CERTIFIED GEM LAB

I was very happy with the services provided by Joe at Certified Gem Lab. This guy knows jewelry! I took him a heart shaped diamond ring for an appraisal and after the appraisal Joe immediately put me on the phone with a buyer who purchased the ring. I was in and out in an hour and the entire process went smoothly. The ring never left my sight and I never felt uncomfortable with the process. I would definitely use Joe again and recommend his services.

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I was very impressed with Joe's knowledge and professionalism. He spent time explaining some of the aspects of appraising to me and answering my questions. Beside being an expert in the appraisal business, it is obvious he loves what he does. I feel confident Joe gave me an accurate appraisal on the two rings, would use his service again and highly recommend him.

I got appraisals on a lot of jewelry items for insurance purposes. He was wonderfully educational and informative.

After reading all the great reviews on Angies List I was very excited to meet with Mr. Farino to have some rings appraised and some simple questions answered. Upon arrival, he said that he did not have my appt. down... Apparently, he wrote it down somewhere else and ask me if I could come back another day. I mentioned that I live 30 to 40 mins away. He then told me to come back in 1 1/2hrs. Not happy with this, but not wanting to come back again I went and wasted time. Upon arriving at the given time, I still had to wait approx. another half hour...Therefore, I felt that he had to rush through my appraisel because he had another customer after me.... Yes, he is very thorough, but being rushed, he wasn't able to give me any great details, and failed to even tell me the quality of my diamond until I had asked... I had brought in a few other rings and asked simply if he could identify a stone for me...He told me he couldn't unless I did a light infraction test on it for 70.00. Hmmm, he is a master of gemology with decades of experience and he can't tell me what kind of gem I have? He was able to identify my blue topaz right away since I was paying for that ring appraisel, and I know blue topaz's come in all different shades of blue... But, he couldn't tell me if my pink stone was a topaz, tourmaline, or sapphire... Are you kidding me? I'm not 5 years old.... At the end, I thought he could at least give me a small discount for the 2 hour wait I had, but no, and he did not even apologize for the long wait at the end of the session...I also found it a bit uncomfortable that there is no privacy while you are in a session. The other customer is only sitting about 6 feet from the desk, which made me feel uncomfortable asking too many questions. I am not a hard person to please either, very easy going, but I was very frustrated with this appraiser. Sadly, this was my first Angies list referral and I was not impressed... Will not be using this appraiser again...

The appraiser was very knowledgeable and professional. It was an enjoyable experience for my husband and myself. We would be more than willing to use his services again. Highly recommend to all!

Appraiser was very friendly and so knowledgeable about all types of jewelry. Amazed at the information he could provide about the different stones and metals and how value is determined. Very efficient and got right down to business to help determine what pieces of jewelry needed offical written appraisals. Thought prices he charges very fair. will definitely be letting him do the appraisals.

He was amazing. He completely knows what he is doing. He has years of experience. He's fast and efficient and the jewelry never leaves your sight. The appraisal was right on about everything. I would recommend to anyone. I also found his prices were very fair and I was given a certification on the appraisals.

I had jewelry of my own, as well as jewelry handed down to me from my mother (who passed away 35 years ago) and my mother-in-law (who passed away 14 years ago), that I wanted to sell. I had no idea how many of the pieces had any real value. Nor did I know where to take the pieces that had any value to sell them. Joe evaluated each piece and created several different piles such as garage sale items, keep (too good for garage sale but not marketable at present), and sell. For the items in the sell pile, he gave me various contacts depending on what the item was. He was thorough, patient, and gave me a lot of information. I was very pleased with his work.

Joe was able to utilize his education and tools to do an appraisal on the spot. He showed me the ring under a microscope and explained to me in detail how he was deriving at this price and conclusions. He typed his findings every step of the way so at the end of the session, I had a certified document to take with me. No waiting....done all at one time all while the jewelry never left my sight. He was very professional, knowledgable and curtious. I would highly recommend him.