Global Appraisal Laboratory

[DrNik13]

Hello,

I have just recently bought a three-stone diamond ring from Natalia''s Diamonds online for $12,500. It has a 2.5 carat center stone and two 1 ct stones on each side. It came with an appraisal from ''Global Appraisal Laborary''.

What puzzles me is that the appraisal is signed by a gemologist but does not have his/her name printed. Also, when I queried the internet I cannot find anything on the appraiser.

I was informed by the seller that it is a private appraiser. Has anyone heard of this lab?

Thank you.

Nicole Leduc

 

[denverappraiser]

Call up the appraisal company. Their contact information should be in the document itself. The burden is on the appraiser to convince their client (who wasn’t you by the way) that their opinion has merit and that they therefore deserve their fees. If you can’t find them, they won’t talk to you or you otherwise aren’t persuaded that what they have to say is useful, assume that it’s not. ANY appraiser that’s worth listening to will make themselves relatively easy for clients and prospective clients to find. Some appraisers will refuse to talk to you as a 3rd party (I, for example, will refuse to discuss another client's property without a written release from the client) but they should be happy to discuss their qualifications and why YOU should consider hiring them for their expert advice on future transactions.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[oldminer]

I know the people who own the lab and they are nice folks. The appraisal amounts on Natalia''s site from GAL indicate that Natalia and GAL allow some appraisals for far more than realistic market value. You can hardly expect to pay 1/4 or 1/3 of a realistic retail price except in a fairly tale. An asking price is a very good indication of what retail is in a particular market level.
The color and clarity grading may be quite accurate, but the dollars on some appraised values appear more related to Monopoly money than US currency.

 

[Rockdiamond]

HI All!
Nicole- I would add that on the purchase of a stone of 2.5ct in the price range you mention, a GIA report is a very good thing to have.
Lack of the GIA ( or AGSL) report is cause for concern on such a high dollar purchase.
If I might ask, what was the color and clarity listed on the appraisal report for the center diamond?

I agree with a lot of what Neil and David wrote before me.
Neil is correctly identifying how an ethical appraiser should act.
When the appraisal is being used to sell an item by a dealer using the appraisal as evidence of value, I would suggest that slightly different rules apply. The appraiser should be available to answer questions.
I''m not saying this is the case here- but what if the "appraiser" is the same person selling the item printing their own "certificates"? I''d want to make sure the company issuing this appraisal was not connected with the seller. Being able to talk to the appraiser, or company that appraised in a case like this might be important

I agree with David that many of the values listed on appraisals are arbitrarily high- I''d go further to say that the grades are, in many cases as well.
Also a good point by David about paying market value for an item- no matter what the appraisal says.
Nicole, are you comfortable with your purchase? I''m not trying to alarm you, but you''re here asking, and the lack of a GIA report is something to consider.

 

[denverappraiser]

Date: 10/18/2009 6:59:44 PM
Author: Rockdiamond

Neil is correctly identifying how an ethical appraiser should act.

When the appraisal is being used to sell an item by a dealer using the appraisal as evidence of value, I would suggest that slightly different rules apply. The appraiser should be available to answer questions.

Thanks David.

I specifically exclude this usage in nearly all of my appraisal reports. Any statement of value MUST contain an element of what it’s worth to whom, when and under what circumstances or it’s simply not useful information. In the typical case with new purchases being appraised for insurance purposes, the question is: ‘ What would it be reasonably expected to cost to replace the item with another one of like kind and quality, new, at retail and in the most appropriate market?’ This is NOT evidence that a particular jeweler who is charging less than that in some other circumstance is offering a bargain, even when the information is presented correctly (ie. no ‘feel good’ inflation, overgrading, etc). Even this causes a fair amount of confusion for people who don’t actually bother to read the report or who don’t otherwise have it explained to them because people expect that jewelry has some carved in stone ‘value’ that then adjusts up or down based purely on the jewelers markup. If the appraiser is describing some hypothetical marketplace that doesn’t need to actually make any sales to justify their prices it gets even worse.

I, of course, have very little control over what my clients do with the report after they leave my office with it and they can and do use them as advertisements from time to time but, even ignoring that it would be a violation of my privacy policy to talk about it, this definitely does not put me on the hook to explain it to some 3rd party who is taking it out of context. I won’t prepare an appraisal where a jeweler or dealer is the client for exactly this reason.


Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver