Certified vs. Non-certified Diamonds: What Are the Differences?

What Are Certified Diamonds?

Certified diamonds are stones whose quality characteristics have been evaluated by a gemstone grading lab.

The results of the assessment are recorded in a grading report, which is what most people call a “diamond certificate.”

So, when a diamond is referred to as certified, this simply means that its quality has been examined and verified by an expert third-party (which is different from the vendor selling the stone).

Who Certifies Diamonds?

Diamonds are certified by independent experts, who are trained in gemology. One of the most respected certification authorities is the GIA (Gemological Institute of America).

For example, click here to see a selection of diamonds that have been certified by the G.I.A. If you click on any one of the stones, you will be able to see a link to its certificate next to its picture.

Other prominent grading labs are AGS (American Gem Society) and EGL (European Gemological Laboratory).

You should remember that certification makes sense to you as a buyer only if it is done by a third party that is not connected with the jeweler selling you the diamond.

After all, if the seller can influence how his or her merchandise is evaluated, the quality assessment may be biased, and that’s not what you want.

What Information Is Included in a Diamond Certificate?

Diamond certificates include information about the quality characteristics that are deemed most important for a loose diamond. At the very least, a grading report contains information on the so-called 4 C’s: color, clarity, cut, and carat.

Each of these four characteristics is assigned a grade, which in turn affects the price of the stone.

Grading reports also often contain information about the symmetry of the diamond’s facets, how well polished the stone is, whether the diamond exhibits fluorescence under UV light, etc.

Usually, the certificate also includes a diagram illustrating the most important proportions of the stone.

Difference Between a Diamond Certificate and an Appraisal

Diamond certificate and appraisal are terms that are often confused. An appraisal is a document that puts a monetary value on a diamond (or a piece of jewelry); it is often used to determine how much you should pay for the insurance of the stone.

A diamond certificate, on the other hand, does not value the stone in dollar terms; the purpose of this report is to document key quality characteristics, without giving an opinion on how much the diamond should cost.

What Does a “Certified Diamond Ring” Mean?

People often refer to diamond rings as “certified” or “non-certified”, but this is not the most accurate use of these terms.

To be more precise, rings are not usually certified – but the stones they contain can be.

So, when it is said that a diamond ring is certified, what this means is that the diamond (or diamonds) in it comes with a grading report describing its quality characteristics.

In contrast, if a ring is said to be non-certified, this most likely means that it doesn’t come with a grading report for its diamond.

What Are Non-certified Diamonds?

Non-certified diamonds are simply stones that do not come with a grading report. These diamonds have been cut and polished, but for some reason, the seller has decided not to have their quality graded by a third party.

Why Some Diamonds Do Not Have a Certificate

The reasons for not having a diamond certified can be many.

Certification costs money, and some merchants don’t want to incur additional expenses.

This is often the case with low-quality diamonds whose inferiority is obvious – for such stones, a certificate would not help them sell better anyway.

And there are also sellers who prefer to offer non-certified stones so that they can present the quality of these diamonds in the best possible light.

What Is the Difference Between Certified and Non-certified Diamonds?

Non-certified diamonds are not necessarily of lower quality compared with certified ones.

In fact, not having a certificate doesn’t tell you anything about a stone’s quality – the lack of such a document just tells you that there is no verified information about the diamond’s characteristics.

Because their exact quality is unknown, non-certified diamonds are riskier to purchase compared with certified stones: You simply don’t know whether the price asked for a non-certified stone is fair relative to its quality.

The price tag might sometimes seem low, but it might turn out that diamonds of the same quality grade have a market price that is even lower.

Certified diamonds, on the other hand, are a much safer bet. While a certificate does not guarantee high quality, it assures that it is what the seller claims it to be.

In a sense, a grading report serves as a seal of approval by a third-party expert and provides you with a quality evaluation that is more precise than what your own assessment is likely to be.

(Even expert diamond graders need a microscope and other tools to establish exact quality grades for cut, color, and clarity.)

So What If a Diamond Is Not Certified?

Certification matters to you as a buyer because it provides an independent verification of a diamond’s quality.

Without a certificate, you can never be certain what you are buying. If a diamond is not certified, your only source of information about its quality is the seller, and needless to say, the merchant’s assessment is not likely to be the most objective.

If the seller exaggerates the quality of an non-certified diamond, you may end up overpaying for a stone that would be put in a lower price range if it were certified.

Should You Buy Non-certified Diamonds?

Unless you have a lot of experience in diamond grading and feel confident that you can establish correctly the quality of a stone, it is recommended that you always buy diamonds that come with a grading report.

This will ensure that the vendor does not misrepresent the quality of the stone.

Moreover, the information in such a certificate would allow you to look up the prices of other diamonds with the same characteristics and check if the price asked is too high compared with market prices.

It is very important for the certificate to be issued by a reputable third-party organization that is independent of the seller. Look for reports issued by the GIA, EGL, AGS, IGI, or CIBJO.

