Will The GIA’s Decision To Open Overseas Labs Open A Can Of Worms?

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) announced yesterday that its board of governors had approved plans to set up diamond grading laboratories overseas. This is a landmark decision in that it reverses the GIA’s core philosophy – that it didn’t want to set up labs outside because it would open the door to variances in standards.

As it is, I’ve heard many diamond people complaining that they think there’s a difference between the way the GIA’s New York and Carlsbad labs view stones. Depending on their perspective, they want their stones to be graded specifically by one lab or the other. Some prefer to send their stones direct to their preferred lab’s take-in window (usually through business associates in the relevant city) and not to use the GIA’s consolidators in various parts of the world as the latter option would give them no control on which lab would examine their stones.

 

Remember, diamond or gem grading is not an exact science. The question is, will there be regional or cultural differences between the GIA’s various labs around the world? What would happen if stones submitted to one of the existing GIA labs tend to get different grades from the new labs?

 

Can the GIA maintain a global grading standard across laboratories in different countries?