$10K to go from I to H?

[Dee*Jay]

I have been shopping around to see about a trade in. I''ve finally found someone who is responsive and can get his hands on a selection of stones (or so he says). But I''m a bit shocked by the "price"...

Should it cost $10K plus my current stone to go from a 3 ct I SI1 to just get to an H color (still 3 ct, SI1)? Not to mention my current stone is a GIA and the ones he has are EGL (of course I would have whatever I was interested in independently appraised).

To some degree this gets to the "mind clean" issue because my biggest impetus in trading is to get a different cut, so maybe I can reconcile myself to the $$$ if he produces a diamond that I can''t live without, but seriously, what do you all think of the $10K + current stone "price"?

(No, by the way, this is not the same guy who I got the stone from. That vendor has turned out to be completely non -responsive. I''ve even called him with specific stones off of Polygon that I would like to see and I never get a call back.)

 

[belle]

is it the same shape?

 

[codex57]

Sounds pretty insane to me. I understand we''re in the 3 carat range so we''re talking HUGE and ultimately, fairly hard to get, but still! It''s just one freaking step. Unless yours was cut like a piece of charcoal (which I don''t believe it is, just throwing it in as an example) and the new one is an 8*, it sounds like a complete ripoff to me.

 

[FireGoddess]

10K to go from a 3ct I SI1 oval to a 3ct H SI1 oval? Wouldn''t do it! Your oval is gorgeous - and I know all about the mindclean thing (traded up from an I SI1 rb cuz I could see color) but 10K is a lot for just 1 color grade.

 

[lmurden]

Pleaseeeeeeeeee.

 

[windowshopper]

Date: 5/12/2006 7:39:33 PM
Author:Dee*Jay
I have been shopping around to see about a trade in. I''ve finally found someone who is responsive and can get his hands on a selection of stones (or so he says). But I''m a bit shocked by the ''price''...

Should it cost $10K plus my current stone to go from a 3 ct I SI1 to just get to an H color (still 3 ct, SI1)? Not to mention my current stone is a GIA and the ones he has are EGL (of course I would have whatever I was interested in independently appraised).

To some degree this gets to the ''mind clean'' issue because my biggest impetus in trading is to get a different cut, so maybe I can reconcile myself to the $$$ if he produces a diamond that I can''t live without, but seriously, what do you all think of the $10K + current stone ''price''?

(No, by the way, this is not the same guy who I got the stone from. That vendor has turned out to be completely non -responsive. I''ve even called him with specific stones off of Polygon that I would like to see and I never get a call back.)

okay more info please"

you have an oval right now? please tell us the vendor?

 

[Kaleigh]

Don''t do it!!!!!!!!!

 

[windowshopper]

Dee Jay-I am having similar issues -the prices are insane.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Ok, current stone is 3.02 ct I SI1 oval. The ONLY think I dont LOVE about it is the weird faceting on the ends. (But of course tonight we went to dinner at this new restaurant and the damn thing shined virtually GLOWED in the funky lighting.)

The new stones are in the same ct size (3.00 to 3.10), SI1 and H color, still an oval. I was told by two vendors that it would be about 15K to go to a G color (still SI1), and the vendor today is the one that quoted me 10K to go to an H.

I'm trying not to think about the total $$$ (because once I finally find the right stone I am also going to have a new setting made with platinum at a record high!!!), but to rather focus on ultimately having the perfect ring (if there is such a thing).

(And if this isn't all bad enough, during dinner my husband mentioned his 40th birthday is coming up this month and all he really wanted was to go out to Charlie Trotter's [this nice restaurant in Chicago] and then our friend who was out with us said that at least I have 5 years to think about what sort of big diamond thing I might want to celebrate my 40th when it rolls around (because of course a nice dinner won't do it for me) and WHAM!!! Right then and there I started thinking about what I want for a birthday that's still 5-1/2 years from now and I haven't even resolved this whole stupid upgrade thing yet from last Christmas.)

AAAaaaHHHhhh!!! I really do think sometimes I am just out of my mind!!!

 

[upgrading mama]

DeeJay,
I wouldn''t do it! You have a gorgeous stone already!!! Maybe, you could use the money that you "would" have used for the trade and make another ring??

