2 Carats Under 8K: Doable or Bad Idea?

[Niel]

Saw this and thought of you
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYMxzUPgnpa/

 

[AprilBaby]

This would certainly not be for me but for some people, size matters. Good luck, I think you will need it!

 

[HDer]

Update: The order for the diamond has been placed! And now my watch begins.

 

[Niel]

So did he send you any setting options?

 

[HDer]

So did he send you any setting options?

Not yet

 

[Dizzie]

Did you get any news from Yekutiel? I really hope you willbe happy with your purchase

 

[HDer]

Did you get any news from Yekutiel? I really hope you willbe happy with your purchase

He said it should be arriving any day now.

 

[HDer]

It's here!!!! Well, in NYC with Yekutiel. Many thanks to Yekutiel for putting this together.

Here's the video he sent me:

https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/beneficialunequaledgeese

Apparently one Pricescoper has already had the opportunity to see the stone in person. Jealous.

As for the setting, we ended up going with the James Allen setting. Sorry @Niel. Reason was because the 25% off discount/sale was expiring Labor Day and the diamond hadn't arrived yet. For what it's worth, Yekutiel said that the price James Allen had after the discount was a good price, and actually told me to order it after I told him the sale was expiring.

So total cost:

Diamond: 8,240. That's 7,840 to Narola + 400 for Yekutiel. Yekutiel said that he actually had to order through a friend who did business with Narola because the diamond was in a different location than they listed on their website, so there was a slight complication. Anyways, 7840 was within a couple of dollars of the price I was seeing on Narola's website + 150 for shipping.

Setting: 1,467. That's 1,650 * 0.75 + 100 for the setting fee + 100 for the large stone fee (I thought originally this was 100 but this is actually 2 separate fees) + 30 for shipping.

Insurance: I'm going to buy through Jeweler's Mutual, and it'll cost us 150 a year.

So total: $9,707.

Will send more updates as I get them from James Allen, and will write a post-mortem after we receive the ring on the whole process.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

So who is setting the stone? James Allen? I would probably have had the setting sent to Yekutiel to set the stone.

 

[Madison2]

It's here!!!! Well, in NYC with Yekutiel. Many thanks to Yekutiel for putting this together.

Here's the video he sent me:

https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/beneficialunequaledgeese

Apparently one Pricescoper has already had the opportunity to see the stone in person. Jealous.

As for the setting, we ended up going with the James Allen setting. Sorry @Niel. Reason was because the 25% off discount/sale was expiring Labor Day and the diamond hadn't arrived yet. For what it's worth, Yekutiel said that the price James Allen had after the discount was a good price, and actually told me to order it after I told him the sale was expiring.

So total cost:

Diamond: 8,240. That's 7,840 to Narola + 400 for Yekutiel. Yekutiel said that he actually had to order through a friend who did business with Narola because the diamond was in a different location than they listed on their website, so there was a slight complication. Anyways, 7840 was within a couple of dollars of the price I was seeing on Narola's website + 150 for shipping.

Setting: 1,467. That's 1,650 * 0.75 + 100 for the setting fee + 100 for the large stone fee (I thought originally this was 100 but this is actually 2 separate fees) + 30 for shipping.

Insurance: I'm going to buy through Jeweler's Mutual, and it'll cost us 150 a year.

So total: $9,707.

Will send more updates as I get them from James Allen, and will write a post-mortem after we receive the ring on the whole process.

Hello,
Yep it was me
I was in IDJ this afternoon and happened to see your diamond! It is truly stunning!
There is no way you can tell the diamond is a L color. It was very bright, firey and faced up very white. The diamond is gorgeous! Who ever told you initially that the diamond lacks fire and brilliance was dead wrong! Was it BC2 that told you that? To my eyes it had a lot of fire and brilliance and faced up white like a G or H stone to my eyes. I still can't believe it was a L color diamond. Now I cannot wait to see the finished ring. She is going to love the ring you give her. Please post pictures when it is complete.
You done did good!!!

 

[HDer]

So who is setting the stone? James Allen? I would probably have had the setting sent to Yekutiel to set the stone.

Yeah, Yekutiel suggested that too. However, in James Allen's FAQ they specifically say that for halos the stone needs to be shipped to them, which is also why they charge the 100 dollar setting fee for halos.

EDIT: They say it's because the halo needs to be customized for the stone.

There's another advantage to having James Allen do it, which is Signet is a huge company and I would have no problem taking full advantage of their lifetime warranty if a prong gets loose or we want to have the ring cleaned or whatever. Whereas with Yekutiel I would feel bad sending the ring back say even for the second time.

 

[HDer]

Hello,
Yep it was me
I was in IDJ this afternoon and happened to see your diamond! It is truly stunning!
There is no way you can tell the diamond is a L color. It was very bright, firey and faced up very white. The diamond is gorgeous! Who ever told you initially that the diamond lacks fire and brilliance was dead wrong! Was it BC2 that told you that? To my eyes it had a lot of fire and brilliance and faced up white like a G or H stone to my eyes. I still can't believe it was a L color diamond. Now I cannot wait to see the finished ring. She is going to love the ring you give her. Please post pictures when it is complete.
You done did good!!!

