Been had. Need advice.

[Kismet]

A while back I posted about a new project that was in the works. You can see that post here. The mounting looks lovely but the jewelers have run into some problems with the center stone. They had trouble mounting it and had it recut/repolished several times. While I was on vacation they had a graduate gemologist look at it and he told them it was synthetic and the jewelers sent me an email stating as much.

Now my question is when I go back to the vendor do I just say "The jewelers said it''s a fake and not a real chrysoberyl" or do I get it looked at on my own first? Although they didn''t say so, I''m pretty sure that when they asked the GG to look at the stone it was more an informal "hey can you give this a quick once over" than a request for an in depth evaluation as they have already spent a bit having the thing re-cut and re-polished.

I bought the stone back in February and spent around $275 on it so to me it''s not a huge monetary loss but I do feel bad for the jewelers as they have spent money trying to turn a sow''s ear into a silk purse.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. Also, perhaps the name of someone in the Boston area that could check out my other loose colored stones.

 

[portoar]

I don''t know; it seems if the stone has already been re-cut and re-polished you don''t have much of a claim. It won''t even look like the original that was sold to you. The sellers could claim that THEY are being had. I don''t think it will be worth your time/trouble. I would bite the bullet and try to find a different stone. Would a nice peridot be a good substitute? They are not expensive.

 

[widget]

Oh, dear....I''m so sorry to hear this....yours is such a neat project...

I have no advice....I''m sure an expert will jump in here soon.

I''d probably contact the seller right away to hear their reaction to this news. If it''s true that the stone is synthetic...sold as natural...then they''re crooks.

I''m sorry!

widget

 

[Kismet]

Date: 6/19/2006 9:38:24 AM
Author: portoar
I don''t know; it seems if the stone has already been re-cut and re-polished you don''t have much of a claim. It won''t even look like the original that was sold to you. The sellers could claim that THEY are being had. I don''t think it will be worth your time/trouble. I would bite the bullet and try to find a different stone. Would a nice peridot be a good substitute? They are not expensive.

So you think I shouldn''t even bother telling the vendor that they sold me a fake at all? I was thinking that maybe they didn''t know they were selling me a fake but on reflection that''s probably fairly unlikely.

I considered the re-cut issue as well. I don''t think that I ever thought that the vendor would re-imburse me. I mean it was my responsibility to get the stone checked out within the return period and I didn''t.

 

[PrecisionGem]

The whole story sounds very fishy.
Why would the jeweler have the stone recut? The shape looked like a pretty standard oval. My guess would be that the chipped or scratched the stone trying to mount it. If it was just a small scrathed and it could be maybe fixed without recutting the stone. If the stone was chipped, than it could require recutting the stone. If this was the case, then the stone would be smaller.
It could be they felt while mounting it, it broke rather easily, and began to wonder if it was indeed a chrysoberyl.
What was the original size of the stone (weight)?

 

[Kismet]

Date: 6/19/2006 9:58:26 AM
Author: PrecisionGem
The whole story sounds very fishy.

Why would the jeweler have the stone recut? The shape looked like a pretty standard oval. My guess would be that the chipped or scratched the stone trying to mount it. If it was just a small scrathed and it could be maybe fixed without recutting the stone. If the stone was chipped, than it could require recutting the stone. If this was the case, then the stone would be smaller.

It could be they felt while mounting it, it broke rather easily, and began to wonder if it was indeed a chrysoberyl.

What was the original size of the stone (weight)?

The jewelers did indeed tell me that they chipped the stone while mounting it. And while they were fixing the chip they thought they would straighten out the oval as it wasn''t cut especially well.

The stone was originally 3.62 carats and 7.27mm x 9.50mm.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

I would get a second opinion on the gem ID just to give you peace of mind about the stone and the vendor who sold it to you.

Perhaps you could ask an appraiser to give you a verbal ID. Tell him you don't have that much money in the stone and don't want to spend a lot for an ID if you don't have too. Maybe he'll do it for you cheap, or at no charge if it's an easy ID.

If he ID's it as synthetic, then you could decide at that time if you'd like him to put it in writing so you can submit it to the selling vendor.

The stone certainly has a natural "look" to it in the photo.

 

[PrecisionGem]

$75/ ct for chrysoberyl is pretty a pertty low price.
Have you worked with this jeweler before? Not too many jewelers can cut stones. Often when they chip a stone, if it is just a typical cut, simply replace it with another stone. I get asked all the time by jewelers that I sell to if I would fix stones. Usually the stones are pretty inexpensive stones that would much cheaper off just buying another stone than paying me to recut it. Also, a chip can usually cause the stone to get much smaller. I had a guy drop a trillion amethyst I had just cut, and it chipped the pavilon near the girdle. The stone originally weighed around 7 cts., now I recut it and it''s a bit under 4.

 

[portoar]

Date: 6/19/2006 9:56:48 AM
Author: Kismet

Date: 6/19/2006 9:38:24 AM
Author: portoar
I don''t know; it seems if the stone has already been re-cut and re-polished you don''t have much of a claim. It won''t even look like the original that was sold to you. The sellers could claim that THEY are being had. I don''t think it will be worth your time/trouble. I would bite the bullet and try to find a different stone. Would a nice peridot be a good substitute? They are not expensive.

So you think I shouldn''t even bother telling the vendor that they sold me a fake at all? I was thinking that maybe they didn''t know they were selling me a fake but on reflection that''s probably fairly unlikely.

I considered the re-cut issue as well. I don''t think that I ever thought that the vendor would re-imburse me. I mean it was my responsibility to get the stone checked out within the return period and I didn''t.

Oh, so you''re not trying to get your money back, you just wanted to call the seller of the gem on it? Yes, then you might try talking to them about it. I''m going to bow out and leave the opinions to the experts you have here. . . best of luck, though. I thought your ring design was really pretty and was looking forward to seeing the finished product.

 

[DiamondExpert]

I agree with Rich - get a + ID in writing first and then take it from there.