August Vintage Cushion at James Allen?

[flyingpig]

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.40-carat-d-color-vs1-clarity-sku-3596310
at 13k???
Is this real?? If so, somebody go get it.
Did I miss this news that AV (@Rhino) supplies stones to JA?

Other AV stones
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.00-carat-f-color-vs2-clarity-sku-3596292
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.51-carat-g-color-si1-clarity-sku-3596274
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.21-carat-k-color-vs1-clarity-sku-3596255

 

[LawmaLlama]

holy cow, this is eye crack late on a friday night.

 

[LawmaLlama]

Sure does seem real. Maybe that's part of his new wholesale side of the biz???

 

[JDDN]

Yup it's true!! Jonathan is supplying James Allen with AV stones and I believe will supply his new ideal cut fancies to JA as well. So if you're looking for new AV stones, JA is the place .

Personally I'd like to see the August Vintage line have their own category, similar to JA's True Hearts so it's easier to search. That and they deserve their own category!!

 

[ac117]

Woooowwwwww!!!!! Awesome!!! I agree, JDDN...we should really be able to filter these special beauties somehow!!

 

[LawmaLlama]

The 1.21 K is on the AV youtube channel

 

[flyingpig]

Now I can upgrade my wives' to AVC or potentially AV Asscher, AVR, or Signature Oval if the partnership expands.
Thanks @Rhino

 

[lalala]

Whaaattt? Is this legit? Confirmed where?

 

[lalala]

How do you filter for them? Just luck?

 

[flyingpig]

The only AV product available at JA is AVC.
To find, set your filter, cut-ideal (no true hearts) and lab-ags. There are only 4 AVC as of now

 

[totallyfree]

Saw this when I woke up... eek!!

 

[Volvoqueen]

Does anyone know if there will be AVR coming to JA as well?

 

[Niel]

There’s a o colored one too

 

[lalala]

Does this mean the new ovals will eventually be available on JA too?

 

[Niel]

https://www.jamesallen.com/mobile/l...ushion-cut/0.76-carat-vs1-clarity-sku-3596257

 

[Octo2005]

Does anyone know if there will be AVR coming to JA as well?

 

[JDDN]

Does anyone know if there will be AVR coming to JA as well?

I believe they will when they are finished being cut.

 

[daintyG]

Will these stones be listed on the GOG site as well? So, they’d be virtual inventory for both vendors?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Will these stones be listed on the GOG site as well? So, they’d be virtual inventory for both vendors?

Jonathan has his own company now: https://www.augustvintageinc.net/

The stones are going to be listed on James Allen, and he will also have a list of the same stones on his site, but as of this moment, he just has specs and no pictures on his site but James Allen will have the great videos on their site. They will not be on GOG. James Allen had a little glitch getting them posted and should be adding more soon.

When I search for the AVCs, I click cushion, Ideal and True Hearts, and AGS only for the lab. That will bring up a few modern cushions graded by AGS and the AVCs. The AVRs are coming in within the next few weeks and you'll filter by round and AGS, but I don't think the AVRs are graded for cut, so I am not sure I'd put Ideal/True Hearts until we see how their program classifies them.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

https://www.jamesallen.com/mobile/l...ushion-cut/0.76-carat-vs1-clarity-sku-3596257

This one is pretty funny! JA has a search down to M color, and this one is called Orange since their program probably didn't recognize O! (@Rhino I believe you'd better be double checking these listings!)

 

[daintyG]

Jonathan has his own company now: https://www.augustvintageinc.net/

The stones are going to be listed on James Allen, and he will also have a list of the same stones on his site, but as of this moment, he just has specs and no pictures on his site but James Allen will have the great videos on their site. They will not be on GOG. James Allen had a little glitch getting them posted and should be adding more soon.

When I search for the AVCs, I click cushion, Ideal and True Hearts, and AGS only for the lab. That will bring up a few modern cushions graded by AGS and the AVCs. The AVRs are coming in within the next few weeks and you'll filter by round and AGS, but I don't think the AVRs are graded for cut, so I am not sure I'd put Ideal/True Hearts until we see how their program classifies them.

Thank you, DS. I knew about AV, Inc. I understand they’re wholesalers and will sell their stones through retailers (like JA). I’m surprised GOG won’t be one, though. I’m also a little disappointed as I like the GOG upgrade policy, and I have a stone with them under an upgrade policy.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

@daintyG I totally understand as I'd be in the same boat. The upside is that the mark-up on the stones may be a little less than they were at GOG, since stores with great upgrade policies are generally slightly higher priced than those without. Also, AV stones with good specs usually have great resale potential, so it's usually not to hard to sell a stone and then buy another. That's the way I'm going to view this for now, at least! One more thing. GOG never carried very many AV stones. It was almost impossible for me to upgrade my AVR had I wanted to because they never got any stones in higher priced than mine! There were few AVRs over 2 cts from the time Jon had them cut. Having a seller with a broader customer base hopefully will allow Jon to sell more stones, and that is good for all of us, because it means he can order more and stock more. He may still do custom cuts directly, as well. But his intent is to replace stones as they are sold so there aren't gaps in the inventory like there have been in the past.

