Hi, I am Ronnie Mervis from Mervis Diamond Importers. I would like to talk you about certificates. These days most diamonds of importance come with a certificate from an independent diamond certifying laboratory. The best known diamond lab is the GIA. Here is an example of a GIA certificate. GIA stands for the Gemological Institute of America and they issue a document, a grading report which looks like this. I am going to show you two others before I tell you what to do.

Here is a certificate from the AGS which stands for the American Gem Society. Virtually does the same thing, but just a little different and here we have one from another big lab which is the EGL. EGL is the European Gem Lab. Now, there are other many different labs, probably 20 or 30 of them. The top three are the three I have showed you. EGL, AGS and GIA. See it as a Diamond Grading Report. Each of the lab is an independent not-for-profit organization to whom diamonds are submitted for an independent lab report.

Lab weighs the diamonds, measures them, checks them, checks the angles, provides an opinion on the polish, the symmetry, the fluorescence, the characteristics, the efficiency of light and it issues the document, which looks like this. You should make sure that if it's a diamond of value that you are only buying one who with a certificate from an accredited laboratory. But, you should also be aware of the fact that, the very fact that a diamond has a certificate doesn't by itself mean that it's a great diamond because a poor diamond could get a certificate as well. Every diamond that is submitted for a certificate will get the certificate. The certificate itself, isn't an indication of value, you have to be able to read to certificate, the certificate will tell you what it says if you understand it.

The point I am making is pretty similar to a grade school class. Every kid in the class gets a report card, just because the kid got the report card at the end of the year doesn't mean that he was a bright kid, the dumbest kid got a report card too. It's what the report card says, which counts. Now, I know that everybody can't be their own expert, but you can ask people to explain it. The certificate will tell you -- it will show you where you are in the color scale, it will show you where you in clarity scale, it will give you the proportions, what the table dimension is as a percentage of the depth. What the pavilion is, what the crown is, there are all sorts of ratios and angles and all of them have a meaning and the significance of that meaning is how much light comes back to your eye and what makes the diamond bright. So ask for the certificate, ask for somebody to read the certificate, ask for somebody to explain the certificate to you and just that you have the basis of comparison.

Ask whoever you are talking to you to, to show you two or three or five different certificates. Show you a good certificate, show you a bad certificate, show you an intermediate certificate, so that you can make that decision for yourself and remember that if it isn't from one of the three leading labs, the certificate may not be worth much at all, because the lab may have a paid interest or vested interest in overstating the nature of the diamond. So, you want to go with the top lab and you want to go with the lab that is non-commercial, not-for-profit and which has no vested interest in pushing the grading of the diamond. Almost like when you get your blood pulled at the hospital, it goes to a lab, that will examine it and tell you what's up with you and you want to make sure that, that lab is accredited and is quality doesn't give you any false readings.

Now you know everything there is to know about the diamond certification. Thank you, this is Ronnie Mervis from Mervis Diamond Importers. Saying stay tuned, we are coming back and we are going to tell you some more. Thank you.