Not too long ago, a lady stops by a jewelry store to have her diamond mounted with some rich blue sapphire side stones and get an appraisal. The store brought the finished ring to us for the appraisal with the statement, their customer says she has a certificate identifying the diamond as an F color. During the process of evaluation the mounted diamond did not grade the F but did grade an I/J. So, I prepare the report and return the ring to the jeweler. About a week later, I hear the customer was upset with me. She takes her ring around to several other jewelers (again not trained gemologists or appraisers) and they seeming agree with her. Some say she has been Mackleyized, some tell her she has a D/E in color. This is told to me after she appears back to the original jewelry store complaining. This jeweler did pull out an E stone and compared it against her F stone and found the customers diamond to be much darker. I have not seen the original customer in all of this. Had she come to me, I would have shown her how we grade mounted diamonds . . . through the use of comparison against a master diamond set. You see, in my city of over fifty jewelry stores, only three places have such master diamond sets. The others use something else, CZ's, other lab graded diamonds, their head (as if the human brain can remember tones, hues and slight color differences). If this would not have convinced, I would have suggested she allow her diamond to become unmounted for the usage of running a scan on the spectrophotometer. It would have nailed the color. No more somewhat subjective grading using standards and master diamond sets, or even more subjecting utilizing no standards.

Why is there so much difference between gemologists in grading stones? Is it knowledge, lighting, equipment, ethics? The answer lies in people not just gemologists. There are all kinds of people. People that choose to have certified gem labs or not, people that keep up with grading techniques and the equipment to do so and people that place enough doubt in order to steal the sale. What's wrong with simply saying, "I do or don't agree with the grade of this stone and this is why. And, I'd suggest you go back to your source and work with them. In the event, you give up on your source, then come back to see me". There are differences in gem labs with the issuance of lab reports, even to the extent of putting out ridiculous ficticious reports.

The role of this appraiser is to call it like it is. If you are the seller, be able to prove the characteristics of the diamond not just accept other opinions.

To future buyers, know your labs and know your appraiser. What are their credentials? Do they stay abreast of current trends? Do they have the gemological tools to identify?

Yes it is frustrating to provide ethical sales and stay on top. To myself, I just have to do my best and forget what other people do. To the future personnel . . . maintain your ethics! Please! You will be different and respected! We all have judgment day coming.