GRADING & IDENTIFICATION
GRADING AND IDENTIFICATION
We offer an unrivalled diamond / gemstone grading and identification service designed with you - our client - in mind. We aim to provide you with the highest quality laboratory standards and services, along with the quickest turnaround time possible. Most reports require 3 to 5 working days to complete, and we can offer a faster service where needed, just talk to us about our express service. Our laboratory is teeming with the latest equipment and we have the most experienced and highly qualified FGA / DGA / GG graders in the UK. This ensures that not only can we provide you with an efficient service, but we can also still adhere to the stringent quality standards set by ourselves. Our priority is you, therefore we strive to give you the highest quality of service, an exceptional grading standard and an outstanding product to provide your clients with.
LASER INSCRIPTIONS
With our microlaser beam we are able to provide the highest quality laser inscription services.
PROTECTION & SECURITY
Laser inscription protects your items in case of theft, by applying a unique IGR report number into the girdle. This can be viewed under 10 x magnification and is undetectable to the naked eye. This ensures that your stock is traceable to you and you alone.
CUSTOMISATION
We can also offer your customers their own personal message inscribed on the girdle, whether it be a special date, phrase, nickname or image.
DIAMOND GRADING REPORT
THE 4C's
CARAT
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CLARITY
The clarity of a diamond refer's to it’s lack of imperfections. The cleaner a diamond, the rarer it is and therefore more valuable it is. A clarity grade is given based upon the type, size, placement and abundance of imperfections in the diamond. The chart below will explain the boundaries from one grade to another. We grade clarity using a 10x triplet loupe and our eyes. Our qualified and experienced graders can identify imperfections and grade based on what they see. Our graders will also use where required a 40x microscope with various light settings. This will allow us to investigate a diamond further with regards to the nature of any imperfections, or detecting treatments.
COLOUR
Diamond colour is graded according to how much or little yellow/brown/grey colour a diamond has. Also taken into account is the saturation and tone of the colour where seen. The colour grading scale ranges from D to Z, where D is colourless (the rarest) and Z is extremely yellow. The chart below will illustrate the breakdown of each grade into sub sections. At Exotique Gems we grade the colour of your diamond using a technique which is accepted as the only way to grade colour in the industry. We use a daylight lamp (as others will influence the colour seen in the diamond), a darkened environment and a white colour grading card. The white card will highlight any colour in the diamond at all. We also use a “master set”. This is a set of diamonds that are carefully chosen to represent “true” colours. There is not currently a machine that will grade colour as accurately as the human eye.
CUT
This characteristic is determined only by the skill and expertise of the diamond artisan who takes a diamond on the journey from rough to polished and ready for your jewellery. The cut grading will provide you with a grading based upon the diamond’s symmetry and polish, and with round brilliant diamonds only a separate factor known as the cut. The cut for a round brilliant diamond will refer to the proportions of the diamond, ensuring all facets are placed correctly and at the correct angles for maximum light refraction. Polish will be graded by eye and by magnification in a process similar to clarity grading to detect polishing lines caused during the fashioning of the diamond. The less polish lines the better. Symmetry is graded by eye and also by machine. Both together will provide an accurate grading on how symmetrical the diamond is. The machinery used is state of the art within the industry and will inspect the entire diamond carefully for any anomaly. Cut grading for round diamonds is a more technical process as the angles and placement of every single facet must be taken into account. This process uses the latest technology as described with symmetry grading. Each and every surface of the diamond is mapped digitally for our inspection and grading.