Thanks for sharing your experience here, however apart from knowing just whether the gemstone is fake or real; certificate also mentions its composition, inclusions like feather, cracks etc. which can somehow help little bit in deciding the quality and price of gemstone.
And as a gemologist you will be knowing more but a layman doesn’t know much on gemstones. So for a layman I would advise to get gemstone certificate when buying.
Regards,
Srinivasa Temkar