Misleading Use of GIA's Facetware Cut Estimator

November 28, 2007

Over the last few months, it’s come to our attention that some jewellers are misleading clients by wrongly equating a report generated through GIA’s Facetware® Cut Estimator program with a genuine GIA diamond certificate.

What is GIA?

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), a non-profit organization, is the institution that developed the diamond grading scale used today. Among its many services to the trade, GIA has diamond grading laboratories in California and New York, from which GIA diamond certificates are issues for loose diamonds. As an authoritative body in diamond grading, GIA certified diamonds commonly command a premium over diamonds certified by other diamond laboratories as over time GIA has built a reputation for being conservative and strict in their grading of a diamond's colour, clarity, cut, etc.

What is the GIA Facetware® Cut Estimator?

“GIA Facetware® is a free online service that allows you to access GIA's database of more than 38.5 million diamond proportion sets in order to estimate the cut grade for any standard round brilliant diamond…” (GIA website)

Once the retailer inputs a diamond’s proportions (ie. Girdle thickness, depth %, table %, etc.). the software then generates a cut grade.

The program is a neat presentation tool for savvy retailers, however, the grade that it generates is not the same as a grade given by a genuine GIA diamond certificate. The Facetware® cut grade is in no way supported by GIA as an authentic cut grade unless it is accompanied by a proper GIA diamond cert.

What does a genuine GIA diamond certificate look like?

On the right, you'll see what genuine GIA certificates look like. They come in one of two formats, the ‘GIA Diamond Grading Report’ or the ‘GIA Diamond Dossier’.

Unless a diamond is accompanied by one of these two formats, the stone is not a GIA certified diamond.

Is there a way for me to verify the authenticity of a GIA diamond certificate?

A useful feature for consumers is the GIA Report Check function on GIA's website. By entering in the GIA report # and the carat weight of the diamond you’re checking, the site will verify the authenticity of the GIA certificate by instantly pulling up a copy of the certicificate. This link is available at http://www.gia.edu/reportcheck/.