A Note: Diamond Quality Is Not Set in Stone

Although diamond grading labs follow robust guidelines when evaluating diamonds, the exact grade on any given characteristic ultimately comes down to the opinion of the expert making the assessment.

Laboratories try to make the process as accurate as possible by requiring that each stone be assessed by multiple graders.

However, due to the inherent subjectivity of diamond grading, merchants are allowed to have some leeway when representing a diamond’s quality to the customer. They are allowed to increase the color and clarity grades of a stone, but by no more than one grade up from what the diamond would be graded by an independent appraiser.

So, you should keep in mind that if you are buying an non-certified diamond, the jeweler may be giving you an optimistic assessment of its quality and this can be perfectly legal.

Buying Certified Diamonds: What You Should Pay Attention To

When shopping for diamonds, you should not only check if the stone you are buying is certified, but also make sure that the certificate is issued by a reputable grading lab that is independent of the seller.

The most important characteristics you should be looking at when reading the certificate are the diamond’s color, cut, clarity, and carat weight: These features determine how white, brilliant and clean the stone will look, as well as how much you will have to pay for it.

To make sure that the diamond you are looking at is the same as the one described in the certificate, you can check the stone’s inscription, which is a combination of letters and numbers usually engraved with laser on the edge of the diamond.

This inscription can be seen with a loupe and should match the diamond’s serial number on the report. Not all certified stones have a laser inscription, but inscribed diamonds are preferable because they can be identified more easily.

How to Select an Online Diamond Retailer

After you have narrowed down your vendor choices to websites offering certified diamonds, it’s time to take a closer look at what each seller has to offer.

One of the most important considerations when buying a diamond online is whether you can see the stone before you order it. This is crucial because the quality grades in a certificate only tell you so much – they cannot show you how the stone will look when worn. For example, a diamond’s clarity grade does not necessarily tell you how visible its flaws are likely to be in different circumstances.

Stones of the same clarity can differ with respect to the location and prominence of their inclusions, whose visibility may be enhanced or diminished by the diamond’s level of brilliance, which in turn depends on the stone’s cut.

As you can see, a diamond’s appearance is the result of the interplay of a number of factors, whose combined effect is hard to assess if you cannot see the stone with your eyes. This is why we recommend that you look for sellers that show real high-quality pictures of each stone offered.

What to Look for in a GIA-Certified Diamond

There is a lot of detailed information on how to select a diamond, so here we will outline just the most important points to pay attention to when buying a diamond. The major characteristics to examine in a diamond’s certificate are its color, clarity, cut, and carat weight.

Color refers to whether the diamond is colorless or has a visible tint, and if there is any color, how strong it is. The lower a diamond’s color grade, the lower the price, but also the more yellowish the stone will look.

The clarity grade of a diamond denotes how visible its natural internal and surface flaws are. In stones of lower clarity you can see more easily black dots, lines, clouds, and other imperfections.

As far as actual clarity grades go, it is not recommended that you go below SI1 or SI2 on the GIA scale, as lower-graded diamonds have defects that are easily visible with the naked eye.

The cut of a diamond is of utmost importance for its appearance because it determines how the stone will reflect light.

Diamonds with better cuts exhibit more brilliance, which can make yellowish color tints or natural flaws less visible. For that reason, it is not recommended that you skimp on cut, even if you have to compromise on color or clarity.

Our advice is to go for diamonds with a cut grade of at least Good on the GIA scale.

The carat of a diamond simply refers to how much the stone weighs (1 carat = 0.2 grams), and the greater the carat number, the bigger the stone.

While the size of the diamond is up to you, keep in mind that bigger stones cost more per carat as they are rarer.

Moreover, the bigger size of such diamonds is more likely to make their imperfections or color tints visible, especially if the stone is of a lower clarity or color grade.

After the Diamond Is Received

When you receive your diamond, don’t forget to inspect it closely, preferably using a loupe. You should do so not only to examine the stone’s actual quality but also to check whether the diamond you got matches the one described in the certificate.

Certified diamonds often come with a unique number assigned to them for identification.

This ID should be printed on the certificate, and the number is also often laser-inscribed on the stone’s girdle (the widest part, or the edge, of the diamond). Check if these two numbers match.

Another way to check whether you have the right diamond is to look at its diagram in the certificate. This diagram contains the stone’s visible inclusions, which are plotted as in a map.

Look at your diamond’s inclusions with a loupe, and check if their locations match the layout in the certificate.

The Bottom Line

If you want to make sure that the quality of the diamond you buy is what the jeweler claims it to be, always ask for a certificate, and don’t buy non-certified stones.

We recommend buying diamonds from vendors such as James Allen, which sell stones certified by the G.I.A. and other reputable labs.

If the diamond doesn’t come with a grading report, there is no way of knowing what the stone’s exact quality is.

Differences between adjacent color grades, for example, can be so subtle as to be invisible to the naked eye.

However, they could make a big difference to your wallet, especially if you buy a non-certified diamond that has its color bumped up by one grade.