• Nuri Diamondsdiamond evaluator



    HERE ARE SOME BASIC TYPES THAT EVALUATORS CAN BE DIVIDED INTO:


    A quack: a slang term for a self-proclaimed “evaluator” with no official title and gemological education.
    A jeweler: the jeweler is a craftsman who has the ability and the experience of making or repairing jewelry. This ability does not mean that he is a evaluator.
    A jeweler by education: same as the above definition with the difference that the jeweler by education has passed all the courses declared compulsory by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
    Gemstone cutter: a person who cuts, shapes and polishes colourful gemstones or diamonds.
    Gemological artist: a specialist whose abilities exceed those of the cutter. He not only chisels the diamond out of the raw material but makes an art project of the end product in advance. The gemological artists are the best in their field because they have artistic vision.
    A gemologist with education: a professional who has passed all courses and exams (theory and practice) of the GIA program.
    A fellow of the Gemological Association of Great Britain (FGA): a professional who has taken and passed all exams and courses of the FGA program.
    A watchmaker: a specialist who was trained by a school or who has been an apprentice and who has the ability to make watches, their parts, to repair them and restore them. The fact that a person may only change batteries does not make him a watchmaker.
    A certified watchmaker: same as the above with the difference that he has passed all courses and exams at a legitimate education provider and has taken a national examination in the theory and practice of watchmaking.
    A watchmaker-technician: a person who can carry out basic repairs of watches but who has not got the formal education or training and has not passed all exams. He is not a certified watchmaker.
    A wholesale jewel merchant: a person who sells to the jewelry retailers. There are a lot of jewelry retailers who try to pass for wholesale jewel merchants. This is wrong. The wholesale transaction is between a distributor, a wholesale merchant or a manufacturer and a retailer for reselling. And an end-user sale is a retail transaction. A real wholesale merchant would never sell to the public.
    A jewelry retailer: shops which sell to the end user. This does not make the merchant an evaluator or a jeweler.
    These are but a fraction of the titles that you may come across within the trade. There are various companies and associations which issue “titles” against payment of membership fees or the attendance of several hours worth of lectures followed by a formal exam.
    If you hear the sentence: “I don’t need all those pieces of paper on my wall (diplomas). I have been in the diamond business for over 20 years” or such like, NURI DIAMONDS advises you to find another person to value your precious stones. The continuous professional development and enrichment of one’s qualifications is the only response of every true professional in the diamond business.




How much does the evaluation of a diamond cost?


This is the question asked most often which an expert-evaluator hears.
When you hire a professional, you should expect that it won’t come cheap. And you have no right to demand it. At least because you are getting insurance that your personal assets are duly protected. What you would pay a real expert is way less than what you’d lose if it turns out that your precious gemstone has been evaluated in an unprofessional manner.
What questions should I ask an evaluator, so that I know I am in good hands?

  1. What makes you qualified to evaluate my gemstone/diamond?
  2. Are you a member of a professional organization for the evaluating of diamonds and what is your role in it?
  3. How did you gain your membership and how do you maintain your participation?
  4. How many hours of further education do you attend per year?
  5. What are your areas of expertise?

Don’t forget that there is no person who is an expert in everything. There are many types of jewels. Here is a list of the areas that the types of jewels and their evaluators, respectively, fall into: diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls, metals, antique jewels, watches, accessories.
* The NURI DIAMONDS Laboratory is certified in the expert evaluation of diamonds and coloured gemstones.

EXPERT ADVICE

To evaluate a diamond is, in fact, a more complex task than anyone would have thought. It becomes even more difficult to trust somebody to help you in this undertaking in view of the fact that, regrettably, nowadays more and more people are passing for evaluators without the necessary qualification.
So, let’s start with some advice and directions which would help you distinguish an impostor from a true professional.


The professional:

  • has taken a course and passed exams in evaluating diamonds and raw diamonds
  • has evaluating ethics and equipment (i.e. the evaluation doesn’t consist of merely looking at the stone with a magnifying glass for a fraction of a minute)
  • writes a report about the evaluation as per set standards
  • is in touch with any changes and doesn’t stop building upon their education

A lot of impostors cite as proof of their competence membership of a certain association of evaluators. Be careful as most of such organizations are wont to issue “titles” against a fee (membership payment). In order to be sure that membership is legitimate and “attained”, ask the evaluator what their level of membership is within the organization and what they did to obtain it. Enquire also how often they have to be “examined” again to maintain their level of membership and what examinations involve.
It is accepted that legitimate organizations of evaluators of gemstones must test their members anew at least every five years, so as to ensure that they are aware of and up to date on changes in the profession.


More questions to ask your expert evaluator:

  1. What equipment do you possess and what are you going to use for the evaluation of my jewel?
  2. What type of light conditions are you going to use for the analysis of my jewel? (Between 5000 and 5500 Calvin is the best lighting in which precious stones are examined)
  3. Who bears the responsibility if anything happens to the jewel while it is entrusted to you?
  4. What are your fees?
  5. On what basis do you calculate your fees? (the fee should never be based on the basis of a percentage of the value of the diamond.)
  6. Will you attach colour photos to my evaluation certificate?
  7. Are you willing to defend the evaluation before the law, if needed?