Getting Ready to Pull the Trigger . . Thoughts? cont.

[thedigglers]

Attached is the IGI..

Thanks!

 

[thedigglers]

Please let me know your thoughts. Total costs is $6200 and the cut is hearts and arrows. I think the design is great and appears to be a good value.

 

[thedigglers]

Sorry! Having a hard time uploading the picture!

Thanks!

 

[Lorelei]

Welcome

Have you actually purchased this ring?

 

[blodthecat]

What can you tell us about the vendor?

My spider senses are tingling a bit!

Blod

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 12/31/2005 7:01:20 AM
Author: blodthecat
What can you tell us about the vendor?

My spider senses are tingling a bit!

Blod

looks like from Sams Club?

 

[thedigglers]

costco via diamond special order

 

[MissGotRocks]

Where on that cert does it say that it is a ''hearts and arrows cut''? Or is that something the salesperson said?

 

[strmrdr]

My opinion is that igi reports are near worthless.
At least that one says it was done unmounted which is better than some.
I wouldn''t buy an igi certed diamond without a good independent appraiser giving me the real grade.
In dateline''s report on diamond grading igi had the worst record for bring off than any of them and the company representative said well grading is an opinion and you should hire you own appraiser.
hello why would someone base a buying decision on that.

 

[Lorelei]

What we are trying to say is that there are a lot of queries here. It is an IGI cert which is known to be more lenient in it''s grading and is normally used for mall sold diamonds, calling it a H&A cut doesn''t necessarily make it so, there isn''t enough information provided to assess cut quality, also needed are crown and pavillion angles or percents. This is a lot of money to spend, you want to spend it as wisely as you can and be armed with as much knowledge and information about each diamond as you can. If you truly believe this is the ring for you, it is pleasing to your eyes, get an independant appraisal during the return period if the store offers one. Or read the tutorial in the knowledge section above and check out what you can get online, for your budget you could get a cracking solitare with sidestones or a 3 stone if that is what you want. I hope this helps you, this is a big purchase and you will be living with the ring a long time, or your GF will, you want to buy EDUCATED and love the diamond you choose.

 

[MiniMouse]

Lorelei says it all. There is so much information available on Pricescope for you to read and educate yourselves before spending such a large amount of money. Make sure you know what you''re buying before you pull the trigger.

 

[MiniMouse]

I forgot to mention that I too would not trust an IGI certificate. They are known to be soft and the chances of you getting what you think you are getting, are lower than with an AGS or GIA certed stone.

 

[blodthecat]

Keep your cash in your pocket, and walk away from this one. You can get better for your money elsewhere.

blod

 

[valeria101]

Date: 12/30/2005 7:11:52 PM
Author: thedigglers
Please let me know your thoughts. Total costs is $6200 and the cut is hearts and arrows. I think the design is great and appears to be a good value.

Hopefully not relative to the ''value'' cited on the lab report - those numbers are only good to make the price look good.

There is nothing bad in the picture of the ring - but only very rough edges of craftsmanship could show (not the case here, IMO - just in general). The grades of the stones would not show in a picture - and that is what makes the price good or bad.

If in doubt, you cold ask an appraiser''s opinion. And it may be worth checking what exactly an appraisal should get you throughout the couple of threads about this opened on this forum in the past couple of months.

There aren''t many Costco items mentioned on Pricescope. The latest before yours looked pretty good (LINK to thread) but that one came with GIA report on top of the IGI paper which is given as appraisal of value for insurance.

 

[Shiny42805]

Under the "comments" section of the IGI cert, it says "stone based on GIA #13935389". This means that the stone IS GIA certified too, right?

Do you possibly have a copy of that GIA cert?
It''s a very pretty ring - nice fluid design.

 

[Lorelei]

I am wondering if it is possible for this ring to have a GIA cert too? If so, why would they sell it without it and use an IGI instead? A GIA certed diamond will always sell for more than IGI, this is confusing to me. These diamonds don't normally have two certs do they, especially a GIA and IGI?? If you are interested in this ring thedigglers, you might want to clarify exactly what is meant by the GIA comment. Nowhere does it say that this diamond is GIA certified but " based " on a GIA number whatever that is supposed to mean, could be quite misleading. Maybe someone else can chime in who has encountered this before?

 

[valeria101]

Date: 1/1/2006 9:47:46 AM
Author: Lorelei
I am wondering if it is possible for this ring to have a GIA cert too? If so, why would they sell it without it and use an IGI instead?

