October 2000 Managing/Appraisals What Are You Appraising? Use an industry-accepted system to avoid confusion Think of how many times you’ve seen jewelry appraisals that don’t use industry-standard terminology. If you’re like us, it averages one appraisal per week. In some cases the terminology seems to be borrowed from grocery stores with diamonds graded as “AAA” or “AA.” This sounds more like eggs or batteries than jewelry. Follow these steps to make sure your appraisals are understandable to consumers and your fellow jewelers. Diamonds Use an industry-accepted grading system such as the Gemological Institute of America’s or the American Gem Society’s to avoid confusion. We’ve noticed a rash of diamond appraisals that use terms such as “nice quality” or “brilliant in appearance” as descriptions. When customers need to replace a lost diamond, “nice quality” doesn’t help. In-house grading terms of A, AA, AAA and even AAAA are useless without a translation to an accepted system such as GIA’s or AGS’s. Colored Gemstones Colored gemstones present a greater challenge than diamonds, but you eliminate confusion if you use a color-comparison system such as Gemdialogue or GIA GemSet. We did a hypothetical appraisal for an amethyst based on an old appraisal and the customer’s description. The color was described as “blackberry” on the appraisal, which conjured images of a dark purple. But when the client saw our color-comparison set, she picked a light, slightly grayish purple as the color of her lost gem. Pearls Pearl appraisals present some of the most bizarre descriptive terminology. Because many existing systems are misunderstood or misused, you should take a pearl-grading seminar. An appraisal we saw described a strand of medium-luster cream rosé pearls as “platinum in color with a silvery luster.” The pearls were cream, so this description was perplexing. We also encountered a situation in which an appraiser described pearls as silver when they are cream. This blunder raised the possibility of a lawsuit against the jeweler who restyled the necklace and rightly called the pearls cream. Making the Grade A grading system should have an accurate and analytical method of description that is accepted throughout the industry. The grading and color descriptions in an appraisal may eventually be used to replace a piece of jewelry that is important to a client – your grading and descriptions must be understandable. –by Julie Nash, G.J.G., A.M., and Arthur Skuratowicz G.J.G., N.J.A. Julie Nash, G.J.G., A.M., and Arthur Skuratowicz, G.J.G., N.J.A., operate Anton Nash LLC, Independent Jewelry Appraisers and Consultants, Colorado Springs, CO.