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About This Business:
Specialties
Jewelry Appraising
Meet the Business Owner: Patrick N. Davis, GG, ASA D.
Patrick Davis is the president of GJA and is a Certified Jewelry Appraiser with the highest qualifications in the jewelry appraisal field. Patrick has over 16 years experience appraising fine jewelry of all types. He is a Graduate Gemologist (GG) from the Gemological Institute
of America (GIA), a member of the American Society of Appraisers and is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA). Mr. Davis is one of only a handful of Master Gemologist Appraisers? in the United States and is the president of GemSecure Jewelry Appraisals (GJA). Patrick owns and operates Associated Gemological Laboratory, a State- of – Art
Certified Laboratory.
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My fiance and I bought my engagement ring online (on Etsy). ?White gold, sapphire, accent diamonds, small and delicate. ?I loved it the first time I saw it and was so excited to wear it, but after a few days I couldn’t get these daunting thoughts out of my head. ?I’ve never owned real jewelry before and didn’t know what anything looked or felt like. ?What if it was all fake? ?What if my sapphire is lab-created or worse? ?Glass? ?PLASTIC? ?I tried to push it out of my head and told myself it really didn’t matter because I love it and that’s the important part. ?Close, but no dice. ?I went online and started looking for jewelry appraisers. ?No such luck close to home, so I branched out into the greater Los Angeles area. ?Found GJA, read the Yelp reviews (thanks, Yelp!) and immediately started pestering my fiance to make an appointment. ?I was nervous to go because the website had sample appraisals of $35,000 rings! ?What business did my tiny little ring have there? ?What if it would be met with, “I can’t even begin to appraise this because it’s made of GLASS! ?Hahahahaha!” Oh well, I sucked it up, braced myself against potential ridicule, and ventured down the 101. ?The building was very easy to find. ?Didn’t even have to look! ?Get off the freeway and it’s right there. ?We made it just in time and headed upstairs. ?Patrick was expecting us and we got the appraisal started right away. ?He explained everything thoroughly and even had visual aids. ?We went over the market price for everything and all the different ranges of potential prices we could’ve paid. ?We were glad to know we didn’t get a bad deal and Body Jewelry, most importantly, it’s all real!! ?We left feeling confident in our purchase, and I, a little silly for thinking my ring wasn’t worthy of an appraisal. ?Although we’re not getting it insured, I still wanted the appraisal in writing just to have it on hand for reference. ?It came in the mail very quickly and was very thorough. ?If I ever find myself the owner of another piece of actual JEWELRY and live in LA, this is my first stop. ?Thanks, Patrick, for the assurance and for helping me love my ring even more!
A bit confused by this business. I contacted them via their own website to set up an appointment and explained the item that I wanted appraised (a found item), and I got a polite but odd response telling me that they charge a fee for thier service (which I know and is posted everywhere on Yelp and on their site) and that I should go to a jewelery store to have the item looked at (!). Perhaps they wanted to save me some money, however, I indicated in my note that I had identified the item through my own research. Given the fact that you can’t really trust the mall stores, that’s why I went to GemSecure in the first place.I was also told that he works by appointment only, but I *had* asked for an appointment and gave times and days that were good for me in my inquiry and indicated that I worked in the area. I’m thinking that this business may prefer to assist the people assumed to have money (people getting married), than the people who “come across” things in the back of an old drawer. In any case I am not intending to pursue working with this business based on their response to my inquiry. With a nod to efficiency, their response was prompt, sent at the opening of the business day. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Note: before posting this review, I looked at the website again ?to make sure I wasn’t crazy and noticed that on the home page it says “Call for Free Consultation”, so now I’m more vexed by the response I got, and I copied from his email to me, ‘Because I run a very busy appraisal business and see clients by appointment only, I would have to charge you for the appointment and my time.”In addition, he referred me to a jewlery store in his response, however, he also does the following: “Fees for Verbal Identification and Evaluation of Jewelry Items and Loose Stones : This is a basic gemological evaluation and identification of your jewelry items or gemstones – no appraisal report is produced for verbal consultations.Fee for the first item ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?$35. ? ?Fee for each additional item ?$25.That is exactly the service I need!So why on earth would he not want to make an appointment with me?With all of the rave reviews I’m starting to wonder if they are all legit as apparently all these people got appointments without a problem. If you ask for an appointment and are willing to pay, what is the issue?