Both are used... IGI gives an ''estimated value'' while GIA does not. So IGI is usable for insurance, regardless of what that ''estimated retail value'' is or isn''t... Kind''a confusing.

Why Costco doesn''t give their own evaluation (which would work too, I suppose) beats me. Could be that IGI has a large fan club? Someone got to pay for their paper too.

 

[MiniMouse]

The comment "stone based on GIA #13935389" concerns me. What is ''based'' supposed to mean? Also, why state the "gemstone grade expressed as an average". Sorry, but it''s either got a GIA certificate (which would indicate a true grade) or else it doesn''t have a GIA certificate. I don''t believe this one has a GIA certificate at all, otherwise it would be used as a strong selling point at the beginning of the advert, rather than a mere side comment.

IGI is known to be weaker than AGS and GIA, so I suspect the true gradings are lower than advertised (but the correct grading according to IGI standards, hence the advert can be deemed as correct). I''d want strict grading rules to apply before I bought a diamond ring, especially when it''s spending such a lot of hard earned cash. The only way I would consider a stone graded by an alternative grading house is if the price was fair for the stone if it was a grade lower and a color grade down from what was stated (that''s being kind) and then having it appraised thoroughly, with the option to return the stone for a refund if I wasn''t happy with it. IGI graded stones are always cheaper than similar AGS and GIA graded stones... for a reason.

I''d personally steer clear of this ring. You get what you pay for. You have a healthy budget for a ring, walk away and spend it wisely, there are fabulous cut diamonds out there and that should be your number one priority.

 

[thedigglers]

The diamonds have a GIA cert . . I am in the process of getting a copy of it and will post it once I have all the details.

Thanks for everyones help and advice.

 

[MissGotRocks]

Good for you! The best way to make a good decision is to make an informed decision. Getting as much information as you can about the ring will give you the basis to make your decision.

 

[thedigglers]

I picked up the GIA report with all of the specifics as well as verified that it is a Hearts & Arrows cut. The ring looks amazingly brillant. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

GIA Report 13935389
Inscription Registry: GIA13935389
Shape Round Brilliant
Meas: 6.68 – 6.71 x 4.08 mm
Weight: 1.10 ct
Depth 60.9%
56%
Girdle: Medium, Faceted
Culet: None
Polish Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Clarity: VS2
Color: I
Fluorescence: None
Comments: None
Additional Inscription: H&A
Key to Symbols
Crystal, Cloud

 

[robbe]

funny to see how visitors to this forum are being mislead time and again about certain things...and ironically those who seem to know best are...non professionals! what a joke.

i think you guys diserve an update; i am a diamond manufacturer & i am a large client of gia, hrd and igi.

lately hrd has become so easy on grading (both color & clarity) that they are not to be trusted any longer like before. the hrd pre-certified diamonds that need a gia or igi reportS lately get one color lower or one clarity lower with gia & igi!!! my german & italian clients often return hrd stones because "the grading is too easy". that''s for hrd. gia certified diamonds smaller than one carat are graded much softer than stones above one carat! gia has the name and consequently no one seems to really care if a 0.50 diamond is given an h or g color, vs1 or vs2 clarity...
but gia has tighten its grading since a few months. of course, due to their big bribery scandal, the graders at gia must be doing it in their pants when they see borderline grades for stones above one carat...
regarding ags; they are not consistent in color & clarity. i was shocked to see how ridiculous their grading (color & clarity) is. i don''t like to use them. all 3 gia, igi and even hrd give more accurate grades! ags is a lab who enjoys respectability not because of its grading, but because it was created by its members which are the ags stores!! can you see a conflict of interest??
igi at this moment is very strong in demand and guess what? they are strict! even i am sometimes upset at them because i can''t get the grades that i expected. regarding h&a, they are very accurate. in the usa they are known especially for their appraisal reports. in the rest of the world they are known for both loose diamond grading reports as well as jewelry reports. i don''t use the jewelry part really because i am a diamond manufacturer & trader.

but in consequence, i have never understood where the "more lenient" statements come from when igi is the topic. but now, i have to smile when i read this forum; i haven''t been here for quite some time but one thing is still present; there is info-intoxication! the people giving their opinion don''t know what they are talking about as they don''t submit diamonds to gia, hrd & igi on a weekly basis since years, they are not active in the diamond business and have outdated info, not to mention most such comments come from consumers.
guys, when you don''t know what the shot is.....better not say it.

