Downturn Forces GIA to Close Israel Lab

GIA is to close its lab in Ramat Gan, Israel, saying it is no longer “financially sustainable”.

The facility, which opened in August 2012, will close by the end of this year. Submissions will be sent to GIA labs elsewhere, with no additional shipping costs, the lab said in a press statement.

GIA was not able to say at this stage which other labs it would use (Dubai is the closest), or how much extra time that would take.

“Despite reductions in operating costs and reduced staffing through attrition, the laboratory is not financially sustainable,” said GIA, which grades the majority of the world’s polished diamonds.

“The GIA laboratory in Ramat Gan, Israel, will end operations by the end of 2024 due to changes in the global diamond industry that resulted in significant declines in submissions from local clients over the last several years.”

GIA closed its Antwerp lab in July 2022, citing “limited demand for services and financial performance that did not support continued operations”.

It also has labs in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Surat, Tokyo, Carlsbad, New York, Dubai, Gaborone and Johannesburg, according to its website.

From 17 November submissions to the Ramat Gan laboratory will be sent elsewhere. “GIA is working to establish a third-party process to accept submissions from walk-in clients in Ramat Gan for service in other GIA laboratories,” the lab said.

Source: DCLA

GIA Expands Fraud Checks to All Labs

GIA says it has expanded its new verification service – aimed at combating “cloned diamond” fraud – to all its labs.

The Report Confirmation Service was launched last month in New York to identify lab growns being submitted for regrading as natural diamonds.

GIA says the service is now available at all locations. It will accept walk-in and courier submissions, will turn around loose diamonds in as little as 15 minutes, and will, initially, make no charge.

The service is available for GIA-graded diamonds with and without inscriptions. An original GIA cert is helpful but not essential.

An increasing number of lab growns are being fraudulently submitted for re-grading. They are cut to match the specifications of natural diamonds that have already been graded and inscribed with either with a GIA number (genuine or fake).

“Combatting this fraud is vital to protecting the public and ensuring their confidence in gems and jewelry – this is GIA’s mission,” said GIA president and CEO Susan Jacques.

Source: DCLA

GIA Opens New Lab in Dubai

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has launched a new laboratory in the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).

The location opened on February 19, the GIA said Tuesday. The lab will provide services only for clients operating in Dubai’s free trade zones and will be unable to accept submissions from other areas in the emirate, the GIA explained. However, in the near future the location will be able to accept intake from additional countries.

“The establishment of the GIA DMCC laboratory…adds significant value not only for our free-zone members but also for the wider industry, particularly when it comes to speeding up cycle times,” said Ahmed bin Sulayem, executive chairman and CEO of the DMCC.

The new Dubai lab will grade diamonds ranging in color from D to Z and weighing up to 3.99 carats, the GIA added.

Source: DCLA

Lab Urges Caution over Surge in Undisclosed Colored Synthetics

Gemological Science International (GSI) has issued a warning to the trade after coming across a “notable increase” in jewelry set with pink, yellow and brown lab-grown diamonds posing as natural.

The jewels, which have been submitted to the lab for grading, often contain synthetic stones mixed in with natural colored diamonds, Debbie Mazar, president and cofounder of GSI, explained Tuesday. Many of the undisclosed synthetics were type IIa, with a single nitrogen atom, and ranged in size from melee to 1 carat.

Additionally, some of the lab-grown diamonds were intentionally cut to mimic natural ones, GSI noted. The GSI observed several with fractures, pinpoint clouds, polish-overs and distinct brown grain lines, features found in natural diamonds, which would potentially enable the fraudulent stones to pass standard gemological evaluation, GSI said.

“The challenge arises as most jewelry-screening equipment in the market is designed to screen white, near-colorless diamonds,” Azar explained.

The advanced technology in diamond growth is contributing to increased success by growers in replicating natural diamonds more and more, GSI added.

GSI’s warning comes on the heels of several from other labs. In December, Italian grading lab Gem-Tech cautioned that it had encountered a number of lab-grown stones circulating bearing fraudulent inscriptions from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) for natural stones. Last month, the International Gemological Institute (IGI) examined a 6.01-carat lab-grown with a GIA laser inscription for a similarly cut natural, while the GIA reported it was taking steps to combat the recent influx of lab-growns bearing fraudulent inscriptions from the lab by offering same-day report verification.