My boyfriend and I met Patrick this past Saturday and our appraisal appointment. ?We brought in an engagement ring purchased from Macy’s that came with no certification whatsoever. Red Flag, right?I had researched independent jewelry appraisers online and from the moment we stepped into Patrick’s office I knew I had found the right man for the job! ?He was so friendly and professional, taking the time to carefully explain each step of the appraisal process and give us a crash-course in diamonds. ?Unfortunately for me the ring did not appraise well. The diamond weight was .15 carats under what was advertised for starters. ?Under magnification we could see the stones were severely flawed. ?Patrick valued the ring around 58% of the price my bf paid – including the cost of the gold. ?Needless to say, we left and immediately drove to Macy’s for a full refund. Even though I was disappointed (the ring was really pretty to the naked eye) the process was actually a lot of fun and we walked away with extremely valuable information.I am very appreciative that we found Patrick and that he was able to give us such an accurate appraisal. It was clear that my future-fianc�� overpaid and we are now using our new found knowledge to make a more educated diamond ring purchase…which we will bring to straight GemSecure for a thorough insurance appraisal, of course. ?I would highly recommend Patrick to anyone needing an unbiased, precise jewelry appraisal. ?I’m looking forward to our next visit!
My fiancee and I had a custom engagement/wedding ring set appraised at GemSecure Jewelry Appraisals on October 29th, 2011. Patrick was very helpful and brought to our attention some of the issues in quality that were apparent throughout the set. Based on his recommendations we were able to return the set for a full refund, which is uncommon for custom work. This included a couple of follow-up calls to Patrick during which he was extremely helpful and genuinely concerned with the outcome of our dealings with the original jeweler. ?The details of this ordeal can be seen in another of my reviews. To recreate our set, we were able to find a noted designer, Maytal Hannah, who was a delight to work with in our limited time frame. My SO and I have recently taken the set that Maytal made to Patrick for an updated appraisal, and once again, Patrick was very personable during the appraisal process. We were delighted to find that our updated rings were of much higher quality and a greater value because of it. All in all, we wouldn’t have the lovely rings we have today were it not for Patrick’s initial appraisal. Patrick is a true professional and really takes the extra steps to help his customers. On top of that he is very easy to talk to, cares about educating his clients, and genuinely cares for their jewelry investments.We look forward to utilizing GemSecure Jewelry Appraisals for all of our future appraisal needs.
I just got engaged. After several restless nights dreaming about losing or breaking my beautiful new ring, I made an appointment with Patrick to get it appraised so I could add it to the insurance and starting sleeping at night again.Patrick did a great job walking me through every step of a comprehensive appraisal of every part of my ring, making sure I knew what was happening and where the results came from. In addition to providing me with the necessary paperwork, he really helped me get a better understanding of pricing and value in both the jewelry business and the jewelry insurance business.He also gave me some recommendations for ring-resizing and insurance options.I would recommend Patrick to anyone looking for a professional, transparent appraisal. Honestly, he gave me so much information about how to get a good value in an engagement ring, I wish I’d gone to him for a pre-purchase consultation as well! (although I was pleased to learn we got a great deal!)
Patrick was great. I called to make an appointment because I was unclear of the expectations from my new insurance provider (switched from State Farm to USAA). Patrick actually jumped on the phone with my insurance company and myself just to clarify and then made a follow-up appointment with me for the next week to get my engagement ring appraised.I arrived, he had me fill out some preliminary paperwork and then we sat down to appraise the ring. He walked me through every step of the process – why he was doing this and how he was doing that. It was a very comprehensive appraisal considering the last one I had done in San Francisco, I just dropped it off and picked it back up a week later.He explained how he arrived at his grading and numbers and also the final appraisal value and assured me that this would be in the best interest for us as in the event anything happened to my ring, we’d want a check for the value and NOT an exact match at the cheapest price to the insurer. I really appreciated this part.Patrick did the full write-up, diagram, measurements, etc. He sent me my electronic version of my appraisal 3 business days later and my physical appraisal came just a few days after that. Total price: $75.Parking was a cinch in back, he’s located right off the freeway in Culver and he couldn’t be more professional. I’d definitely come back to see Patrick if I needed anything appraised in the future.
Patrick Davis was great! -very personable and friendly-careful, methodical, and thorough with his analysis-patient in explaining each step-very professional end productWe came to Patrick to get confirmation that our center stone matched it’s GIA certificate. ?Patrick carefully explained how he was grading each aspect of our engagement ring, and let us see for ourselves (through the microscope, etc) how he came up with the grade for clarity, fluorescence, color, etc. Patrick graded our stone without looking at the GIA certificate, and his results matched extremely well.After grading the stone, Patrick thoroughly explained how he was going to calculate the value of the ring, based on all of the grading information (center stone value, ring setting value, labor value). He also provided a price range of what our ring should cost if purchased from each type of outlet we could have bought it from (DTLA/internet, jewelry shop, mall jewelry ?shop, retail store).We did lots of research prior to purchasing a stone, and it was great to get confirmation from a professional like Patrick our stone matched its certificate and that we got close to the lowest price possible.
