QuestionDear Jonathon, I have a diamond ring which has a 0.45ct round center diamond surrounded by 14 smaller round diamonds(which are each about 0.065ct).
Several months ago, I had this ring appraised by EGL without the center diamond and the report states that the tcw of the surrounding diamonds is 0.90tcw, the color is G-H and clarity is SI1 to VS1.
I recently had the center diamond attached and resent this ring to EGL to have it reappraised.
First, I wish to mention that before sending this ring to EGL, I had looked at the diamonds very very carefully under the 10x loupe and found that while the surrounding diamonds are very clear, I could see that some of the diamonds have very minor inclusions.
On the other hand, I could not see any inclusions in the center diamond(the jeweler who sold me the center diamond told me that the clarity of this diamond is VS1 to VS2). Therefore, because the center diamond appears to have almost no inclusions while I could see some very very minor inclusions in the surrounding diamonds(and the EGL report states that the surrounding diamonds has clarity of SI1 to VS1), I assumed that EGL would grade the center diamond as VS1 or VS2.
However, I recently got my pregrading report back and the gradings are completely off.
As I said, I had the ring appraised without the center diamond several months ago, and the surrounding diamonds were graded as G-H color. However, this time the same surrounding diamonds were graded as I-J color.
Also, in my first report, the surrounding diamonds were stated to have tcw of 0.90ct., however, this time the surrounding diamonds are calculated to have 0.70tcw. Therefore, there is this 0.20tcw diamond difference in the report.
However, most importantly, as I said, I looked at the ring and found that there were more inclusions in the surrounding stones compared to the center diamond. However. EGL graded the surrounding diamonds as SI1 to VS1 while they graded the center diamond is SI3.
I am completely at a lost as to how they can come to this grading conclusion. In other words, how can they grade the center stone as SI3 if the surrouding diamonds have more inclusions in them?
In addition, I was told by my jeweler that the center diamond is 0.45ct. However, in the report, EGL states that the center diamond is 0.65ct with the following dimensions: 4.9X4.7x3mm. I looked up these dimensions, and according to the diamond calculator, these dimensions make up about 0.42ct to 0.45ct.., not 0.65ct(which is what is written in EGL's pregrading report).
Can you please tell me if you think that EGL made a mistake or what may be the problem?
I very much need your assistance.
AnswerHi Laura,
To answer you question whther EGL made a mistake, let me first say that diamond grading sometimes vary in their 'strictness' so results might not always come out the same. Second, It is entirely possible that different people within EGL graded your diamond so that there are discrepancies in the reports given. Grading is dependent on both human subjectivity and grading thresholds so the differences in the results given does not always mean an error in grading. For the first grading report, your diamonds might have walked the fine line between the colors H and I and the inclusion count spotted might have bordered between S13 and the next or previous grading threshold and that was why the grading was different the second time around. In addition to that, it is harder to grade a mounted diamond. Grading is not an exact science, even institutes vary in their grading strictness so you'd have to take those factors into consideration. I hope this has helped clear up the confusion for you.
Best,
Jonathon
http://www.brilliance.com/
