EGL
EGL Diamond Certification
Unlike the GIA and AGS, The EGL (European Gemological Laboratory) is a for-profit organization. Not coincidentally then, the EGL is consistently “looser” than the GIA. I used to call on a very shrewed jeweler in Pittsburgh named Michael Kurtz. He owned a nice little shop called Goldstock Jewelers. He used to keep a 5 carat pear shape displayed in his showcase with two certificates on either side of the diamond. One was from the GIA and one was from the EGL. If I recall correctly (it was a long time ago!), the GIA certificate graded the stone as a “J” color with a “VS1″ clarity. The EGL graded the stone with an “H” color and a “VVS2″ clarity!
As a for-profit organization, they made a few very shrewd observations in the market and delivered very effective solutions. First of all, the GIA and AGS are too expensive (a 1 carat diamond can cost around $100 to certify!). Secondly, they both offer terrible service. Additionally, they used to take a very long time to grade the diamonds sent to them. Furthermore, both the GIA and AGS don’t offer “pre-cert” options — this basically allows the company sending in the diamond for certification to only pay for the grading service and not for the certificate and only decide after receiving the results if they want to pay for the certificate to be printed. Also, as I mentioned in my article about clarity, the GIA’s “I1″ grade covers too much ground. There are some “I1″ clarity diamonds that just barely miss an “SI2″, and there are some that are not even close to an “SI2.”
EGL solved all of these problems. They are cheaper, they offer better service, the are quick, they offer pre-certs, and they invented a new in-between clarity grade of “SI3.”
This explains why EGL became as popular as it did for diamond merchants, but the fact remains that as a consumer you have to be extremely careful buying an EGL graded diamond. If I had to estimate the average “upgrade” received from EGL for an identical diamond versus the GIA, I would estimate 2.5 upgrades either from color or clarity or both. For example, if the GIA would grade a diamond an “I” color and “SI2″ clarity, receiving an “H” color and “SI1” clarity would be consider two upgrades (one color + one clarity). But if that same diamond received a “G” color and “SI1” clarity, it would be considered three upgrades (two color + one clarity).
The entire diamond market is aware of this, of course, and therefore EGL graded diamonds sell at a significant discount when compared to diamonds of equivalent grades certified by the GIA.
One more important note: the different EGL locations are all separately run businesses. EGL Los Angeles, and EGL New York have the best reputations. EGL Belgium and EGL Israel are known to be so loose that they are bordering on fraud.
Bottom line is, don’t buy an EGL unless you really really trust the person selling it to you. I mean like family trust, not really nice jewelry salesman trust.
If you have any questions, please post them in the comments below. I will usually respond within 24 hours.
