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The art of appraising

Robert Brown Jewellers offers top quality expertise from one of the few fully trained appraisers in the region. Greg Taylor has been a certified gemmologist since 1975.

Robert Brown Jewellers offers top quality expertise from one of the few fully trained appraisers in the region. Greg Taylor has been a certified gemmologist since 1975. Initially working as an independent appraiser, Taylor moved between downtown Sudbury locations over the course of his career and regularly found himself in Robert Brown Jewellers.
 

What began as a regular business relationship, turned into a fruitful partnership.
 

“We have the same values, we’ve known each other for years,” Taylor says, working from his basement office in Robert Browns. “It’s a very good fit for us. They bring business to me and I bring business to them. It feels like I’m at home here.”
 

Taylor also helps Robert Brown Jewellers ensure when they are purchasing products that he will confirm the grade quality.
 

Taylor, in his 40 years as a trained gemmologist, has come to know everything there is to know about the art of appraising. It all begins with identifying the customer’s item before moving onto the properties of a gem that determines value, like its colour and weight.
 

“So with a diamond for instance, if it’s a ring I have to estimate the weight of the diamonds,” Taylor explains. “I gauge them, there’s a formula, and then I determine clarity grade using a microscope, looking for inclusions — where they are, how big they are — and then that goes into a clarity grade, starting at flawless.”
 

Next, using a special light source, Taylor measures the amount of yellow in the gem by comparing it to a Master Stone, a certified diamond with a known colour grade. The more yellow, the lower the diamond’s value.
With identification and grading done, Taylor can calculate using weekly cross reference guides on currency and prices for gems in order to reach an accurate appraisal value for the customer.
 

Greg Taylor is also a talented photographer with a number of his photos along the walls of his office that can be purchased.


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