Summary of Independent Diamond Certification

Richard Burgess, our CEO gives candid advice:

The reason we started using IGL 4 years ago rather than GIA was that they had a London office and we could get diamonds certified within 48hrs as at the time GIA could take anywhere between 4-6 weeks! Our stock moves very quickly and to operate successfully, we needed a faster turn around. Just recently the London IGL franchise has closed, so at time of writing we’re using EGL for new stones.

GIA are the benchmark all others are measured by. They are very independent and do ‘no favours’. If the diamond colour is borderline E-F, they tend to grade down to the F rather than the stone be considered a ‘poor’ E. However, other Labs IGL and EGL included may give the benefit of the doubt in such cases to their merchant who spends a lot of money with them, but it is not always the case.

My personal view is that, say a D colour diamond on an IGL or EGL certificate may in reality, but not always, prove to be an E if graded by GIA. Very rarely have I found diamonds incorrectly graded to the point of misrepresentation unless the certificate is counterfeit which happens more with GIA certificates anyway, because the fraudsters know people tend not to question a GIA document!

At the end of the day, you don’t wear the certificate and you should judge each individual diamond on its own merits of how it appears to the naked eye. Certification was introduced to prevent the public being ripped off, but it is only ever a guide. I can show you two stones with identical GIA gradings in terms of colour. cut, clarity etc and I guarantee there will be one which you prefer to the other as diamonds are like women – very individual and beauty remains in the eye of the beholder.”