All things being equal, which would you choose?

[HVVS]

Suddenly I felt, “Geez, why not trust your own eyes? Why do you need an expert to tell you you have a nice stone in order to believe you have a nice stone?”

Suddenly I no longer felt I needed to have my stone “mind-certified.” Like they say in audiophile circles (Stereophile, The Absolute Sound), Trust Your Ears!

That said, I probably need to have it appraised for insurance purposes. But I think I can get that done locally and perhaps not need the services of one of the nation’s most authoritative appraisers, excellent as he is.

1. I'd get it appraised as confirmation that I'm not buying a structurally unsound or otherwise flawed stone and make the purchase contingent on a good report from the independent appraiser.
2. I'd get any jewelry of that much value appraised and thoroughly documented so that if there's ever a need to file an insurance claim, I'd have exact specs that a replacement must live up to, so the ins. co. can't replace it with crap that they say I should settle for or pay me less than the item was worth.
3. Same, b/c I still don't believe the low price isn't hiding something that makes it truly and $8K diamond and not such a great bargain.