I came here last week to get my engagement ring and wedding band appraised for insurance purposes. ?My FI and I also wanted to verify if the rings he purchased was exactly what the certificate indicated. ?So after spending hours researching how to properly appraise my jewelry, I found Patrick from the ASA website (American Society of Appraisers). ?I was greeted right away by Patrick himself during my appointment. ?He’s very nice and professional. ?He did everything in front of you and thoroughly explains what he is doing and its purposes. ?He then tells you the market price ranges and answers any questions you make have. ?I left the place feeling knowledgeable and assured that I came to the right place before insuring my rings. ?I recommend Patrcik to anyone.
Recently engaged, I needed to obtain a US appraisal for my engagement ring that was purchased outside the US. ?I was looking for a trustworthy, independent/unbiased rhinestone jewelry, professional appraiser. ?After much research and based on qualifications and reviews, I decided on Patrick Davis.Making an appointment was easy (7/27/11) and it turned out to be a great experience for both my fianc�� and myself. ?Patrick is extremely professional and friendly, your jewelry is always in sight, everything is done in a secure under camera surveillance office, and he takes the time to explain what is being done and answer all of your questions.He sent me a pdf version two days later for easy submittal to my insurance company followed up with a complete hardcopy via mail the day after. ?I will definitely be a returning customer.He even told us if you purchase an item via Internet/mail and are nervous about making sure you received actually what you purchased, you can make an appointment and bring in the unopened package, again everything is recorded, will open and appraise it right there to ensure you are getting what your originally purchased so everything is documented.A great experience that will leave you feeling confident.
Dealing with Patrick was great.He was more experienced, thorough and professional than other appraisers I’ve used. ?Pretty much like the other reviews here have mentioned, he will appraise your piece with you there and take the time to help you understand the process and his decisions Costume Jewelry, including having you look at a gem through the microscope – which can be super educational.He was pretty much the only independent GIA graduate appraiser on the west side that I could find, as well. ?You don’t want an appraiser that’s associated with a store because they have conflicting interests. If you live on the west side, it’s a no-brainer to go to him. ?His prices are good, especially for the amount of experience he has in the art and science of appraisal.
I am newly engaged and needed a professional, independent appraisal of my ring for the insurance company. I searched high and low and finally decided on Patrick based on reviews and qualifications. His office is located right off the 405 freeway in a two story office building in Culver City. The appraisal is done behind closed doors in case there is someone (and there was) waiting in the lobby. There are also cameras in his office which made me happy. The process started with a little education about basics of a diamond. The ring is always kept in plain sight and handled with care. Patrick went over the measurements, clarity, cut, color, size and specs all without seeing the GIA certificate. This is done to ensure you have the same diamond that you paid for! Every detail matched up. We were definitely more educated after the appraisal and felt comfortable with the process. You need to have your engagement ring independently appraised. Getting the appraisal from the jeweler you ?bought it from is a conflict of interest. Patrick is professional, friendly, and very informative. Two thumbs up!
I went on a hunt for a third party appraiser and looked to my fellow yelpers to find someone with knowledge, experience, and integrity. ?Patrick has all of these attributes. ?On my long search for a lovely sapphire, I looked to Patrick to provide me with the expertise to land the perfect stone.My boyfriend, who has very little knowledge of sapphires, walked away feeling like he went through an educational course when we were finished. ?Patrick explained everything to us in a way that helped us better understand nuances we would have otherwise known nothing about.It’s been quite the journey and Patrick has been patient, flexible, and honest with me. ?I have really enjoyed working with him and will recommend him to anyone looking to get any jewelry appraised.
Had a diamond appraised for insurance. ?It was easy. My favorite part is that you get to sit right across the desk from Patrick. while he works and he explains what he’s doing every step of the way. I give Patrick my highest recommendation.
I can’t recommend Patrick highly enough. ?I needed a watch appraised for insurance purposes, and here’s how my appointment went down:– The scheduling was easy and efficient, over the phone– The appointment took less than 30 minutes– He educated me on my watch’s history, and a ballpark estimate for both retail and wholesale, right on the spot. ?The final figure he promised in 3 business days once to allow for further research.– He opened the watch and showed and explained the machinery– He fixed my watch’s timekeeping mechanism! ?On the spot, no extra charge!– He showed me how to clean my watch, and cleaned on the spot, no extra charge!– He recommended where to get it serviced in the future, where they have watchmakers on site, and wouldn’t charge me an arm and a leg.– 1 day later (earlier than promised) he emailed me a PDF appraisal.– 2 business days later I received the hardcopy in the mail.I can’t imagine he provides this level of service for every routine appraisal appointment, but then again he just might. ?Thanks, Patrick!
