Certificate?

[starsinthesea]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of buying a natural pearl that comes with a 'GIE worldwide' certificate (Gemological Institute of Excellence). Is this a certificate and institute that can be trusted? Do they have enough experience with pearls?

I don't want to spend my money on a cultured pearl masquerading as a natural but rather a 'real' natural one.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

First time I've ever heard of it!

 

[Pareltje]

I think it's an Indian gem lab. Why they certify natural pearls is because Jyotish or Indian astrology requires some individuals to wear natural pearls for many astrological reasons.

 

[jshepherd]

I've never heard of this lab before. Do you have an image of the certificate.

There are two Gemological Institutes of Excellence that appear in India, one has been around for just under two years and the other was just launched online in October of last year.

This is one I would proceed with caution. When natural pearls are purchased by dealers, they almost always need an SSEF cert if they are of real value. A lot of people won't even accept a GIA cert.

 

[starsinthesea]

This is the certificate. Hope you can see it...

 

[starsinthesea]

Thank you for your answers!

I don't know which lab of the two it is...

 

[jshepherd]

I would be very wary of this.

If you look at the certificate numbers on their website, the certificates are all identical. The only thing changing is the weight and the measurements. Everything else is identical and all the certificates seem to be for loose natural pearls.

A couple of issues I have is that there is no explanation of how they determined the pearls are natural, and none list the species yet say the pearls are from Venezuela.

http://www.gieworldwide.com/certificate.php?cnumber=AK2110160655

Now just change the last number.
http://www.gieworldwide.com/certificate.php?cnumber=AK2110160654
http://www.gieworldwide.com/certificate.php?cnumber=AK2110160653
http://www.gieworldwide.com/certificate.php?cnumber=AK2110160652
http://www.gieworldwide.com/certificate.php?cnumber=AK2110160651

And so on ... and this one looks like a photo I recognize and it's repeated on a lot of certificates and now the Origin is South Sea, but no comment on the species.
http://www.gieworldwide.com/certificate.php?cnumber=AK2110160551

The same thing is happening with other types of gems.
http://www.gieworldwide.com/certificate.php?cnumber=AK2110160255

The photo is used over and over again.

I would not trust this. Please don't make a purchase decision based on that certificate. It's not legitimate.

 

[starsinthesea]

Well, that settles it. I won't buy it. It's a nice pearl but I'm not knowingly going to buy some 'fake'.

Thank you so much Jeremy!