Appraisal Question??

[777_LDY]

I''m thinking that I really need to have my stones reappraised before I continue on with my upgrade and start matching stones to the current stones I have and have several different options to do this.

First, my insurance co. will pay for the appraisal if I use the one and only person that they will send me too. Won''t cost me a penny, however I feel that there is a conflict of interest there. I have never heard of this person before but she did say she could take out my stones.

Second, I can go to an independent appraiser and pay around $350 for a very thorough "exam" of my 3 stones however this person will not take the stones out himself. He can have an associate do it but I would rather bring them to him loose.

Third, my local jeweler can do it. I have dated appraisals from the past and I''m not too happy with the the amount of info I''ve gotten. Plus, they won''t take out the stones for me unless I let them do the appraisal which bothers me.

I''m just wondering what thoughts anyone might have on these three options. I''m thinking I should definitely go with the independent appraiser but would anyone know why my jeweler or the independent appraiser won''t take out my stones?? Is that strange or is it just me?? Who can I go to to have this done?

Thanks!

 

[bee*]

Out of the three options, I would probably go with the independent also. I''ve no idea why they can''t take out the stones themselves, but in terms of the appraisal, I feel that it would be the most neutral.

 

[777_LDY]

Thanks for the response bee. I have just had an abundance of information coming to me lately and I''m sooo confused.

I also forgot to mention that when I spoke to the IA I expressed to him that I wasn''t thrilled about the cut of my center stone and asked him what it would take to have it re-cut. His response was that he could tell me if it would be a good idea, how much weight I would loose, and he could even do it for me (by a computer). I just wasn''t aware that IA did that and if I do decide to go that route I''d want to know. He also mentioned that he can sell diamonds but typically only does this for businesses. I wasn''t inquiring as this was something I did not think an IA does but maybe he has other credentials?? I know he is reputable as I have come across his name numerous times in my search for appraisers (I was going to get this done last year), and he is even listed through PS, but I''m still confused by all this and would appreciate any info.

Thanks.

 

[777_LDY]

*bump*

 

[denverappraiser]

Date: 2/5/2008 3:16:27 PM
Author:777_LDY
I''m thinking that I really need to have my stones reappraised before I continue on with my upgrade and start matching stones to the current stones I have and have several different options to do this.

First, my insurance co. will pay for the appraisal if I use the one and only person that they will send me too. Won''t cost me a penny, however I feel that there is a conflict of interest there. I have never heard of this person before but she did say she could take out my stones.

Second, I can go to an independent appraiser and pay around $350 for a very thorough ''exam'' of my 3 stones however this person will not take the stones out himself. He can have an associate do it but I would rather bring them to him loose.

Third, my local jeweler can do it. I have dated appraisals from the past and I''m not too happy with the the amount of info I''ve gotten. Plus, they won''t take out the stones for me unless I let them do the appraisal which bothers me.

I''m just wondering what thoughts anyone might have on these three options. I''m thinking I should definitely go with the independent appraiser but would anyone know why my jeweler or the independent appraiser won''t take out my stones?? Is that strange or is it just me?? Who can I go to to have this done?

Thanks!

777,

The conflict of interest here is HUGE. I definitely would recommend against the first choice and, frankly, I would call this a vote against the insurance company in general. Who is your insurance company?

$350 for a pre-loss insurance appraisal is on the high side. You may benefit by shopping for a different appraiser. We don''t all charge the same prices and we don''t offer the same services. Many will be less than this, some by quite a bit. Your appraiser may be offering a more thorough service than you need.

OK, this is an upgrade deal. Who will be selling the new stones? Who will be buying the ''old'' ones? Who will be building the final ring?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[777_LDY]

Thanks for the reply Neil. I''m going to be working with WF on the new ring and they will be helping me with the stone selections too. Because I already have some stones that I will be keeping, and have to match new stones to them, I would like a thorough "exam" (I don''t have much info on my current side stones).

