WHY ARE LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS IGI CERTIFIED?

For decades, I’ve been telling people to only buy GIA certified diamonds.

GIA (The Gemological Institute of America) is the biggest and best in the industry. They actually wrote the book on the 4C’s that all Jewelers use today.

But then lab-grown diamonds entered the market about five years ago, and everything changed.

Almost all lab-grown diamonds are not certified by GIA. They are actually certified by IGI; which is the International Gemological Institute.. And by certified, I mean they have a diamond grading report that list all of the important criteria that diamonds are priced with; cut, color, clarity, carat weight, symmetry, polish, fluorescence, proportions, measurements, and a diamond plot.

But why IGI?

IGA has always been popular because it costs less than GIA. This lower cost has helped Jewelers keep the price of a diamond lower, which often worked well for smaller stones, or lower quality stones, especially like I clarity Diamonds. This made sense with diamonds that were full of eye-visible inclusions.

Think about it. Why spend more for report that only tells you that it’s the lowest possible grade. Who would dispute it? Any reporting company could tell you that. So IGI was useful, and people were happy with the results and the savings.

But how did IGI become the norm for lab created diamonds?

Easy. Lab grown diamonds are less than half the price of an Earth-made diamonds. And so, with a lower price tag, spending more for a report was counterproductive.

But one of the biggest reasons was: resell value.

You see, lab grown diamonds right now, have no resale value. So even if you spent double the price for a better certificate, it wouldn’t help you much, because there is no market to resell them.

Lab grown is already just a fraction of the price of earth-made diamonds. So the market is already limited. No one rebuys them, because they are already cheap. So getting these officially graded by IGI makes all the sense in the world.

No one wants added cost.

But, for those people that still want to spend for the best of the best on a GIA stone, GIA does grade lab-grown stones. They just started doing this in 2007. You can actually see diamonds on James Allen and choose GIA if you prefer.

Right now James Allen has over 55,000 lab created diamonds in stock. And while most are IGI, you can still find tons of GIA.

Would it matter to you?

With the prices that lab-grown diamonds are at currently, and the prices still falling, I’d say it is no big deal.

Enjoy the diamond, and enjoy the huge discounts.

See all of the lab grown diamonds here at James Allen.

Cheers! :)