GIA stands for Gemological Institute of America. You’ve probably heard the term “GIA Certified Diamond” and that’s what the term means. The GIA was founded in 1931, and they’ve committed themselves ever since to protecting jewelry customers and jewelers by setting standards for gems and for business practices. In 2013, the Ethisphere Institute honored the GIA as a Most Ethical Company. From their website, the Institute explains that “The World's Most Ethical (WME) Companies designation recognizes companies that truly go beyond making statements about doing business ‘ethically’ and translate those words into action. WME honorees not only promote ethical business standards and practices internally, they exceed legal compliance minimums and shape future industry standards by introducing best practices today.”
It’s no surprise that they were honored. Prior to GIAs work, there was no way for a consumer to know exactly what they were getting when it came time to buy jewelry. Now, though, most standards for pearls, colored gems, and diamonds are standards GIA codified. If you’ve ever heard of the “Four Cs” you’ve heard something GIA developed. These standards ensure a jeweler and a customer speak the same language.
At Bert Levi Family Jewelers, we appreciate the Gemological Institute of America. We deal in GIA certified diamonds, and we always have a GIA Accredited Jewelry Professional on staff. We love that we can provide objective ways to analyze a jewelry purchase and that we can offer you the reassurance of a laboratory report outlining the quality of every GIA certified diamond we sell.
The gemological institute was honored because of its commitment to ethical behavior, fair business practice, and for shaping an industry in that direction as well. That’s just the type of an organization we want Levi Family Jewelers to associate with, and it’s just the type of a company we want to be. Why not drop by our showroom and ask us to show you what we mean?