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Blue nile experiences--and diamond opinion

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virginia1

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 25, 2002
Messages
13
I'm new to this forum, and I don't want to be a leech of services, but: I just put this engagement diamond on hold at Blue Nile:

$7467.00
1.10 Carat Round
AGS Ideal
Depth: 60.1%
Table: 56%
Crown angle: 34.3%
Pavillion angle: 40.9%
Symmetry/Polish: ID/ID
Culet: very small
Girdle: thin to medium, faceted
Fluoresence: Faint

Just a few questions: Should I worry about the fluorescence? Are there any other problems with this diamond I should worry about?
Also, the AGS certificate is almost 2 years old--is this a problem? Some people have told me to steer clear of old certificates.
Finally: has anybody had any particularly good/bad experiences with Blue Nile?

Many thanks! I hope to have the deed done by this weekend!
 

lawmax

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Dec 31, 1999
Messages
1,317
----------------
On 3/25/2002 6:44:42 PM

I'm new to this forum, and I don't want to be a leech of services, but: I just put this engagement diamond on hold at Blue Nile:

$7467.00
1.10 Carat Round
AGS Ideal
Depth: 60.1%
Table: 56%
Crown angle: 34.3%
Pavillion angle: 40.9%
Symmetry/Polish: ID/ID
Culet: very small
Girdle: thin to medium, faceted
Fluoresence: Faint

Just a few questions: Should I worry about the fluorescence? Are there any other problems with this diamond I should worry about?
Also, the AGS certificate is almost 2 years old--is this a problem? Some people have told me to steer clear of old certificates.
Finally: has anybody had any particularly good/bad experiences with Blue Nile?

Many thanks! I hope to have the deed done by this weekend!
----------------


Hi :))

You're not a leech! This site is all about helping consumers. The diamond looks good and the faint flourescence is no concern.

In general, we've seen consumers post good experiences with Blue Nile. The old cert. is only a question in terms of making sure the diamond isn't used with damage and in making certain that the diamond matches the cert. It is always advisable to take or send the diamond to an independent appraiser (one who does not sell diamonds) to make sure that the diamond is properly graded, has no damage, matches the grading report, etc. Here is a link to some information about independent appraisers. A proper appraisal is necessary for insurance purposes anyway if you are going to insure the stone/setting. Blue Nile's return policy gives you plenty of time to do this.

https://www.pricescope.com/appraiser.asp

You didn't post the color and clarity grades of the diamond. If you want to check the price, you can do so at www.pricescope.com

Hope this helps.
 

virginia1

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 25, 2002
Messages
13
Whoops--forgot those key details! It is a G color, VS1. Are we looking at the ballpark for a good deal? It seems to be a bit below the price point for similar diamonds at places like Blue Nile and Ashford, but I haven't ventured too far off the path in terms of internet vendors.

One other question--so far, I haven't pursued the offers of a few friends who have stories like "my friend's uncle is a wholesaler and can get you the diamond at wholesale price." Is this even worth pursuing? Could this possibly save me a significant amount of money?

Thanks for your advice--I appreciate the help!
 

lawmax

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Dec 31, 1999
Messages
1,317
----------------
On 3/25/2002 7:35:06 PM

Whoops--forgot those key details! It is a G color, VS1. Are we looking at the ballpark for a good deal? It seems to be a bit below the price point for similar diamonds at places like Blue Nile and Ashford, but I haven't ventured too far off the path in terms of internet vendors.

One other question--so far, I haven't pursued the offers of a few friends who have stories like "my friend's uncle is a wholesaler and can get you the diamond at wholesale price." Is this even worth pursuing? Could this possibly save me a significant amount of money?

Thanks for your advice--I appreciate the help!
----------------


If you've checked prices, I won't go do it now. Steer clear of those "special offers".
:bigsmile:
 

buttercup

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
87
If you're looking at internet diamonds, don't bother with the friend's uncle thing. i've gone down that road before and #1) i don't think you'll save a significant amount of money #2) you might feel pressured.

about your diamond...
1) the fluorescence is absolutely nothing to worry about
2) i personally raise an eyebrow to old certs...but that's just me. lawmax is smarter than i am, listen to the advice above
3) on pricescope, the price range for 1.10ct AGS Ideal G VS2 is $6309 to $7225 for a GIA diamond with Ex/Ex and no fluorescence.
4) i personally have had two fine loose-diamond buying experiences with blue nile in the past, but since this is a public forum, i'm going to be honest. i'm not crazy about them anymore and i would definitely never make an important purchase from them again. since i've learned about fun stuff like hearts and arrows and the like, it irritates me that they you have no idea what kind of internal symmetry any of their AGS ideal diamonds have, nor how the diamonds perform. as both garry and oldminer have pointed out, an AGS Ideal diamond is not necessarily the most beautiful diamond you can buy. they are a good company nonetheless.

