Why You Should (still) Know How to Read A GIA Certificate

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! If you are planning to make a diamond purchase you will need to have an idea of what is important to you about your diamond. And you should have a budget. If you are lucky, the two will meet. Chances are that your jeweler will show you diamonds with Gemological Institute of America Diamond Grading Reports or Certificates. In the 1940s and 50s GIA developed its international Diamond Grading System. Today, this grading system is the industry standard for diamond commerce; and GIA has laboratories around the world that issue certificates by highly trained gemologists. A stone certified by the GIA should put you at ease when purchasing and aid if you ever want to sell or trade-in your diamond. The report will contain the four Cs of the diamond.

Carat weight is metric carats, 1.00ct equals .20grams.

Color begins with D and ends with Z, before “fancy” color grades begin. D is the grade given to a diamond that is colorless. Most diamonds set in jewelry fall in the nearly-colorless range (G-H-I and J). J is probably where the untrained eye will begin to see hints of yellow or brown in the diamond.

Clarity has six possible grades, four of them having further sub-divisions, which refer to the size, location and number of internal inclusions or external blemishes as seen by 10x magnification. Clarity should be thought of as a diamond’s fingerprint: internal inclusions help separate natural from lab created diamonds and can be used to identify the stone itself. The grades begin with Flawless (FL) for a diamond with no internal inclusions or external blemishes, next is Internally Flawless (IF). While many dream of owning a flawless diamond these stone are very rare. Continuing down the scale the grades are Very, Very Slightly Included (VVS1-2), Very Slightly Included (VS1-2), Slightly Included (SI1-2) and Included (I1-2-3).

Cut, which describes the face up shape and style of facets the diamond has, is also shown in depth and table (the largest facet at the top of the stone) percentages for the stone. For round brilliant cut diamonds an actual Cut Grade is given. This is important to you as the consumer because this relates to the amount of light that a diamond returns to you: fire and scintillation (sparkle). You should judge diamonds in person; I urge you to compare diamonds and not just read reports. Your diamond should speak to you!

This subject is too vast for one brief! I encourage you to look at a report and send The Jewelry Brief any questions. Let us know if you are interested in learning in-depth about any of these subjects. Since the original publication date of this post in August of 2009, GIA has developed  4Cs applications for the iPad. The consumer version is available on iTunes.

Weekend Brief: A Brief for 31.45 Million Women

According to the US Census Bureau there are 62.9 million married American women. Sadly (or sometimes happily), statistics also show that fifty percent of them will divorce their husbands in the future.  This means that one question will be raised over 31 million times: who keeps the engagement ring? Don’t look at the law for an answer: the courts do not agree. Forget etiquette blogs. They are often , quite frankly, unrealistic in their expectations of chivalry. It seems most women keep the ring. So, this is for all of my friends that have found themselves, after the dust settles, with a diamond ring, which is unmistakably an engagement ring that means much less to them than it once did.

There are many ways to remount your stone that do not scream divorcee.  If you have enough cash, and don’t already have ear studs, purchasing a matching stone for earrings is a great option.  There are several pendant mountings that add to, rather than feature, the single diamond. One is a traditional pave-diamonds donut, which enhances the bezel-set center stone.  The diamond can also be framed in colored stones, or like a flower with marquise or pear-shaped stones. You may own a brooch, which would look fabulous accented by your diamond.  A flower brooch, circle pin or horseshoe, depending on the design, could absolutely shine with a larger diamond accent.

Finally, and possibly my favorite because everyone is wearing bangles and it is so un-ring-like,  a great design is a gold bangle “sprinkled” with bezel-set diamonds of different sizes. This design can also be accomplished if you have other pieces from your ex that you are breaking up and melting down.

When everything else fails, a belly button ring is always an option.