Maybe a smaller center with a halo, or a 3 stone?? I couldn''t imagine spending that much coin for going up one color step, even at that ginormous size..

 

[windowshopper]

3.04 G SI1 64.8% 58% GIA m-tk f no vg vg no 10.78x8.18x5.30 $10085 $30659SP

 

[roppongi]

Dee Jay....no way! When I upgraded from a 2.07 F/VS2 to my current 3.01 F/SI1 I paid an additional $11,500 and that was retail. I have thrown so much money at my engagement ring it''s ridiculous (3 different stones, 2 different sets up side stones and 5 different settings all in platinum). I am forcing myself to finally be at a place where I can be happy with it....no matter how much I am jonesing to change it.

 

[Mara]

yikes i would so not pay $10k just to jump a color grade!! esp to go to an EGL from a GIA! did he say why it''s so pricey?

i just did a quickie AGS0 search for rounds, i know yours is an oval, but was just curious, and there were a few EGL stones and it looks like something like a 3c G SI1 is ~25k and a 3c H SI1 is ~30k so that''s about a $5k jump for color...which still seems like alot but DOUBLE that for an oval?? i thought rounds were typically more expensive than fancies?

anyway...$10k could buy alot of diamond items or other items, but hey if you got it and it''s allocated for just this thing and you really want the color jump, i''d just ensure you get the same cut quality of stone, that it looks fab and checks out with an appraiser since it''s EGL. the last thing you want is to pay the $10k for an EGL H and then realize it was really a GIA I which is already what you have! good luck gal!

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 5/13/2006 3:34:37 AM
Author: Mara


anyway...$10k could buy alot of diamond items or other items, but hey if you got it and it''s allocated for just this thing and you really want the color jump, i''d just ensure you get the same cut quality of stone, that it looks fab and checks out with an appraiser since it''s EGL. the last thing you want is to pay the $10k for an EGL H and then realize it was really a GIA I which is already what you have! good luck gal!

I agree with mara and it''s exactly what I was thinking. If you have the 10K and want to do it, go for it, but definitely have it checked out with and appriaiser to make sure you really are moving up to an H SI1.

 

[Dee*Jay]

So I've been mulling this over all night (big surprise, right?) and here's what I'm thinking: I don't mind the I color, but I have to give the jewelers SOME factor to work with. If I went to a diamond guy and said I want another I color 3 ct SI1 oval in exchange for this one, realistically what would he charge me? This is America, land of the free market, and I fully appreciate a jeweler's right to make a decent living. So, if I go up one color and let him charge me a bit "extra" for the benefit (to me) of letting me get a different stone, we'll I'm OK with that. What I'm not particularly OK with is $10K for one color grade and going from GIA to EGL.

I talked to another jewler who told me the wholesale price difference between I and G with all other things being equal with the stones would be about $7K, so am going to try to work with that. I.E., either be willing to pay about $5K to go from I to H, or willing to pay $10K to go from I to G.

(Of course all of this would have been moot if I would have picked a better stone to being with--but I can't dwell on that now or I'll drive myself CRAZY!)

I'm on my way to explore a few others options this afternoon, and I'll let you know if I come up with anything good.

Ug.

 

[FireGoddess]

I know this does nothing for your mind-clean thing, but the major problem you have with your oval (windowing at ends) is hardly noticeable - not particularly noticeable at all in pics, and certainly not a detraction. I know it''s driving you crazy, but for what it''s worth, your stone is beautiful and I wouldn''t be forking all that money unless I was changing something really significant. I know fancy owners can get obsessed with getting as close to perfection as we can, since by nature the stones are not symmetrical and therefore not as easy to establish ideal parameters for, but I just wanted to let you know that your stone is truly gorgeous. Sometimes I get obsessed by the fact that my pear stone is a little deep, so it faces up smaller than it could, and therefore is not ''perfect'' but then I snap out of it - like last night when we went to the horse races and my stone was sparkling SO much that people from sections above me were coming down to take a look at it. Then I think, deep, schmeep.

 

[Mara]

DJ perhaps I missed it but what is your beef with your stone? the color or the cut or ?

