Who wants a red diamond?

[Bruno86]

Hello everyone,
My name is Bruno and I have recently given a Fancy pink - Fancy Purple Red diamond, 0.34ct. My mother in law is from Minas Gerais, Brazil where this diamond was found and given to her by her grandfather 30+ years ago. I took it to a local jeweler appraiser who confirmed that it was a diamond with a color range of Fancy Pink/Brown to Fancy Purple Red.

He advise that I get a GIA certification to get a true color grade. When looking at the certification report, I noticed that you can a laser inscription. What are your thoughts on this? Does a laser inscription bring down the value?

Thank you.

 

[chrono]

Hello Bruno and welcome to Pricescope. It is best that you begin a new thread so that others are aware you need assistance. Yes, it is best to get proper ID, colour grading and treatment and the advice to send your coloured diamond to GIA is a good one. Laser inscription is just a way to help ID your stone. Personally, I prefer to study my stone's inclusions and facet pattern to ID it because anybody can ID whatever they want on the stone and the inscription can be polished off. To answer your last question, no, a laser inscription does not bring down the value.

 

[AN0NYM0US]

Pink-Brown to Purple-Red pretty much covers every variation available. As Chrono said, send it to GIA and ONLY GIA. I'd have a full report done. If it is indeed an untreated red with decent clarity you'd be looking at hundreds of thousands per carat. If it's a pink brown much much less.

 

[kenny]

By all means send your diamond to GIA to get it graded.
There are many labs that will grade colored diamonds but GIA is the gold standard.
A grading report from any other lab will be less reputable and trusted ... and when it comes to a red diamond reputability and trust is everything.
A report from another lab may be cheaper, faster, and result in higher grades, but as a collector of colored diamonds I'd never consider something so expensive as a red diamond without a report from GIA.

I believe I read once that a flawless diamond would get a clarity downgrade from a laser inscription, but any other clarity grade will not.
Ask GIA.

You'll want to insure it during the shipment, but you'll need written prove of value if there is a claim.
This is a real chicken and egg problem.
Very few appraisers are competent to appraise red diamonds because of their rarity, and because value can vary tremendously with the hue and secondary hues, and GIA is the undisputed authority on color grades.

That's one reason I'd hand carry it to GIA in NY or Carlsbad, California, and make a vacation out of it.
GIA is slow, see if they will rush it if you don't want to take a 2-month vacation.

You may also want to look up Stephen C. Hofer in MA.
He's an expert in colored diamonds and wrote a 9-pound book that's seen as the FCD bible.
http://www.amazon.com/Collecting-Classifying-Coloured-Diamonds-Illustrated/dp/0965941019