The American Gem Society grading lab will no longer issue reports for lab-grown diamonds, officials tell JCK.
Lab CEO Ruth Batson says the lab made the decision for business reasons.
“There is no underlying message here,” she says. “This is a revenue source that is not developing. It requires special reports, special equipment, and it basically involved one customer with a miniscule amount of business.”
She says the lab plans to focus on its core business—“the 99.99 percent that are natural stones.”
A recent 1.07 ct. G IF lab-grown diamond carried an AGS report.
Other labs in the business still grade lab-grown diamonds, including the GIA, IGI, and EGL.
The GIA’s reports, however, are different than those from natural stones. They include a different color scale (which goes Colorless-Near Colorless-Faint-Very Light-Light) and a different clarity scale (Flawless-VVS-VS-SI-I).
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