Source: DCLA

GIA Helps in Recovery of Stolen Diamonds Worth Nearly $475K

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) identified two diamonds, each over 4 carats, that had been stolen from a home in Colorado.

The stones were taken together with four other pieces of jewelry in June 2023, the GIA said Monday. The combined total of all six pieces is over $475,000.

A wholesale diamond dealer, who was uninvolved in the crime, sent the diamonds to the GIA for grading. When the GIA matched the stones to their reports, it found they had been reported stolen, and alerted detectives from the Boulder County Sherriff’s Office (BCSO), who were then able to use that information to make an arrest in the case, the institute explained.

“GIA often receives requests from law enforcement to help them recover GIA-graded diamonds that are reported lost or stolen,” said Christina Yates, associate general counsel responsible for this aspect of GIA’s work with law enforcement.

The GIA has trained agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Customs Service and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in multiple countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Dubai, Israel and Hong Kong.

Source: DCLA

IGI Detects 6-Carat Lab-Grown Diamond With Fake Inscription

The International Gemological Institute’s laboratory in Tel Aviv recently detected a 6-carat lab-grown diamond that someone apparently was hoping to pass off as a natural stone.

The 6.01-carat, pear-shaped synthetic diamond was fraudulently inscribed with the Gemological Institute of America report number for a G-color natural diamond of the same size and shape, but with a few key differences, IGI said in a news release issued Tuesday.

First, the lab said, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, which is now widely used by grading labs to separate natural diamonds from lab-grown stones and to identify diamond treatments, shows a wavelength peak of 737 nanometers in the diamond (see chart below).

This is an indicator that the diamond was grown in a factory using the chemical vapor deposition process.

IGI photoluminescence spectra
The photoluminescence spectra for the 6.01-carat lab-grown diamond recently examined by the International Gemological Institute

Second, when examined under a microscope, IGI graders saw a carbon inclusion where the feather was indicated on the clarity plotting diagram in the GIA report.

They also noticed a cloud inclusion, resulting in IGI giving the lab-grown diamond a lower clarity grade than VVS1, the clarity grade of the natural diamond.

Lastly, there was a discrepancy between the depth of the diamond IGI examined and the depth noted on the GIA report.

“Everyone in our industry must be vigilant,” said IGI CEO Tehmasp Printer, who took over as head of the lab in October after Roland Lorie retired.

“As attempted fraud increases, the need for ongoing verification is a necessary step to protect consumers from purchasing misrepresented gems and jewelry.”

Source: DCLA

Italian Grading Lab Warns of Synthetic-Diamond Scam

Italian gemological lab Gem-Tech has warned the trade that a number of lab-grown diamonds circulating in the country are being sold as natural.

Three stones were submitted to the lab accompanied by certificates from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) stating they were natural, Gem-Tech said last week. Gem-Tech weighed the stones and found them to be nearly identical to those recorded on the GIA certificates. The stones also had laser inscriptions with a visible GIA logo that matched those the lab had seen before from other GIA-graded stones, Gem-Tech explained.

However, further investigations indicated the stones had been fraudulently paired with the grading reports, while the inscriptions appeared to be forgeries.

When the Italian lab exposed the diamonds to ultraviolet light to detect fluorescence, it discovered that the stones were inert, whereas the reports described the level of fluorescence as “faint.” The diamonds were then checked using spectrophotometric analysis and displayed a distinct greenish coloration and other characteristics commonly found in synthetics created using chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

Once the lab checked the report numbers against the GIA website, it realized they were issued for other, natural, stones that were just slightly different than those submitted to Gem-Tech.

“Gem-Tech has seen this happen before,” the lab said. “It would not be the first time that malicious individuals obtained reprints of authentic reports and paired them with stones other than those described.”

Although there were only three stones submitted, Gem-Tech believes there might be more, it told Rapaport News.

“The client who submitted them for identification reported that these stones were not the only ones being offered,” the lab added. “Other dealers have mentioned that these three synthetic diamonds, identifiable by their report data, have been presented in other parts of the country.”

