Could use some help

[just looking]

Well as many of you I am beginning my search for the Holy Grail. I’m amazed at the knowledge on the board and have done my best to educate myself as well as do some searching for prices on the internet and Ebay of course.

I am still slightly confused on a few different issues however. I have looked at the Rap report and understand the use of such information. The information seems to very greatly when using the Interactive Diamond prices stats. Also, I have noticed some diamonds for sale that do not have a EGL, GIA or other documentation for sale. Do diamonds such as this have an ever lower price do to them not being “certified”? I can see the advantage of having a certification but it seems as long as the diamond has an accurate appraisal for a certified gemologist it could save some major cash.

I haven’t decided about the setting, it could go either way with Pave’ or channel settings especially if I decide to go with a smaller stone between .9 and 1.5 cts. The type of stone is open as well, but I am leaning towards a princess cut. This is sort of what I am looking at: .9-1.5cts, f-h, and Vs2 or above.I am also open two three stone rings. My budget for this project 10k. I would appreciate your opinions and thoughts and must say I really enjoy the site. By the way, I have looked at a major retailer for a 2 TW in an emerald cut with vs, F stones in a three diamond setting. The price was 10k. How much do major retailers come down on such items generally?

Thank you so much in advance for your help and ideas.

 

[kittycatsmac]

Well just looking you have found the best place to do just that " start looking" . If you will notice at the bottom of this page there is listings one of them is Featured Vendors. If you haven''t looked there yet you will find a nice list of PS''s best jewelers or online jewelers to work with. Trust me their are alot of wonderful help around her. I just know that Sevens one and Kaleigh will jump in and give you some great help and their is also FireGoddess, MrsSalvo and more. They all know where to look and where to go for the best. I hope you have s successful time good luck!!!

 

[just looking]

Thank you very much for your words of encouragement. I have looked at some of the some of the vendors that can be found using some of the searches and even took some of my experienced I have gleaned to the “main mall” stores. I am however a touchy feely kind of person and I do have the vision to build a ring but do not have the confidence to envision the final product. So in fewer words, I could be the type to fall easy prey to the main large stores but I am smart enough not to pay retail, maybe a better word is too pay full retail. I’m frugal. I did however forget to mention that she is very petite and wears a size 5 ring, so a smaller stone will even look larger. Just trying to get the most I can for my budget, it would be nice to lower my budget as well…lol.

Thank you again for your kind words.

 

[kittycatsmac]

Well Matt I understand the small hand part I also am a size 5 and my husband just in the past few weeks upgraded my wedding set and had me a 1.75 RB set in a halo setting at our local jeweler. I loved the set but just after a few days the size was way large for my small hand. Have you talked with anyone about White Flash. Alot of the ladies and gents also around here love WF because they do such good custom work. I myself wish now that I would have used them for my wedding set. They will custom make almost anything at what I here, very good prices. It want be long before someone will be able to set you in the right direction.

 

[mrssalvo]

Hi Just Looking and Welcome

First off congrats on finding Pricescope. The consumers and experts here are all very helpful and great at finding good stones and settings that will keep you within your budget.

I would first recommend reading the Tutorial here. You have a very good budget and should be able to find a great stone and setting without much difficulty. I do not know a lot about princess cut stones. Are you sure you girlfriend likes them? I can appreciate the cut but would not want one for myself. Also, the setting is a very personal thing. There have been a few threads here recently where the boyfriends have made the proposal and ring a complete surprise and the gals were very unhappy with the ring

. If you can find out what shape of stone she would like, you might considering proposing with a simple temp setting and picking out the permanant setting together.

Major Retailers normally will not come down a bunch in their prices. Many times their overheads are very high so they have to make ends meet. You can normally find a much better price, as well as important info about the stone, from and internet vendor. Many of the popular ones here also have Brick and Mortor stores so depending on your location you may have the best of both worlds.

 

[just looking]

I have looked at WF for prices on stones. We have a very reputable custom designer here in my home town and I am sure he could give me some feedback but Im not sure what the costs are for such services. See, I really don’t know where to go with this, three stone, single solitaire or solitaire with accents. I am taking her shopping tomorrow to get some ideas. Therefore my main objective is trying to get the biggest bang for my 10k budget, it would be really nice if I could stay around 6k. Actually, she hasn’t put any requirements on anything and would be happy with anything. That is until she gets a glimpse of that 3ct TW emerald cut that I saw the other night. Hmmm, maybe I need to rethink this shopping idea all together…hahah

 

[mrssalvo]

taking her shopping is a great idea. That way she can try on a few settings with different shapes and sizes for the center stone or three stone and I''ll bet something will really stand out.

