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GIA vs EGL USA

H

Hkmitsui

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 22, 2012
Messages
25
Hey guys, my search is still on going for an engagement ring. Ive seen some at different places and wanted some clarification on how big of a risk am i taking if i went with EGL USA? Is it legit? I was told that EGLUSA is more reputable than the other EGL labs and it may only be a shade off in terms of color when compared to a GIA stone. Should I even entertain the idea of getting a EGLUSA stone? Im really trying to stay within my budget of 11k..trying to keep the triple excellent and 1.5+ range...is that possible?
 
And yes, if you go for an I SI stone you an get a 1.5 carat GIA stone for your budget.

Here are three potential stones, put them on hold ask JA if the stones are eyeclean, and at what distance. And get an Idealscope image of them. And ask the gemologist which they would pick. Then post the idealscope images here for us and the gemologist's comments and we'll help you pick.

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1490440.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1483129.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1496987.asp
 
EGL USA always makes me think of the saying, "Being the best of the worst isn't a spectacular accomplishment." Just because the other EGL labs are worse, doesn't make EGL USA good. :wink2:
 
Hkmitsui|1341115326|3226788 said:
Hey guys, my search is still on going for an engagement ring. Ive seen some at different places and wanted some clarification on how big of a risk am i taking if i went with EGL USA? Is it legit? I was told that EGLUSA is more reputable than the other EGL labs and it may only be a shade off in terms of color when compared to a GIA stone. Should I even entertain the idea of getting a EGLUSA stone? Im really trying to stay within my budget of 11k..trying to keep the triple excellent and 1.5+ range...is that possible?
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Stick with GIA or AGS and it is possible.
 
Hkmitsui|1341115326|3226788 said:
snip--- it may only be a shade off in terms of color when compared to a GIA stone.... snip
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It may be just a shade different. It may be a lot. Therein is the rub. How do you decide which applies to a particular stone?

There's been lots of discussion in the forum about this topic. Poke around a bit and see what you find.
 
thanks for the info. Out of curiousity, when you look on Blue nile, or any GIA reports, Whats a twinning wisp? what type of inclusions should i avoid in GIA reports?
 
What is most important is that you use vendors who actually have the stones in-house and can look at the stone for you and discuss the inclusions and whether they are visible to the eye from any direction and from what distance. Twining wisps can be good inclusions when they are white and almost invisible to the eye, but again, every stone has to be individually examined.

And I'll join the others in saying that GIA Excellent and AGS Ideal cut are the only lab reports I would look at.
 
Hkmitsui|1341162147|3226925 said:
Hey guys, any thoughts on these two?

http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-1-carat-ideal-cut-g-color-si2-clarity_LD02659219

http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-1-carat-ideal-cut-h-color-si2-clarity_LD02490532
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If you call Blue Nile, will a gemologist pull the stones for you and discuss the clarity? (I am not sure.) Because that is the only way you can consider buying an SI2 from an online vendor, unless you just want to go to the trouble and expense of having them sent to you to look and and send back until you figure out the cleanest one.

I suggest vendors such as Good Old Gold, WhiteFlash, James Allen, etc. who will do this for you and also provide magnified images of the stones and idealscope images.
 
Hkmitsui|1341157598|3226909 said:
thanks for the info. Out of curiousity, when you look on Blue nile, or any GIA reports, Whats a twinning wisp? what type of inclusions should i avoid in GIA reports?
Click to expand...

Any inclusion in an SI and lower clarity stone needs to be evaluated individually to make sure it's not impacting the brilliance of the diamond or the safety. Twinning wisps can be great inclusions and don't pose a risk to safety. Feathers that break the surface (and you can only tell if they do this by examining the stone) are to be avoided.

James Allen is not a drop shipper. They have the stones in house and can pull them and examine them for you. And they can and do provide you with pictures, idealscope images and gemologist evaluations of the stones. Bluenile can do none of this. When you are investing this much money, you want to go with a vendor that can provide you with the most information to make an educated decision.

I DEFINITELY couldn't buy an SI2 stone without a gemologist evaluation.
 
Couple more:

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-SI2-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1503332.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-SI2-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1493489.asp

THIS ONE is the one I would go for. Put it on hold and have the gemologist check it for eyeclean: http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1473897.asp AGS0 and G color to boot. Great spread.

And this one (ask if the twinning wisps are affecting the diamond negatively): http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-SI2-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1485890.asp
 
thanks for all your help gypsy!
 
You are welcome. Once you have the gemologist's examination AND the Idealscope images. Post them here and we'll help you pick the best stone for you. :wavey:
 
should i consider a faint fluroscence?
 
Yup. There's no issue with it. If the diamond has Florescence just ask the gemologist to make sure it doesn't have any bad effect (but I've never heard of faint, by itself-- not combined with a cloud-- causing a problem) but if it has no bad effect I would have no issue with it. https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/diamond-flourescence Some reading for you :read:

I strongly recommend putting those two G's on hold. We have lurkers here that steal stone recommendations. And those are great stones for the price if eyeclean, and I think there's a decent chance for one of them being eyeclean.
 
I recently got bashed on here for buying a K SI1 EGL USA stone, so I wanted to offer a different opinion. I haven't got the stone yet, but Abazias (who is making the money) says it looks F/G color and is eye clean. The nice part about risk is you might actually come out ahead, and you can return the stone for another if you don't. If I had to do it again, I'd still go EGL USA, but have the stone sent unset to an appraiser and have no issues sending it back if it wasn't what I wanted. Obviously this works better if you are buying a large, low color radiant than if you need a flawless colorless round brilliant.
 