Just like virtually ALL of the comments posted here, Patrick did not disappoint. Yeah, we played the game, and he was on point every step of the way. Loved how he involves the client in every aspect of the appraisal, and follows USPAP to the letter. He performed the cost approach, used the “Blue Book”, and showed exactly how he calculated the “wholesale” price of the diamond and setting separately. Then he gave a range of what my e-ring would typically go for from the lowest possible price, to something I could fetch if I hit up a shop on Rodeo. Once he verified that the diamond is as advertised and if available, you verify that laser inscription, go ahead and breathe that sigh of relief. But here’s the most important part. He does NOT HEAVILY OVER INFLATE the overall value of your jewelry item. For those of you who haven’t joined me yet, this is key come premium time. Those bloated in-house appraisals actually belong in the out-house. I could go on, but no need. He’s fair, reasonable, and dishes out plenty of advice. No questions are turned away. Bonus points for addressing and verifying WHERE to mail the final appraisal report. As well as an appointment reminder courtesy call. Now if he only did real estate…
Patrick Davis is the appraiser/ owner is great. I took my fiancee’s diamond ring here for an appraisal. It was a very educational process where Patrick walked me through each process of the appraisal. He talked through each part of what he was doing. The four C’s, what he was looking at. Then he described the exact method by which he calculated the wholesale value of the ring as well as retail value.Having gone through this process… I think this makes me a more savvy shopper knowing what the average markup is for diamond rings based on whether you buy it online, at the jewelry, at a brick and mortar store or at a high end luxury jewelry store.I would feel very comfortable going back to Patrick for other appraisals
Its pretty scary, this diamond thing. For someone who doesn’t know anything about diamonds, and suddenly has to go out and have a family heirloom appraised, cleaned, and resized, (with family members telling you “don’t let that rock out of your sight, there are criminals in this business who will swap the stone”), its a bit overwhelming. Oh, and add on to that the fact that you’re going to give this ring to someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.I needed an appraisal, and I needed it fast. I found Patrick on google of all places, and I could not have been happier with the results. He understood I had a small window to sneak out and get this appraisal, and he saw me with less than 24 hours notice. He was a pro all the way. He walked me through the process, and did everything right in front of me. By the end of my appointment, I not only had a very detailed appraisal that can be used for insurance and declaration of value, but I had a better understanding of why the ring was valued as it was.A+
I took my engagement ring in to be appraised for insurance purposes today. ?Patrick was very friendly and professional. ?I really liked that he made sure to explain things in an accessible manner and went over what went into his appraisal. ?I took in a vintage ring and he was very knowledgeable about how to figure out the date of origin for both the stone and the setting. I would definitely use him again.
I recently got my fianc��e’s ring appraised by Patrick Davis at GemSecure and I couldn’t have had a better experience. He is the nicest guy and really takes the time to educate you on what exactly goes into the appraisal process. If you’re like me, you spent more than your fair share of time researching rings and diamonds until you were exhausted of all energy, time, patience, brain-power and most of your savings. (They say that’s just the beginning haha) It was nice to sit with Patrick and be assured that all my hard work had paid off and that I had gotten what I paid for and some. He is extremely professional and educated when it comes to anything ring or diamond related and kindly answers any and all questions you can throw at him. As far as the fee, it is what to expect for a detailed appraisal ($100 for one item) and it takes about an hour, while you watch. When it’s all said and done you have an official, professional looking appraisal document with one copy to send along to your jewelry insurer of choice. If you’re even considering going to GemSecure…just do it, you won’t regret.
I found Patrick based on other YELP reviews. ?What can I say, he exceeded my expectations! ?My fiance and I were recently engaged and we wanted the ring appraised by someone other than where we made the purchase. ?I actually requested Patrick to do a “blind” appraisal where he could not see the diamond report. ?I was nervous it wasn’t the same diamond. ?But Patrick confirmed all the measurements to the exact numbers on the GIA certificate. ?Needless to say, I was very relieved and very impressed with Patrick’s expertise. ?He was professional and easy to talk to and walked us through the entire appraisal, step by step. ?He explained everything he was doing and even taught us a few things. ?I would highly recommend Patrick Davis for his appraisal services.