Source: Rapaport

GIA Lays Off 151 Employees at Carlsbad Headquarters

 

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has cut some 20% of the workforce at its Carlsbad, California, headquarters amid a prolonged slowdown in the industry.

In late July, the lab let 151 employees go, primarily in its laboratory, as well as some in corporate positions, Stephen Morisseau, the GIA’s director of communications, told Rapaport News Sunday. The lab made the layoffs as a result of a drop in the number of diamonds submitted for grading.

“Many organizations in the global gem and jewelry sector are experiencing a downturn due to economic conditions affecting the global gem trade,” Morisseau explained. “Due to those economic conditions, there has been a decline in demand for GIA’s gem identification and grading services, which led to the difficult decision to reduce staffing.”

The layoffs will bring the GIA’s total workforce in Carlsbad to 600, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune, which was the first to report the story. Globally, the lab has approximately 3,500 employees.

“The reductions will not affect our ability to advance our important consumer-protection mission, nor to meet the needs of our clients,” Morisseau added.

Source: DCLA

GIA Reintroduces Paper Certs after Backlash

GIA has bowed to pressure and says it will re-introduce paper certificates, at no extra cost, as of Sunday (9 April).

The move to digital-only Diamond Dossiers, for stones up to 1.99-cts, provoked widespread criticism from retailers, who said some customers were refusing to buy a diamond without one.

In a message to clients, GIA (Gemological Institute of America) said it “did not adequately anticipate the potential difficulties of adopting the digital-only GIA Diamond Dossier report.

“We appreciate your candid and constructive feedback. After much consideration, we have decided to return to printed GIA Diamond Dossier reports beginning April 9.”

All diamonds currently at GIA labs, or submitted from Sunday, will be returned with a printed GIA Diamond Dossier report just like those issued before the introduction of the digital-only report in January.

It will also issue, at no cost, a printed certificate for diamonds that were graded without one from January until now.

GIA introduced digital-only certificates as the first step towards phasing out all printed reports within three years, saving tons of paper and plastic.

Diamond Trade Pressures GIA to Rethink Digital Dossiers

Gemological Institute of America

Diamond dealers and manufacturers have complained to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) about its new paperless dossier reports, claiming they reduce security and are less popular among retailers.

The reports — available for 0.15- to 1.99-carat, D- to Z-color diamonds — have caused consternation in the industry since the GIA switched to digital-only versions at the beginning of this year.

GIA customers who submit a diamond receive the stone back in a small envelope that shows the key specifications and a unique QR code that links to an online report. Although the girdle gets inscribed, other people can easily copy the code and associate it with a different diamond, according to traders who spoke with Rapaport News in recent weeks.

Suppliers are also seeing pushback from retailers that are accustomed to selling diamonds and jewelry with physical certificates. Using the digital documents is especially difficult with mounted jewelry, an official in the Indian diamond industry noted, as reading the girdle is difficult or impossible.

“In January, they started doing this digital certification,” he told Rapaport News last week on condition of anonymity. “By now, some of the retailers are getting the stones and they’re having concerns, and customers are returning stones that don’t have a [paper] certificate.”

India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) in Mumbai have raised the issue with the GIA. A representative of the GIA fielded questions from members at the Diamond Dealers Club in New York in a recent address, while delegates discussed the matter at the World Diamond Congress, the triennial meeting of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), which took place in Israel last week.

“Concerns were expressed as to the security of the digital certificates as well as the desire of retailers and consumers to receive a printed certificate,” a WFDB spokesperson told Rapaport News on Sunday. “It was discussed that for a certain period of time, the GIA might provide both digital and printed certificates to those who request them. The presidents of the bourses who participated in the congress asked the WFDB to present their concerns to the GIA.”

A GIA spokesperson said the organization had “heard from clients — manufacturers, brokers, dealers and retailers — about their concerns regarding the digital GIA diamond dossier reports and how integrating the digital reports into their processes could disrupt their businesses.”

“We appreciate the constructive feedback and are considering how we can best address their concerns within the context of our mission to protect consumers and ensure their trust in gems and jewelry.”

The switch to digital dossiers is part of a plan to make all GIA reports paperless by 2025.

