A good buy or mass market rubbish?

[busterdan]

I to be completely honest know very little about diamonds...so when I recently went to purchase my partner a diamond solitaire ring I could have quite easily walked out with anything!!

Anyway I ended up with a 0.67 carat round brilliant cut, Colour F, Clarity I2 set in a 18kt white gold mounting.

The dimensions are 5.55 - 5.61 x 3.45mm

The diamond has a IGI diamond report from June 2002

From looking on the internet I was wondering if the I2 clarity rating makes the diamond a bad buy.

I paid £479 (about $800) which seems to be pretty cheap really...but I'd appreciate some expert opinions on this

 

[niceice]

I-2 is not necessarily a "bad buy" but it is a pretty included diamond... There are all diamonds of various qualities for all sorts of people, the important thing is that you are understand what you have purchased and that you are comfortable with that clarity grade. If you're concerned about size rather than quality, then an I-2 clarity diamond offers you a way to maximize the size of the diamond available for your budget, but there are some drawbacks, the most significant being that your fiance is going to be able to see the inclusions within her diamond very easily with just her eyes... And so will her girlfriends, but they may be more into size as well so it might not matter. Take some time to read the tutorials here on Price Scope, especially the ones on clarity and then decide whether you want to keep the diamond you have or not, but do it quick because the clock is probably ticking on how long you have to return or exchange your purchase. Good luck!

 

[TheDiamondangel]

What's the return policy from where you bought it?

The potential problem is that IGI is much more leinent in their grading than GIA, so it very well could wind up being G color, I3 clarity. The price isn't bad, but I would let your eyes be the judge when you get the ring.

 

[busterdan]

Hi all and thanks for your advice.

Budget is an issue but from looking around some local jewellers similar quality diamonds are significantly more money to buy so I think I will not be able to afford to buy something with a better clarity. It is possible to see some small inclusions in the diamond, also I found if I hold the ring under a low voltage lamp I can refract the light onto my palm to see white spots which I assume to be inclusions in the diamond.

I am concerned about the IGI report, having seen elsewhere that they are not as reliable as the other organisations. So on that basis I suppose I should shop around and get the best that my budget can afford.

The ring was purchased from a large chain of stores in the UK....that sell just about everything. There are many stores situated close to me and all have similar rings in stock. I plan to ring them today and ask them to check the certificates, I suspect that all will have a clarity in the "I" range but maybe I will be lucky.

I'll let you know how I get on

 

[busterdan]

Well yesterday I called around alot of stores and finally found one which sounded worth checking out.

So I visited the store and changed the ring I have for a 0.70ct H I1 ring in exactly the same style and same price.

Obviously it is "near colourless" but to my eye it looks no different, it is slightly larger overall and seems to have less obvious inclusion despite still being a I rating.

 

[Fancy]

BusterDan ..

Are you sure your partner would rather have a slightly larger stone over the quality? I found 11 pages of stones in the price range of $800 -$1,000 searching here on pricescope ... the biggest diamonds I could find that were still in the $800 range were about .40's, but if you spend about $100-$200 more, you can get a certified beautiful half carat diamond. I know I would rather have that than an "I" quality, but of course to each his own ...

0.52
H
VS2
61.8%
56%
EGL
m-stk
no
gd
vg
no
5.19x5.13x3.19
$1787
$929*


0.52
H
VS2
61.8%
56%
EGL
m-stk
no
gd
vg
no
5.19x5.13x3.19
$963*†


0.53
H
SI1
60.8%
60%
GIA
-
no
gd
vg
ft
5.18x5.24x3.17
$956*

 

[pyramid]

Hi, I am in the UK. Which store are you dealing with does it begin with A and end with s. I noticed that they sell I3 diamonds. I think you are better of with an I1.

 

[busterdan]

Thanks for that information Fancy, and Pyramid you are indeed right about the A---S store

Fancy the size is not the main deciding factor....I agree overall quality is more important, but for my budget it seems very hard to get a nice diamond in the UK....well unless you spend hours ringing around and travelling between lots of jewellers.

One thing in favour of A---S is that they do at least provide certificates for their diamonds (the one's mounted on 18ct rings anyway), I called some well known jewellery chains in the UK today that Pyramid will I'm sure know.... EJ's and HS's and their £1000 rings were not even certified, all they could say was that the stones would be a minimum colour of J and clarity P2 (I2 is that?). So in effect I could have paid twice as much as I did and have no idea what I was getting

Maybe like most things the UK is significantly more expensive for diamonds, unless you go for mass market diamonds like I have, with which quality is then compromised.

To my untrained eye the diamond looks beautiful, if I look closely I can see what appear to be small marks/scratches on the sides of the diamond, but no apparent inclusions inside the diamond. I know the test I did with the other diamond may not have been ideal, but if I hold this diamond up under a light to the palm of my hand there are far fewer refracted light spots so I think the I1 rating is about right.

I'm afraid the certificate doesn't give me much more information but I'd be interested in a rough estimate to the value of the diamond/ring based on the details on the certificate

IGI
October 29th 2002
Round Brilliant Cut
0.70 Carat
5.59 - 5.65 x 3.59mm
Near Colourless H
I1

As I said both my partner and I think the ring looks beautiful which is the main thing, but me being a typical guy I also want to make sure I haven't just wasted £500!!

Here is the item shown on the Argos website (though it doesn't really give much info...) - http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=1001&productId=58780

 

[Fancy]

Busterdan, would you consider ordering on line? All the diamonds I posted can be shipped right to you and have GREAT return policies.