As with any significant purchase, start by researching your options. Educate yourself about the diamond 4Cs and determine which diamond qualities are most important to you. This decision, along with your budget, will help guide your online diamond buying.

When shopping online, make sure you know exactly what you are buying. Some sites show diamonds with a range in carat weight, color or clarity. To ensure you know the value of the stone you’re purchasing, ask for specifics on its 4Cs, not a range. Then, make sure the stone comes with an independent diamond grading report, like those provided by GIA, which provides an unbiased analysis of the diamond’s 4Cs. For added security, you can verify a GIA grading report using the online Report Check tool, which will confirm that the information on the report matches the GIA database.

Once you’ve decided on the diamond that’s right for you, there are a few quick checks to do on the company you’re buying from. You’ll want to know:

• How long has the company been in business?
• What kind of reviews has the company received?
• Does it belong to any jewelry trade associations? (Associations often have strict requirements around quality and service)
• Do they offer secure transactions?
• How is their customer service?
• What is their return policy?
• How will the diamond be shipped? Is the shipment insured? Is signature required for delivery?

There are a few more considerations when buying from online auction sites. In addition to the questions listed above, you’ll also want to look into:

• Seller feedback & comments
• Is payment processed through a secure service such as PayPal or PayDirect?
• Is the seller located in the US?
• Is the seller providing sufficient evidence of the diamond’s authenticity? (photographs, diamond grading report)
Working with foreign sellers, or using cash, check or money order for your purchase, can greatly reduce your options for recourse in case of a fraudulent sale.

Once your beautiful diamond is in-hand, have an independent appraiser confirm that it matches the description and accompanying paperwork, and provide you with the value of the diamond for insurance purposes.

You can also choose to have it laser-inscribed with a permanent and microscopic marking on the gem’s girdle (in some cases the diamond comes with an inscription, or it can be requested at the time of purchase). GIA can inscribe a diamond with its unique GIA report number, or a personal message or symbol, for identification.

While the vast majority of online diamond purchases go smoothly, there are cases of false or misleading online sales. US-based consumers have options for recourse, including reporting the website to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), or pursuing the case in civil court. Foreign-based retailers that do not have a physical presence in the US, are, for the most part, insulated from recourse, and attempts to recover funds can be very frustrating. However, by following the recommendations above, you greatly increase your chances for a stress-free and secure online diamond purchase.

Have you ever purchased a diamond online? How was your experience? Let us know if you have any tips for others about the process.

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In addition to setting standards for determining gem quality and conducting front-line research, GIA protects the gem-buying public by educating gem and jewelry professionals. In fact, GIA was founded more than 80 years ago as an educational institution to help jewelers accurately and ethically communicate gem information to the public.

As you shop for diamonds or gemstones, you may notice that many jewelers proudly display their diplomas and credentials from GIA. Here are descriptions of a few of those internationally recognized credentials and what they mean for you.

• GIA Graduate Gemologist (GG) Diploma:
  This is the highest professional credential conferred by GIA. In this respected and world-recognized program, students acquire a comprehensive gemology education across the entire spectrum of diamonds and colored stones. Through extensive practice, they learn how to identify and grade hundreds of common and unusual gemstones and detect the latest treatments and synthetics. They study gemstones from mines to market, and practice their gemological techniques using instruments such as a microscope, polariscope, spectroscope, and other professional gemological equipment. GG diploma recipients achieve the technical knowledge and practical skills necessary for careers as buyers, appraisers, retailers, or senior professionals within the jewelry industry. A GG credential ensures that a highly trained jeweler is present to assist you.

• GIA Graduate Diamonds Diploma:
  Graduates from this program have learned the technical expertise needed to grade, buy, and sell diamonds. Students analyze crown, pavilion, and total depth. They learn GIA diamond grading processes to access the 4Cs, and how the 4Cs affect value. They practice using professional diamond grading equipment, and also learn to determine proportions, create plotting diagrams, and detect synthetics and treatments.