Thank you! Yes, B2C told me that it lacked fire and brilliance. A lot of other people on the forum had serious doubts about the diamond, although most people liked the Idealscope image. I did even start doubting it myself at one point, so I'm super happy with the way it turned out. Yekutiel was excited on the phone too!

EDIT: I have to say most of the credit should go to my girlfriend. She took one look at the Segoma videos I showed her and said "that's the one I want." (No GIA cert; no HCA calculation; no Idealscope; just the video) That's a big part of what gave me confidence to go through with the order. She still doesn't know it's 2 carats though, so there should still be a good surprise for her!

 

[canuk-gal]

Thank you! Yes, B2C told me that it lacked fire and brilliance. A lot of other people on the forum had serious doubts about the diamond, although most people liked the Idealscope image. I did even start doubting it myself at one point, so I'm super happy with the way it turned out. Yekutiel was excited on the phone too!

WOT are the chances a PS'er was right there to see the diamond. Mind boggling--small world! Look forward to seeing it set.

cheers--Sharon

 

[whitewave]

Hello,
Yep it was me
I was in IDJ this afternoon and happened to see your diamond! It is truly stunning!
There is no way you can tell the diamond is a L color. It was very bright, firey and faced up very white. The diamond is gorgeous! Who ever told you initially that the diamond lacks fire and brilliance was dead wrong! Was it BC2 that told you that? To my eyes it had a lot of fire and brilliance and faced up white like a G or H stone to my eyes. I still can't believe it was a L color diamond. Now I cannot wait to see the finished ring. She is going to love the ring you give her. Please post pictures when it is complete.
You done did good!!!

Good to know because I thought it looked very dark in the video

 

[whitewave]

Yekutiel should set the stone.

 

[Austina]

Glad it's arrived safely and you're happy with it. Looking forward to seeing it set, glad the 25% discount code worked.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Yeah, Yekutiel suggested that too. However, in James Allen's FAQ they specifically say that for halos the stone needs to be shipped to them, which is also why they charge the 100 dollar setting fee for halos.

EDIT: They say it's because the halo needs to be customized for the stone.

There's another advantage to having James Allen do it, which is Signet is a huge company and I would have no problem taking full advantage of their lifetime warranty if a prong gets loose or we want to have the ring cleaned or whatever. Whereas with Yekutiel I would feel bad sending the ring back say even for the second time.

Just a FYI, if a prong gets loose you take it to your local jeweler to fix. You wouldn't send it back to James Allen or Yekutiel, for that matter. It's not worth the shipping. Any maintenence like sizing or minor repairs you do locally. The only time you'd send it back to JA is if it had a flaw in the making of it and the halo broke off or something. I have never in my life had a need to use a warranty on a setting, and I am old enough to have worn rings for a really long time! Regular wear and tear isn't covered.

They could have made the setting based on the measurements of the stone, but it's irrelevant now since it's already been arranged.

 

[HDer]

Glad it's arrived safely and you're happy with it. Looking forward to seeing it set, glad the 25% discount code worked.

Thank you. Yes the 25% coupon was clutch. Basically what I paid Yekutiel to source the stone.

Just a FYI, if a prong gets loose you take it to your local jeweler to fix. You wouldn't send it back to James Allen or Yekutiel, for that matter. It's not worth the shipping. Any maintenence like sizing or minor repairs you do locally. The only time you'd send it back to JA is if it had a flaw in the making of it and the halo broke off or something. I have never in my life had a need to use a warranty on a setting, and I am old enough to have worn rings for a really long time! Regular wear and tear isn't covered.

They could have made the setting based on the measurements of the stone, but it's irrelevant now since it's already been arranged.

From what I read James Allen will do it for the 30 dollar FedEx cost https://www.jamesallen.com/mobile/guarantee/lifetime-warranty/

You're right that such minor repairs and maintenance shouldn't take too much time at a local jeweler either. Saves me the trouble of finding one who will do it for 30 bucks.

 

[gm89uk]

Hey HDer, congratulations on what seems to be really promising stone! I'm a little confused to which stone was your IS? To save me going through 6 pages is this the 36.5/40.6 stone?

I admire you managed to achieve what a lot people said you couldn't.

 

[HDer]

Hey HDer, congratulations on what seems to be really promising stone! I'm a little confused to which stone was your IS? To save me going through 6 pages is this the 36.5/40.6 stone?

I admire you managed to achieve what a lot people said you couldn't.

It's this one: https://segoma.com/v.php?type=view&id=01IQRWVEPP

EDIT: Thank you!!! It's been a great learning experience, and a lot of fun (although too much time maybe. )

 

[Madison2]

Hi,
I just looked at the video of your stone above and looked at the GIA Cert.
I think the strong blue fluorescence is definitely helping the stone face up whiter than a diamond of L color without fluorescence. I tell you when I saw it today, it no way looked like a L color diamond. It was also very clear and bright. I really liked it!
Congrats on finding a beautiful diamond within your budget!

