BGL certs now have laminated pictures

[colorluvr]

There have been several threads in the last week or so talking about Thai gem labs and their pros and cons (for various reasons). As I remarked a few days ago on one of the threads, I had three stones coming from Thailand this week (two spinels and a spess). The spess and one spinel with an AIGS cert and the second spinel with a BGL cert.

I just got the stones today and the BGL cert (dated 5/28/10) came with a laminated photo!!! It is the same paper cert, but it has now has a little photo added and the entire cert is now covered in a plastic laminate. What a pleasant surprise.... I have NO idea if this has anything to do with the newer SLP lab (that could possibly be providing some competition to BGL??) having a photo on their certs, but it certainly is a welcome addition to the BGL certs. I requested this cert from my seller and I don''t know if the photos are optional or are going to be on all of their certs from now on, but I thought I''d share this new (to me) info.

On a side note, the seller stated the color of this spinel as a "rasberry flame" and I can live with that (similiar in color to my flame, but with more of a pink understone than orange) AND the photo on the BGL cert is the correct color BUT, the cert calls the stone "orange".... huh? this stone has less orange than my reddish flame.... not that is matters, as the stone is the color it was advertised and the photo on the cert is the correct stone... it just shows that sometimes the seller may do a better job of stating the color of the stone than the lab does.... JMHO

 

[T L]

I'm not sure if the photo on the BGL is standard practice or not. It may be inconsistent from memo to memo. I've seen them on some, and not on others, in the past.

As for color grading, most gem labs do that under a specific type of lighting, and perhaps your stone looks more orange in certain lighting. It depends on the eye of the gemologist who is examining the stone as well.

I'm kind of bummed that GIT doesn't provide a photo of the stone on their chincy paper memo. Considering they're a very advanced lab, you would think, right?

 

[colorluvr]

here''s a photo of the cert in case anyone is curious

 

[morecarats]

BGL has offered reports with photos for several years. But they also offer reports without photos (at a lower price). So some sellers are too cheap to pay for the reports with photos.

As far as the color descriptions are concerned, I don''t believe this is part of the scientific analysis of a stone, it''s just BGL''s impression of the color for identification purposes.

 

[colorluvr]

Date: 6/2/2010 8:17:09 PM
Author: morecarats
BGL has offered reports with photos for several years. But they also offer reports without photos (at a lower price). So some sellers are too cheap to pay for the reports with photos.

As far as the color descriptions are concerned, I don''t believe this is part of the scientific analysis of a stone, it''s just BGL''s impression of the color for identification purposes.

I didn''t know that about the photos, as prior to now, I have only gotten BGL certs without a photo. I know others have commented on here that one of the downsides to BGL certs was no photo, so perhaps I''m not the only one that wasn''t aware of it being available. Thank you for providing that information.

The nice thing is that the seller didn''t charge more than I have been charged in the past (usually $20) when requesting a cert that wasn''t included in the purchase price, in fact he charged me less than some others (only $15), but perhaps that is because I ordered more than one stone from him. One of the stones I ordered already had an AIGS cert, and I requested that he get certs for the remaining two, which he did, but at my expense, which was ok with me because they were less expensive stones tham the one that included a cert in the purchase price.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

This is good information. I learn something new everyday. Thanks,

Annette

 

[Arcadian]

Date: 6/2/2010 8:17:09 PM
Author: morecarats
BGL has offered reports with photos for several years. But they also offer reports without photos (at a lower price). So some sellers are too cheap to pay for the reports with photos.

As far as the color descriptions are concerned, I don''t believe this is part of the scientific analysis of a stone, it''s just BGL''s impression of the color for identification purposes.

Thanks for this. I do have some BGL certs with and without photos so wondered what that was all about.


-A