Here's how I feel. Now please keep in mind, I am no expert, just a girl obsessed with diamonds and obsessed with learning. This is the advice I would hope that somebody would give my boyfriend.
Why spend $7500 on just a very nice diamond when you have the means to get something totally fabulous? with the money you're spending you can get a super-ideal..not just a regular ideal.

look at this baby...unbranded 1.12ct F SI1 $7146
http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_12ct_f_si1_h&a.htm

or this amazing 1.13 F SI1 SuperbCert branded for $7406?
http://search.virtcert.com/cgi/u/1043/v.cgi?stock=464930&_s=1043&_p=98dfs7g98dfg&_c=&_fs=&prestock=

both those diamonds have *perfect* hearts and arrows, a real testament to the diamond's internal symmetry. they also both have 3 very highs on the brilliancescopes. just because something is AGS Ideal doesn't mean that it will sparkle like these will.

I'm going to be in the market for a 1.5-2ct round soon, and there are only a few internet places that I would buy from. Once again, please take my words with a grain of salt...I'm just one opinion. Good old gold, who you can get both those diamonds from, is one of the places on my 'short list'. I love them, you get all the advantages of a brick and mortar place because they actually are a brick and mortar place. www.goodoldgold.com.
they give all their internet customers a 4 week return policy, so it's comparable to blue nile.
you get to see microscope pictures of the inclusions (blue nile won't give you that).
you get to see a firescope/lightscope image so you can assess the light leakage (blue nile can't give you that).
you get to see pics of hearts and arrows images if they're there (blue nile can't even tell you if the diamond *might* have hearts and arrows).
you get a brilliancescope analysis to measure light return, fire, and scintillation (you'd have to find someone who can do this and pay for it separately with a blue nile diamond)
now here's the best part....they have a *lifetime* trade-in policy just like the B&M stores. so down the line, if you're lady wants a bigger rock, you'll get 100% credit for this one.
Good Old Gold has a piles of praise on these diamond forums, they are super-trustworthy.
The other company that will give you all of the above services too, another online vendor that is also a B&M store...diamondbrokersofffl.com. their best diamonds aren't on their website, otherwise I would have suggested particular diamonds from them too.

Now, I realize I have just gone on and on about diamond that I think you should buy because of hearts and arrows and brilliancescopes, blah, blah, blah. Say you don't care about that stuff.
Well, then still, you can do better price-wise than blue nile. Look at these diamonds from pricescope vendor, niceice.com
1.10 F VS2 AGS Ideal $7380
1.153 F SI1 AGS Ideal $6950
1.18 G VS2 GIA-000 Ideal $7450
1.19 G SI1 GIA-000 Ideal $6830

If it were me, I would totally go for that 1.12 F SI1 unbranded beauty. (but The SuperbCert of course is a guaranteed knock-out, but you're paying a little extra for the 'SuperbCert' name. the unbranded one has just as perfect hearts and arrows, and a just as fabulous brilliancescope.
 

buttercup

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
87
oops...after all that, i just realized that you're looking at a G VS1 not a G VS2, so all that price info I gave you was worthless

pricescope shows a AGS Ideal 1.15 G VS1 for $7373, but they go way up in price from there. your diamond has a very good price.

regarless, in my opinion, i'd much rather see you go down a bit in clarity for a great-performing hearts and arrows cut...but that's because i'm a sucker for sparkle.
 

buttercup

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
87
here's the info on that 1.158 G VS1 AGS0 from affordablediamondsonline.com $7225.06 cash/$7372.51 credit, it also happens to have nice internal symmetry

