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Newbie.. help me review this diamond

sledge

Ideal_Rock
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Stephan

Ideal_Rock
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Inventory of Fortrez and HPD are different, I think Fortrez doesn't delete sold diamonds as fast as HPD. When looking at CBI diamonds, I trust the HPD database.
 

kmoro

Brilliant_Rock
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Just curious....did CBI start offering princess cut stones, or is Fortrez really playing off the CBI logo to give a false illusion? :think:

@John Pollard, @Paul-Antwerp, @Wink

http://www.fortrez.com/diamonds/detail/8565/detail.htm

Capture.PNG

Edited to Add:
Including a screen cap and link to an actual CBI round diamond to show how similar the pages look.

HPD: https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD9033
Fortrez: http://www.fortrez.com/diamonds/detail/9033/detail.htm

Capture2.PNG


Looks like they do princess cut:

http://www.fortrez.com/about/infinity-diamonds/

Hey! Now that that sunk in, I’m really excited about that! CBI princess! Yay!
 

sledge

Ideal_Rock
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Looks like they do princess cut:

http://www.fortrez.com/about/infinity-diamonds/

Hey! Now that that sunk in, I’m really excited about that! CBI princess! Yay!

Interesting. I could have sworn I remember @Wink stating not long ago they do not carry anything but rounds as that is all CBI produced and those were the best available diamonds, or something along those lines.

Maybe this is a new product. Or maybe I remembered wrong and will get to eat crow. Tick tock, which is it? :lol:
 

Stephan

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A long time ago, Paul showed me the CBI Princess cut, it was much nicer than the princess you can find on the market but I prefer rounds.
 

lovedogs

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Interesting. I could have sworn I remember @Wink stating not long ago they do not carry anything but rounds as that is all CBI produced and those were the best available diamonds, or something along those lines.

Maybe this is a new product. Or maybe I remembered wrong and will get to eat crow. Tick tock, which is it? :lol:

on the HPD website it talks about how they only have rounds. I thought that was for CBI entirely, but I could be wrong.
 

Dancing Fire

Super_Ideal_Rock
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A long time ago, Paul showed me the CBI Princess cut, it was much nicer than the princess you can find on the market but I prefer rounds.
Yup, They used to cut ideal Princesses but not sure if they still do.
 

WinkHPD

Ideal_Rock
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Yup, They used to cut ideal Princesses but not sure if they still do.

Sorry, with the hubbub around the holidays, I am not seeing as many posts as I would like.

For a short time, Crafted by Infinity did cut the most beautiful princess cuts I have ever seen. I believe that it was one of Paul's incredible princess cuts which received the very first AGS 0 cut grade for a princess cut.

Paul is a firm believer that no princess of less than 2 cts should ever have more than two chevrons. The diamond that you linked to is a 2.22 ct E-VVS1 with only two chevrons. It is the only remaining Princess in the CBI inventory. It will not be replaced, nor any new ones ever cut, as most cutters will cut a much larger diamond than CBI will from the same starting crystal, making it nearly impossible for CBI to afford the starting crystals, and more importantly, most consumers were not willing to pay the price for the extra beauty. Consequently, when I published our new site, I did not ask the developer to spend time on the princess cut category so it does not show on my site.

Wink
 

sledge

Ideal_Rock
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Sorry, with the hubbub around the holidays, I am not seeing as many posts as I would like.

For a short time, Crafted by Infinity did cut the most beautiful princess cuts I have ever seen. I believe that it was one of Paul's incredible princess cuts which received the very first AGS 0 cut grade for a princess cut.

Paul is a firm believer that no princess of less than 2 cts should ever have more than two chevrons. The diamond that you linked to is a 2.22 ct E-VVS1 with only two chevrons. It is the only remaining Princess in the CBI inventory. It will not be replaced, nor any new ones ever cut, as most cutters will cut a much larger diamond than CBI will from the same starting crystal, making it nearly impossible for CBI to afford the starting crystals, and more importantly, most consumers were not willing to pay the price for the extra beauty. Consequently, when I published our new site, I did not ask the developer to spend time on the princess cut category so it does not show on my site.

Wink

Wishing you happy holidays @Wink and that you will find some peace through this busy time. :cool2:

Thank you for taking the time respond back, and clarifying the situation. It is greatly appreciated. Sounds like a PS'er needs to jump on this rare bird.
 

sledge

Ideal_Rock
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**edited by moderator, against policies. Please take a moment to read the Trade policies at the bottom of the Forum page**

/Victor

Victor,

Welcome aboard. It's good to get feedback from vendors.

Just so you are aware, those in the trade have to be identified as trade members. Additionally there are some special rules you have to follow. One being your aren't suppose to sell/promote your products or services. You can answer questions, etc but there are some guidelines the mods like you to follow.

