging as

well.



A copy of the Diamond Grading Report

should be given to your insurance company

as well, when you insure the diamond. This

provides absolute, unquestionable proof of

the value of the diamond should it be stolen

in the future. Insurance companies cannot

argue with the report.



Avoid diamond dealers who seem reluctant

to provide a certificate! Also avoid sellers

who tell you that a certificate diamond will

cost you more – the only additional cost

should be the cost of the certificate, which

is low. If the dealer doesn’t want to provide

a certificate, then you don’t want to do

business with that dealer.



Don’t accept certificates from Gemological

Laboratories other than GIA. There are many

fly-by-night Gemological labs these days, but

in the end, GIA has been established as the

most respectable and trustworthy – not to

mention oldest – of the lot. So avoid dealers

who don’t want to use GIA for certification

purposes as well.



Don’t buy an expensive diamond without

paying the extra cost of the certificate. If a

dealer tries to convince you to make the

purchase without the certificate, or if they

want to use a company other than GIA, you

can be sure that the dealer has probably

greatly inflated the price of the diamond –

they have something that they are hiding