Mystery Career #17: Who Am I? Can You Guess My Job?

My colleagues and I work in a high security environment. We handle millions of dollars worth of merchandise each day. Together, we rank the important features that will ultimately determine the price of these highly desirable items. Can you guess what we do for a living?

My eight hour work day is spent in a large room with gray and white walls and furnishings to make sure we identify the true subtle coloring of the merchandise we are inspecting. The lights are kept low on purpose. In fact, my colleagues and I spend most of my time in darkness staring at the merchandise features under 10X magnification and in special light box devices. Do you think you know what profession we are in?

Those in my field are often prone to depression and have high sickness rates. In fact, there is a high turnover in my job because most people don't like and can't handle spending so much time in the dark. Have you guessed my job yet?

I identify and draw the surface characteristics of the merchandise on plots, but I am not a cartographer (mapmaker). Still can't guess what I do for a living?

These are some of the types of features I identify each day: bearding, feathers, pique, and clouds. I use the following tools to get my job done: loupe, microscope, master stones, fine point pens with green, red and black ink and computers. Are you stumped?

Perhaps the type of merchandise we are examining will give it away. We examine pavilions, girdles and crowns. Can you guess my job now?

If you guessed that I am a diamond grader, you are absolutely right! I work in the renowned GIA (Gemological Institute of America) gem labs. Because grading diamonds can be very subjective, it always takes the consensus of two or more graders to come up with a diamond's actual grade.

We typically provide plots and reports on normal and fancy diamonds weighing more than one carat, called diamond grading reports. We'll issue reports for smaller stones, too, if requested. Diamond grading reports fully explain a diamond's clarity characteristics. No two diamonds have the same clarity characteristics. The unique combination of these features can be likened to a diamond's finger print.

Beginning graders start out at about $13/hour. However, a grader who becomes tired of working in a diamond lab has bright prospects throughout the worldwide diamond industry and can advance rapidly because of the in-depth knowledge he or she possesses. Skills are learned through hands-on training with master jewelers or taking courses through programs offered by gemological institutions such as the GIA.

If the jargon I used was unfamiliar to you, the definitions follow below:

1. bearding: Feathering around the girdle of a diamond created in the cutting process.
2. clarity characteristics: The unique features of a diamond that identify it and are used to determine its value such as bearding, feathers, pique and clouds.
3. clouds: Clusters of pinpoint flaws in a diamond.
4. crown: The portion of the diamond above the girdle.
5. fancy: The term used when talking about colored diamonds.
6. feather: A break in a diamond.
7. girdle: The area of the diamond between the crown and pavilion where the diamond is typically set into a piece of jewelry.
8. inclusions: Internal flaws in a diamond.
9. master stones: A set of diamonds of standard colors (most normal diamonds have yellow or brown undertones) against which other stone colors are determined.
10. pavilion: The portion of a diamond underneath the girdle.
11. pique: A name for included diamonds. Since they occur in nature, diamonds without inclusions are extremely rare.
12. plot: A fairly precise diagram of the clarity characteristics of a diamond created by a diamond grader.

To read the previous installment of Mystery Career, click here.

Sources:

1. "Diamond Essentials," course book, GIA.

2. "GemologyOnline.com • View topic - Job as a diamond grader at GIA," gemologyonline.com/Forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?.