5 carat diamonds - A few questions

[samgracier]

Hi All:

I've been "forum lurking" for quite some time on the boards here. Now that I've found the right girl, it's time to start the search for the right stone. Her dream has been to wear a 5 carat piece and if at all possible, I'd like to deliver. With that said, I'm looking to you all for some guidance on the following:

Price: Rough estimates for decent-to-good cut, clarity, color.
Source: Where/who can I look for such a stone.
Certification: There seems to be a sizable price disparity as we move from GIA to EGL to Non-Certified. She doesn't care about the piece of paper, should I?
Regarding color, what grade does a stone of this size stop looking white?
Regarding clarity, I've seen a number of stones listed as SI1/2. Is this a concern given that the color grade is likely to be in the higher range?

Any other thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[kenny]

EGL color and clarity grades are lies.
GIA's grades are true.

If you send an EGL F VS1 to GIA it may get grades of H SI1, or worse.

EGL stones are not cheaper; they are just not what their grades say they are.
EGL stones seem like a better deal, until you know better.

 

[madelise]

It's one thing to buy an Uncerted stone with not much monetary risk... Maybe <$2-300 fr a small project. If you're spending 100k+ on a 5'er, PLEASE make sure you're not getting played for your money by insisting on GIA or AGS grading, ONLY, and then confirming its actuality with an INDEPENDENT appraiser!

Good luck with your search!

 

[yennyfire]

Ditto to kenny and madelise. For a purchase of this size, you really need that piece of paper to ensure that you're getting what you paid. You'll also want it for insurance purposes. Here's the thing. Uncerted stones are uncerted for a reason. Dealers know that they can charge WAY more for a certed stone, and they also know which lab to send it to based on the grade they think they can get from said lab. A GIA stone gets more $$$ than an EGL stone with the "same" grade (i.e. as kenny allued to, a GIA F/VS1 cannot be compared to an EGL F/VSI....

Are you prepared to spend upwards of $300K and to be fairly patient? Finding a great 5 carat stone is not easy, as there are not tons of them on the market. My suggestion is to go look at stones as large as you can find and determine what your color/clarity tolerance are (I'm suggesting as large as you can find, as color shows more in larger stones than smaller ones).

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

What shape?
Interest in Estate pieces?

cheers--Sharon

 

[Phoenix]

If you can post, if you don't mind, your budget and/ or what shape, colour and clarity you're looking for, I might be able to help. At the moment, there're just too many unknowns.

I've just found my "dream" 5ct after searching for 6 years, so I know how hard it is. But not to worry, I have a few good tips I am willing and able to share with you.

 

[denverappraiser]

Nearly every dealer on the planet will be thrilled to talk to you about this sort of sale. Most don't stock a lot of inventory in this size range, especially if you're looking for unusual shapes and/or unusual combinations of clarity and color but they can all get them. It's generally good to view the jeweler as your ally in the hunt rather than as the opponent across the table the way you shop for most other things.

It's easy to get a feel for pricing using the 'pricescope your diamond' utility at the top of the page. That leads to a database of a dozen or so price competitive dealers who advertise stones for sale. You can quickly compare dozens of offers. As mentioned in previous posts, ignore everything but GIA and AGS graded stones, especially for this education process. There's even issues within those but this is a good way to get your pricing grounded. To get a grounding in cut, color and clarity, go visit some jewelers and look at some real diamonds. It's important to understand the difference between, say, a G and an I and the only way to do this it to actually look at some stones, live and in person.