When buying any big ticket item — such as real estate or a car — it’s likely you’ll do your research and want to consult a trusted professional to help you make your purchase.
The same goes for buying fine jewelry. When you’re looking to invest in a timeless gift or quality piece for yourself, you’ll want to know what you’re buying, along with its value and origins.
That’s where a GIA Graduate GemologistⓇ comes in.
What’s the GIA?
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is a globally respected and prestigious nonprofit institute and school of gemology. You’re probably familiar with the “4Cs” for evaluating diamond quality — cut, clarity, color, and carat weight — but you may not know that the GIA created that system, along with its International Diamond Grading System, in 1953.
The GIA’s primary purpose is to protect both buyers and sellers of gemstones using the utmost professional and ethical standards.
To become the ultimate pro in gemology, candidates undertake the rigorous GIA Graduate GemologistⓇ training program, culminating in a diploma. This program emphasizes preeminent technical and scientific expertise and the highest standards in the industry. That means that you can trust a jeweler who boasts this credential to have the knowledge, skills and ethics necessary to evaluate diamonds and colored gemstones.
Here’s what you can count on when you work with a GIA Graduate Gemologist to select your fine jewelry:
- They are trained to judge and grade diamonds.
- They can identify more than 60 species of gemstones.
- They’re able to distinguish between natural and laboratory-grown gems, and detect gem treatments (such as those used to improve a gem’s appearance) and imitations.
- They’ll be able to recognize quality, rarity and color, and know how those things affect value.
- They’ll have the necessary gemological equipment to identify gemstones.
Combining Skill & Passion to Create Beauty
But being a gemologist is about so much more than training and knowledge. Especially here at Coffin & Trout Fine Jewellers, that training just underscores our love of colored gems. It takes both passion and skill to design and build a custom piece of jewelry — whether it’s a blue sapphire ring set in platinum or a multi-hued pendant combining tourmaline and diamonds.
It starts with the natural beauty of a unique or rare colored gem, and culminates in a design that showcases that gem’s cuts and angles in the most intriguing way possible.
American Gem Society (AGS) Membership
Another important consideration when selecting a jeweler? Membership in the American Gem Society, the ultimate consumer protection trade organization, and, like GIA, also a nonprofit. AGS member jewelers have a reputation for unquestioned integrity and adherence to the highest ethical business practices.
Here at Coffin & Trout, we have several full-time master jewelers, including two on-staff GIA GG, who are dedicated to the craft of manufacturing fine jewelry in-house. We also have two Certified Gemologist Appraisers on our team, a credential that is also the result of advanced studies and training.
