The GIA, short for Gemological Institute of America, is the most highly regarded institution of the assessment and certification of diamonds.
The GIA certificate
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Was bedeuten die Angaben auf dem Zertifikat?
What is a GIA certificate?
Diamond certificates issued by the GIA are like a diamond ID: They capture all of the diamond’s unique characteristics. Most importantly, they provide clarification about the diamond’s quality.
The main points covered by the reports are the 4C, a set of criteria that was established by the GIA for the assessment of diamonds.
What are the 4Cs?
The 4Cs – color, clarity, cut, carat weight – where established by the GIA in the 1940s. Read more on the 4Cs and how to find your personal trade-off between them here.
How to read a GIA certificate
A GIA certificate includes all the information you need to know about your diamond:
- Date of examination
- Report Number
- Shape and Cutting Style
- Measurements (Not to be mistaken for carat weight!)
- Carat weight
- Color grade
- Clarity grade
- Cut grade (While shape and cutting style describes the actual appearance a diamond, the cut grade assesses the quality of the cut in more detail, like the arrangement of the facets. The scale ranges from Excellent to Poor.)
- Polish (Smoothness of the diamond’s surface)
- Symmetry (measures how symmetrical the shape, placement, and alignment of the facets are)
- Fluorescence (Assessed under long-wave ultraviolet light and examines how fluorescent a diamond is. 33% of all natural diamonds exhibit fluorescence to a certain degree)
- Inscriptions (Texts, symbols, logos, GIA report number inscribed on the diamond’s girdle)
- Comments (e.g. detection of a treatment)
- Proportion diagram
- Plotted diagram
- Key to symbols
- GIA Color Scale
- GIA Clarity Scale
- GIA Cut Scale
- Security Features (for document authentication)
- QR-Code (for verification of the report against the GIA database)
Read more on...
- The Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
- The 4C
- Finding your personal trade-off between the 4C