Need help/advice first time buyer

[pinkflamingo]

Date: 3/2/2006 9:11:13 AM
Author: Ianmac
To be honest with you, Im not extraordinarily worried about ''eye clean''

Is your girl OK with this? Does she have good eyes? It would bother me to see an inclusion, and it looks cheap, JMHO. There are some Si2s like Mara''s that do not show inclusions, but there are definitely some that are very visible. I would proceed with caution... especially with stones that seem very low priced, I would study the pictures. Flaws are pretty apparent in square cuts, especially if the cut is not so hot.

 

[Ianmac]

I dont think she will mind... its more about our love than it is a diamond!
How do I study the pictures when there arent any for this stone?

Does DCD do that for me... get a bunch of pictures and an idealscope of the stone?
That would be nice eh?

Matt

 

[Ianmac]

How about this?
Not symmetrical, but other than that it seems good
Ideal cut

How will symmetry affect brilliance?
I dont care if the stone looks sorta rectangular
http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=4355967

 

[Ianmac]

NEVERMIND.
EGL cert on an SI2
means its probabbly an I with visual inclusions.

 

[coda72]

Well, I''m still not in love with the EGL report, but it may not be a bad stone. Why don''t you give them a call and have them bring in the stone for you. Once they get the stone they can take pictures and get an idealscope picture of it. Post those here, and the experts will tell you what they think.

 

[madmarlin]

Matt,

One final piece of advice not at all related to diamonds. Try not to get too caught up in the "chase" of finding that perfect diamond or that great deal. Stick to your guns with what you want quality-wise and price-wise. When I upgraded my wife''s stone, my original intention was an ideal H VS2 stone. I then got caught up in prices and size, sacrificing cut, clarity or color for larger size. I finally stepped back, remembered what it was truly about, and got back to basics. That''s one of the reasons I loved working with Mart Turnowski. He was the voice of reason and calm during my buying storm.

Basically, take your time and don''t get caught up thinking you just HAVE to have this particular stone right now. I ended up taking almost two months to find just the right stone and it was worth every minute of deliberation.

Best of luck.

 

[Ianmac]

Thanks marlin
Im working with Mark right now, he is getting me a quote.
Josh at JamesAllen seems to want to push the GIA spec stones on me that are much more than the EGL that
I wanted. And mysteriously the one I found this morning, and put on hold was "Promised to another vendor"

I will wait for Marks response.

Im also working with someone from Whiteflash, but their prices seem a bit higher and all their stones they quote
have extremely thin girdles..

Matt

 

[Ianmac]

Please HELP!
Am I just being pressured here, or are these good deals for what I am looking for?

From DCD salesperson:
Have you ruled out these two diamonds? Both of them are GIA graded ideal cuts with square ratios, and they fall within the desired price range. It will be tough to find anything that competes with items 9069584 and 9693897.

9069584 0.82 F SI2 GIA $2,617 74.5 70 EX VG None 5.14x4.99x3.72
9693897 0.81 G VS2 GIA $2,664 73.7 70 EX GD None 5.17x4.99x3.68

Best Wishes,

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-----Original Message-----

Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 1:01 PM
To: xxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Pricescope Quotation Request

Ok... I just did a scaled drawing of the 3 diamonds you send plus the one I liked.
I realize that none of these three are really for me. I am not in a huge hurry to purchase a diamond
and from what everyone is telling me, I shouldn''t compromise on what I want.

I really like your 9693932 but I believe that I am paying for that D color.
I would rather get into an F or a G color and go with a little larger stone.
Even if I have to wait a few days for it to come around.

Does this make sense, or am I being unreasonable?
I definatly see why you don''t want to go with the EGL graded stone.

So bottom line is, do you think we can find an ideal cut princess that faces up a little larger for the same price in :
Color F or G
Clarity SI1 or SI2
1.1 ratio
In a GIA or AGI cert

 

[TexasClaus]

Im with madmarlin mark t is awesome and i must be as well cause of the diamond homework that i did from this site mainly, books, and other forums. I am extrememly happy with my purchase.