robbe


s

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/12/2006 1:38:08 AM
Author: robbe

regarding ags; they are not consistent in color & clarity. i was shocked to see how ridiculous their grading (color & clarity) is. i don''t like to use them. all 3 gia, igi and even hrd give more accurate grades! ags is a lab who enjoys respectability not because of its grading, but because it was created by its members which are the ags stores!! can you see a conflict of interest??
igi at this moment is very strong in demand and guess what? they are strict! even i am sometimes upset at them because i can''t get the grades that i expected. regarding h&a, they are very accurate. in the usa they are known especially for their appraisal reports. in the rest of the world they are known for both loose diamond grading reports as well as jewelry reports. i don''t use the jewelry part really because i am a diamond manufacturer & trader.

but in consequence, i have never understood where the ''more lenient'' statements come from when igi is the topic. but now, i have to smile when i read this forum; i haven''t been here for quite some time but one thing is still present; there is info-intoxication! the people giving their opinion don''t know what they are talking about as they don''t submit diamonds to gia, hrd & igi on a weekly basis since years, they are not active in the diamond business and have outdated info, not to mention most such comments come from consumers.
guys, when you don''t know what the shot is.....better not say it.

robbe


s

if that is true,maybe we can re-submit IGI graded diamonds to AGS for higher grades and make a fortune.

 

[Demelza]

Date: 2/12/2006 1:38:08 AM
Author: robbe
funny to see how visitors to this forum are being mislead time and again about certain things...and ironically those who seem to know best are...non professionals! what a joke.



i think you guys diserve an update; i am a diamond manufacturer & i am a large client of gia, hrd and igi.


lately hrd has become so easy on grading (both color & clarity) that they are not to be trusted any longer like before. the hrd pre-certified diamonds that need a gia or igi reportS lately get one color lower or one clarity lower with gia & igi!!! my german & italian clients often return hrd stones because ''the grading is too easy''. that''s for hrd. gia certified diamonds smaller than one carat are graded much softer than stones above one carat! gia has the name and consequently no one seems to really care if a 0.50 diamond is given an h or g color, vs1 or vs2 clarity...

but gia has tighten its grading since a few months. of course, due to their big bribery scandal, the graders at gia must be doing it in their pants when they see borderline grades for stones above one carat...

regarding ags; they are not consistent in color & clarity. i was shocked to see how ridiculous their grading (color & clarity) is. i don''t like to use them. all 3 gia, igi and even hrd give more accurate grades! ags is a lab who enjoys respectability not because of its grading, but because it was created by its members which are the ags stores!! can you see a conflict of interest??

igi at this moment is very strong in demand and guess what? they are strict! even i am sometimes upset at them because i can''t get the grades that i expected. regarding h&a, they are very accurate. in the usa they are known especially for their appraisal reports. in the rest of the world they are known for both loose diamond grading reports as well as jewelry reports. i don''t use the jewelry part really because i am a diamond manufacturer & trader.


but in consequence, i have never understood where the ''more lenient'' statements come from when igi is the topic. but now, i have to smile when i read this forum; i haven''t been here for quite some time but one thing is still present; there is info-intoxication! the people giving their opinion don''t know what they are talking about as they don''t submit diamonds to gia, hrd & igi on a weekly basis since years, they are not active in the diamond business and have outdated info, not to mention most such comments come from consumers.

guys, when you don''t know what the shot is.....better not say it.


robbe




s

I defy you to find a single expert worth his/her salt who will say that IGI is a more accurate lab than AGS. If this were the case, why wouldn''t everyone send their stones to AGS?

 

[plg_cp]

Date: 1/7/2006 7:06:27 PM
Author: thedigglers
I picked up the GIA report with all of the specifics as well as verified that it is a Hearts & Arrows cut.

..........

Additional Inscription: H&A

thedigglers,

Regarding the H&A cut, how did you "verify" that it exhibits H&A patterning? Hopefully it was by a visual examination. If you based this on the girdle inscription mentioned on the cert, you should know that GIA is simply reporting what has been etched on the girdle, they are NOT providing assurance that the stone is H&A.

If "This diamond will grant you 3 wishes" was inscribed on the girdle, this is what would appear on the GIA cert under the Inscription section...

