The issue of variable lab diamond grading standards has been around for a while, but it seems to be dominating trade chatter in a way that it hasn’t before. Undoubtedly, there are some good labs out there. But the problem is most consumers don’t know the good graders from the lenient ones. And the whole system of labs, meant to raise standards in the trade, now seems to be aiding and abetting misrepresentation as much as preventing it.
So the question is: What should we do about it? We covered some possible solutions in our June story. The recent Rapaport conference offered a few more, which I would like to review.
Martin Rapaport ˗ who, we should note, is looking into launching his own labbelieves this is an opportunity for jewelers to use their expertise to differentiate themselves and win customers. And so we see retailers like Dan Gordon using blogs to explain their opinions on different labs.
