1st time diamond buyer : Please help me avoid disaster

[3rd Rock]

Hello Pricescopers,

I seek the advice of you seasoned veterans. I do understand that Marquise is not the choice of the purists, but it is what makes the love of my life happy. I like to think that I have learned a lot through research, but admit that I have much to learn. My budget is around $5000, but I came across this diamond, and cannot, for the life of me, figure out why it is priced so low. With this price I can afford to get her some earrings to go with it for her birthday. (I plan on proposing to her the day before her 30th, so she can say she was engaged before she was 30

) I know everyone says that ''if it is too good to be true it probably is'', but what am I missing here. I want to buy this diamond now, but am scared I am going to make a huge mistake in missing something. The GIA Cert is attached. Please help!! TIA

Price: $2781
Shape: MARQUISE
Carat Weight: 1.13
Cut: Very Good
Color: H
Clarity: VS2
Certificate: GIA
CERTIFICATE NUMBER: 16316911
Depth: 60.8 %
Table: 54 %
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Very Good
Girdle: Thin to Slightly Thick (Faceted)
Culet: Not Applicable
Fluorescence: Very Strong Blue
Measurements: 10.97 x 5.56 x 3.38 mm

The price of my second choice is more on par with similar diamonds that I have been looking at. If my first choice does turn out too good to be true, please feel free to offer up opinions on my second choice as well.

Here is my second choice:

Price: $4400
Shape: Marquise
Carat: 1.24
Color: H
Clarity: SI1
Certificate: GIA
Length to Width: 2.13
Depth Percentage: 62.8 %
Table Percentage: 54 %
Girdle: STK-TK
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Very Good
Culet: None (Pointed)
Fluorescence: None (Inert)
Measurements: 11.65 x 5.46 x 3.43

Thanks,
newbie.

P.S. Any preference between Angara, USA Certed, or Whiteflash amongst pricescopers?

 

[Cleo]

I''m afraid I''m no expert on marquise cut stones (but they are gorgeous!) - but thought I''d give you a bump & hope you get some more useful info from others.

The lower price on the first stone could be partly due to the very strong blue fluorescence. Have you seen a pic of the stone or asked the vendor to check tht the stone doesn''t look at all milky or oily?

x x x

 

[strmrdr]

Whiteflash

cant tell much by the numbers personaly need an ASET image.

 

[3rd Rock]

I thought that the flourescence was a factor in the price as well. Perhaps even the fact that the girdle is "faceted" (I, honestly, don''t know what that means with respect to the quality of the diamond). I just can''t imagine that translating to an almost $2000 difference (about 40%) from similar diamonds. I could be absolutely wrong, as I am not the most versed person in the world of diamonds.

I did contact Angara (they were the first alphabetically offering the diamond). They do offer to take a video of diamonds that they have in-house. However, I was told that the actual diamond is overseas and no video could be taken, but could be brought in with my order (card not charged until diamond is shipped to me) and my order could be cancelled if I did not like what I saw.

I just wanted to get a general opinion based on the numbers and cert before I even went that far. I wasn''t sure if there was something blaringly wrong that I missed.

 

[Cleo]

They should be able to speak to whoever is holding the diamond, and ask them to get a gemologist to look at the stone for you to confirm it''s eye clean & not milky/oily at least.

x x x

 

[3rd Rock]

I will definitely ask them to do that. Thank you.

 

[kcoursolle]

I have no idea about what makes a marquise stone well cut, but I agree that the first stone seems like a great value! The faceted girdle isn''t what is making it so cheap, so don''t worry about this. Faceted girdles are very common. The strong blue is probably affecting the price. This is very rare, but sometimes flour can impact the performance in certain lighting. This could be easily checked after seeing the stone however.

I agree with the others that it is definitely best to have some images, but perhaps you could have them sourced in for a small fee to get the pictures?

 

[Lorelei]

See if you can get an ASET image and also some photos of the diamonds, and if you consider the SI1 diamond, get some pics and check carefully that it is eyeclean with the vendor.

Here is a thread which explains why ASET is so useful

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/why-we-prefer-aset-to-ideal-scope-with-fancy-shapes.73949/

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I would most definitley deal with WhiteFlash on the stones because they offer a lifetime upgrade policy and I trust them to evaluate the stones for you. They''ll take pictures, and that is the only way you can choose a non-round stone!

 

[3rd Rock]

Is an ASET Image something relatively easy to obtain?