Everything you Need to Know About Certified Diamonds

Buying diamonds online can be a great experience, and often you’ll find you can get more for your money by buying online. But it does require a certain amount of caution, to ensure you get the quality of stone you are looking for, and that is why we have created this guide to answer your questions – how to buy certified diamonds online, where to buy them, and what things you should be aware of when you make that decision to purchase.

Certified diamonds are diamonds that have been independently verified and graded in a laboratory in terms of color, cut, clarity and carat weight (‘the 4 Cs’). The casual diamond buyer is unlikely to be able to tell at a glance the true quality of a diamond, so it is important that these things have been confirmed by an authority.

It is worth mentioning that while a certified diamond is a sensible purchasing decision, it does matter what is on the accompanying certificate! Inferior diamonds do get sent for certification, so the fact that a diamond has a certificate is not an automatic guarantee of its quality.

It is important that the certificate is from a recognized laboratory – not all labs have the same standards. Good laboratories will put each diamond through a number of tests to establish its value. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and American Gem Society Laboratories (AGS) are two of the best established, but there are labs around the world who perform similar tests.

A lab will be able to establish that your diamond isn’t synthetic, and to check there has not been any treatment applied. Synthetic diamonds are increasingly difficult to identify except by specialist laboratories. As well as these tests, each diamond will then be carefully weighed, to establish the carat, and then they will assign it a color, clarity, and cut grade.

Cut grading is done differently in different labs. AGS has developed a method using light performance to establish the cut grade. It is the only scientifically vetted system in existence, and means they can grade virtually any shape of diamond. In contrast, the GIA system is limited to the round brilliant shape, and is generally regarded to be more forgiving and lenient and as a result, their top grade of Excellent includes diamonds that could be classed as second and third grades at AGS. Buyers who have a degree of diamond knowledge will seek out an AGS certified diamond, and it is why elite brands like A CUT ABOVE® Super Ideal Diamonds feature an AGS Triple Ideal certificate as a baseline requirement.

The patterning of light and optical precision is also important, so you can look specifically for a diamond with Hearts and Arrows patterning. That means you can see a precise pattern of arrows visible from the top and hearts visible from the bottom, indicating the perfect symmetry of the diamond in three dimensions.

The great thing about buying a diamond online is that you are not restricted by geography. If there is a great deal on the perfect diamond on the other side of the country (or even the world!) it is no more complicated than buying a diamond that is within 500 meters of your house!

The nature of ecommerce also means that you may be able to find a better quality diamond for a lower price than you might find in your average bricks and mortar store. At the very least, you’ll be able to check out tens, maybe hundreds, of retailers in a short amount of time, unlike if you were trying to visit each merchant on foot.

It’s very important though that you find a trustworthy site and there is no better way to understanding an online retailer than by reading customer reviews. For independent Whiteflash reviews you can visit third party review sites such as Google and Yelp or take a look at our testimonial page here.

Whether you know exactly what you’re looking for, or you just want to understand a bit more about the buying process, we are here to help. Speak to one of our GIA Accredited Jewelry Professionals today, or find out more from our Diamond Buying Guide here.