IGI VS GIA REDDIT FREE
If we don't clearly understand all the reasons, we definitely understand the asking prices are set by a myriad of free market and competitive forces. In the end, the effect is that diamonds graded by IGI have a lower per carat value than equivalently graded GIA diamonds. It is a free market with market forces coming from many different areas. The trade, experts in diamonds who put their money into them in order to make a profit, know the financial reality of IGI versus GIA graded diamonds. The evidence proves they can be just as accurate. To me, the bigger issue is the ability of IGI to be just as demanding and accurate as GIA. The results also support what several of the local experts here (Garry H, John Pollard among others) have been suggesting for a long time about IGI being reputable and sometimes even preferred in parts of Asia and Europe.Īnyway I don't particularly have a purpose for this, just thought it was interesting to share - because I think the masses on this forum generally advise newbies to completely throw out IGI diamonds as if they're trash when in reality they can represent good value for those of us who are on a tighter budget (ie: almost all of us) and can't afford brand name super-ideals (which is what almost always gets pushed onto folks who come here looking for advicec). They were on par on clarity.īoth studies show IGI diamonds trading between 12-20% less than GIA diamonds despite the data. In fact, they found they actually found that IGI was generally stricter on color than GIA. While they work with a larger sample size than Rapaport, this one was less objective because I think all the diamondsThe results support the Rapaport study. They did a retroactive study by combing through James Allen and Blue Nile databases and finding diamonds that were dual-graded by IGI and GIA (n=37). The second study was performed by Diamond Screener (date unknown). It would be interesting to know which IGI lab they sent the diamonds to, but that is not disclosed unfortunately. The results showed the IGI graded the diamonds practically identically to GIA, and both of those were statistically meaningfully more consistent and disciplined in their grading than the 3 labs (AGS was not part of the study). They sent 10 diamonds of varying sizes and specs to 5 grading labs. The first of these (and the more objective one in terms of methodology) was done by Rapaport in 2013. I am sure these studies are not news to those of you experts on the forum I could only find two studies but they seemed to support the idea that IGI diamond grading is reasonably consistent with GIA standards. Rather than just take the commonly acknowledged view that IGI sucks, I wanted to find objective information. In my research (before buying my IGI diamond), I came across a few interesting studies on IGI vs GIA. I think IGI is often unfairly completely dismissed on this forum (and the greater North American community at large). However, from what I've seen, there can be fantastic IGI diamonds for much better value than GIA if you're willing to do the leg work. I totally get it and if someone has the money, then they should definitely improve their odds of getting what they pay for by going with a top grader. Generally around these parts I often read about how one should only trust GIA and AGS. Ask our PriceScope members and industry experts for a second opinion or get lost in the thousands of user-shared diamond and jewelry images for inspiration.