I'm sure @Ella would be happy to answer any additional questions you may have.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Paul-Antwerp

Ideal_Rock
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**edited by moderator, against policies. Please take a moment to read the Trade policies at the bottom of the Forum page**

/Victor

Hi Victor,

Welcome to PS. Oh, I am sorry, as a newbie, you may not be aware that acronyms are the norm here on Pricescope and PS thus stands for Pricescope.

When I saw this thread pop up, I was surprised seeing a Swedish online-retailer pop up, based in Boras of all places. I happened to pass by in your town around Easter this year, and I would not have expected an online-diamond-retailer being based there. Let me say that I was positively surprised.

But then I started researching some random stones on your website. And that confuses me. I retrieved the owners of these stones. And I enquired to purchase some of these stones. And in the end, I found that, based upon your website-listings, I could buy them cheaper from you. Granted, I would have to pay Swedish VAT, but I would recover that, as a trade-entity. And you are transferring the VAT to the Swedish treasury, so the end-result is that your sales-price is listed below your cost-price.

Thus, Victor, kudos to you. Maybe I have not fully understood your website, which leads me to incorrect conclusions. Therefore, please clarify if you can.

Live long,
 
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cheche99

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
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16
Hi everyone!

Sorry for being off a couple of days :) Back to the stone hunting again..
We will probably go for a diamond on Blue nile or CBI diamond but smaller. I have found a Astor Ideal stone on BN but when requesting a ASET image they said it was not possible and they could only offer the GEMEX online. Do you know if this applies to all of the stones?

This is a Aster Ideal but after reading here on PS and other places, I feel that Astor Ideal is not worth the premium price you pay.
https://www.bluenile.com/se/build-y...AMONDS&track=viewDiamondDetails&action=newTab

We will probably go for one on these:

https://www.bluenile.com/se/diamond-details/LD11109362

or

https://www.bluenile.com/se/build-y...AMONDS&track=viewDiamondDetails&action=newTab

or

http://www.fortrez.com/diamonds/detail/9057/detail.htm

It is an engagement ring and it will be mounted on a gold setting.
 
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Stephan

Ideal_Rock
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This is the gemex report for the Astor diamond:
livereport.gemex.com/pid/2296957290
It looks great, but for this price the CBI diamond sounds like a more interesting option.
And even if the Astor is a VS1 (CBI is VS2), I prefer the clarity of the CBI.
And of course the upgrade opportunities offered for a CBI.

But honestly, my final choice would be
https://www.bluenile.com/se/diamond-details/LD11109362
The price sounds great, it's a VVS and it's bigger (0.5 is a little bit small for an engagement ring IMHO).
Picture and GIA show there is nothing to worry about, a great diamond.
 

Stephan

Ideal_Rock
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Originally, you were searching for 0.6-0.65 ct, and it's a nice size to begin.
Did you check BGD and WF? They do stock this size.
 

sledge

Ideal_Rock
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My rub with Astor Ideal is they market the Gemex report like its special and mark the price of the stone up as a result. Why can't they do like the rest of the market they are competing with and give you an ASET, idealscope and hearts and arrow (H&A) images so you have objective data upon which to make a determination about light performance and symmetry accuracy? Instead they use a metric to "prove" performance that is inferior to the previously listed images and then expect the consumer to pay more for it. Blah, a marketing gimmick IMO.

Personal opinions aside the proportions of the diamond are quite lovely so I would expect it to perform well. But honestly the proportions of the other two BN stones are great too.

Of the BN stones you listed I'd choose this for size and proportions. I love the 34.5/40.8 combo and that 55 table will yield lots of fire. A smaller table means larger upper facets and those facets is where rainbow light (fire) is produced. Consequently smaller tables equal more fire. Also like the 75 LGF as that is more big bold flashes.

https://www.bluenile.com/se/diamond-details/LD11109362

All this said, for a very small price increase you can get a CBI that is a true H&A stone and has a lifetime upgrade policy that only requires you spend $1 more with no other restrictions. I'm not sure if the 80% buyback policy is limited to HPD or offered through CBI but that is an amazing perk if you ever find yourself in a fire sale situation. Most importantly the CBI stone is a proven performer with objective and relative data to prove it.

Also CBI stones have a reputation of appearing whiter than their color grade assigned by the lab. You may be able to consider an H or I stone to bump the size and/or make it more budget friendly.

And @Stephan, some WF choices was listed on page 1. The OP told me thanks but no thanks as he wanted a UK vendor due to VAT simplicity.
 

bmfang

Brilliant_Rock
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Jan 2, 2017
Messages
1,851
If OP is in UK, getting a CBI stone in to view at a UK vendor is the best option in my books. Unfortunately, the buyback option I think is only a HPD thing.

BN offers far too much variability in their inventory and for the price they charge for their Astor stones without any other real objective methods to measure light performance (though Gemex is better than nothing I suppose).
 
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