- Joined
- Apr 25, 2014
- Messages
- 8,225
Hey all 
I just thought I'd put a post up as I am still very noob to all this and PriceScope has been beyond useful in helping me learn what I should be looking for and what qualities make a good diamond
so this is just to say thanks, really 
I've not really had much chance to see a good deal of stones 'in the flesh' so I took the chance recently to visit a jewellery quarter in my nearest big city while travelling for work
There were a lot (!) of shops selling a large variety of stones, from some that looked absolutely horrendous to others in a good range of D-F colour, IF to SI stones of varying sizes.
I tended to only really enter the shops if it looked like the shopworkers/owners were 'nice', although there were several that came out to try to lure me in! I went into a couple of shops in the end.
In the first place they were kind enough to bring me a small selection of solitaire rings then challenged me to firstly identify the different colours (D and F or G, IIRC) then the cuts (SI1 and VVS2). I'm pleased to say that the D was easy to spot compared to the F/G (although it does mean that I now wonder if I will be happy with an F but I guess when it's on its own it won't have the comparison next to it) but the clarity was a little more difficult to spot without a loupe because the SI1 stone was pretty eye clean.
They were pretty open about things, stating that they make the most of their money off the sale of a stone rather than a setting, so were reluctant when I mentioned about buying a stone off the internet and having them setting it, saying that I should make sure it has a good return policy if I do. They also rolled their eyes a little when I talked about AGS SuperIdeal and said that I should beware of dodgy grading houses... lol I think the main issue is that I am in the UK and AGS is not really known over here.
I have been reading on here that it's possible to get stones graded by both houses (and have the resultant dual-engraving on the girdle) but is it worth getting an AGS000 stone certified by GIA? If I was to ever need to sell a stone on (hopefully not if its an engagement ring stone!) then I guess a GIA certificate would add extra 'internationally accepted' value? Ultimately I would want to buy from one of the vendors on here with a good buy-back policy! so would a GIA certificate really matter, especially if the quality was obvious to someone setting it into a ring?
In the second place I went into it seemed a lot more relaxed than the first place; the lady serving left me sitting there with a couple of solitaire rings and a loose stone while she went off to get another one! They were great for allowing me to compare stones, and pulled out the inventory list and ran through it looking for ExExEx GIA stones for me. In the end they didn't have any in the size I am interested in but did have a couple with Ex/Vg/Vg in different combinations and colours. To a noob it does seem that all the different tiny variations would seem marginal in their effects but comparing a VG cut to an Ex cut did make the benefits of an Ex cut obvious because it seemed to sparkle a lot more! 
I really did prefer it to the other cuts so I think I understand more now the benefits of buying a better cut and not worrying too much about dropping a couple of colours or clarity levels.
It was interesting that the owner of the second place, sitting back nonchalantly and just chiming in occasionally, said that sellers are struggling to get rid of VVS2 and above as people are just buying up to VS2 instead. Indeed, the Ex cut they showed me was only a VS2 or VS1 at most (I can't remember now ) and, to the naked eye, it was clean and had a great deal of sparkle. I think, as a noob, I am perhaps getting too obsessed with the micro-images blown up to the size of a screen, whereas in real life the stone is really not that large and inclusions are all but invisible unless one buys something with an obviously large inclusion in it that can be seen by the naked eye! I supposed that IF really is just an insurance policy for maintaining a higher future value as it would seem impossible to really tell it from VS2 on-the-hand??
So, anyway, after all my rambling on... I think I can summarise by saying that I now feel there is no substitute for getting to a decent bricks and mortar place and checking some stones out in real life (even though 'showrooming' is a bit naughty lol), and that the focus on Cut as king of the 4Cs is not misplaced
Now I just have to commit to buying something
although I've already been working with a forum vendor and have received excellent service so far!
I just thought I'd put a post up as I am still very noob to all this and PriceScope has been beyond useful in helping me learn what I should be looking for and what qualities make a good diamond
so this is just to say thanks, really I've not really had much chance to see a good deal of stones 'in the flesh' so I took the chance recently to visit a jewellery quarter in my nearest big city while travelling for work
There were a lot (!) of shops selling a large variety of stones, from some that looked absolutely horrendous
to others in a good range of D-F colour, IF to SI stones of varying sizes.I tended to only really enter the shops if it looked like the shopworkers/owners were 'nice', although there were several that came out to try to lure me in! I went into a couple of shops in the end.
In the first place they were kind enough to bring me a small selection of solitaire rings then challenged me to firstly identify the different colours (D and F or G, IIRC) then the cuts (SI1 and VVS2). I'm pleased to say that the D was easy to spot compared to the F/G (although it does mean that I now wonder if I will be happy with an F
but I guess when it's on its own it won't have the comparison next to it) but the clarity was a little more difficult to spot without a loupe because the SI1 stone was pretty eye clean. They were pretty open about things, stating that they make the most of their money off the sale of a stone rather than a setting, so were reluctant when I mentioned about buying a stone off the internet and having them setting it, saying that I should make sure it has a good return policy if I do. They also rolled their eyes a little when I talked about AGS SuperIdeal
and said that I should beware of dodgy grading houses... lol I think the main issue is that I am in the UK and AGS is not really known over here. I have been reading on here that it's possible to get stones graded by both houses (and have the resultant dual-engraving on the girdle) but is it worth getting an AGS000 stone certified by GIA? If I was to ever need to sell a stone on (hopefully not if its an engagement ring stone!) then I guess a GIA certificate would add extra 'internationally accepted' value? Ultimately I would want to buy from one of the vendors on here with a good buy-back policy! so would a GIA certificate really matter, especially if the quality was obvious to someone setting it into a ring?
In the second place I went into it seemed a lot more relaxed than the first place; the lady serving left me sitting there with a couple of solitaire rings and a loose stone while she went off to get another one! They were great for allowing me to compare stones, and pulled out the inventory list and ran through it looking for ExExEx GIA stones for me. In the end they didn't have any in the size I am interested in but did have a couple with Ex/Vg/Vg in different combinations and colours. To a noob it does seem that all the different tiny variations would seem marginal in their effects
but comparing a VG cut to an Ex cut did make the benefits of an Ex cut obvious because it seemed to sparkle a lot more! I really did prefer it to the other cuts so I think I understand more now the benefits of buying a better cut and not worrying too much about dropping a couple of colours or clarity levels.
It was interesting that the owner of the second place, sitting back nonchalantly and just chiming in occasionally, said that sellers are struggling to get rid of VVS2 and above as people are just buying up to VS2 instead. Indeed, the Ex cut they showed me was only a VS2 or VS1 at most (I can't remember now
) and, to the naked eye, it was clean and had a great deal of sparkle. I think, as a noob, I am perhaps getting too obsessed with the micro-images blown up to the size of a screen, whereas in real life the stone is really not that large and inclusions are all but invisible unless one buys something with an obviously large inclusion in it that can be seen by the naked eye! I supposed that IF really is just an insurance policy for maintaining a higher future value as it would seem impossible to really tell it from VS2 on-the-hand??So, anyway, after all my rambling on... I think I can summarise by saying that I now feel there is no substitute for getting to a decent bricks and mortar place and checking some stones out in real life (even though 'showrooming' is a bit naughty lol), and that the focus on Cut as king of the 4Cs is not misplaced
Now I just have to commit to buying something
although I've already been working with a forum vendor and have received excellent service so far!
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