Anyhow, good luck with the search but I gotta say that I kinda agree with FG re: if you are going to fork over a good amount of $$ to make the change a significant one. I know that on PS $$ is not always the same to each of us but even $5k or $10k, that''s still alot of dough, so just make sure it counts for the very long term!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Oh, I am now so much more hopeful about how this might turn out!!! I just went to two local boutique jewelers and they both told me (A) You''re crazy--this is a georgous stone, but (B) Yes, we''ll help you find another one! These people seem like they would be so much better to deal with than the schmucks I''ve encountered down on Wabash who promise you the moon and then never even call you back.

Mara, you''re right, I was probably not clear about the color thing. My issue with the stone is the cut, not the color, but I felt like I had to give jewelers something to work with that would resonably result in a profit for them. So if I upgraded the color too everyone could feel justified with handing over the stone at extra $$$, but if I just went 3 ct I SI1 to 3 ct I SI1, I''m not sure how a "transaction" like that could even be priced.

Firegoddess, to your point, I do only see the windowing in certain light, and if I tilt my hand ever so slightly it goes away, but I feel like I should take this opportunity to "get it right."

And now for all of your other sane people who have been trying to help me out of my own insanity... I have decided if this does not work (I.E., if Steve Quick or Holtzman''s don''t produce a stone that TRULY is better) I am going to keep the one I have. I''ve got pretty much a 1A across the board (with the exception that my small indented natural gives me a tiny "extremely thin" area on the girdle) and I know how hard it''s going to be to find that again since it took so long the first time. So.... hopefully within a relatively short period of time I will have either "upgraded" or gotten over it,

Thank you all for sticking with me through this. There is NO ONE else outside of PS that I know who would even begin to understand!!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Windowshopper, didn't want to hijack the other thread, so here are the specs of my current stone and the "story" for what's going on.

3.02 ct
I color
SI1 (totally eye clean)
53 table
63 depth
VG polish
VG symmetry
Girdle extremely thin (only in one place due to a small indented natural) to slightly thick, faceted

Just lovely except for an aspect of the cut that drives me crazy.

When I started looking for a new permanent setting (when the upgrade occured they just plopped the new bigger stone into the old head) I fell a bit out of love with my oval, so I've been out looking for a new one. Today is the first day I've felt like there's any hopeful progress (see my post above), but I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[windowshopper]

Date: 5/13/2006 9:22:12 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Windowshopper, didn''t want to hijack the other thread, so here are the specs of my current stone and the ''story'' for what''s going on.

3.02 ct
I color
SI1 (totally eye clean)
53 table
63 depth
VG polish
VG symmetry
Girdle extremely thin (only in one place due to a small indented natural) to slightly thick, faceted

Just lovely except for an aspect of the cut that drives me crazy.

When I started looking for a new permanent setting (when the upgrade occured they just plopped the new bigger stone into the old head) I fell a bit out of love with my oval, so I''ve been out looking for a new one. Today is the first day I''ve felt like there''s any hopeful progress (see my post above), but I''ll keep everyone posted.

oh my ggodness the specs on this stone are astounding and you must know this? may i make a suggestion? spend your upgarde money on a kickass amazing mounting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! are there pix of your stone or ring anywhere?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Windowshopper, here's the link to when I first posted my upgrade pics.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/finally-pics-of-my-upgrade.38019/

And yes, I know, I feel like I'm out of my mind. EVERY jewler that I've taken it to tells me it's a great stone. I even had one guy tell me he would not even bother to look for a better stone than mine beause he would probably never find it. Soooooo, I'm trying to balance the reality of knowing that I have a good stone with the insanity of the X% of the time that the cut bothers me in some lighting.

The real test will come over the next week or so when I see what the two jewelers I talked to today might produce... Believe me, I'm ready to fork over some rather serious (but hopefully not a stupid amount of) $$$ to have this problem resolved (in my own mind, anyway - LOL!).

 

[windowshopper]

Dee Jay:

Okay--read all your stuff and I have a few observations...

I think your oval is divine and to my eye, looks very much like a lovely old cushion. Ovals are just the cleaned up descendants of cushions. (and most old cushions are just beautiful yet fat lumpy ovals. As such I think the things you dont like about it (not evident to my eye through the phots) can be massaged. What I mean to say is that many old stones........old miners, cushions, european, and rose cuts (gorgeous though they can be) often are woefully deep, lumpy, irregular etc. Most such stones have a lovely, glittering beauty that is framed and heightened by their georgian, deco, or otherwise splendidly intricate, detailed or encrusted mountings. I think your stone looks naked and lost with those pears. I would put it in a mounting like fire goddesses or something delicate yet sparkling to enhance it........