Update, April 4, 2023: Information about a GIA visit to the Diamond Dealers Club in New York has been added to this story.

Source: Diamonds.net

GIA Launches The Digital Diamond Dossier

                 Digital GIA Diamond Dossier

The start of 2023 marks a significant milestone in the digital transformation of the global diamond industry – the launch of the fully digital GIA Diamond Dossier, the most widely available diamond grading report in the world. The GIA Diamond Dossier is available for D-to-Z diamonds from 0.15 to 1.99 carats without colour treatments. Printed GIA Diamond Dossier reports issued before January 2023 remain valid.

Tom Moses, GIA Executive Vice President and Chief Laboratory and Research Officer, said, “The launch of the digital GIA Diamond Dossier report starts the conversion of all GIA’s laboratory reports to a modern digital format. This important change improves data security, offers efficiencies across the supply chain and reduces our reliance on paper.”

The first digital GIA Diamond Dossier report was issued at the GIA laboratory in Ramat Gan, Israel, on Monday, 2nd January 2023. More than 33 million printed GIA Diamond Dossier reports were issued since the introduction of the service in 1998.

Pritesh Patel, GIA’s Chief Operating Officer, added, “In 2025, when all GIA reports are digital, retailers and consumers will find greater convenience and a more immersive experience. Eliminating printed reports is an important advancement, reducing the impact of using, shipping and storing the nearly 40 tons of paper and plastic that go into printed GIA reports each year.”

The secure digital GIA Diamond Dossier is available in the reimagined GIA App or on computers, tablets and phones through the robust and secure online GIA Report Check Service and the GIA advanced application programming interface (API) for commercial users. The digital report service includes a Report Access Card with the report number, a QR code linking to the digital report and 4Cs information to embed into receipts, invoices and e-commerce sites.

The new GIA App is widely available for Apple and Android devices. The Android app for China is in development and will be available at a later date. The GIA Match iDTM inscription matching service is expected to be available in the first half of 2023, accessible exclusively through the reimagined GIA App.

Printed GIA Diamond Dossier reports issued before January 2023 remain valid.

Source: DCLA

AGS Laboratories to Integrate with GIA

The American Gem Society (AGS) will close its laboratory operations at the end of this year, with the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) taking on elements of the organization.

AGS Laboratories’ intellectual property (IP), technology, research staff and Las Vegas facility will become part of the GIA, the two organizations announced Wednesday. AGS Laboratories will continue to provide services until the end of 2022 and will contact clients with details of the transition, it said.

The nonprofits, both founded by Robert M. and Beatrice Shipley in the 1930s, will combine their gemological research efforts. The amalgamated team will “develop innovative products” to help consumers and the trade, encompassing light-performance research and a “science-based” fancy-cut grade standard, they said.

“This consequential agreement brings AGS and GIA even closer, driving our future with 90 years of shared history and elevating our founders’ vision,” commented AGS CEO Katherine Bodoh in a joint statement.

The GIA will create an endowment to support AGS and its membership. They did not provide further financial details. The collaboration will also help advance AGS’s retailer programs and support more member education, for example at the annual AGS Conclave, the statement continued.

The AGS Ideal grading report will be available from GIA as a digital-only supplement to GIA reports for eligible D to Z natural and laboratory-grown round and fancy-shape diamonds, incurring an additional cost of $25. GIA clients will be able to request these extra reports from January 2023.

In an information sheet for customers, AGS noted that GIA was responsible for inventing the 4Cs of diamond grading while AGS “created light performance and ignited a discussion on sparkle.” For instance, the AGS is one of the few major labs to offer a cut grade for fancy-shape diamonds.

“By harnessing each other’s strengths to move forward boldly, consumers will be better protected, and we will ensure the longevity of the Shipleys’ vision,” said GIA president and CEO Susan Jacques.

Correction, October 20, 2022: An earlier headline incorrectly stated that the GIA was taking over AGS’s grading division. In fact, the AGS Laboratories grading operations will close, with the GIA taking over certain other elements of the organization, including research.

Source: DCLA

GIA Launches Diamond Origin Service

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has begun accepting submissions for a new service providing consumers with source verification for diamonds.

