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Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process?

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SDplaya

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 30, 2012
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So I am in the market for a rock for my g/f and took a trek to LA's diamond district. This site has been a huge help and led me up there to just see some stones and learn what to look and ask for, etc. I feel the diamond buying process, i have down and have one question related to that but my main question is how to tackle this process.
Do you buy a stone (in person or online) first and then get it appraised and insured? Is it naive to think that most jewelers/sellers offer a return policy in case the appraisal goes bad? I basically want to make sure I'm not sold a "lemon".

Back to my first question --while in LA, i viewed a 1.8 carat ascher cut stone H color and VVS2 clarity and the dealer wanted $8800 for it. on my initial research, this seemed a good $2500-3000 below what i had thought and so I thought there had to be a catch even though the gentlemen was being very patient and educational. The stone was GIA certified but i could have sworn the report said 2004 on it. does this mean only this dealer has owned this stone since 2004 and can't seem to dump it? or does it simply mean it hasn't be looked at my GIA or anyone since 2004....thus having me worried. Any help on what to look for in terms of these certs and dates to deem normal time frame would be helpful as well. I have an idea on the specs to look for related to the stone just need help on everything else.

Thank you in advance.
 
Re: Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process

anyone? Buehler? Just a newbie here trying to get some help?
 
Re: Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process

Some jewelers will offer a return policy. I would definitely look for a jeweler who offers one just in case the stone doesn't check out. That way you can take the stone to an appraiser within the return period. The concern with older reports is that the stone could have been damaged in the meantime so you would want to check that out. It just means that that is when the diamond was graded...it could have been traded in.
 
Re: Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process

Tank you for the reply. Related to the GIA report, is it someting where a consumer can ask the seller to have it sent back in to be graded again? 8 years seems like an eternity for me. This was a 1.8 carat Ascher stone, G color, VVS2 stone and he wanted $8800 for it which was about $2500 less than most 2 carat Acshers I have seen in LA. I liked it a lot but was scared off but the report date.
 
Re: Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process

SDplaya|1328394182|3119150 said:
Tank you for the reply. Related to the GIA report, is it someting where a consumer can ask the seller to have it sent back in to be graded again? 8 years seems like an eternity for me. This was a 1.8 carat Ascher stone, G color, VVS2 stone and he wanted $8800 for it which was about $2500 less than most 2 carat Acshers I have seen in LA. I liked it a lot but was scared off but the report date.
You can and should ask. It doesn't take much damage to drop out of VVS2 and you can and should ask for an update. The GIA lab is only a couple hours away in Carlsbad and they will do a regrading for you with their rush service in a few days and for a few hundred dollars. Tell the dealer this: You're worried. You'll buy it, drive it Carlsbad and submit it to GIA for rush service. If it comes back the same, you'll keep the stone and pay all GIA and transportation fees. If it comes out less, have GIA ship the stone directly back to him and he pays for GIA and the shipping, you get a full refund and he gets the new GIA report for the benefit of the next sale. If he wants to make a new offer at that time he's welcome to do so but there's no obligation on either one of you.
 
Re: Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process

SD,

Welcome.

Though old, notes below my signature would still apply.

Lots has been written here on the insurance part. Search and look for special protections available from Jeweler's Mutual, when setting the stone (usually thought to not be needed if done by the same vendor you buy it from), and special benefits from Chubb, with ongoing and ribald stories concerning its continuing availability, and lack thereof.

Regards,

Ira Z.
 
Re: Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process

Awesome advice all around. Ultimately I was not in love with the stone in LA and hesitant to unload on an H color stone when I had set G as my lowest color. I think I need to go back to the well and perhaps see a few more stones in person.
 
Re: Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process

Hey I'm in the market to buy too,
I live in LA, maybe we should meet up
shopping together might get us a better deal.

Or at least we can hook each other up with some
good resources, let me know.
 
Re: Buying a Diamond/Appraising/Insuring..What's the Process

would love to know where in LA you have viewed loose stones?
 
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