 

[coda72]

I don''t know if you''re being pressured, but don''t feel like you need to hurry the process. Both of the diamonds listed from DCD''s salesperson look decent by the numbers. If you''re interested in either stone, have them call it in and take pictures, get an idealscope image, and run the Sarin on it. They should do that for you.

I think for what you''re looking for, you may not find. You likely won''t find a well-cut 1 carat diamond for around $2500. So, you should probably look in the 0.75-0.85 carat range. Remember that princess cut diamonds will face up smaller than rounds, and my guess is that a 0.75 well-cut princess will be around 5 mm x 5 mm. I''m not an expert on these though, so I could be wrong.

 

[Ianmac]

They want $50.00 each stone to send out for pictures and idealscope images!
im fine with 5x5mm
.85 carat is good
just want the best one now!

 

[headlight]

Have you actually seen, in person, what a 5mm stone looks like? Has your girlfriend?

 

[Ianmac]

Date: 3/2/2006 3:38:39 PM
Author: headlight
Have you actually seen, in person, what a 5mm stone looks like? Has your girlfriend?

Why do you ask? Is it really small?
I printed a scaled picture of a 5mm by 5mm square and it looked plenty big to me.

 

[headlight]

Date: 3/2/2006 4:13:47 PM
Author: Ianmac

Date: 3/2/2006 3:38:39 PM
Author: headlight
Have you actually seen, in person, what a 5mm stone looks like? Has your girlfriend?

Why do you ask? Is it really small?
I printed a scaled picture of a 5mm by 5mm square and it looked plenty big to me.

Well, what is "plenty big" to a guy and to the lady wearing it is sometimes different. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that size, I just want you to know what it will be like. Have the two of you gone ring "shopping" to get an idea of what you both like and dislike?
Are you even certain she wants a princess cut?

 

[Ianmac]

This is a surpise... I dont take her ring shopping with me.
She has left SEVERAL WELL TIMED hints that she wants a square cut diamond
with a platinum setting with side baguettes... thats her wishes.

 

[Mara]

ian you many end up paying a little bit more for a stone that''s in house like a WF or GOG or something that DCD has in house or something because they have already seen it and bought it/approved it mentally, most vendors do charge to call in virtual stones, that''s just the nature of the game. so you really should work with someone to narrow it down before calling in multiple stones.

take your time and breathe. i have a friend who is working with mark (ERD) and bob at WF looking for a marquis and she has been looking for over a month and had 2 options...one which did not work out to be well cut and the other was sold, so now she is looking at yet another option. gotta be patient.

 

[headlight]

Date: 3/2/2006 6:03:40 PM
Author: Ianmac
This is a surpise... I dont take her ring shopping with me.
She has left SEVERAL WELL TIMED hints that she wants a square cut diamond
with a platinum setting with side baguettes... thats her wishes.

Square cut diamond -- that can refer to a variety of cuts, which is why I asked if she had specifically requested princess.

 

[Ianmac]

No.. I decided on princess because:
A. Its the most popular right now other than round
B. It appears to give off the most light and sparkle

 

[coda72]

You might want to consider a radiant. Personally I think they sparkle as much as princess cuts, and they generally appear larger because well-cut ones aren''t as deep. I''m biased because that''s what I have, but here''s a few to show you how much larger they appear:

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?aff_id=ps621&cid=131&item=780603&scsize=1024

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=131&item=780447&aff_id=ps621

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=131&item=779269&aff_id=ps621

 

[autumngems]

Matt,

I just bought a marquise from Union Diamond. I can do nothing but rave about them. I gave them my budget nad what I was looking for and they didn''t push me but sent me the various possibilities. Their price was awesome and the presentation of ring and all the certificates and appraisal and Gemprint was great. You need to take a look at their site. I found some nice princess cuts on there for a really good price and look and see what you get with the diamond, they go the extra mile.

