Diamond and its certificate
are a unity.
On the one hand, a stone held in your hand stimulates the senses and imagination, on the other hand, however, its certificate is the voice of reason, rational and indisputable evidence of making a good choice. Only the correct balance between what your heart desires and what your brain tells you can guarantee investment success. Taste is an individual matter, however, a certificate is a set of compelling evidence which is the basis for determining the real value of the stone.
CUT DIAMOND, STRICT ASSESSMENT
When freshly-cut diamonds leave a diamond-cutting shop, they usually go straight to a gemological laboratory to undergo quality assessment and classification, so that an appropriate certificate can be issued. The process known as “diamond certification” is most often performed by external institutes not related to the seller – it is they who have the best specialists, and the lack of any conflict of interest eliminates the concerns as to the impartiality and reliability of the assessment.
It should be remembered that such certification is not a stone valuation. The assessment included in the document aims to help in determining the stone’s value. Only certified stones can be treated as a reliable and safe capital investment. Documents from prestigious institutes provide us not only with a guarantee of proper valuation but also confidence that we will be able to sell our stone in every market in the world without any problems.
TECHNOLOGY IN THE SERVICE OF PERFECTION
Certification of diamonds is invaluable in determining and confirming the precise quality of stones. That is why the experts bear a great responsibility. Today, the work and knowledge of gemologists who determine the quality of diamonds are supported by increasingly advanced technologies. A colorimeter, diascan and other devices, by means of laser and computers, help to assess the colour, cut quality or stone mass. Actually, only clarity assessment is almost the sole responsibility of an expert performing the assessment. When all parameters of a stone are carefully tested and determined, a gemologist prepares a report.
IN BLACK AND WHITE
A map, which includes any inclusions and impurities in the stone, as well as such cut features as chips or additional facets, is prepared for each stone. During the certification process, each stone is carefully tested in terms of 4C analysis – its structure and cut quality are precisely described and diamond’s natural origin is also checked. All information collected is recorded in the certification document. Each certificate has its own number and is assigned to one, specific stone.
TRUST ONLY THE BEST ONES
The big gemological trio, that is the key certifying laboratories in the world, demand a closer look. Documents issued by them are the most desired and recognised certificates in the diamond industry.
GIA (Gemological Institute of America) – founded in 1931 by the enthusiasts Beatrice and Roberta M. Shipley – is the oldest, the most respected and one of the largest gemological institutes in the world. Its good repute is dependent on the fact that GIA is not linked to any exchanges or diamond companies. Being a non-profit organisation, the institute has made a huge contribution to normalisation and standardisation of diamond classification. GIA specialists are those, to whom we owe the 4C rule, standardisation of criteria for the cut assessment, discovering the phenomena of fluorescence or the most popular colour scale. Today, GIA consists of 10 laboratories located all over the world and 13 schools which have so far educated over 200,000 experts, graders and gemologists.
IGI (International Gemological Institute) – the history of one of the largest gemological institutes dates back to 1975. Founded in Belgium, with is headquarters in Antwerp, it currently has 17 branches which are located all over the world, for example, in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Dubai, Tel Aviv and New Delhi. One of the indisputable characteristic features of IGI is its intensive work on an innovative system for the assessment of small diamonds. Like GIA, IGI also focuses on educating young people in its research centres in several locations worldwide. International staff in the institute comprises 650 employees at present.
HRD Antwerp – an institute which was founded in 2007 as a result of a division of the Diamond High Council established in 1973, an organisation created on the initiative of the Belgian government and diamond industry representatives. Because of reorganisation, HRD Antwerp became an institute dealing only with professional certification of diamonds, leaving the business activities to the other body (AWDC). Now, the institute works both in certification as well as in the field of technological development and training. It has three laboratories and six branches worldwide.
MART DIAMOND IN COOPERATION WITH GIA
Thanks to cooperation with the world’s most prestigious institutes, our diamonds have full documentation which clearly describes the characteristics required for stone valuation. Above all, we care about information reliability because being a trusted partner for our customers allows us to build long-lasting business relationships. For many years we have been using certification services provided by the GIA institute, which in 2014 changed its certificate layout. Today, the document layout is horizontal and dominated by gold colour. Its format is still the same, and it is slightly bigger than an A4 sheet, while in the case of a small report, issued usually for stones below 1 ct, the document is A6 paper size. The following picture presents the information which is included in a certificate issued by the GIA institute.