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 5/13/2006 11:23:50 PM
Author: windowshopper
Dee Jay:


Okay--read all your stuff and I have a few observations...


I think your oval is divine and to my eye, looks very much like a lovely old cushion. Ovals are just the cleaned up descendants of cushions. (and most old cushions are just beautiful yet fat lumpy ovals. As such I think the things you dont like about it (not evident to my eye through the phots) can be massaged. What I mean to say is that many old stones........old miners, cushions, european, and rose cuts (gorgeous though they can be) often are woefully deep, lumpy, irregular etc. Most such stones have a lovely, glittering beauty that is framed and heightened by their georgian, deco, or otherwise splendidly intricate, detailed or encrusted mountings. I think your stone looks naked and lost with those pears. I would put it in a mounting like fire goddesses or something delicate yet sparkling to enhance it........

wow WS, I am in complete agreement with this and you said it beautifully. Which reminds me dejay of the oval e/w setting you orginally saw at pearlmans

or this one.

 

[windowshopper]

Date: 5/13/2006 11:31:14 PM
Author: mrssalvo

Date: 5/13/2006 11:23:50 PM
Author: windowshopper
Dee Jay:


Okay--read all your stuff and I have a few observations...


I think your oval is divine and to my eye, looks very much like a lovely old cushion. Ovals are just the cleaned up descendants of cushions. (and most old cushions are just beautiful yet fat lumpy ovals. As such I think the things you dont like about it (not evident to my eye through the phots) can be massaged. What I mean to say is that many old stones........old miners, cushions, european, and rose cuts (gorgeous though they can be) often are woefully deep, lumpy, irregular etc. Most such stones have a lovely, glittering beauty that is framed and heightened by their georgian, deco, or otherwise splendidly intricate, detailed or encrusted mountings. I think your stone looks naked and lost with those pears. I would put it in a mounting like fire goddesses or something delicate yet sparkling to enhance it........

wow WS, I am in complete agreement with this and you said it beautifully. Which reminds me dejay of the oval e/w setting you orginally saw at pearlmans

oooooooo very nice!

 

[windowshopper]

Mrs salvo--i like the split shank one b/c it offers the "illusion" of side stones............Leon mege has an amzing oval on his site with a micropave''d mounting--need to go search

 

[windowshopper]

Leon Mege r411-15 --I cant copy it


!!!!!Help Mrs Salvo

 

[windowshopper]

hurray look Dee Jay!

 

[decodelighted]

I can help but keep thinking that some of this "windowing" you''re seeing are just facets reflecting light back and "flattening" so that the whole facet "lights" up briefly?

Does that describe it ... ''cause "windowing" is being able to see through the stone, right? But you''re describing something different ... something that probably exists to some extent in every fancy cut.

In other words -- ya might be fighting something that isn''t fixable (at least in fancy cuts with facets like that -- w/o the extra tight symmetry of Round Brilliants)

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 5/13/2006 11:50:20 PM
Author: decodelighted
In other words -- ya might be fighting something that isn''t fixable (at least in fancy cuts with facets like that -- w/o the extra tight symmetry of Round Brilliants)

With your stone being 1A cut, this is pretty much what I''ve been trying to say. I know once doubt creeps in it is a devil to deal with, but I suspect you''re going to drive yourself mad and not find an oval that ends up being better than what you''ve already got.

 

[windowshopper]

Date: 5/14/2006 3:40:15 AM
Author: FireGoddess

Date: 5/13/2006 11:50:20 PM
Author: decodelighted
In other words -- ya might be fighting something that isn''t fixable (at least in fancy cuts with facets like that -- w/o the extra tight symmetry of Round Brilliants)

With your stone being 1A cut, this is pretty much what I''ve been trying to say. I know once doubt creeps in it is a devil to deal with, but I suspect you''re going to drive yourself mad and not find an oval that ends up being better than what you''ve already got.

I agree firegoddess what do you think about my setting idea as a remedy for her dissatisfaction