Leading manufacturers sent the first polished diamonds to the GIA’s Source Verification Service in early July, the institute said Wednesday. GIA-graded diamonds with confirmed origin information will be available to consumers when the initial submissions are returned and as more manufacturers join the program, the organization explained.

An independent auditing firm will vet all cutters before they enter the program. The auditors will confirm the company has the ability to track a diamond from receipt of the rough through the entire manufacturing process. The GIA will evaluate all participating firms regularly to ensure they are continuing to adhere to the guidelines, it noted.

Initially, the GIA will accept only polished natural diamonds with verified source documentation, including Kimberley Process (KP) certificates and invoices from vetted manufacturers. It will add lab-grown diamonds to the service in the near future. Consumers can access the information through the GIA’s online Report Check service, it added.

“GIA’s new service provides diamond-source information to consumers as quickly as possible,” said its CEO, Susan Jacques. “The GIA Source Verification Service is ready to provide verified diamond-source information to address increasing consumer demand and government interest in transparency and traceability across the supply chain.”

Source: DCLA

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De Beers rises small diamonds price amid shortage

 De Beers rises small diamonds price amid shortage

               De Beers grading facility in Surat

De Beers, the world’s top diamond producer by value, has once again increased the price of its smaller stones as sanctions on Alrosa, its Russian rival, have worsened a global shortage caused by two years of covid-related shutdowns.

The Anglo American unit had hiked prices by about 8% at its first sale this year, with the sharpest increases of up to 20% affecting small-scale roughs, as demand reached pre-pandemic levels.

Prices for these diamonds, which usually end up clustered around the solitaire stone in a ring, have soared since early April, when Alrosa was targeted by US sanctions related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Diamonds are one of Russia’s top ten non-energy exports by value, with shipments in 2021 totalling over $4.5 billion, and its state-owned diamond producer is responsible for about a third of global supply.

Unlike Alrosa, De Beers doesn’t produce much of diamonds used in lower-end jewellery usually found a chain stores such as Costco or Walmart which is creating increasing shortages as Alrosa’s ability to supply the market remains uncertain.

People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that De Beers applied a 5% to 7% price increase this week in Botswana, where the company holds 10 sales each year in events known as sights.

Around 60 handpicked customers known as sightholders are given a black and yellow box each time. These contain plastic bags filled with stones, with the number of boxes and quality of diamonds depending on what the buyer and De Beers had agreed to in an annual allocation.

De Beers rises small diamonds price amid shortage
Prices for small rough diamonds, the type that would end up clustered around the solitaire stone in a ring, are climbing.

       Prices for small rough diamonds are climbing.

The miner increased the price of its rough diamonds throughout much of 2021 as it sought to recover from the first year of the pandemic when the industry came to a near halt.

The strategy, which applied to stones bigger than 1 carat, granted De Beers a steady recovery during the year, with prices gaining 23% in just over a year, parent company Anglo American said in a December presentation.

De Beers now only carries working inventory stocks and its mines are running at full tilt. There is little chance of material increases in supply before 2024, when a $2 billion underground expansion of its Venetia mine in South Africa is expected to be completed.

The diamond jewelry industry is going into the year with diamond supply at historically low levels, estimated by Bain & Company at 29 million carats in 2021. “Upstream inventories declined ~40%, driven by high demand and slow production recovery, and are near the minimal technical level,” the report stated.

Source: DCLA

All GIA Reports to Be Digital by 2025

                          

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) plans to convert all of its paper reports to digital within the next three years, beginning with its Diamond Dossier in 2023.

The digital reports, which it will link to an app, will be more secure than their paper counterparts, the GIA said Tuesday. They will be paired with a new inscription-matching service, called GIA Match iD. This feature captures a diamond’s inscription image and links the stone to its GIA report using artificial intelligence (AI).

As each report category is introduced in digital form, the printed reports will be discontinued, the GIA told Rapaport News. However, some specialty services, such as the Monograph reports and notable letters, will continue to be available in printed versions.

“Digital reports…build on our decades of innovation and move our consumer protection mission forward,” said GIA CEO Susan Jacques. “This important transformation allows GIA to offer consumers a truly modern and engaging experience while helping our industry progress toward a more sustainable future.”