 

[Ianmac]

Thanks Coda
Thats a brilliant idea...
can you explain more of the differences between princess and radiant?

Ill check out union diamond as well, anyone have the URL?

Date: 3/3/2006 7:25:12 AM
Author: coda72
You might want to consider a radiant. Personally I think they sparkle as much as princess cuts, and they generally appear larger because well-cut ones aren''t as deep. I''m biased because that''s what I have, but here''s a few to show you how much larger they appear:

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?aff_id=ps621&cid=131&item=780603&scsize=1024

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=131&item=780447&aff_id=ps621

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=131&item=779269&aff_id=ps621

 

[jetmal]

www.uniondiamond.com

I however would not recommend them........perhaps I had a bad experience, but I was working with someone there, and on 2 occasions she never returned my phone calls , when she clearly stated, "I will call you back in a few minutes".

I got tired of chasing after her via phone calls AND emails, so I chose to go somewhere where I will get some better customer service.

 

[Ianmac]

WOW... Im really liking the uniondiamond site.
They have my setting in platinum for 999

 

[TxBlonde]

Ian,

A princess is probably a safe choice. My boyfriend wanted to get me a princess cut and thank goodness he mentioned it because I actually wanted an asscher cut. He had never heard of the cut so I directed him to pricescope. All of my friends have princesses and absolutely love them....but this is exactly why I didn''t want that cut. You know her so if you think she will love the princess then so be it. Good luck with the hunt and I am working with WhiteFlash and I would highly recommend them as well. We really have some fantastic vendors around here.

 

[Ianmac]

Just want to give everyone involved a big thanks!

I have a few vendors working with me one on one right now to find
something that I like. Let me tell you that I am REALLY TRULY impressed with
Mr. James Allen. He really knows how to run a business.

Likewise does Mark Turnowski

Anyways, looks like I am finally headed in the right direction. Thank you all for steering me
from the hell of an Ebay diamond purchase, to hopefully a beautiful stone. Both I and my soon
to be finance thank you!

Matt

 

[madmarlin]

Matt,

Glad to hear you have found some vendors with whom you are comfortable. That''s over half the battle! Mark worked wonders for me twice, and I''m sure he will again as I know my wife has a few more items on her wish list that I will need to fill over time (necklace, stud earings, etc......)!!

Best of luck to you.

 

[Ianmac]

Alright... I think I found my needle in the haystack. Gonna need some strong advice/help here though!
The person who I am dealing with said the reason this diamond is showing up as a "fair cut" is because of a computer glich
where someone forgot to enter the girdle. Without a girdle it supposidly will always show up as "fair cut" when in fact it should be ideal.
Anyways.... does this sound true, or more like a Scam?

Diamond Specs:
GIA Report
Square Modified Brilliant
5.22 x 5.19 x 3.83
H Color
SI-1 Clarity
Very good Polish
Good Symmetry
Medium Blue Flourescence.
73.8 Depth
73 Table
M-THK Girdle
Cutlet None
$3000.00

Sound good?

 

[jetmal]

whats the weight?

 

[Ianmac]

Date: 3/6/2006 3:02:30 PM
Author: Ianmac
Alright... I think I found my needle in the haystack. Gonna need some strong advice/help here though!
The person who I am dealing with said the reason this diamond is showing up as a ''fair cut'' is because of a computer glich
where someone forgot to enter the girdle. Without a girdle it supposidly will always show up as ''fair cut'' when in fact it should be ideal.
Anyways.... does this sound true, or more like a Scam?

Diamond Specs:
GIA Report
Square Modified Brilliant
5.22 x 5.19 x 3.83
H Color
SI-1 Clarity
Very good Polish
Good Symmetry
Medium Blue Flourescence.
73.8 Depth
73 Table
M-THK Girdle
Cutlet None
$3000.00

Sound good?

Sorry... 0.92 Carat

 

[coda72]

You better put this diamond on hold before someone else grabs it!