How diamond grading works

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• diamond grading lesson
• diamond grading information when you plan to BUY
• diamond grading information when you plan to SELL

Grading a diamond by yourself is the best way to gain some knowledge about the stone that you plan to buy or to sell. Of course you can trust an appraiser or even your dealer but as you will learn there are more reasons why you should find out some basic information by yourself. You would like to get a well-priced stone, when you plan to buy a diamond. Or you would like to get paid a fair amount of money, when you plan to sell a stone. You should be prepared with the necessary knowledge that there is a large number of unreliable dealers and stores offering diamond selling and buying. An unreliable dealer tries to sell a diamond as expensive as possible and an unreliable buyer tries to buy your diamond as cheap as possible. Some dealers are very tricky and prepared to persuade unknown customers. The following story should alarm your senses.

Beware of diamond bargains and scam involved appraisals

Dealers know how to make much money selling and buying diamonds. The have an edge because they know how much money a stone is worth. Trust us, you will never find a diamond priced under the market value. When a price seems to be too good to be true, it is usually not a good price, unless the seller (like an individual) doesn’t know its true value. Some dealers present their diamonds better than they actually are. Some of this tricky dealers are even willing to put the untrue facts on the bill of sales or they even hand out an “appraisal”.

Beware of diamond grading at the next door appraisers

Special attention has to be paid when a jeweler is not willing to write down the discussed facts on the bill of sales and when he offers you to take the stone to an appraiser in the neighborhood. This deal may be a scam. Such practices are often seen in New York or other cities with diamond districts. This dealers have a good network of different appraisers in the neighborhood. The may hand you out a list of close diamond appraisers you could visit. They let you go to an appraiser of their network in escort with a jeweler staff. Most people don’t go there because they think that such an offer is the best possible proof of making a very good deal. And just in case if you really go to one of this “independent” appraiser you may hear just what you should hear – making a great bargain.

If you would like to proof the authenticity of an offered stone:

You will find good working diamond testers for just a few dollars. It’s really true:

Diamond grading lesson for beginners:

Basic knowledge if you want to do a diamond grading by yourself:

1. In best case, just examine unmounted diamonds.
2. Make sure the diamond is clean.
3. Hold the unmounted diamond so that your fingers touch only the girdle.
4. Examine the diamond under proper light, artificial light or better under daylight.
5. Rotate the stone to view it from all possible angles.

What you have to look out for and what you can find out:

1. Examine the workmanship that went into the cutting.
2. Check the diamond for chips, cracks, scratches, bubbles, flaws and inclusions.
3. Check the sharpness of the facet edges.

Diamond grading when you plan to buy

It’s is nearly impossible to find a bargain, as you learned before. Buy used or buy from a private individual if you don’t want to spend much money. But keep in mind that it’s a higher risk to deal like that. Of course you can look to find an individual selling a diamond, coming with a certificate or even with a bill of sales. But anyway, if you find a good priced stone with all this paperwork, you don’t have any guarantees or a responsible dealer who you can prosecute, just to mention a possible worst case. It is better to buy a smaller stone from a high responsible source, than a bigger stone from a shady dealer.

Your diamond grading partner: GIA, GIA Is the largest and most respected source for gemological appraisals worldwide. You can blindly trust a GIA certification offered by a dealer. It’s also possible to hire a GIA appraiser to check the information provided by the seller, after you have bought the diamond.

Diamond grading if you plan to sell

Diamond grading with a diamond calculator is an easy way to find out how much money you can expect. Use your certification or your bill of sales to find out how many carats your diamond weights. Use a caliper if you don’t have a certification or a bill of sales to determine the diameter. You can get a basic caliper starting at $1 on eBay including free shipping from China. Spend $6 plus if you would like to get a digital caliper.