GIA certification provides a standardized rating of diamonds.  When you purchase a diamond without GIA certification, the ratings for cut, color, and clarity are subjective.  When you purchase a GIA certified diamond, you know exactly what you are getting.  No matter where you take your diamond, all over the world, it will always get the same GIA rating.

When you start looking at diamonds, whether they are loose stones or already put into a beautiful setting, you might hear about GIA certification. If you don’t know what that is, you won’t be aware of how very important it is when it comes to how it affects the cost and the quality of your diamond.

The GIA is the Gemological Institute of America, and it is the place to have your diamond evaluated. Also important, though, is to have your jeweler receive such a certification. It ensures that he or she has gone through proper training and is knowledgeable about diamonds, instead of just trying to sell as many of them as possible to make money. There are many classes that have to be taken, books that must be read, and other studies that have to be undertaken in order for a person to receive their GIA certification.

GIA certification indicates that the person with the certification knows what he or she is talking about, and when you sit down to talk with a person about diamonds, you want someone who can answer all your questions.

A cushion cut or cushion shaped diamond is one that is essentially a square emerald cut. The corners of this kind of diamond are cut pretty deeply, and that gives it the appearance of being almost like an octagon. Because of the way it’s cut it seems to have a lot of depth, and that makes it look somewhat like a cushion, hence the term.

Cushion shaped diamonds are more unique than many of the other cuts that you see out there today. While they aren’t as popular of a choice for engagement rings than some other cuts this is mostly because of the fact that a lot of people don’t know that much about them and don’t realize how nice they really can look.

Once people get a good look at a cushion shaped diamond they don’t want to part with it because they see the radiance and the fire that these diamonds display. This is more obvious with this type of cut than it is with many others, and is helping the cushion shaped diamond gain in popularity.

This unusual cushion shaped diamond is set within the original antique band.