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Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2004
- Messages
- 840
I went out casual diamond shopping, as I am oft to do when I have some free time.
This time, I went to a popular mall and visited Baily, Banks, & Biddle and Helzberg, which is new to the area.
I saw a terrific Princess 1.02ct G VS2 set in a plain plat. v-corned protective setting for $6900. It measured about 5.5x5.4x3.(something). I can''t recall, although I have it written down somewhere.
It was clean, it was colorless, and it was sparkly! I figure that, even with the markup, the setting was about $900, which means that the diamond was $6k. More than you would expect to pay for online, but all-in-all, I thought it was an ok price. This is where it pays to know how much settings are worth vs. the price of diamonds, b/c $7k was a good overall price... but in this case, you''re overpaying for a modest setting.
In the second store, Helzberg, I walked away very much impressed by their customer service. Much more so than the first time I walked in many months ago. (During that visit, I simply walked out from lack of attention.)
This time, however, I met with a nice salewoman who showed me to varying Princess cuts, within the size I specified (1ct). One was F VVS2 and the other was I I1. I requested these on purpose for comparison and pricing reasons and she obliged.
Then, she asked me if I had used a gemscope before and if I was interested, so I said sure! I met with another person, this time a man, who was DCA diamond certified (who knows what DCA stands for, Bueller?). He brought the two original rings, plus a third and he explained clarity, the importance of cut, etc. A lot more information than I ever received at a B&M.
On the walls of this little room, they even had diagrams of ideal cut diamonds, including their angles and percentages. Hmmm.
In the end, he showed me a that was 1.2ct SI1, I think, and at first inspection, it was eye clean. Then under magnification, I could clearly see the inclusion. After, unaided, I could find the inclusion, but only when I knew where it was. It was a, I color, but still quite clear and had a very nice med-thick girdle. The price of this was was under (or around) $6k in a white gold setting.
Something a little odd about this experience was:
1.) he kept asking me in a very car-salesman way, if I could feel "comfortable" putting this ring on my GF''s finger. It''s a common sales tactic that if I admit that there''s very little wrong (partly out of a person''s fear of insulting someone), then I will be likely to purchase.
and
2.) He said that plat. must also be plated w/rhodium about once ever 1-2 years just like white gold, which I thought was not the case. I thought it could simply be polished and that rhodium plating on platinum was just one version.
After several very nice examples of Princess cut diamonds in an B&M, I started to wonder why I went so far out of my way to get a Jubilee? I started to doubt my possible miss-appropriation of funds.
But then... I am only seeing these diamonds under "their" lighting conditions. I have seen my diamond under a variety of conditions. Plus, part of my shopping outing was to find a Princess of the same size as my ''Jubie'' for comparisons sake, and I was please by what I found. The only questionable issue is that the protective v-prongs that most princess cuts get put in, add an illusion that the rock is bigger, where ball end prongs (is that what they''re called?) look slightly less big.
Conclusion...
I know many of you are already sick of hearing me talk about my diamond search, which for all extensive purposes is 95% over. So why put myself through this?
Well, partly b/c I have nothing else to do until it''s set and returned to me. And partly b/c I enjoy looking at diamonds now. I feel a little bad about taking up the sales people''s time, but perhaps I''m also keeping them on their toes.
This time, I went to a popular mall and visited Baily, Banks, & Biddle and Helzberg, which is new to the area.
I saw a terrific Princess 1.02ct G VS2 set in a plain plat. v-corned protective setting for $6900. It measured about 5.5x5.4x3.(something). I can''t recall, although I have it written down somewhere.
It was clean, it was colorless, and it was sparkly! I figure that, even with the markup, the setting was about $900, which means that the diamond was $6k. More than you would expect to pay for online, but all-in-all, I thought it was an ok price. This is where it pays to know how much settings are worth vs. the price of diamonds, b/c $7k was a good overall price... but in this case, you''re overpaying for a modest setting.
In the second store, Helzberg, I walked away very much impressed by their customer service. Much more so than the first time I walked in many months ago. (During that visit, I simply walked out from lack of attention.)
This time, however, I met with a nice salewoman who showed me to varying Princess cuts, within the size I specified (1ct). One was F VVS2 and the other was I I1. I requested these on purpose for comparison and pricing reasons and she obliged.
Then, she asked me if I had used a gemscope before and if I was interested, so I said sure! I met with another person, this time a man, who was DCA diamond certified (who knows what DCA stands for, Bueller?). He brought the two original rings, plus a third and he explained clarity, the importance of cut, etc. A lot more information than I ever received at a B&M.
On the walls of this little room, they even had diagrams of ideal cut diamonds, including their angles and percentages. Hmmm.
In the end, he showed me a that was 1.2ct SI1, I think, and at first inspection, it was eye clean. Then under magnification, I could clearly see the inclusion. After, unaided, I could find the inclusion, but only when I knew where it was. It was a, I color, but still quite clear and had a very nice med-thick girdle. The price of this was was under (or around) $6k in a white gold setting.
Something a little odd about this experience was:
1.) he kept asking me in a very car-salesman way, if I could feel "comfortable" putting this ring on my GF''s finger. It''s a common sales tactic that if I admit that there''s very little wrong (partly out of a person''s fear of insulting someone), then I will be likely to purchase.
and
2.) He said that plat. must also be plated w/rhodium about once ever 1-2 years just like white gold, which I thought was not the case. I thought it could simply be polished and that rhodium plating on platinum was just one version.
After several very nice examples of Princess cut diamonds in an B&M, I started to wonder why I went so far out of my way to get a Jubilee? I started to doubt my possible miss-appropriation of funds.
But then... I am only seeing these diamonds under "their" lighting conditions. I have seen my diamond under a variety of conditions. Plus, part of my shopping outing was to find a Princess of the same size as my ''Jubie'' for comparisons sake, and I was please by what I found. The only questionable issue is that the protective v-prongs that most princess cuts get put in, add an illusion that the rock is bigger, where ball end prongs (is that what they''re called?) look slightly less big.
Conclusion...
I know many of you are already sick of hearing me talk about my diamond search, which for all extensive purposes is 95% over. So why put myself through this?
Well, partly b/c I have nothing else to do until it''s set and returned to me. And partly b/c I enjoy looking at diamonds now. I feel a little bad about taking up the sales people''s time, but perhaps I''m also keeping them on their toes.
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