Premium for Tiffany diamond?

[replicator]

Helllo,

Please excuse my newbiness

Anyhow, I have a Tiffany diamond engagement ring that I acquired from a friend of mine. He had a prior engagement which fell through and since I was in the market for one and had some capital, I figured I'd buy it either for reuse or as an investment. Anyhow, I've decided that I won't be giving this same diamond ring for my gf due to the negative history associated with it, as I don't think she'll be in really good spirits about it. I did consider this when I purchased it, but I figured that due to the price I was paying (50% off retail), I didn't have much to lose since I could trade/sell it if need be (yes, I should have thought this through a bit more). Anyhow, I wanted to help out a friend who wanted to just be rid of the ring.

So - my ideal option would be for me to trade this engagement ring for a different one of similar quality. This ring is 1.24ct brilliant round, VS2, G, EX/EX/VS, on Tiffany classic platinum.

The question is, what can I expect for a trade given this is Tiffany? Is there any significant premium to this branding? I'm okay to go with a lesser known brand, but I'd like the carat, quality of the diamond and setting to be comparable. Reading prior posts in here, it seems the expectation for any trade/sale is a significant loss realized. In my case, since this thing was acquired at resale value it wouldn't hurt me as much, but I'd like to know if this is even in the realm of possibility, or if i'll have to hand over significant amount of money again to just acquire a similar ring with this trade. While I may be able to return the ring, I'm not considering that option at the moment.

Your feedback appreciated.

 

[vishke8]

Post some more information on the ring..

How much are you expecting, images of the ring, diamond and metal information etc..

The more information you provide the more response you will get.

Goodluck

 

[madelise]

Since it is a signed piece, you can usually sell it for a good amount of it's retail value. You can try selling it on PreLoved or on Ebay.. OR if you want to get your GF a T&Co piece anyway, you can take it back to T&Co, and use it as a trade in to upgrade. I believe their rule is that you have to spend double the original retail value, though, so that might be a hefty price tag.

Why not poke around eBay to get an idea of how much they're going for at the moment?
Here's a 1.26 going for ~12K OBO. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tiffany-Co-...55175705?pt=US_Fine_Rings&hash=item337de02d19
and a 1.33 going for ~10k http://www.ebay.com/itm/TIFFANY-CO-...t=Diamond_Solitaire_Rings&hash=item51a4771a1a

You can list it in Preloved on DiamondBistro or LoupeTroop to see if any PS'ers are interested, then move to eBay if it doesn't move? The swiftness of your sale will depend on how much you discount the ring, though. The more you discount it, the faster it will sell.

 

[GreenBling]

If the diamond has stats of that of an ideal, would you consider keeping the stone, and just get a new setting? You can even pay a couple of hundred to have GIA graded it so as to start 'fresh' (if the history bothers you).

 

[AprilBaby]

I agree. Get the diamond regraded or blessed or something and put it in a new setting.

 

[tyty333]

I agree. Get the diamond regraded or blessed or something and put it in a new setting.

This is what I would do. Honestly, any new diamond you buy could have "negative" mojo because it could be stone traded in
by someone else. I choose not to believe in any of that but I know everyone is different.

 

[liaerfbv]

Are you SURE she won't be in good spirits about receiving the ring? Does she know you have it? I ask because if I knew my boyfriend had a beautiful Tiffany solitaire sitting at his house... I could be flexible about a "negative" history. I'm just saying, maybe double check with her (or one of her friends, sisters, etc.) if you really think she'll have a problem with it.

 

[yssie]

If it wasn't a branded piece I'd just ditto PPs re. taking it out and re-grading and re-setting and re-blessing it. But I think if you do that to this piece you'll devalue it tremendously, since much of the value is in the branding of the unit as a whole, so if you really don't want to give it to her I'd say look into selling it as-is first as madelise suggested.

But ditto, why not have a girlfriend find out if she might not be just fine with it first?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, goodness! Never, ever take a diamond out of a Tiffany setting!!! Yikes! That would be like buying a new Porsche and then replacing the body with a Volkswagen!

If you have the money, Tiffany will allow one upgrade as long as the ring you buy is double the price of the first one. I do not know how the policy works when the item is second hand, but hopefully your friend gave you the sales receipts. This would be the very smartest option if you can do it.

If you can't do that, I would just sell the whole thing as is if you are sure she wouldn't want it. We have a pre-loved section of the forum and you can list items on loupetroop or diamond bistro and then post on pre-loved. A new Tiffany ring should sell well and you may be able to get a little more than you paid.