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The New HPD website is live now!

“Our limited edition, world’s first Triple Certified Program™ confirms the superior quality of our diamonds by three leading independent labs.”

Limited edition is a curious choice of words. Wonder if that means it won’t be standard practice for them in the longer term? I’m sure there is extra overhead cost associated with and longer lead times.

Then again, they went to the trouble of trademarking the program so I also doubt they would only do triple grading for a run of diamonds and not sustain it into the future... I see it as a point differentiation in the super ideal world.

Many questions which I presume will be answered by Wink and team in the near term as the website continues to be developed and PSers post new info and clarifications from the team. Either way, very exciting!

All in all, I see this as a positive step in the industry, in terms of transparency.
 
I emailed Wink to ask why HPD has decided to multi cert. He has allowed me to share his response:

“[...] the larger world of jewelry professionals and collectors like the taste of GIA for high value diamonds. If I were selling a one million dollar CBI at Sotheby’s Auction, I would need to have a GIA report in addition to my beloved AGS report. So, I thought to myself, every CBI diamond is auction worthy. [...] for some years I have known GCAL makes the best independent images and videography. [...] For online buyers I am not taking my promo images, they have now become an extension of independent grading.”

He also confirmed that CBI remains the single supplier of HPD’s diamonds, and that all rough is still guaranteed to be non-Zimbabwe material.
 
diamondseeker2006 said:
I think dual grading with AGS and GIA is a good thing since they are the two most respected labs. I compared all the stones 1 ct and up and only 44.9% had the same color and clarity grade from both labs! It's crazy to me with the technology we have today that there cannot be a machine that accurately and reliably grades color. I realize clarity is more complex and subjective.

@Natylad It would be interesting to hear how they are pricing. I compared a stone I currently have on order with another vendor with the one of theirs that is most similar...but the HPD stone has H VS1 GIA and G VS1 AGS, and mine only has H VS1 AGS (and is a high H so should grade H GIA) and the price of the CBI stone is $2500 higher. So that price must be based on the AGS grading with that much price difference. My opinion is, if one is offering dual grading AGS/GIA, I'd want to be paying for the lower color grade if the clarity is the same on both.
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For me this would depend on which lab gave it a higher color and my personal opinion of the color of the stone. If GIA gave it a higher color I would be more willing to pay the higher price.
But this is the kind of potential headache and controversy that HPD is willing to risk and persevere through. And I RESPECT that. He didn’t take the easy way out. Integrity is in such short supply these days, but this gives me hope. To all potential buyers out there, I hope this will give you the information to have peace coming out if the buying process regardless of whether you end up buying from HPD.
 
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yssie said:
Those of us who have had our own stones dual-certed in the past have always been in the position of purchasing with one report and getting the other done out of curiosity. This is the first time the general public will have the opportunity to make buying decisions based on multiple reports.

Many have long stated here on PS that there’s no evidence that AGS is consistently easier on colour than GIA. Well, HPD’s wholly independent, wholly unbiased inventory just became evidence. And it’s pretty damning.

Bravo, HPD. And thank you. As @LLJsmom says - this takes some guts. We understand the boutique industry implications. Hats off from your old fans, and you’re certainly going to make new ones.
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I agree with you, but I do want to add that AGS was stricter on clarity on 23%. So I am just very curious as to how they will use grading information to price their stones. I like the grading transparency, but I'd like to understand the pricing transparency based on grading.
 
LLJsmom said:
For me this would depend on which lab gave it a higher color and my personal opinion of the color of the stone. If GIA gave it a higher color I would be more willing to pay the higher price.
Click to expand...

GIA graded a higher color in 1 out of 69 stones.
 
yssie said:
I emailed Wink to ask why HPD has decided to multi cert. He has allowed me to share his response:

“[...] the larger world of jewelry professionals and collectors like the taste of GIA for high value diamonds. If I were selling a one million dollar CBI at Sotheby’s Auction, I would need to have a GIA report in addition to my beloved AGS report. So, I thought to myself, every CBI diamond is auction worthy. [...] for some years I have known GCAL makes the best independent images and videography. [...] For online buyers I am not taking my promo images, they have now become an extension of independent grading.”

He also confirmed that CBI remains the single supplier of HPD’s diamonds, and that all rough is still guaranteed to be non-Zimbabwe material.
Click to expand...

Just to expand on this about HPD’s inventory

“ And we’ve requested a lot more “in production” diamonds on a rolling schedule from CBI. We were decimated under a carat so that was the first batch to be newly produced by CBI for us. CBI regular production will still be under 3 carats and anything over 3 (and most over 2.5) need to be custom right now. We are expanding our operations. And we expect great things to happen.”

Sounds like good things happening at HPD :)
 
The triple certification is interesting.

I hope they put a written terms section about upgrades, shipping, policies and the like for buyers. Right now, it's just videos and I am sure many people save a section of screenshot of a website when they buy, plus the paperwork.

I personally didn't watch the videos because I hate to watch videos. It's a huge quirk of mine to click on a news article and it's a video, not an article. I feel the much the same about websites/marketing in general. I would prefer to read, not watch a bunch of videos.

