The Grader
Courses, Labs & Certificates
Where graders are trained and stones are certified — GIA and HRD, and why a laboratory report is the surest way to know a diamond's worth.
To learn diamond grading properly, you take a course. By common agreement the two finest schools are GIA and HRD.
- GIA, the Gemological Institute of America, is the best-known reference in gemology. It offers both advanced diamond-grading courses and complete gemological educations.
- HRD, the Antwerp Institute of Gemology, offers the same and is especially well reputed for diamonds — and, more particularly, for rough diamonds.
Why a certificate
Having a diamond certified by a gemological laboratory is the surest way of knowing what it is worth. If you are not yet confident reading a stone, and want to be certain of one you are thinking of buying, the soundest course is simple: buy a certified diamond, and contact the laboratory that graded it for confirmation.
Both GIA and HRD let you verify a report online, so a certificate’s number can always be checked against the laboratory’s own record. A grade you can confirm is a grade you can trust.
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