Looking to buy an engagement ring or high end item, then you should expect to talk about independent laboratory certification of jewelry.
Most jewelers are not competent enough to detect fraudulent treatments to diamonds or colored gemstones, nor do they have the expensive laboratory equipment required to enable them, or extensive knowledge or experience to determine the color of the diamond. We pay for that experience because we are just not comfortable selling jewelry without a gemological certificate.
Because we are major estate buyers, we hear many stories about someone buying a fake or fabricated stone. The real ruby they thought they bought is not a ruby but a cleverly contrived synthetic. Or a diamond that has been lasered to eliminate the carbon spots – which dramatically drops its value. An intelligent quality-oriented person should want laboratory verification, even from Tiffany’s and Cartier, and it’s always available at Capetown.