Seeing the stones in video, that's different, but I don't want to watch a video otherwise.
 
diamondseeker2006 said:
I don't believe I said that anything was wrong looking back at my post.

I wonder if John Pollard is going to run that showroom since he used to live in that area and may still.
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I believe John lives in the **edited, inappropriate to post someone’s city ** area.

I think IIRC the new investor/partner is in Houston.
 
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whitewave said:
I believe John lives in the **edited, inappropriate to post someone’s city** area.

I think IIRC the new investor/partner is in Houston.
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The new partner is Wolf diamonds I believe. Address matches as well.

They’ve been pretty involved with the HPD business already and I think this announcement just takes it a step further.
 
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I have been sitting on the edge of my seat to see their new website and inventory. Love their multiple certifications! :clap: :dance:
 
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I did clarify with HPD about pricing and it will be based on the GIA results.
 
yssie said:
I emailed Wink to ask why HPD has decided to multi cert. He has allowed me to share his response:

“[...] the larger world of jewelry professionals and collectors like the taste of GIA for high value diamonds. If I were selling a one million dollar CBI at Sotheby’s Auction, I would need to have a GIA report in addition to my beloved AGS report. So, I thought to myself, every CBI diamond is auction worthy. [...] for some years I have known GCAL makes the best independent images and videography. [...] For online buyers I am not taking my promo images, they have now become an extension of independent grading.”

He also confirmed that CBI remains the single supplier of HPD’s diamonds, and that all rough is still guaranteed to be non-Zimbabwe material.
Click to expand...

Thanks for asking @yssie.
 
Txborn79 said:
I did clarify with HPD about pricing and it will be based on the GIA results.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. A stone that I have been keeping my eye on came back a grade lower in color for GIA than AGL and it is listed at the same price it was on the old site.
 
Decision_Decisions said:
That's interesting. A stone that I have been keeping my eye on came back a grade lower in color for GIA than AGL and it is listed at the same price it was on the old site.
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I’m pretty sure all the older inventory stayed the same price and the newer will be based on the new pricing structure
 
Has someone compared the whole database to see differences between labs? Very interesting. Well done HPD. This will certainly get the respective labs attention!
 
Txborn79 said:
“ We are triple certifying. AGS for angles, GIA for color and clarity, and G CAL for imaging and performance.”
Click to expand...

That is AMAZING. Certainly will put to rest any questions anyone could have.
 
LLJsmom said:
For me this would depend on which lab gave it a higher color and my personal opinion of the color of the stone. If GIA gave it a higher color I would be more willing to pay the higher price.
But this is the kind of potential headache and controversy that HPD is willing to risk and persevere through. And I RESPECT that. He didn’t take the easy way out. Integrity is in such short supply these days, but this gives me hope. To all potential buyers out there, I hope this will give you the information to have peace coming out if the buying process regardless of whether you end up buying from HPD.
Click to expand...

Yes, completely agree. I would be happy to pay more for additional info that allows peace of mind. IMO peace of mind is priceless.
 
An HPD diamond I've been tracking for several months just went up $1,000 in price, from yesterday.

The 1.0+ct diamond was on the old site and migrated over to new site at the same price, but from yesterday to today its price increased $1,000.

Anyone else notice price increases on HPD diamonds you may have bookmarked/stalked?
 
Does anyone know if the prices shown are the credit card price or the wire transfer price?
 
cflutist said:
Does anyone know if the prices shown are the credit card price or the wire transfer price?
Click to expand...

Based on the one I have been watching, the price listed is the wire transfer price.
 
I don't see any published/written policies on the new HPD website, just videos ... am I missing something?
 
FWIW I also note that PS Admin's Announcement/Thread removing HPD from the PS featured sponsor list is still in effect ...

and I note PS Admin's Announcement/Thread naming John Pollard (most recently yet no longer CBI's US Director) as PS Director of Education ...

Based on the above, I presume PS Admin is aware of what's going on with HPD and CBI, and that the HPD/CBI dispute hasn't been resolved such that PS Admin is able to restore HPD to the featured sponsor list.

YMMV.
 
gm89uk said:
Has someone compared the whole database to see differences between labs? Very interesting. Well done HPD. This will certainly get the respective labs attention!
Click to expand...

Yes, I did. I don’t want to get into a discussion of it here, but 44.9% of the stones 1ct and higher had the same color and clarity grading by both GIA and AGS.
 
IMO we should not be discussing where any PS member lives, particularly trade members.
If a member wants to reveal where they live that's their business, but even if they do others should not repeat it.

On the internet privacy and security should be Priority 1, especially when it comes to diamonds.
Safety first.
 
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cflutist said:
Does anyone know if the prices shown are the credit card price or the wire transfer price?
Click to expand...

I just talked to Wink and he said that they will accept credit cards up to $5000, otherwise the prices shown are the wire transfer prices.
 
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missy said:
Yes, completely agree. I would be happy to pay more for additional info that allows peace of mind. IMO peace of mind is priceless.
Click to expand...

Given that most of us don't know much about GCAL, I was wondering if John Pollard, the new Director of PS Education, would be willing to write an article about them and their scientific processes and grading standards.
 
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