 

[HDer]

Hi,
I just looked at the video of your stone above and looked at the GIA Cert.
I think the strong blue fluorescence is definitely helping the stone face up whiter than a diamond of L color without fluorescence. I tell you when I saw it today, it no way looked like a L color diamond. It was also very clear and bright. I really liked it!
Congrats on finding a beautiful diamond within your budget!

Thanks again. Yeah, I think the blue fluorescence helps. I think part of it might also be the jewelry store lighting. For example, IDJ sent me video of this other L stone, which also to my eyes looks very white: https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/BlaringHardtofindAfricanwilddog

The rose gold setting should also impart some color, so hopefully when she does see the brown hues it'll look natural rather than off-putting.

 

[HDer]

Another possibility, and I say this after seeing many lower-colored stones look whiter in pictures than they do in the Segoma videos, is that Segoma lights the diamonds in a way that brings out more color.

After all, we know that most diamonds sparkle a ton when out in direct sunlight, but excess brilliance or glare is not helpful in videos where the primary purpose is to let the buyer accurately see the diamonds' potential flaws, if any.

So in some ways, the two lighting schemes are almost diametrically opposed. A jewelry store wants the diamond to sparkle as much as possible so that people will want to buy their merchandise, whereas James Allen needs to limit the amount of light reflection coming back from the diamond in order to actually let people see clearly the insides of the diamond and its color.

 

[gm89uk]

It's this one: https://segoma.com/v.php?type=view&id=01IQRWVEPP

EDIT: Thank you!!! It's been a great learning experience, and a lot of fun (although too much time maybe.

Great scope! Ticks all the boxes
@flyingpig, this is a good stone for the tool

 

[HDer]

Great scope! Ticks all the boxes
@flyingpig, this is a good stone for the tool

Thanks! I saw your "cut analysis tool" referenced in your other thread. Do you have a link? Would love to check it out.

 

[HDer]

By the way, if anyone's in the market for a 5 carat M 60/60 HCA 1.4 32.5 crown angle diamond, I just found this one:

http://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/hkfauna/certificates/5181575788.jpg
http://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/hkfauna/Vision360.html?d=170291-226&sd=50&z=1&v=2&sv=0

Unfortunately, no scope image.

If you buy it the way I bought mine, you could probably get it shipped for just under 30K.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I am sure we are all looking forward to seeing the finished ring!!!

 

[Crazie4Cuts]

HDer,

1) Did Narola Gems send you the Segoma Images? I was trying to figure out how you were able to obtain the vids. Was it after you entered in your information on the Narola Gems site and was able to check a few diamonds on their site, or was after you showed strong interest in this particular one when you talked to Yekutiel at ID Jewelry. I am curious as I have never seen a Segoma video before on this site, only from the vendor like ID Jewelry, WF, GOG, etc.. so Let me know.

2) So with all this info and posting how many hours did you actually put in from start until final selection of the diamond? Curious as it took me a long time to figure out that not everyone needs or wants AGS 000 cut stone...so it seems like your search was about a month! Which btw, is really quick!

Glad you keep coming back and informing us every step of the way. PS'ers can be intimidating/opinionated and so glad you were not put off by that. Good to know that you stuck to your guns, listen to your intended wanted and determined to get it right for YOU & HER!!

-C4C

 

[HDer]

HDer,

1) Did Narola Gems send you the Segoma Images? I was trying to figure out how you were able to obtain the vids. Was it after you entered in your information on the Narola Gems site and was able to check a few diamonds on their site, or was after you showed strong interest in this particular one when you talked to Yekutiel at ID Jewelry. I am curious as I have never seen a Segoma video before on this site, only from the vendor like ID Jewelry, WF, GOG, etc.. so Let me know.

2) So with all this info and posting how many hours did you actually put in from start until final selection of the diamond? Curious as it took me a long time to figure out that not everyone needs or wants AGS 000 cut stone...so it seems like your search was about a month! Which btw, is really quick!
Glad you keep coming back and informing us every step of the way. PS'ers can be intimidating/opinionated and so glad you were not put off by that. Good to know that you stuck to your guns, listen to your intended wanted and determined to get it right for YOU & HER!!

-C4C

1. Yeah, I just signed up for an account on Narola's site, and was able to see their inventory. After I found the stone I got in touch with Yekutiel. Looks like Narola uses Segoma imaging for the majority of their stones. After buying the stone I actually also signed up for an account with another cutter as well (will talk about this in a later post; their inventory is much larger, but they don't use Segoma). In general I find the process for signing up for these accounts to be very easy, as long as you can find out who the Indian cutters are.

2. Yeah, a good month of pretty high intensity learning and searching. And it's still going to take maybe 3 weeks to get the stone set.

Thank you! It's definitely been a journey, but now that it's mostly done, it wasn't actually that bad.

 

[Niel]

But let's get down to the details what setting are you doing? Still no idea? What options did idj show you do you have photos?