6.74 x 6.76 x 4.18 mm
Table: 54%
Depth: 61.9%
Crown: 34 degrees
Pavilion: 41 degrees
Culet: pointed
Fluorescence: none
Sym/Pol: ideal/ideal
here's the cert: http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/temp/631151.jpg
and here's a pic of the Arrows image
636351.jpg

if you like this one, I'd ask Jan of Diamond Brokers of Florida to get it in and check it out for you (they all share the same diamonds)...she'll run a brilliancescope on it, and they have a 'best price guarantee' so they'll match that price. once again, just because something is hearts and arrows, doesn't mean it will get very highs on the brilliancescope.
 

buttercup

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
87
one more thing, regardless of where you get your rock, you should get it independantly appraised by someone. Dave Atlas (oldminer) is super-duper-terrific from what everyone says.
 

virginia1

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 25, 2002
Messages
13
Buttercup...Thanks for the advice! I must admit that I hadn't made H&A-type certification a priority in my search--as far as my priorities, I just wanted something generally well-cut (and the fact that this diamond does pretty well on the pricescope cut advisor certainly helps). Hopefully, even if I buy the Blue Nile diamond, an appraiser can reassure me as to the quality of the diamond. Speaking of which, I was having trouble finding a list of reccommended independent appraisers for the Charlottesville, VA area (I probably only have the time to get it appraised locally). Is there any site out there that has a good list of good appraisers? Thanks again!
 

buttercup

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
87
I didn't mean to sound like you absolutely shouldn't get the blue nile one...i was drugged up on cough medicine last night so I was grumpy. i reread my posts this morning and they really didn't answer your questions at all! sorry :)
Unfortuntaly, i don't know of any appraisers in your area. Dave Atlas is my hero, so I don't really pay attention to stuff I read about other apraisers. I'm not an expert on anything, so maybe one of the experts will know of someone.
Good luck!
 

virginia1

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 25, 2002
Messages
13
No, you definitely gave me some helpful info. Truthfully, I haven't seen a H&A next to a non-H&A ideal for side-by-side comparison, so I have made kind of a blind judgment (but, of course, when shopping, you have to draw lines somewhere to narrow your search...). And I probably wouldn't mind the difference in a few hundred dollars to go with a vendor that personally I have a bit more confidence in.

Probably my last hang-up is the certification date (Apr. 2000). Maybe I just don't know much about the life cycles of diamonds, but I suppose I would think that a stone certified that long ago would be in someone's ring by now. But I have noticed that a good proportion (if not the majority) of diamonds I have looked at--online and in person--have certification dates of at least a year old. Maybe somebody could give me just a hair more info on this one. (When I asked at a reputable local jeweler about this, they said "Oh, no, I've never heard about _anyone_ questioning the cert. date...I don't think that is an issue at all...we inspected the stone when we bought it...")

Thanks!
 

ChetLaura

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
62
We have had a great experience purchasing at the Blue Nile. The customer service was outstanding that we received, and we couldn't be happier with the diamond that we purchased.

Our diamond is an AGS Ideal, and the arrows couldn't be more perfect. We spent months researching and looking for the perfect diamond. The cut that you have chosen comes up excellent of the HCA-it rated a 1.

We agree that you can get an AGS Ideal that does not have the performance or cut, but a great resource for us was the HCA and it couldn't have turned out better for us. Our diamond rated a .7 on the advisor.

Hope you find that perfect diamond!
 

ChetLaura

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
62
Just one last note - After reading your concerns about the date on the cert, I decided to check our cert. The date on our cert is May 2000 - we just purchased this diamond in the last few weeks. We hadn't even given that date a thought prior to reading your questions.

I would really be interested in finding out why a two year date would be of concern!

:))
 

lawmax

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Dec 31, 1999
Messages
1,317
----------------
On 3/26/2002 1:01:51 PM

Just one last note - After reading your concerns about the date on the cert, I decided to check our cert. The date on our cert is May 2000 - we just purchased this diamond in the last few weeks. We hadn't even given that date a thought prior to reading your questions.

I would really be interested in finding out why a two year date would be of concern!

:))
----------------


There may be absolutely no reason for concern. Did you have the diamond checked out by an independent appraiser? If it is in perfectly good condition and matches the cert., then why be concerned? It is possible that it just took this long from the time of the grading report for the diamond to sell and stay sold. If the diamond had been previously owned, some people would think that it should sell for a lesser (used) price. You really have no way of knowing if that was the case in most situations. If the diamond is fine, just enjoy it.
:))
 
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