A Diamond Wholesaler told me cut doesn''t matter!?

[PeridotFan]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm in the preliminary stages of looking for an engagement ring (he's not ready to commit yet, just seeing what our options are

), and a few days ago I went around to a couple of stores to get some ideas. One of the places I went was a wholesaler who worked with the public by appointment, and before they showed me any diamonds they gave me a quick education about the four C's (most of which I already knew from pricescope

). About halfway through the speech, the salesman told me that the cut of a diamond only makes 10% of the difference in how much it sparkles, and the rest is from the quality of rough - I had never heard of this before, and so I was pretty confused. He said that diamonds from low quality of rough were really hazy, and the haziness didn't show up as inclusions on the cert, and it was the kind of thing that people sold on the internet That only confused me further since everyone here at pricescope has had such great experiences buying online. She told me that as a wholesaler they sold the high quality of rough which other people didn't have, and so I'd be safer not relying on how well on the diamond is cut (because it didn't really matter!) and just getting high quality rough from there instead. I'm still not sure what the quality of rough is, and I've never heard before that cut matters so little - is any of this true, or was it just shady sales techniques to get me to buy from them? Help me out, Pricescope!

EDIT: Oops, I posted this in Hangout when it should have been in RockyTalky! My mistake

 

[Dee*Jay]

You''re not in Chicago by any chance, are you?

 

[PeridotFan]

Yes, I''m in chicago - I didn''t want to name the business, but I guess you recognize them, or is this a common practice among chicago dealers?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Ha-- I do indeed recognize them. They have me the same load of crap a few years ago, as well telling me a bunch of other malarkey during the course of their "education session." My advice: Bolt; I don''t trust these people as far as I can throw them.

If you''re interested in some other Chicago vendor options here are some that I have dealt with and would not hesitate to go back to:

For pure INVENTORY I would check out New York Jewelers at 11 N. Wabash, ask for David Rosenwasser. They carry by far the largest selection of in-house stones that I''ve found in the City. One caveat: I''ve never been happy with their stone setting so make sure you let them know up front that you are UBER picky and will only accept something that is perfectly set. They''re open 9-5:30 M/T/W/F, 9-7 Thurs., 10-5 Sat, closed on Sunday.

If you want to see settings go to Marshall Pierce at 29 E. Madison, 6th Floor, and ask for Jerry Bern. They have a limited selection of settings in the cases, but they have a LOT of trays of designer settings in the back that they can bring out for you. They are open 9-5 Mon-Friday. I think they do have Saturday hours, but they are abbreviated so call first, 312-372-2415.

Also, I don''t know how long you''ve been looking but if you figure out EXACTLY what you want Mike Gale at 312-920-0075 can bring some things in for you to look at. His prices are VERY good, but he doesn''t carry an in-house inventory so he has to bring all the stones in.

I would use the street level vendors on Wabash for idea shopping only, and I suppose if you found a setting that you LOVE that would be OK, but for stones, no way. I''m also lumping in the vendor we''re talking about in this category, even though they are not at street level.

 

[AprilBaby]

I am from Chicago too! Run from that vendor!

 

[Dancing Fire]

your so call "diamond wholesaler" is so full of

 

[jewelerman]

the dealer sells off cut diamonds...so of course they are going to tell you that they are experts and that cut dosnt matter...very questionable sales tactics ...buy from another place.

 

[neatfreak]

Run run run.

 

[Haven]

I wish you could post the name of the jeweler, a friend of mine is insisting on buying from a jeweler on Wabash and I don''t want him to get ripped off.

 

[MissGotRocks]

PS runneth over with vendors, appraisers, consumers - where here have you ever heard or read such stuff? Just remember there is always truth in numbers. When 1000 people are telling you one thing and 1 other person is telling you something different, bells and whistles should be going off in your head! There are countless pictures of beautiful stones that we can all see for ourselves and know that cut makes all the difference in the world. Try the other folks in the Chicago area that have been recommended to you - they won''t steer you wrong!