 

[daintyG]

@daintyG I totally understand as I'd be in the same boat. The upside is that the mark-up on the stones may be a little less than they were at GOG, since stores with great upgrade policies are generally slightly higher priced than those without. Also, AV stones with good specs usually have great resale potential, so it's usually not to hard to sell a stone and then buy another. That's the way I'm going to view this for now, at least! One more thing. GOG never carried very many AV stones. It was almost impossible for me to upgrade my AVR had I wanted to because they never got any stones in higher priced than mine! There were few AVRs over 2 cts from the time Jon had them cut. Having a seller with a broader customer base hopefully will allow Jon to sell more stones, and that is good for all of us, because it means he can order more and stock more. He may still do custom cuts directly, as well. But his intent is to replace stones as they are sold so there aren't gaps in the inventory like there have been in the past.

Sounds great! More selection will be great! And I don’t really intend to upgrade the GOG cushion I have now anyway. I’m pretty happy with it. I’m more likely to just go and buy another AV stone (an AVR) than upgrade in my situation.

While JA doesn’t have as good of an upgrade policy as GOG, you’re right that reselling is an option.

JA is great about returns, so that would help me feel good about considering an AVR from them one day.

 

[Tekate]

man that is an expensive diamond. I bought a 1.33 for 7.3K it was a K color and SI1 though.

Edit: take that back ! 1.21 K color for much cheaper. hmm

 

[diamondseeker2006]

It's a combination of diamond prices declining since I bought my first AVR 4 years ago, and less mark-up on these, I believe.

 

[OFY]

I know it's good to expand the supply of the AV stones since they're so awesome but as someone who purchased (relatively) recently I'm not super pleased. It kind of makes me feel like I made a bad purchase since it was such a budget stretch and required compromise on specs to get one, only for me to now see an AVC that not only has better specs but is also larger than the one I purchased for the same price.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

@OFY Well, if it makes you feel better, mine is worth about $5000 less than what I paid partly because diamond prices fluctuate and partly because the cutting was expensive. One day you'll see prices higher than you paid, more than likely. These stones will always be a tiny fraction of diamonds sold, so they will likely remain special and desirable. Enjoy the beautiful stone. That's my philosophy!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I do have one more thought. I really don't like the AV stones mixed in with modern cuts that have little in common other than maybe the outline of the shape! It seems like making a separate category for vintage cuts would make the most sense and avoid the AV stones not fitting in the numerical categories for ideal in the modern cuts. Hope James Allen will consider this!

 

[JDDN]

I do have one more thought. I really don't like the AV stones mixed in with modern cuts that have little in common other than maybe the outline of the shape! It seems like making a separate category for vintage cuts would make the most sense and avoid the AV stones not fitting in the numerical categories for ideal in the modern cuts. Hope James Allen will consider this!

Yes, I cannot agree more DS! These are specialty cut stones and they most certainly deserve their own category which will not only make it easier to search for, but it would make sense from a cut stand point too. I think people would be pleased to see a dedicated 'vintage cut' section and it would drive more visibility to these special stones!

 

[OFY]

@OFY Well, if it makes you feel better, mine is worth about $5000 less than what I paid partly because diamond prices fluctuate and partly because the cutting was expensive. One day you'll see prices higher than you paid, more than likely. These stones will always be a tiny fraction of diamonds sold, so they will likely remain special and desirable. Enjoy the beautiful stone. That's my philosophy!

It certainly doesn't ruin my diamond, but I can't help but wish I'd waited a year. I wouldn't be thinking this if I had bought say 5 years ago, but having bought recently this feels like I bought on the high end of the market... Also remember this price increase isn't a function of diamond prices coming down, but rather of a particular line of diamonds becoming less exclusive. This would be more like if they started selling the Tiffany Novo on JA - I'm sure those customers would also be none too pleased (an extreme example I know).

On another note, I also wish JA had more specific categories. These aren't the first antique cushions to end up on their site and it's always been near impossible to find the ones they do have among the thousands of cushions listed. I also don't think hearts and arrows cushions belong in the general cushion category either. Add to that some of the branded fancy cuts you occasionally see that fall into odd buckets (I recall an asshoka cut among the asschers some time ago) and it seems that anyone who is in the market for one of these shapes has no way of actually finding them on James Allen even though they do exist.