New ring what should the cert be like?

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shrek

Registered User
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Hi folks,
Hubby bought me a new ring last month. neither of us know very much about jewellery when we got engaged years ago he bought what he could afford so last month suprised with a 3 stone diamond ring. However went back to jewellers to get cert so we could add same to home insurance. Lady in shop said oh this will take a few days i will post to you.
A few days passed no sign of cert. So i went it and collected it. Unfortunately i only opened it when i got home. I was very suprised. I dont know much as i said but all i got was a letterhead with the jewellers name , our name, address, type of ring, carat and value. They have typed this out and printed from a pc. this seemed strange to me! is this the norm or should the cert be official , as i say we have no idea but this seems mad. So folks any of you any idea whats the norm when you buy rings or is it up to the jewellers as to the type of cert they issue for insurance purposes????

Thanks
 
Looks like you got an invoice which is good enough for insurance purposes. Sometimes a photo of the ring is also printed with the details.
Details are somehow "vague", e.g. type of ring/setting, total carat, weight of gold... and not as detailed as the gems cert like those.
 
bacchus said:
Looks like you got an invoice which is good enough for insurance purposes. Sometimes a photo of the ring is also printed with the details.
Details are somehow "vague", e.g. type of ring/setting, total carat, weight of gold... and not as detailed as the gems cert like those.
Click to expand...

An invoice wasn't good enough for insurance purposes for me unfortunately.
 
Like your husband I baught my wife a new ring two months ago as money was tight when we got engaged.

If you baught a certified ring you should have gotten a propper cert. If the diamond you buy came from America you get a cert from someone like GIA ( Gemological Inststute of America) with all the diamonds info i.e. cut, carrot, colour, clarity. Its a very detailed document. The setting will not be on this cert as it's for the diamond only.



Hope this helps.
 
?? 3rd time lucky.what you got is a valuation, which is what is expected by insurance company.

if you want a cert, the diamonds will all have to be removed, sent overseas to be certed.this is expensive. the stones are returned and reset.there is a cost here too.
only for carat and above would a cert be a good idea.certs for stones below this size is a bit gimmicky.many large stones are sold uncerted.a good jeweller will know the colour/clarity and can advise.
and i'm not 100% convinced about the certing companys.it is still just there opinion, and diamonds will be re-certed somewhere else or a argument with certing company can lead to agreement.
so best thing to do is buy a sparkling diamond withlife.they're the best.
 
shrek said:
I dont know much as i said but all i got was a letterhead with the jewellers name , our name, address, type of ring, carat and value. They have typed this out and printed from a pc. this seemed strange to me! is this the norm or should the cert be official , as i say we have no idea but this seems mad. So folks any of you any idea whats the norm when you buy rings or is it up to the jewellers as to the type of cert they issue for insurance purposes????
Click to expand...

The exact same sort of document was good enough for me to insure an engagement ring.
 
the paperwork u got is suffice enough for insurance purposes. however, if your not entirely happy with not having a "cert" as such. would you consider having your ring valued elsewhere? This may settle some doubts you may have about the ring or the jeweller you purchased it from?
In Cork valuers charge 1% of the value of the ring
 
you will not get a cert with your ring unless you buy a ring with diamond(s) that are independantly certified by one of the companies that do this, eg. GIA, HRD IGI, EGL. you will pay a lot more for these diamonds... we looked recently in mcdowells as we wanted to purchase a diamond ring... i was shown a slection of rings however when i asked about the certification, they advised that they chose good quality diamonds and they are all G/H in colour, certified by themselves..there was room for negotiaion on the price and valuation would be higher than what was paid...so you really did not know what you were getting for your money.. i then asked to see certified diamonds, and the price tripled... i did not buy there, but did more research on certified diamonds and bought in antwirp instead... we bought a solitaire, certifed by IGI, that way, i knew what i was buying and what value i was getting fo my money... i have to get it valued here now for valuation purposes, as i dont think an insurance company will accept a valuation from abroad..

the valuation you got from your jeweller will suffice for insurance company....
 
Written valuation from jeweller + photo should be enough for insurance purposes.

Agree with poster who said diamond would have to be removed from ring and remounted later if a certificate is needed from one of the certifiers.

Diamond buying is difficult if you dont know what you are getting. There are many different types and grades. There are industrial grade diamonds and even jewellery diamonds that are artificially produced and look very similar to mined diamonds.

Price paid in a jewellery store may not be indicative of the true price of the goods. The retail mark up on jewellery is very very high - sometimes multiples of the wholesale cost of the goods. Added to that, the mark up in the bigger high street chains of stores tends to be much higher than in independent shops. The way the stones are mounted can also be deceptive. The gold part of the ring is cheap in comparison with the cost of the diamond. One trick used by jewellers is to use a more elaborate and expensive mounting to give the impression that the ring is more expensive than it really is.

Another trick is with rings with multiple diamonds quite often the middle or most visible diamonds are good grade, but others are cheap - often people get to look at the middle one in close up in the shop, but dont check or inquire about the grade of the others.

I'm not an expert on jewellery, but am lucky to know someone who works in the trade who I use for advice.
 
The cert should show
Cut - Ideal, very good, good, bad e.t.c
Clarity - F, IF, VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI e.t.c.
Colour - Starts at D
Carat
If it has an flaws. Pinpoint, cloud, needle
Symetry
polish
Table 52%-57% is ideal
Culet- None, very smal, small, medium
 
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