• GIA Graduate Colored Stones Diploma:
  This program offers a wide array of opportunities to build a knowledge base about colored stones and the colored stones market and identify common and unusual gemstones. Students will use GIA’s Colored Stone Grading System to grade color and clarity; identify synthetics, treatments, and imitations using professional gemological equipment; identify a gemstone’s geographic origin; understand how quality, rarity, and color affect value; determine market factors that impact gem value; and much more.

• GIA Accredited Jewelry Professional (AJP) Diploma:
  Graduates from this program learn tremendous product knowledge to help their customers make the most informed purchases possible. Graduates know how to explain the 4Cs of diamond value, and the differences between treated, synthetic and imitation stones to ensure full disclosure. They also know a lot about the lore and attributes of the most popular gemstones, which makes their knowledge indispensable when you’re making a purchasing decision.

• GIA Graduate Pearls Diploma:
  GIA’s Graduate Pearls diploma program teaches students about GIA’s 7 Pearl Value Factors™, which helps them evaluate, buy, and sell pearls. After graduation, students can effectively communicate the relationship of beauty, benefits, value and quality to pearl-loving customers. Graduates know how to distinguish the differences in pearls, including cultured pearls, aiding consumers in finding exactly which pearl they’re looking for.

• GIA Jewelry Design & Technology (JDT) Diploma:
  Ready to learn cutting-edge jewelry design in a cutting-edge environment? That’s what you’ll experience in the GIA Jewelry Design & Technology program. You’ll learn CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing), rapid prototyping, and other technologies and innovations that are revolutionizing the gem and jewelry industry. In addition, understand common manufacturing processes; learn important jewelry engineering concepts; troubleshoot problems arising from the design and manufacture of pieces; and more. At the conclusion of the program, you will have a portfolio of your jewelry design renderings and rapid prototypes. (Offered at GIA Carlsbad Campus)

• GIA Graduate Jeweler (GJ) Diploma:
  If you’re looking to have a custom piece of jewelry made, or need to repair a long-worn favorite, look for a jeweler with a GIA Graduate Jeweler diploma.  This program teaches students how to transform precious metals and gemstones into beautiful pieces of jewelry. Students are trained at a workbench, just as professional jewelers work, learning skills such as sizing, soldering, finishing and polishing. Students are introduced to the latest technologies, like laser welding with pulse profiling, and acquire the time-honored skills of hand fabrication, custom order and jewelry repair. (Offered at GIA Carlsbad Campus)

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Pardieu decided to pursue his passion for gems after working for ten years as a tour guide in Southeast Asia. He always had an interest in nature, but after seeing how gemstones touch everything from art to history, to chemistry and geology, he earned his GIA Graduate Gemologist diploma.

Pardieu has made numerous expeditions to some of the most remote parts of the world, chronicling the mining, trading and production of gems. “GIA has to do its homework to be able to identify the origin of gemstones, and this requires having a reference sample. The best way to get a reference stone is to go to the source,” said Pardieu.

He described to us one of his favorite trips to date, to a ruby mine in Vietnam. “The landscape was so beautiful it looked like it could have been in a movie. There were vast stretches of rice fields, jungles and bamboo groves.”

Pardieu particularly enjoys the exciting atmosphere at a mining site. “You have thousands of miners thinking, ‘This is my chance to become a millionaire!’”

The comprehensive courses Pardieu took at GIA taught him to properly identify gemstones, a skill he uses daily. Learn more on earning the gem and jewelry industry’s most prestigious credential.

Travel the world with Vincent Pardieu in this great video:

If you could travel the world as a field gemologist like Pardieu, where would you most like to visit?

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This guide will help you navigate and understand the relative quality differences that exist on the color, clarity and cut grading scales.

The post Download GIA’s 4Cs Guide to Understanding Diamond Quality appeared first on GIA 4Cs Blog.

Diamonds are known for being one of the hardest substances on earth. A diamond is so hard it ranks as a 10 on the Mohs scale–the highest level of hardness. But what is the Mohs scale?

The Mohs scale (pronounced MOZE) rates the hardness of gems and minerals. The hardness of a stone indicates the stone’s resistance to scratching or how the surface of the gem will respond to contact with a sharp point. This differs from a gem’s toughness, which is defined by how well a gem can survive an impact or resist breaking, chipping or cracking.