Note: This is my Fiancee’s account. I am writing this from my point of view (I’m a dude) based on our experience.Summary: Patrick will be my go-to guy for all jewelry appraisals for life, or until I move out of LA. I may even consider still making a trip to him even if I move out of LA. He’s that good.Long version:Obviously when purchasing expensive jewelry you want to dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s when it comes to having no stone (pun intended) unturned.In my case, I had just recently purchased a fairly expensive loose diamond. Not trusting the seller’s (who is a major, reputable online diamond merchant, mind you) or taking anything for granted, I wanted professional verification of what I actually purchased, as well as documentation to take to my insurance as proof of value. It isn’t so much that I was distrusting the diamond merchant, it was more that I just didn’t want to bet 5 figures on it, if you know what I mean.When looking around online on yelp and pricescope, I realized Patrick was the guy. We made an appointment soon after.His office is located in a shared building on the second floor. It has a waiting area and the office/lab where he does the work is separated by a door, nice for privacy in case there was another party waiting. A huge plus is that he does the work as you watch, is happy to field any and many questions and thoroughly explains what he is looking for, facts about the gem, and what he is doing. I think it is probably not uncommon for lots of people to have a bit of anxiety through the diamond purchasing process (especially if it is loose, I suspect), and he is well aware of this, taking extra care to let you see the diamond or piece at all times and not moving or working in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable. This was a total win in my book.After a thorough but quick analysis of the stone using all of his neat tools, he jotted down basic notes about it and had me compare it to the GIA cert which I was holding in my hand. That touch was neat – kind of felt like a game show, but I had all the answers.Needless to say, he was in agreement with almost all points of the GIA cert (for example, let say my GIA said “48%, he might say 47%), which was a good feeling. As I understand it, there is a fair amount of subjectivity of GIA and other institutional ratings due to the fact that it is done by humans and not machines, so there might be some variance even between two GIA inspectors…. but I digress. The point is that he may not hit everything exactly as your cert says (to the T), but he will be as close as you could hope to be (assuming your docs are legit, of course).After the appraisal, I gladly paid and received an invoice. I didn’t leave that day with the appraisal as he explained it would take a couple business days to complete, and he would mail me the original report plus a copy to send to my insurance company.A few days later, a neat package came in the mail, providing pretty much all the info found on the GIA cert, but from his independent analysis (which is obviously the point). Sweet. Sent the copy to my insurance and now I sleep at night knowing that my sometimes clumsy/forgetful/absentminded/lovely/etc/etc fianc��e has her E-ring covered, both with insurance and a rock solid appraisal. Took it back after it was mounted in a custom setting (completely custom, you wouldn’t be able to buy this design anywhere, muahhaha, more on this in a review of Philip Press) as well. I thought this might be a bit hard to do because it was a custom piece, but he had no problem finding all the component parts, their quality (F, VS1, etc. – had like 86 small teeny diamonds, he got all that, down to that level), figured out weight of the band, crunched some numbers and used factors to determine a fair value.Something else I left out that was nice to know as a result of his work was that he is able to tell you what the wholesale price of your stone/piece would be, and how much is an expected markup based on store type (Online, Downtown Diamond District, Wholesalers, the joints on Rodeo, and everything in between) as well as prestige of your designer. This was nice to compare to your actual purchase price as it validates your hard work, and it lets you know how much you paid in mark-up and name brand, etc.As of writing this review I am waiting for the fully mounted appraisal in the mail, but am confident it will be consistent with the level of quality work I had seen with the loose stone.Rock on, Patrick!(ok, that pun was not intended…)
Patrick Davis was fantastic! I did a lot of homework before buying my wife a ring. Even though I thought I knew enough to make an educated purchase, I still didn’t know for sure and it’s very daunting and nerve racking. Patrick walked me through every step of the process, was very knowledgeable and at the end I had made a good purchase. Not everyone has that outcome and Patrick isn’t going to tell you what you want to hear. He’s a third party and will be very unbiased and honest. Do your homework before buying! Then, absolutely take your purchase to Patrick to ensure you got what you paid for.
My fiance and I had Patrick appraise my e-ring yesterday and the experience could not have been better! He was super friendly and knowledgeable and he allowed us to be involved in the entire process (it is a “while you watch” appraisal). He explained everything he was doing and why he was doing it, let us view our diamond with all of his tools so we could see exactly what he was talking about, and he was patient in answering all of our questions. We walked out of there feeling even more excited about our diamond. 
It was an overall wonderful experience! Without hesitation, I highly recommend Patrick Davis!
Yup, as below, brilliant service, great value. You will feel considerably better about pissing away mountains of dough on an old piece of charcoal after making sure you got what you paid for.
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