I just wanted to comment on my diamond buying experience and a couple of vendors that I worked with in the purchase.
Not knowing anything about diamonds, I did a lot of research and read a lot on the PS forums before I even decided what I wanted to buy my girlfriend for her e-ring. Settled on an asscher and then went around to most every jewelry stores looking at their asscher stones to see what I liked and didn’t like. I also did a bunch more reading on Asschers to find what the experts felt were important characteristics (Thanks STRM!). I found (for me) color and cut to be more important than clarity for the most part in the stones that I saw. I didn’t particularly care about the grading lab but I wanted the grading to be accurate. I did see some EGL stones that looked good to me, at least on the color side and others that seemed way-way misgraded (always on the side of a better color). The GIA stones were pretty consistent. But I was OK with an EGL stone if I liked it and it graded out OK independently. My criteria that I decided to search on was a 2-2.1 ct. stone, H color or better, VS1 clarity or better that was proportioned out good.
I searched PS and found a number of stones that I was interested in, all available from multiple vendors. Abazias was the cheapest on each, so I decided to try them first, but if the customer service was poor I was going to try a different vendor. I emailed Abazias with a list of stones I was interested in (several were EGL stones) and asked if they would send to a independent lab so I could look at them and if I liked any I could have them graded independently there and send the rest back. I made it pretty clear that I would be picky about the stone.
I received a quick reply from Erin Simkin, their sales manager, who said that she would be happy to order in the stones ad send them over but I would be responsible for $80 return shipping per each stone back. She also said this about EGL-Israel stones “None of these stones will appraise for the same color and clarity that is stated on the certificate. When comparing GIA and EGL you will see a significant price discrepancy, this difference is accounted for as a measure of the incompatibility of the grading. EGL uses similar nomenclature but actually has a different standard of grading for color.” Given that I didn’t want to pay return shipping for stones that I wouldn’t buy and the apparently small likelihood that I would find an EGL stone that would grade out well, I decided to go with only GIA diamonds in my search. I picked two but only one of these was available at the moment and Erin was really helpful and said that she would order any stones I wanted in and look at them before shipping to me as it would save me some money and them some time if she didn’t think it would look good or grade out well.
The first stone I asked her to order in was GIA 2.04 ct., H color, VVS2 clarity, 1.02 L/W ratio, Depth 69.4%, Table 64%, Strong blue fluorescence. I was concerned about the fluorescence making the stone cloudy in sunlight but figured they would see if it was and not send it over if this was the case. It was listed on the PS search at a really excellent price probably due to the fluorescence. When Abazias received the stone, Erin called me and basically told me that she was really surprised at how nice the stone was at the price that it came in at. She said that she is pretty picky when it comes to Asschers and this one was really nice and the fluorescence didn’t have an effect on the clarity in sunlight. I had it shipped over and was really happy with it. No effect with the fluorescence and a nice cut with nice windmills and that deep asscher pattern. I even took it over to the jewelry stone that had the asscher that I liked best locally and this one looked as good or better and was $10K less (Not that I would have paid $10K more-out of my price range).
Drove the stone 2 hours to have it independently examined and appraised by Jim O’Bryant at Gem Appraisal Lab near Toledo, OH. I thought he was very knowledgeable and thorough. As a scientist, I liked that he didn’t look at the GIA report at all until he finished grading the diamond himself. He really liked the stone and the cut and his grading agreed with the GIA report. I asked what it would sell for at a local B&M store and he came back with a number $10k more than what I paid and asked about a fair internet vendor-wholesale price and it was $5k more than what I paid, so I think I made out pretty well and most importantly I am happy with the stone.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought I would share my experience and also thank the PS members for helping me in this purchase. I was really happy with Erin and Abazias and also Jim O'Bryant and would recommend either without hestitation.
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