Introduced in 1822, the scale originated when Friedrich Mohs chose ten minerals and assigned numbers to them based on the relative ease or difficulty with which one can be scratched by another. His studies resulted in the scale below, which is still used today.

When looking at the Mohs scale, it is important to remember that the difference in hardness between minerals, or the hardness numbers, is not actually equal, even though the minerals look to be equally spaced. The diamond is only one number away from the Corundum mineral (which includes rubies and sapphires), however it is many times harder then the gems in the Corundum family.

The Mohs scale helps to identify what makes a gem durable. The more durable a gem is, the more suitable it is for use in frequently worn jewelry.

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Purchasing a diamond ring can be overwhelming. After you get through the education process of learning the diamond 4Cs there is still one more piece of the puzzle: understanding the difference between a grading report and an appraisal.

A diamond grading report, sometimes referred to as a certificate, is an official “blueprint” of a diamond. It will tell you the specific measurements and shape of your diamond, as well as point out the individual characteristics of your stone. One of the most widely recognized reports is the GIA Diamond Grading Report. Based on the International Diamond Grading System™ that GIA created nearly 60 years ago, the GIA Diamond Grading Report is an unbiased and scientifically-based assessment of your stone’s qualities. The report lets you know that your stone is in fact a diamond, and not some other material.  It describes your diamond’s Clarity, Color, Cut, Carat weight, proportions and finish. The report also identifies any known treatments.

A grading report, or certificate, is not the same thing as an appraisal. An appraisal is an estimate of a diamond’s monetary worth. An appraisal assigns a value based on current market conditions and the quality of the diamond. A GIA report, on the other hand, provides an objective assessment of a diamond’s quality, information which appraisers often use in assigning value.

Though a diamond’s value may appreciate or depreciate over time, a diamond’s qualities are unlikely to change. To document those qualities, GIA has developed three different types of grading reports: Diamond Grading Report, Diamond Dossier® and Diamond eReport. Most appraisers and insurance agencies consider GIA reports to be the most accurate and highly regarded official documents of diamond quality.

GIA Diamond Grading Report
In addition to a diamond’s 4Cs information, the Diamond Grading Report provides a plotted diagram of the stone’s clarity characteristics and a graphic representation of its proportions, information which serves to identify the individual stone.

GIA Diamond Dossier ®
The Diamond Dossier, available for diamonds that weigh between 0.15 and 1.99 carats, is a more concise, compact version of the GIA Diamond Grading Report. Instead of a plotted diagram of the clarity characteristics, this service includes the laser inscription of the diamond’s unique report number on the stone’s girdle.

GIA Diamond eReport
The eReport is a digital-only, paperless report that includes a graphic representation of the diamond’s proportions, and the added feature of a detailed face up image of the diamond captured during the grading process.

All GIA grading reports are intended to be used as a source of accurate, unbiased and trustworthy information about a diamond’s quality. Remember, a diamond report is not a certificate or guarantee and does not indicate a diamond’s monetary value. While an appraisal does not guarantee a price that can be fetched on the market for a given stone, it is an indicator that helps consumers understand the potential value of their diamond.  Both are important, but be sure to get a Diamond Grading Report before purchasing your very special diamond, so you are clear about what your diamond’s quality is.

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When considering the purchase of a gem or piece of jewelry, it is important to find an educated jeweler with a trustworthy reputation. A professional jeweler will have the knowledge and training to help you make an informed purchase. A jeweler with a reliable reputation will strive to understand your preferences,  provide you with a variety of purchase options, and do so in an honest and straightforward way.

There are a few good ways to find a professional jeweler.

First, look for a jeweler with impeccable credentials from an international gemological school, like GIA. A GIA Graduate Gemologist (GG) credential is known world-wide as the mark of a senior professional in the jewelry industry. In the Graduate Gemologist program, jewelers learn the science and technical knowledge needed to deal with the entire range of diamonds and colored gemstones. Another diploma, the GIA Accredited Jewelry Professional (AJP), provides sales associates with the important product knowledge they need in order to provide customers with accurate diamond information. Jewelers with either of these credentials will be able to provide excellent and knowledgeable service. You can find a list of professional jewelers who have gone through GIA training on the GIA Alumni Association online directory.

