Hi, I’m looking for some advice. I have 200 assorted gemstones that have been GIA certified by an appraiser. I’m not comfortable with the valuation she has come up with, I feel her numbers are low. I’m wondering if there is a service/company that can look at my certifications and provide new pricing. Thank you in advance for any direction.
I can’t help you pricing on your gems, but this episode on Gemology world wide might give you some insights on how gemologists appraise gemstones.
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Thank you
Hi Carroll,
When I interned for an appraiser, they had me search auction house records to find a stone or piece that was comparable to what was being appraised and use the sales price as a starting point. It is a lot of work but it will give you a real world starting point.
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There are some problems here. First, your phrase: " … been GIA certified by an appraiser." I’m confused. Did you mean that you actually sent the gems to a GIA Lab and have their papers or did the appraiser gem ID the stones?
Second, are we talking wholesale, retail or other market value?
Third, no one reputable is going to give you a true assessment on a picture.
Fourth, what are you wanting to “price” the gems for?
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Agree with mdsandifer…Your characterization of your appraisals is confusing…GIA will certify a gem’s ID and whether or not it is treated, perhaps it’s locality provenance, but they will not provide a value. An appraiser by definition cannot GIA certify a gem. The appraiser could use a GIA classification system, but this doesn’t guarantee the findings are endorsed by GIA. If you had GIA reports and the appraiser worked from the GIA color and clarity, etc., to come up with a valuation, that is possible, but not likely, as an appraiser should do their own evaluation of condition before valuation.
As far as the valuation, it should specify whether it is a replacement value, or a wholesale or retail value. You might get an appraiser to give you an informal opinion of the valuation on your reports, but to get another official written valuation for reference, you are going to have to submit the stones to another appraiser. An appraiser cannot ethically look at a report without seeing the stones and submit a written valuation.
You might want to check on the previous appraiser’s qualifications and the type of valuation he/she submitted. It could be that the appraiser is well qualified and that the evaluation submitted is more reliable than your ideas about the valuation.
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This is very helpful information, thank you