Starting in January 2023, the new Diamond Dossier service will offer a fully digital report, including the 4Cs; the app, which enables retailers and consumers to view, save and share information for their diamonds; and the Match iD instrument.

The elimination of GIA paper reports will save 20 tons of paper and 18.5 tons of plastic each year, the GIA said. It will also reduce transportation-related carbon emissions, the institute added.

Source: DCLA

India Draws Up Rules to Prevent Certificate Fraud

                            

Industry leaders in India have published draft rules aimed at stopping members from selling diamonds with false grading reports.

The new Diamond Charter calls for tight measures to prevent the misuse of certificates. It also requires companies to take action to stem the circulation of grading reports that are not attached to a stone.

The document, which the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) posted on its website last week, mandates ethical conduct and grants powers to punish those who misbehave. It is currently at the consultation stage, and could go into effect next month, GJEPC executive director Sabyasachi Ray told Rapaport News Monday.

The draft calls for participation by the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) and the Mumbai Diamond Merchants’ Association (MDMA), as well as the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the International Gemological Institute (IGI), HRD Antwerp, Gemological Science International (GSI) and the Gemmological Institute of India (GII). Those organizations will also set up a committee to enforce the rules among members, it says.

The move follows increased demand for grading and a string of fraud cases involving natural stones carrying reports pertaining to lower-quality or synthetic goods.

“[Since] lab-grown diamonds came into the market, above [0.30 carats], no natural diamond is sold without a certification,” Ray explained. “This [underpins] the value of the diamond.”

The rules require grading institutions to give each diamond a unique identification number and a corresponding laser inscription when they receive it for certification, and to keep an accessible online archive of reports. They also compel labs to offer free verification services at major trading centers and maintain records of know-your-customer (KYC) documents.

Meanwhile, bourses must remind their members that trading of a certificate without the sale of a diamond is illegal, according to the charter.

The guidelines also govern what happens if a seller has multiple grading reports from different labs for the same stone and only wishes to give the buyer one of them. In this case, the seller should return the remaining certificates to the lab or destroy them within 30 days so misuse of the document is impossible, the charter continues.

It also calls on diamond buyers to verify the certificate’s authenticity using the relevant lab’s online database.

The boards of the BDB and the GJEPC have approved the charter, with members of exchanges and the general public now able to comment on the draft before November 16, Ray said. Depending on feedback, implementation could happen by December 1, he added.

“Our understanding is that the charter is in draft; we look forward to learning more about it,” a GIA spokesperson said. “For many years, GIA has supported the efforts of trade bodies, including the GJEPC, in addressing issues of importance to the trade and to advance consumer protections.”

While grading fraud has been an issue for years, the phenomenon has become especially common since the rise of lab-grown diamonds.

In August, police in India discovered a scam in which people had sold low-quality diamonds bearing counterfeit certificates, a number of them involving forged GIA report numbers. Some of the stones were lab-grown but carried natural-diamond reports.

In May, the GIA reported a rise in submissions of lab-grown diamonds with counterfeit inscriptions.

Clarification, November 9, 2021: This article has been updated to clarify that not all the named organizations have signed up to the charter, which is still in a draft stage. A quote from the GIA has also been added.

Source: DCLA

India Draws Up Rules to Prevent Certificate Fraud

                            

Industry leaders in India have published draft rules aimed at stopping members from selling diamonds with false grading reports.

The new Diamond Charter calls for tight measures to prevent the misuse of certificates. It also requires companies to take action to stem the circulation of grading reports that are not attached to a stone.

The document, which the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) posted on its website last week, mandates ethical conduct and grants powers to punish those who misbehave. It is currently at the consultation stage, and could go into effect next month, GJEPC executive director Sabyasachi Ray told Rapaport News Monday.

The draft calls for participation by the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) and the Mumbai Diamond Merchants’ Association (MDMA), as well as the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the International Gemological Institute (IGI), HRD Antwerp, Gemological Science International (GSI) and the Gemmological Institute of India (GII). Those organizations will also set up a committee to enforce the rules among members, it says.

The move follows increased demand for grading and a string of fraud cases involving natural stones carrying reports pertaining to lower-quality or synthetic goods.