Another way is to find a credentialed jeweler, with a strong positive reputation in your community. Ask a friend to recommend a jeweler or ask a jeweler to provide references. Find out how long the jeweler has been in business, if she/he belongs to any professional associations, and if they are a member of the GIA Alumni Association.

GIA Diamond Grading Report

Once you have selected your gem or piece of jewelry, it is a good idea to get an independent laboratory report on your stone. Professional jewelers around the world provide an independent diamond grading report with their fine diamonds. World-wide, the most trusted and accurate diamond reports come from GIA, the creator of the 4Cs diamond grading standard.

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Gemstones are rare and highly-coveted; this can sometimes result in theft and other crimes. More than $1.5 billion-worth of jewelry and precious metals were stolen in the US in 2010, with a recovery rate of only 4.2%. In order to better serve the public, law enforcement turned to GIA for assistance. GIA developed a seminar to better train them in successfully identifying stolen gems and jewelry.

GIA’s Carlsbad headquarters

One such seminar occurred at GIA’s Carlsbad headquarters earlier this year. Law enforcement officers from Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Africa, along with US officers representing 13 cities, met at GIA for the seminar. The course included learning about the GIA-created 4Cs of diamond quality, using tools such as loupes and microscopes, identifying colored gemstones in the field, breaking down stolen jewelry, and more.

The goals of the seminar were, first, to teach practical gemology for use in investigations and second, to educate law enforcement on the GIA resources that are available to them. For example, if a stolen gem was previously graded by GIA, it can be flagged in GIA’s database. The seminar also encouraged international cooperation as officers from across the globe shared their knowledge in topics such as gem mining and consumerism.

GIA has supported and educated law enforcement for decades. The current intensive program began as a partnership between GIA and the Major Theft Program at FBI Headquarters in 2007. The partnership between law enforcement and GIA has been rewarding and appropriate because both groups are dedicated to public service. “Our mission is to protect the public in gemstone and jewelry purchases,” said Donna Baker, president and CEO of GIA. “We’re pleased to have built a strong working relationship with law enforcement agencies around the world. By working together, we can help reduce gem-related crimes.”

This partnership may be helping the world with more than just gem-related crimes. FBI Agent Eric Ives, who manages the organized crime and major theft programs, states, “Jewelry theft is often a gateway crime. The illicit proceeds from the trafficking of stolen jewelry are sometimes used to fund other criminal activities.”

To learn more about GIA, visit www.gia.edu

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All of the peer-reviewed research on diamonds, colored stones and pearls presented in Gems & Gemology (G&G), the leading journal in its field, is now available, for free, on the iPad. The new G&G app complements GIA’s (Gemological Institute of America) award-winning quarterly journal with enhanced digital content and is downloadable for free on iTunes.

The launch of this digital version makes G&G’s research accessible to a broader audience and more appealing to scientists eager to publish their own research findings. In addition to the latest gemological information, the app is enriched with exclusive content including gem-related videos and interviews with industry experts.

“Research on peer-reviewed journals shows that those available electronically have the potential to significantly increase their impact,” said Donna Baker, president and CEO of GIA. “By reaching a broader readership, we can have a greater influence on the field of gemology.”

Gems & Gemology Spring 2012

The Spring 2012 issue is the first G&G available on the app and features articles and digital content on a recently discovered emerald deposit in northern Brazil and a review of properties and durability of a recent diamond imitation, coated colorless cubic zirconia. It also includes coverage of this year’s Tucson shows and the results of the Dr. Edward J. Gübelin Most Valuable Article Awards, as well as the G&G Challenge quiz which gives readers a chance to test their gemological knowledge.

“The interactive and intuitive nature of this app, combined with its portability, makes keeping up with gemology fun and easy,” said Jan Iverson, editor-in-chief of G&G. “The print issue will remain, so the iPad app is really an extension of our educational outreach.”

G&G will continue to offer a print edition; subscriptions are now available. A free desktop version is planned for release later this year.

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