You did not get 'bashed,' don't be dramatic. You were told, by those more educated in the diamond industry than yourself, that buying EGL-graded stones is unwise. And it is. I understand that you were not fussed on color or clarity and SIZE/what your eyes interpreted was the most important criteria...but your eyes do not set pricing. The color and clarity grades do. Your "K/SI1" (which appears very tinted to me in your photos, even more so than my GIA-standard O/P) is in all likelihood a M/N (I'm being generous here), perhaps an SI1. Perhaps an I1. What did you PAY FOR? That stone would have been priced as a K/SI1 with a discount based on its inferior certification. So instead of KNOWING the true color and clarity grades from the start, and the stone being priced accordingly, the amount you paid was probably for a L/SI1. By photos alone, and the history of EGL grading standards, I don't think that's what you got. Abazias suggesting it looks like an F/G seriously makes me think less of them as a vendor. No EGL K graded stone in HISTORY will have looked like a GIA F/G. :rolleyes:

Your advice here is uneducated and muddies the water for people looking for factual information.

Read this thread. It's very applicable: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/winner-winner-yup-got-a-chicken-dinner.176840/
 
vince187,

The odds of an EGL K being equivalent to a GIA F/G are slim and none. I agree with justginger on everything she said. My GIA J oval at its worst is nowhere near as tinted as the photos show your stone.

liz
 
The odds of an EGL K being equivalent to a GIA F/G are slim and none.
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Agreed, my point wasn't to always buy EGL USA because they are always 6 shades better than GIA!

My GIA J oval at its worst is nowhere near as tinted as the photos show your stone.
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Yikes! Do you really think you can grade color from a snap shot taken someone SELLING a stone?
 
Vince, please allow me to give you an analogy:
Someone who's never been in a wreck, and loves riding a motorcycle without a helmet ( this describes me) advising folks that it's perfectly safe, based on their experience.
Thankfully, all the miles I've logged "wind in hair" have been accident free- however I'd NEVER advise folks to ride without a helmet.

Point is- even if someone participates in high risk behavior, and does not get burned, it's still smart to advise against such behavior.

I'm sure your diamond is lovely- please don't take this personally- the responsible thing for professionals to advise is to make sure consumers are aware of the implications of non GIA reports.
 
Vince, please allow me to give you an analogy:
Someone who's never been in a wreck, and loves riding a motorcycle without a helmet ( this describes me) advising folks that it's perfectly safe, based on their experience.
Thankfully, all the miles I've logged "wind in hair" have been accident free- however I'd NEVER advise folks to ride without a helmet.

Point is- even if someone participates in high risk behavior, and does not get burned, it's still smart to advise against such behavior.

I'm sure your diamond is lovely- please don't take this personally- the responsible thing for professionals to advise is to make sure consumers are aware of the implications of non GIA reports.
Click to expand...

As biker myself, this analogy works very well. Rarely do I ride anywhere without hearing lots of advice from people who mean well, and are extremely passionate about sharing their opinion, but have no basis for that opinion beyond repeating what they've heard from other people who again are not experts. The opinion circles around so much and the danger is exaggerated each time that you cannot discuss anything related to what would be a reasonable if not even more practical choice.

Unlike with motorcycle accidents, you can 'undo' a diamond purchase or see if you are going to crash ahead of time. See what Abazias says about "Is it possible to view the diamond prior to purchase?" in their FAQ. This certainly would be lower risk, especially if you had a much larger budget, but even with what I did I can return the stone.

There is a low risk and completely objective way to assess diamond color - its called a 'colorimeter' Yet GIA is making a fortunate off grading which ultimately gets passed down to the consumer. If a typical consumer buys a 1.2 carat SI1 'J' color according to GIA diamond, do you think they are really being ripped off not paying hundreds for gemologists subjectively grading the color of their stone? That isn't to knock the value GIA has done for buyers and sellers of large, high color high clarity stones. But for lower budgets, or diamonds with obvious color and inclusions, I don't see what value it adds.
 
Vince,

Do you really think that if the dealer who sent the stone to EGL thought that it would grade GIA F/G that he'd have sent it to EGL and accepted a K grade? Really???? I don't know what the price difference is between a GIA and an EGL K, but I'm sure it's significant.

My "Yikes!" would be that a jeweler would say that an EGL K looks like an F/G.

You think you are getting a bargain. Chances are that you aren't, you're getting exactly what you are paying for. If that's what you want and expect, there is nothing wrong with that.

liz
 
Vince. Actually EGL makes MUCH more money off their soft grading than GIA does on their stict grading. You comments just go to show how uneducated your opinions are, unfortunately. I don't think it's really fair for you to derail someone else's thread, when you have your own.
 
What does it get on the HCA? https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca Give me the score.

Blue Nile doesn't provide you with an idealscope image. But you can buy one for 25 bucks and have it sent to you. And then you can evaluate the light return yourself. They have a 30 day return policy so you'll be okay getting it to evaluate at home. I would absolutely get the idealscope. The whole point of buying a diamond is the light return, especially a round. And you have a lot of choices in your budget, so I wouldn't compromise on the light return, because you don't need to.
 
input and came out with 2.4. I have also put three stones from JA under review and will post as soon as i get them!
 
Hkmitsui|1341270547|3227534 said:
what do we think about this one? i asked bluenile and they said its 100% eye clean from all angles from their diamond vault manager.

http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-1-carat-ideal-cut-g-color-si2-clarity_LD02659219
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From what distance? The grade making inclusion is a crystal under the table - I'd guess black over a main, which I'd guess is unlikely to be clean from an angle but likely is face-up at close range when your person is obstructing direct light and darkening the fatter mains.
Please have it shipped out and inspect it yourself before having it set.
 
I would wait until the JA stones come back.
 
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