Do you have to be an AGS member to get a diamond grading report from AGSL?
“I’m shopping for diamond engagement rings online and am convinced that AGS graded diamonds are the way to go. It seems like the ASET based Light Performance grading platform offered by the American Gem Society Laboratory (AGSL) provides so much more insight than the standard GIA Excellent cut diamond grading report. I wasn’t able to find exactly what I’m looking for in the current inventory of Brian Gavin Signature round diamonds, but have found a GIA Excellent cut diamond with the zero ideal cut proportions. Do you have to be an AGS member to get a diamond grading report from the AGSL? Because I asked the diamond seller whether they could submit the diamond to AGSL for grading and they indicated that they’re not a member.”
Submitting a diamond to the AGSL to be graded:
If the diamond dealer you are working with is a legitimate member of the diamond industry, they all they have to do is contact the American Gem Society Laboratory and become a client. Then they can submit the diamond to the AGSL for grading.
However, keep in mind that the ASET based Light Performance grading standard of the American Gem Society Laboratory makes it more difficult for a diamond to achieve the overall cut grade of AGS Ideal-0 than it is to hit the mark for the GIA Excellent cut grade, and that is the reason why many diamond cutters do not submit their production to the AGSL for grading.
The abbreviation ASET stands for Angular Spectrum Evaluation Technology, and it is a light performance based technology that measures diamonds for brightness, and provides a visual representation of the diamond that enables us to determine how evenly light is being reflected throughout the facet structure of a diamond. The ASET scan appears in the middle region of the AGS Light Performance Diamond Quality Document (DQD) as a red, green, and blue image of the top down view of a diamond as pictured above.
Is GIA Excellent the same as AGS Ideal-0 cut?
People frequently ask us whether GIA Excellent is the same as AGS Ideal-0 cut. The reality is that GIA Excellent is not necessarily equivalent to the overall cut grade of AGS Ideal-0 because the GIA does not have access to the proprietary Angular Spectrum Evaluation Technology, which is a critical component of the Light Performance grading platform offered by the American Gem Society Laboratory.
In addition, the GIA Gem Trade Laboratory (GIA-GTL) is known to round off the average measurements provided on their diamond grading reports to the nearest half a degree, or half a percent, whichever is applicable for each specific measurement. The variance in the measurements provided for the crown, pavilion, lower girdle, and star facets can be as much as 2.5% which is quite a lot as it pertains to the geometry of a diamond.
The only way to truly know whether a GIA Excellent cut diamond warrants an overall cut grade of AGS Ideal-0 is to submit the diamond to the AGS Laboratory to be graded on the Light Performance grading platform, where it will be subjected to an ASET scan, and the actual measurements of the diamond will be provided on the DQD.
Note that even in the event that a GIA Excellent cut round diamond receives an overall cut grade of AGS Ideal-0 from the AGS Laboratory, it does not necessarily mean that it is equivalent to a Brian Gavin Signature round hearts and arrows diamond, because our diamonds are cut to exhibit a degree of optical precision that exceeds the grading standards of the AGS Ideal-0 cut round diamond.
Based upon our experience, the only diamond that is comparable to a Brian Gavin Signature round diamond, is another Brian Gavin Signature round diamond. Brian Gavin sets the standard for hearts and arrows.