“[Since] lab-grown diamonds came into the market, above [0.30 carats], no natural diamond is sold without a certification,” Ray explained. “This [underpins] the value of the diamond.”

The rules require grading institutions to give each diamond a unique identification number and a corresponding laser inscription when they receive it for certification, and to keep an accessible online archive of reports. They also compel labs to offer free verification services at major trading centers and maintain records of know-your-customer (KYC) documents.

Meanwhile, bourses must remind their members that trading of a certificate without the sale of a diamond is illegal, according to the charter.

The guidelines also govern what happens if a seller has multiple grading reports from different labs for the same stone and only wishes to give the buyer one of them. In this case, the seller should return the remaining certificates to the lab or destroy them within 30 days so misuse of the document is impossible, the charter continues.

It also calls on diamond buyers to verify the certificate’s authenticity using the relevant lab’s online database.

The boards of the BDB and the GJEPC have approved the charter, with members of exchanges and the general public now able to comment on the draft before November 16, Ray said. Depending on feedback, implementation could happen by December 1, he added.

“Our understanding is that the charter is in draft; we look forward to learning more about it,” a GIA spokesperson said. “For many years, GIA has supported the efforts of trade bodies, including the GJEPC, in addressing issues of importance to the trade and to advance consumer protections.”

While grading fraud has been an issue for years, the phenomenon has become especially common since the rise of lab-grown diamonds.

In August, police in India discovered a scam in which people had sold low-quality diamonds bearing counterfeit certificates, a number of them involving forged GIA report numbers. Some of the stones were lab-grown but carried natural-diamond reports.

In May, the GIA reported a rise in submissions of lab-grown diamonds with counterfeit inscriptions.

Clarification, November 9, 2021: This article has been updated to clarify that not all the named organizations have signed up to the charter, which is still in a draft stage. A quote from the GIA has also been added.

Source: DCLA

Belgian Lab Detects Diamond with Fake Inscription

  

       The diamond bearing the fake GIA inscription.

HRD Antwerp recently discovered a fake inscription on a polished diamond the lab had received for grading.

The 1.50-carat stone had a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) laser inscription corresponding to a natural grading report, HRD said Monday. The accompanying report listed the diamond as natural, with no color treatments. The stone was further identified as type IIa, meaning it contained virtually no elements other than carbon. However, during testing, the Antwerp lab found that the diamond had undergone High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) color treatment.

Although the diamond’s carat weight, color and cut precisely matched the GIA report, HRD noticed inconsistencies with clarity characteristics that were quite similar to those listed in the certification and could easily be mistaken during a standard loupe inspection, it explained.

“Detailed microscopic investigation by an experienced grader revealed that this was not the same diamond described in the report,” HRD said. “The clarity characteristics did not completely overlap. Since these characteristics are a unique fingerprint of the diamond, the inscription was conclusively identified as false. The diamond at hand had been intentionally inscribed with a fake laser inscription to deceive the customer.”

Correction: The story has been updated to clarify what was disclosed in the report and the findings of HRD.

Source: DCLA

Belgian Lab Detects Diamond with Fake Inscription

  

       The diamond bearing the fake GIA inscription.

HRD Antwerp recently discovered a fake inscription on a polished diamond the lab had received for grading.

The 1.50-carat stone had a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) laser inscription corresponding to a natural grading report, HRD said Monday. The accompanying report listed the diamond as natural, with no color treatments. The stone was further identified as type IIa, meaning it contained virtually no elements other than carbon. However, during testing, the Antwerp lab found that the diamond had undergone High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) color treatment.

Although the diamond’s carat weight, color and cut precisely matched the GIA report, HRD noticed inconsistencies with clarity characteristics that were quite similar to those listed in the certification and could easily be mistaken during a standard loupe inspection, it explained.

“Detailed microscopic investigation by an experienced grader revealed that this was not the same diamond described in the report,” HRD said. “The clarity characteristics did not completely overlap. Since these characteristics are a unique fingerprint of the diamond, the inscription was conclusively identified as false. The diamond at hand had been intentionally inscribed with a fake laser inscription to deceive the customer.”

Correction: The story has been updated to clarify what was disclosed in the report and the findings of HRD.

Source: DCLA