A retailer’s solution to diamond grading confusion

Diamond grading reports have become as ubiquitous to the jewelry industry as diamonds themselves. 

Diamonds were once color graded as Jagers, Cape, Top Silvercape, Wesselton and other names that indicated their color in vague terms. As we all know, that system of grading disappeared long ago.  

Jewelers needed to have a precise system of grading diamonds so that one stone accurately could be compared to another, removing the margin of error that had existed to that point. The large amount of money that rested on the slight improvement of a diamond’s grade made the exactness of diamond grading a must. Thus a standard system of grading was born using a precise compilation of letters for color and clarity grade. 

Today the precision of the diamond grading system is under attack from many different labs using the same grading scale popularized by the Gemological Institute of America. One can get a report from one lab that states a diamond’s grade is G, VS2 then take the same stone to another lab and get a grade of D, VVS2.  

Often the grades given for the same diamond can be light years apart and, for the uninitiated, can lead to confusion about price. Why is it that a 1-carat D, VVS2 is so much more money at one store than another when both stores have reports, all be it from different labs, stating the color and clarity grade to be the same?

Where does this leave the consumer and how should jewelers represent diamonds? Some jewelers choose to use only one lab for all their diamond grading while others use several labs. Some jewelers still rely on selling the sizzle and not the steak and choose not to use diamond grading reports at all. The best line I’ve ever heard concerning reports was in a group of jewelers discussing what labs they use. One of the jewelers who chooses not to use reports said, “I don’t use diamond certificates. The first time someone mentioned ‘certs’ to me, I thought they were talking about breath mints!”  

When a consumer is shopping for a diamond, they need to know and, frankly, have the right to know that the diamond they are purchasing has an independent report of its true grade. When labs offer trumped-up reports stating that a particular stone is of a particular grade and they use