Ken,
I thank god my apprentice went to GIA!!! Before she graduated
all we had in the shop was my somewhat educated opinion of the
grade of the stone. I argued as much as I could with my diamond
dealers who were trying to pass off carbon included diamonds as
SI stones. He came up with a new grade… an SI-3 (LOL).
Now that we have a graduate gemologist, we no longer get (or pay
for) less than we want. One thing we have found, Stuller is
almost right on the money with the grades of thier stones, so
when in doubt, that is a good source. Wendy Newman