I also want to make sure that I am aware of all my options before I have them reset into a new ring which is why I asked about re-cutting.

My center stone has a large table and a thick girdle so it is something I am curious about...in ten years I don''t want to look at my diamond and think maybe I should have looked into that...knowing that the new stones I add will most likely out perform my center stone. I got nervous when this IA said he would be able to re-cut the stone for me if he thought it would be to my benefit. I didn''t think an IA could do that, and while he seems to have good references I just didn''t feel comfortable. Thankfully, I was able to speak to WF yesterday and they were able to offer me some great information since I didn''t know what many of these abbreviations for credentials stand for! I have now found someone different in my area and am MUCH more confident and all set to go and see her!

Arbella is my insurance co. and even though I haven''t heard of any problems with them I do agree it is a huge conflict of interest. We have our homeowners policy through them but will be changing it shortly.

 

[denverappraiser]

Whiteflash will probably be willing to remove the stones from your existing setting although I wouldn't expect them to commit to anything upfront without the opportunity to inspect the piece because of the possibility of prior damage. Among other things this will help them to match it with a new center stone. You can use the same appraiser that does the examination on your new stone to do the inspection and documentation on the old ones. WF works with lots of us for this kind of work and you should be able to send the ring to them, have them choose what they consider to be an appropriate match and send them all to your chosen appraiser for further documentation and evaluation. When the project is complete you can have the same appraiser complete the report.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Gypsy]

I would send them to Neil. But then, that''s what I did. He took mine out of the setting for me to do the appraisal.

 

[777_LDY]

Date: 2/7/2008 8:13:27 PM
Author: denverappraiser
Whiteflash will probably be willing to remove the stones from your existing setting although I wouldn''t expect them to commit to anything upfront without the opportunity to inspect the piece because of the possibility of prior damage. Among other things this will help them to match it with a new center stone. You can use the same appraiser that does the examination on your new stone to do the inspection and documentation on the old ones. WF works with lots of us for this kind of work and you should be able to send the ring to them, have them choose what they consider to be an appropriate match and send them all to your chosen appraiser for further documentation and evaluation. When the project is complete you can have the same appraiser complete the report.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

Thanks again for the replies! My plans are to get my current stones reappraised. The last appraisal I had was an IGI on my center stone from 1999, I know that''s bad

! The IA I have chosen with the information given to me by WF, will take the stones out for me to get the most accurate results and then the stones will be ready to send to WF when the ring is made. I will send the appraisals to WF so they will have all the details they need to help me with the stone selections. Then yes, the same IA will then do an appraisal of the ring when it''s finished, even though that step seems like forever away still!

I really wanted someone reputable in my area so I could wait for the appraisal. I need the appraisal to update my insurance as well so I don''t think sending them out would even be an option for me. Plus, waiting for the appointment is bad enough! I couldn''t imagine sending them out, I''m going nuts doing this as it is!

 

[Ellen]

tiny threadjack

How is the dual stone search going??

 

[777_LDY]

Thanks for asking Ellen, it was going well until I got cold feet, lol! The two stones that I had found were available and a perfect match. For some reason one was no longer available through JA but WF said that they could get it. I started second guessing myself because I know how impatient I can be

, I''m working on that! Because the table on my center stone says it is 71% on my original report and the new stones have a table of 57% I want to make sure I am doing the right thing, thus I am having my stones reappraised to get the info I need to make a good decision. They need to be reappraised anyway and really I should have done this before I started looking.

I know if I choose these stones now and continue on with the ring I will be thrilled, but years down the road I don''t want to second guess myself wondering if I would have made the same decisions had I done my homework. If indeed the table on my center stone is that large (it doesn''t look that "flat" to me) I may consider choosing diamonds with larger tables too, about 60%, so they don''t out perform the center stone. I know I may be over analyzing and I''m driving myself nuts

but I want to know all of my options and be comfortable with what I choose for the long run! PS has certainly given me a lot to think about!