4.
A Good Certificate vs. a Suspect Certificate
Make sure your certificate is a recent certificate, one that has been done in the last few years. When a jeweler has a diamond that has a certificate that is 10 or 15 years or more old, that usually means it was taken in for trade towards another larger stone or from an estate or divorce. My first question would be, “where has it been all these years?”
Was the woman who owned it racing motorcycles, skidding on the pavement? Was it being thrown at her (ex)husband and bouncing off the fireplace? Of course, people always say they never did anything to it, and “hardly ever wore it”.
Reminds me of buying a car from a little old lady who “only drove it once a week on Sunday’s”. Found out later that her Sunday drive was down at the Motor City Dragway!
Over time, diamonds can be nicked, chipped, or damaged, and a recent certificate would indicate this. There are people in this business who will deflect their responsibility when the diamond is no longer being represented properly because of a chip or scratches. When confronted, they say things like “I am just a business-man, not a gemologist! I was just relying on what the certificate said!” That’s a lot of baloney. They all know exactly what they are doing, they just don't want to take the extra steps. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to some of these people “the diamond is chipped and it’s not indicated on the certificate”. They reply “I’ll just sell it as-is, the customer will never know!”.
5.
Ask Questions
Don’t worry about asking questions, like:
- “Can you prove to me this diamond matches the certificate?”
- “I need to have a more recent certificate, can you get it re- certified?”
- “Can you show me this under your microscope?”
- “Can you measure this diamond with a millimeter gauge and match it to the measurements on the certificate?”
- “Can you put this diamond on a Sarin DiaScan machine and show it matches the certificate?”
Ask a lot of questions and stay away from people who say they are not qualified, or simply rely on what the certificate says.