GIA/IGI Certified Diamonds Inventory is now online @ Kathana Jewellers

Kathana Jewellers has launched their newest initiative: Diamond Search. You can now search through thousands of GIA/IGI/HRD/AGS certified diamonds (19,000+ 25,000 40,000+ at last count) based on various parameters like shape,cut, color, clarity, carat weight and price. You can then get those diamonds set in more than a dozen ring designs from the catalogue and voila you have a customized ring . So whether you want to buy an diamond engagement ring, wedding ring, anniversary ring or simply indulge-in-yourself ring, we can help you with any occasion or budget.

This brings an unparalleled choice for a user. And fulfilling our mission of continuous innovation in the jewellery retailing field. While this model is very popular in the more developed western countries, In india it is gaining popularity with incredible savings and choice.

Salient features of the new initiative:

• A choice of 10 shapes: Round ( Round Brilliant Cut), Heart, Princess, Emerald, Asscher, Marquise, Pear, Oval, Cushion and Radiant.
• Filter on the 4C's namely Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat Weight.
• One click cross-verification of the GIA reports. On the diamond search page you will find each diamonds certification house also listed for e.g. GIA. Clicking on GIA ( underlined) pulls up the report from the GIA website specific to that diamond.This feature is exclusive to Kathana Jewellers.
• Comparison of upto 15 diamonds and downloading them as excel sheet for offline comparison or emailing.
• Educational content which brings you upto speed on various aspects of diamonds so you can make a more informed decision.

You can avail of these additional services:

• Diamond sealing service: Get the diamonds in a tamper proof pack from the certification lab itself. Both GIA and IGI certified diamonds can be lab sealed by the respective labs.
• Lab report Number inscription on the Girdle for additional security.
• A Swarovski embellished ring box with personal messages. Exclusive to Kathana Jewellers.

More in coming weeks and months as we explore/analyze diamond related issues as we did with Hallmarking issues.

Little did we know that a blog post almost 2 years ago would actualize into a working model at Kathana.

Now, Delhi has its own world class diamond certification lab: IGI

Standardization of any kind is a good idea especially in the jewellery industry. It helps consumers to know what to expect. So be it hallmarking of gold or certification of precious/semi-precious stones, the move is welcome.

Since hallmarking is already gathering momentum across the country, Thursday came with the announcement that International Gemological Institute(IGI) is opening their office in Delhi, 3rd in India. The earlier ones being Bombay(Mumbai) and Calcutta(Kolkata). The office is located in the jewelry hub of Delhi , Karol Bagh and details can be found on their website.

"IGI provides various services like preparing diamond reports on the basis of Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat( 4C's) and now it will provide the 5th C called confidence to the consumers" remarked their CEO Roland Lorie at the launch party. It also provides various other services like laserscribe, table branding etc. You can find at their website.

Talking to Ajay Shukla, the branch manager of IGI office Delhi, I asked what prompted them to open a office in Delhi: Ajay related the story of mobile labs which had to frequently visit Delhi to grade mounted jewellery for the Jewellers and some time back it became so frequent that it made sense for them to open a office in Delhi.

Mobile labs are self contained labs with equipments to help gemologists grade mounted jewellery on Jeweller premises and compact enough to be flown easily to places which dont have a regular setup.

What does all this mean?

That the consumers are increasingly demanding certification and that too not the local Deluxe/Super Deluxe diamonds kind but certifications based on technical merits like the 4Cs. That means the consumer is getting super smart as also noted by the CEO of IGI. The consumer is going to the internet and getting all the information before he even steps in the showroom of the jeweller.

This also means that now you as a consumer can get certified solitaires or even certified mounted jewellery. As mentioned earlier IGI does provide for a way to grade mounted jewellery( jewellery where the diamonds are already set in gold) . There is a detailed report in either case which clearly mentions what IGI thinks of the diamonds in terms of the 4Cs.

Anyways enough talk now time for some pics.


At the launch Party of IGI in Delhi.


At their office in Karol Bagh. Left to Right : IGI's CEO Roland Lorie, Yours Truly, Marketing Manager (IGI India) Nishit Rathee, IGI Delhi's Branch Manager Ajay Shukla.

(This is a guest post by Aditya who was present at the launch of IGI's office in Delhi.)