Mark

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 2/12/2006 1:38:08 AM
Author: robbe
funny to see how visitors to this forum are being mislead time and again about certain things...and ironically those who seem to know best are...non professionals! what a joke.



i think you guys diserve an update; i am a diamond manufacturer & i am a large client of gia, hrd and igi.


lately hrd has become so easy on grading (both color & clarity) that they are not to be trusted any longer like before. the hrd pre-certified diamonds that need a gia or igi reportS lately get one color lower or one clarity lower with gia & igi!!! my german & italian clients often return hrd stones because ''the grading is too easy''. that''s for hrd. gia certified diamonds smaller than one carat are graded much softer than stones above one carat! gia has the name and consequently no one seems to really care if a 0.50 diamond is given an h or g color, vs1 or vs2 clarity...

but gia has tighten its grading since a few months. of course, due to their big bribery scandal, the graders at gia must be doing it in their pants when they see borderline grades for stones above one carat...

regarding ags; they are not consistent in color & clarity. i was shocked to see how ridiculous their grading (color & clarity) is. i don''t like to use them. all 3 gia, igi and even hrd give more accurate grades! ags is a lab who enjoys respectability not because of its grading, but because it was created by its members which are the ags stores!! can you see a conflict of interest??

igi at this moment is very strong in demand and guess what? they are strict! even i am sometimes upset at them because i can''t get the grades that i expected. regarding h&a, they are very accurate. in the usa they are known especially for their appraisal reports. in the rest of the world they are known for both loose diamond grading reports as well as jewelry reports. i don''t use the jewelry part really because i am a diamond manufacturer & trader.


but in consequence, i have never understood where the ''more lenient'' statements come from when igi is the topic. but now, i have to smile when i read this forum; i haven''t been here for quite some time but one thing is still present; there is info-intoxication! the people giving their opinion don''t know what they are talking about as they don''t submit diamonds to gia, hrd & igi on a weekly basis since years, they are not active in the diamond business and have outdated info, not to mention most such comments come from consumers.

guys, when you don''t know what the shot is.....better not say it.


robbe




s

prove it
Iv seen igi certs that I could tell without a loupe were off on clarity.
dateline found them to be worthless.

pricescopes grading study found AGS to be atleast as strict as GIA.
Paul recently told us of a cutter that sent a bunch of diamonds to AGS that allready had GIA certs and wasnt happy with the harsher results by ags.

So I call on you to back it up.

 

[strmrdr]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8661995/

 

[robbe]

strmrdr,
the situation is as i have described above. if you are not satisfied with it, so be it.
my profession is to buy monthly big quantities rough diamond, to plan it, to mark it, to saw it, to polish it and most importantly to sell it. in order to do this successfully i have worked hard for many years and am selling diamonds all over the world. this means i have orders for diamonds accompagnied by various grading reports. i often have hundreds of certified diamonds of which part have to be re-certified by a second lab because this is what happens when you work with so many different types of clients.
if you want to know more about the differences in grading reports, please be my guest and take between 50 to 200 diamonds , then submit them to all 3 or 4 labs and you''ll see.
i have taken the time to outline here what i see every day in my profession. i have nothing to gain here.
strmrdr, i remember your ''slogan'' used to be "i am not an expert in diamonds" (or something similar). i have always appreciated your honesty!!
regards, robbe

 

[indecisive]

Robbe- even if you are in the diamond industry, you are presenting yourself as anything but professional. What you are saying about the grading reports contradicts everything I have seen from many, many sources (including the one Storm posted) and you want everyone to believe you with nothing backing you up besides the fact that you say so?

 

[Rod]

Perhaps a little off-line from where this thread is heading, but the gentleman is asking if the Costco product he is considering is good. It likely is, but I wanted to relay my brother's Costco recent experience. He purchased a lovely engagement ring at Costco. I recommended against it and dutifully told him of all I had learned through PS. None-the-less he's a died in the wool Costco fan, so that's where his money was spent.

The engagement I'm afraid was not long lived, but it was longer lived than just about any jewelry store or on-line vendors return policy. So after more than 3 months, my brother took the ring back to Costco, who unbelievably has a one year return policy and believe it or not, they refunded every penny he spent on the ring after more than 3 months. And this was done with no questions or grief whatsoever.

We can all smugly say that there are better values out there. Perhaps there are. But the reality is that Costco has some pretty nice stuff and no one can argue with the return policy.

To digglers, who started the post. If you like the ring, it has the fire and brilliance you seek and you are comfortable with the grading reports accompanying the stones, I hope the ring brings you and your fiance many happy years.

Best wishes.........