Bought the Asscher!

[PGTips]

Hi Everyone -

I wanted to thank you all for your opinions on the 1.65 carat Asscher we were considering. Without your opinions, we would have felt very hesitant about buying a diamond without seeing it first! Since I''ve been lurking here on pricescope for months and months, I had developed quite a respect for the community and knew the value of your opinions.

Here is the original thread where I asked for your thoughts:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-does-this-asscher-look.29589/

Thank you especially to Strmrdr for the recommendation of sending the diamond to be appraised by Richard Sherwood. His appraisal was very thorough and he provided lots of photos. We spoke on the phone and he said he would be very honest and tell me in the end if the stone was one he would buy for himself or his wife.

Soo.... in the end, Richard said he thought it was a great value for the money and that he would not hesitate to purchase the stone. Yay!

I''m attaching copies of his appraisal for you discerning Pricescopers to view.

The diamond has now been shipped off to the infamous Leon Mege to have a classic Harry Winston platinum setting and matching wedding band created! I''m so excited!! My goal was to try and replicate Harlowqueens beautiful Harry Winston ring. Hopefully in the end I will have something very close!

 

[PGTips]

Richard Sherwood''s appraisal

 

[strmrdr]

Congrates!!

I was just going to PM you and see what the results were :}

 

[PGTips]

Critique

 

[PGTips]

Clarity Report

 

[PGTips]

Optical Analysis

 

[strmrdr]

btw not that it matters which egl was it?
I see it turned out to be a J

 

[PGTips]

Thanks, Strm! We are pleased with the results. As everyone suspected, the color grade was one grade lower than the EGL report. But even with that, I think it is still a good diamond and a great deal for the price.

Richard said the stone has a bit of blue flourescence which, in daylight, makes the stone look like an "I" rather than a "J" color.

We are STILL waiting for a copy of the EGL report! Apparently the stone is a new stone from Antwerp and they are still waiting on the original EGL report from Belgium. So I guess what everyone says about EGL in Europe being a little more lenient in their grading is true. What means the most to us, though, is Richard Sherwood's appraisal. I have a lot of respect for Richard and I trust his report on the diamond. Having him appraise the diamond was REALLY worth it. We now have no hesitation about buying the diamond even though we have yet to see the certificate.

Abazia's is the vendor we bought the diamond with, and I would certainly recommend them. While there is a bit more of a "corporate" feel in dealing with them, they were more than willing to match the price that another vendor offered for the same diamond and in the end we got what I think is a fantastic deal on the diamond.

Thanks everyone for your help with this. Before Pricescope, I would have naively just bought my diamond off of Ebay

and would have thought I was getting the best deal for the money. Now, after being armed with so much information, I feel that we made an informed decision and can feel very good about our purchase.

Thank you!

 

[strmrdr]

kewl
Iv got to agree Richard rocks!
Id take his report over EGL anyday :}

Congrates!

 

[MissAva]

Oh it is soo lovely! And that appriasial really makes me understand the stone even better!

for Richard!

 

[belle]

congrats on your purchase pgtips....looks like you did well!

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Always a blast to appraise a fine looking Asscher.

Thanks for the business PG, and thanks for the referral Storm.

 

[curlygirl]

Wow, it looks great. Congratulations! Can''t wait to see it in the Leon Mege setting!!!

 

[Ukieza]

Holy cr@polie that''s a sweet looking appraisal. I wish I could get one of those. That''s just with loose stones right?

-Ukieza

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 6/30/2005 11:26:55 AM
Author: Ukieza
Holy cr@polie that's a sweet looking appraisal. I wish I could get one of those. That's just with loose stones right?


-Ukieza

He does the same style report with mounted goods including detailed info on the setting.

 

[samjones]

That is a really detailed appraisal. I was planning on buying a diamond online and looking around. I would like to get an appraisal like that to once I purchase a loose diamond. Can someone tell me the ballpark price for a appraisal like this? Thanks in advance!

 

[PGTips]

Yeah, I''m really glad Strm referred us to Richard. I like it when people are really professional and Strm said that Richard''s appraisal''s just looked really good. I had actually spoken with another appraiser on the phone and believe me, the difference between her attitude and Richard''s was VERY different! She was obviously not too experienced with buying diamonds online and seemed very skeptical about it. She also quoted me a MUCH higher (per hour) price than Richard, which is really surprising. The only reason we considered her was that she lives near my mom in the U.S., so we could have had my mom look at the stone for us if it were sent to this other appraiser.

But you know what? My mom knows NOTHING about diamonds! It wouldn''t have mattered if she looked at this diamond or a shiny piece of glass, my mom would have just said "that''s really pretty, honey." haha. So, we went with the appraiser that we knew had a good reputation on pricescope and I''m very pleased we did.

 

[PGTips]

Hi Samjones -

Richard''s pricing is on his website, I believe. Here''s a link to the "rates" section of his website:

http://www.sarasotagemlab.com/rates.htm

His rates are based on the carat weight of the stone. I believe our total was $165 plus the cost of shipping.

One thing to note - you don''t have to buy the diamond before you send it to an appraiser. A lot of companies will ship a diamond to an appraiser of your choice and you can pay to have it appraised before purchase. That is what we did and it was the only way we could have confidence in buying a diamond without seeing it in person ourselves (we live in England, but wanted to buy in the U.S. since prices seem to be about double the prices in the U.S.).

 

[onedrop]

PGTips: Congratulations on your selection! That is a nice looking asscher. What I appreciate is that you attached the appraisal. I have never seen one before and it helps to soldify the research you do on a particular stone. Thanks for the extra info!!

 

[PGTips]

Thanks, Onedrop.

The appraisal doesn''t have any of my personal information on it, so I thought it might be interesting for folks to see it.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

>>>That is a really detailed appraisal. I was planning on buying a diamond online and looking around. I would like to get an appraisal like that to once I purchase a loose diamond. Can someone tell me the ballpark price for a appraisal like this? Thanks in advance!<<<


Hi Sam. The Comprehensive Diamond Analysis that I developed specifically for internet clients buying fine make diamonds is $165 up to 2 carats, and then $25 per carat additional above that (ie, 3 carat $190, 4 carat $215, etc.).

 

[Patty]

Wow, what a beautiful stone.

Congratulations!

 

[PGTips]

Thanks Patty -

I think it is interesting to see the stone in all the different light conditions. The color sure does vary between lighting.