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Girl's best friend

Know how to ensure quality of diamonds from Tehmasp Printer, MD, International Gemmology Institute

Ask Tehmasp Printer, why diamonds are a girl's best friend, and he will say, "Hmm... .I don't know actually," and burst out laughing. But diamonds, insists Printer, Managing Director, International Gemmological Institute of India, are irresistible to women. "I have all these diamonds lying around in my office. And when a woman walks in, I make her try them on and she doesn't want to part with them."

A leading independent diamond and gemstone certification institute, the IGI will give all the information you wanted about diamonds — carat, clarity, colour and cut (the four Cs). "It's always better to get your diamonds valued at the time of buying or selling," says Printer. The IGI serves as an international guarantee of quality. And according to Printer, the company has reduced the export reject costs considerably.

"It's nearly impossible to get rejected exports back into the country," says Vummidi Amarendhra of Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers, who gets all diamonds certified. The certification cost of Rs. 2,000 per carat is worth incurring. "I can now assure my customers about the quality of the stones. Chennai's diamond lovers, are the hardest to please. Even if a diamond is small, they want one without any dosham or fault and are willing to pay more for that faultless sparkle," says Amarendhra.

"In the North it's different, they like huge stones," says Printer. "Hamara to paanch carat ka diamond hai," he says in a heavy Punjabi accent. The IGI's mobile labs with their expensive photospectrometer equipment travels to different cities, testing diamonds and other precious stones.

Besides a school of gemmology, the IGI is planning to introduce a professional design course. In six years of operation, the number of gemmologists at the IGI has gone up from three to 120, an indicator of the growing business. There are synthetic diamonds that cost a tenth of the natural ones. Coloured and treated ones too are on offer. .

An IGI diamond comes with a laminated quality card, you could even inscribe the diamond itself with the IGI certification or a message on its girdle.

MEERA MOHANTY

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