Posts Tagged ‘Clarity Grades’

Jewelry Lab Certificates And Appraisals

Monday, August 30th, 2010

The Difference Between Jewelry Lab Certificates and Appraisals

Most people have both jewellery lab certificates and appraisals for their useful jewellery, but the two documents are not one in the same. They serve different purposes and contain a various set of info that’s helpful to jewelry owners, too as to people who are searching for new jewelry to purchase.

Jewellery lab certificates and appraisals often go hand in hand, but the lab certificate is really a document that describes info about an unmounted gem stone, like a diamond that has not been set into any piece of jewellery, while the appraisal provides detailed info on the market worth of a piece of jewellery, whether it is unmounted or currently set as a ring, earrings, or necklace for instance.

Selecting Labs and Appraisals

When selecting jewellery lab certificates and appraisals on jewellery that you’re thinking about to buy, it’s best to select an independent company that offers these documents rather than rely about the documents created by the organization that you’re planning to buy your jewelry from. Otherwise, you face the potential for the lab or appraiser to be biased, since they will benefit from the sale of jewelry.

Should you already have jewelry lab certificates and appraisals on your current jewellery, but are unsure of their accuracy, it may be worthwhile to have your items appraised again to see what their current marketplace value is.

Jewellery Lab Certificates

Jewelry lab certificates are written reports that detail unmounted gemstones instead of completed pieces of jewelry. The certificates include information about the diamonds (or other gemstone) cut and shape, too as the stone’s color and clarity grades as decided by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Lab certificates contain specifics about the carat weight too as the dimensions of the diamond, taking into account the stone’s angles.

Once the lab certificate is drawn up, it should not change unless the stone is physically altered or it’s found at a later date that the gem stone was evaluated incorrectly the first time.

Jewelry Appraisals

The entire reason people obtain jewellery lab certificates and appraisals would be to document the dollar value from the diamond, regardless of whether it is for personal investment purposes, or in order to have a physical record from the gem stone for insurance purposes. It’s also excellent documentation to have if you ever decide to sell your jewellery at a future date, or pass it down to family members.
It’s wise to have your current valuable jewelry appraised in case it’s stolen, or within the event you go via a divorce or estate settlement. Before purchasing a new piece of jewelry you are able to also get it appraised to get a good idea what the marketplace worth is about the piece prior to shelling out large amounts of money to pay for it if it isn’t worth the amount of cash they are asking for the piece.

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Buying Diamonds – A How To Guide

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

The four C’s of  diamond, color, clarity, cut and carat weight should be provided interest if you purchase any type of jewelry such as diamond earrings or diamond rings. The stone’s quality is measured by these four features. The diamond is going to be regarded as lovely and will therefore cost more if all four are ranked high.

I highly recommend that you visit Easydiamondguide.com For our full guide on buying diamonds.

Diamond color chart

The finest diamond jewelries are almost clear since typically, it is rated on lack of color. The color tints in “white” diamonds are faint tinges of brown, yellow and grays. What they apply to express color is an alphabetical scale from D to Z. To get an idea of the distinctions in diamond color grades, imagine two glasses of water – one clear, the other that contains some drops of lemonade. Here is a  color scale showing a rough illustration of color saturation in diamonds:

D-F: Clear

G-I: Near colorless

J-K: Pale color

L-R: Recognizable color

S-Z: Obvious color

The stone becomes a fancy color diamond when the color vividness goes beyond Z, or has a completely different shade than brown, yellow or gray. The amount and intensity of color are the basis for grading fancy colors. Diamonds vary in color; they could be pink blue, purple, yellow, black or every color of the rainbow. For diamonds, fancy is generally more rare than white.

Diamond clarity chart

The rate that shows description of the spots and inclusions of the diamond is clarity. The diamond with fewer imperfections and inclusions is known as more valuable. The stone’s brilliance can also be directly impacted by clarity. The light that reflects inside the stone is the characteristic that provides brilliant beauty to the diamond; this light can be obstructed by blemishes in the stone.

This is a list of diamond clarity grades from best to least, which is based on the observation of a trained gemologist:

FL (flawless): Inside and outside the stone, there aren’t any visible blemishes or inclusions of any sort, under 10-power magnification.

IF (internally flawless): Under 10-power magnification, some external or surface blemishes such as miniscule scuff can be found on the stone but it has no internal blemishes.

VVS-1 & 2 (very, very slightly included): This diamond has very small intrusions, which even an experienced gemologist has trouble seeing, under 10-power magnification.

VS-1 & 2 (very slightly included): The minor blemishes of this stone are fairly difficult to determine under 10-power magnification.

SI-1 & 2 (slightly included): This diamond has blemishes that are extremely hard for a gemologist to determine with no magnification, but are rather easily seen with 10-power magnification.

SI-3 (slightly included): These are stones that fall on the border between SI-2 and I-1.

I-1, 2 & 3 (included): Blemishes in this diamond are noticeable without magnification.

Clarity enhancement

Treatments are done to some diamonds to enhance the clarity, as noted in a item description. In the product description of an individual piece of jewelry, online diamond stores will identify clarity-enhanced stones. A description of the process is given here:

Introduced into surface-reaching feathers is a microscopic quantity of high-refractive-index glass material to reduce their visibility. On really thin crevices and fissures, this treatment is best. The diamond is still considered natural since its natural color is not impacted by this process. Since only very small amounts of filler are used, this method does not put weight to the diamond. When observing the diamond almost parallel to the plane of the filled crack, a clarity enhanced stone can be identified by a “flash effect”. Against a bright background, the flash effect usually appears blue; while against a dark background it appears yellow or orange. Normally, it does not include a complete range of color, just the two. Under a focused beam of intense light, this optical effect is best observed with ten times magnification.

The filler substance is stable under normal wear conditions but could be destroyed by excessive heat or chemicals; this was determined by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) following extensive research. Before repair work is done, remove clarity-enhanced diamonds to successfully prevent damage.

Importance of diamond cut

Diamond cut comprises proportion, shape, symmetry and polish. Great significance is given to a stone’s shape and proportion when cutting the stone to its best appearance. What affects how a diamond shines or “scintillates” is its shape and proportion; brightness is reflected and refracted within the stone and this is the cause of its sparkle. The face-up appearance of the stone significantly differs with respect to the depth or shallowness of the stone’s cut. The way the brightness makes its way into and exits the facets of the diamond determines its polish. The stone’s depth percentages and length to width ratio can verify its symmetry. The best is the “ideal cut”.

Diamond carat information

The weight description of diamond jewelry is its carat. When talking about a single stone, the abbreviation “ct” or “CT” is used. “TDW” means “total diamond weight”; it is put in when the diamond jewelry is set with several stones. To describe a 3-stone diamond anniversary ring, “1ct TDW” is used; for a solitaire diamond engagement ring, it is “1ct”. (Note: The appraisal of gold’s purity is not carat, but is spelled “karat” with “k” as abbreviation. So, diamond jewelry may be a 1ct in a 22k setting.)

Equating carat weight with the stone’s actual size is difficult for most people. A simple guide for evaluating carat weight to millimeters is provided here. In the instance here, princess cut and round diamonds are used. The diamond shape, depth and cut of a specific stone and its various distinctions can determine essential versions from these sample measurements.

The myth regarding the “Hope Diamond” to be sank into the ocean with Titanic isn’t correct.  A careful study shows how the wearer from the Hope Diamond, Eva Lyn Walsh McLean had cancelled her trip at the last moment. I strongly recommend you check out Online Diamond Store Reviews For our complete guide to buying diamonds online or check out Engagement Ring Financing Options For our full in-depth look at diamond ring financing.


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