EGL International Managing Partner and CEO Guy D. Benhamou said he categorically refutes claims made on a regional television station in the United States that EGL’s grading standards were lower than those of its competitors.
“It is well known that since gemology is not an exact science, the same diamond sent to several gem labs could produce different grading results,” Benhamou said in a statement.
A jewelry firm called Genesis Diamonds in Nashville, Tennessee, was the subject of a report by a local TV station which claimed the EGL International grading reports provided with diamonds set in jewelry items sold by Genesis overstated the quality of diamonds, leading consumers to believe they were getting a better deal than was actually the case.
“It would be highly unfair if the stones in the Genesis Diamonds jewelry pieces were taken out of their jewelry settings to be graded as loose stones, when we graded them as mounting permits,” Benhamou said.
“We work to the standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001) and IQ Net, we are holders of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses WFDB Mark, and we have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in state-of-the art technology,” he said. “Our testing is comprehensive, and among other things our equipment can detect any type of treatment, as well as synthetics, and Chemical Vapor Disposition (CVD) stones and determine the origin of fancy color diamonds.
“One of the advantages of our certificate is that it does not automatically inflate the price of a diamond as compared to some other certificates which do. It’s well known that a certificate is a type of packaging for a diamond, and some packages, because of a brand name, cost much more while in fact this is not justified. So, the very same diamond graded identically by EGL and another well-known lab would be more competitively priced with an EGL certificate. In fact, consumers might pay more for the very same diamond. This is why our certificates are appreciated and very much in demand.
“We have been established for 20 years and have supplied hundreds of thousands of certificates to countless satisfied clients. Our work is widely regarded as among the most professional in the industry and we have built our reputation on complete honesty, excellence and creativity.
“You can receive different grades for the same diamond from several different labs. That does not mean that any of the diamond labs made a mistake, it is simply in the nature of the business. Any diamond grader and lab will tell you that. EGL International has a more practical and realistic approach to grading, particularly as it relates to grading color. We put a great deal of emphasis on grading the color of the diamond face up because that is how a diamond is seen when it is worn, whereas other labs attribute most of the color grade to the face down position,” Benhamou commented.
He added that it was untrue that EGL had been contacted for comment on the case by the TV station as claimed in an article that appeared on JCK Online.