| Richard T.Liddicoat proposed and developed the | | | | contributed to the industry, there was the need |
| GIA clarity grading system in 1952. He was the | | | | to popularise it. It required lot of practice and |
| president of GIA at that time. It took lot of | | | | training to incorporated it fully into the trade. |
| effort and dedication to start this new system. | | | | In april 1953, Soon after revealing the GIA clarity |
| He got tremendous support from Lester Bensen, | | | | grading sytem, the first diamond grading class |
| joe Phillips, Robert Crowningshield and Bert | | | | was started by Liddicoat and Robert |
| Krashes. | | | | Crowningshield. The place of this first distinguished |
| The system was developed for assessment of | | | | course was New York. With a modest beginning |
| the clarity of the diamonds used in jewelry. While | | | | that attracted only about 11 students from |
| in the progress of development the clarity grading | | | | Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, GIA clarity |
| system was called 'diamond grading and evaluation | | | | grading courses are held in various cities and this |
| appraisal'. The key aspects of the grading system | | | | learning is disseminated using various teaching |
| were - color, clarity and make (quality of the cut, | | | | methods like distance education, traveling |
| polish and finish). | | | | extension classes and probably webex too. |
| Even though there were some other grading | | | | The system developed in 1953 underwent its first |
| systems available for diamonds, there was no | | | | change only in 1970 when the IF grade was |
| single system that was used as a standard across | | | | added to the already present nine grades. This |
| traders. Some of the classifications that were | | | | was done because Liddicoat realized that many |
| used before the formal development of the GIA | | | | diamonds were re polished to get the Flawless |
| clarity grading system were terms like Flawless, | | | | certificate, compromising on the symmetry and |
| VVS, VS, SI and I. | | | | the proportions. (IF grade means Internally |
| But these terms of classifying diamonds were not | | | | Flawless where the diamond can have some |
| very accurate and therefore was very arduous | | | | blemishes from outside but has to be flawless |
| to use it practically in the trade. | | | | internally.) |
| In the early 1953, after the completion of the | | | | Minor changes have been made to the system |
| GIA clarity grading system, it was formally | | | | since then but the GIA Clarity Grading System |
| announced and made public.This initial system had | | | | was the first attempt to professionalize any kind |
| nine grades and these included - Flawless, VVS1, | | | | of diamond clarity grading system. The efforts by |
| VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2, I1 and I2. The 'I' stood | | | | Liddicoat and team have led to a more objective |
| for Imperfect and was exactly the opposite of | | | | classification of the diamonds that are traded |
| the Flawless diamond. | | | | today and therefore made the industry more |
| Though this new system of grading had been | | | | structured. |