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WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CERTIFIED DIAMONDS
Selling "certified" diamonds has become a popular practice
with certain diamond merchants and dealers. "Certification"
means sending a diamond to a "neutral" gem lab to establish
the grade of the stone.
There are many grading labs that will give an opinion of a diamond
grade for a fee, complete with an official looking document. To the
unwary, it appears to be a guarantee of what you're buying. However,
many of these certificates are not legitimate because these merchants
have purposely avoided having their diamonds graded according to the
industry standard for diamonds, which is the Gemological Institute
of America (GIA ).
What is "certification" anyway?
A legitimately authenticated diamond is one that has been sent to
the Gemological Institute of America (GIA ) to be graded. GIA is a
non-profit organization that established the worldwide standards for
diamond grading in 1933. In addition, GIA also provides courses and
administers degrees for all gemology titles worldwide.
"Certification" as now used means that any of a number
of non-GIA labs
have given their opinion on a diamond and issued a
"certificate".
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