 

[just looking]

Mrssalvo,

Well actually, she stated that she prefers an emerald cut, but the ring is all about me, right? I hope you know I am joking, I am much wiser than that. Actually after using the price check and some other resources I noticed a price change between cuts of the diamonds. Therefore, I thought if I could give her more sparkle for a lower price, it may be the way to go. She actually said she liked the emerald cut because it was more “humble”. She’s not all about bling bling but as I stated, that could change tomorrow..hahah

As far as color, what do you think, can I still get alot of flash with little yellow in a g and h level and as far as clarity, I would like to stay with vs but I understand s1-s2 can still be very eye clean as well. Whats your thoughts?

Thanks again for your thoughts. It is greatly appreciated.

M

 

[ChooChoo]

If she likes emerald cuts, she might love Asschers.

 

[just looking]

I looked at ashers as well, seems to be a little more sparkle but yet still has a very refined look as well but aren’t they up on the style $ with emeralds as well? Just something I have noticed, it may or may not be a trend, just an observation.

Thank you for your thoughts.

M

 

[ChooChoo]

What do you mean, up on the style $?

 

[just looking]

The style of stone seems to have an influence on price. I can imagine this being attributed to different factors such as demand and actual production hours to cut and polish the stone as well as rareness of rough diamonds and the shape that the roughness allows them to be cut in. Sorry I was vague.

Regards,
M

 

[mrssalvo]

If she wants an emerald cut, i''d get her and emerald cut

. Fancy shapes do show color and inclusions more than rounds, so you''ll want to stay in the higher range. Depending on the stone, I think and H can look very white in an emerald cut. You may have some flexibilty with clarity and working with a good vendor might be able to help you find an eyeclean SI stone. Does she want to wear a matching wedding band?

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 2/24/2006 4:01:25 PM
Author: mrssalvo
If she wants an emerald cut, i''d get her and emerald cut

. Fancy shapes do show color and inclusions more than rounds, so you''ll want to stay in the higher range. Depending on the stone, I think and H can look very white in an emerald cut. You may have some flexibilty with clarity and working with a good vendor might be able to help you find an eyeclean SI stone. Does she want to wear a matching wedding band?

Ditto

Welcome to PS!!!

 

[ChooChoo]

Check this out:
http://www.niceice.com/certcopies/gia12531159/index.htm

 

[jldunn]

I''d steer clear of uncertified stones for the following reason:

A jewelery store has a certified gemologist. The store has a certified stone for a cheap price. A stone with the same statistics would sell for a higher price if it had certification (usually over a thousand more). A certification costs roughly $200 from GIA or AGS. If I''m a smart honest certified gemologist I pay the $200 for a certification so I can sell the stone for more and get a higher profit. If I''m a stupid honest certified gemologist, I sell you the stone uncertified and you get a good deal. If I''m a dishonest ceritified gemologist, I tell you an uncertified stone is better than it really is, and make you think you''re getting a deal.

So basically, if you think you''re getting a deal on an uncertified stone the jeweler is either stupid or dishonest. In either case I wouldn''t want to work with them.

If they really believe the stone is good, they''ll offer to sell it to you conditionally on it being GIA or AGS or certified. They should give you the following situation. They send it to get certified, if it meets the specs they give it, you pay for the certification and buy the stone. If it doesn''t meet the specs, you don''t pay for anything. The couple hundred bucks should be worth the piece of mind.

The few honest jewelers I''ve met haven''t been able to compete with the prices from online retailers. Not to say that most jewelers are dishonest, but at mall stores you get a lot of people without any formal education in jewelery other than what the store gave them on how to sell it.

I took my girlfriend shopping to find out the style of ring/setting she liked best, let her try on different things. I then went back and tooks pictures of her favorite setting and sent them to WhiteFlash. They custom made a setting to reproduce the one that she liked. The ring she saw retailed for ~20k and I got it from WhiteFlash with a custom setting for ~12k with a higher quality stone.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/24/2006 2:33:13 PM
Author:just looking

I haven’t decided about the setting, it could go either way with Pave’ or channel settings especially if I decide to go with a smaller stone between .9 and 1.5 cts. The type of stone is open as well, but I am leaning towards a princess cut. This is sort of what I am looking at: .9-1.5cts, f-h, and Vs2 or above.I am also open two three stone rings. My budget for this project 10k. I would appreciate your opinions and thoughts and must say I really enjoy the site. By the way, I have looked at a major retailer for a 2 TW in an emerald cut with vs, F stones in a three diamond setting. The price was 10k. How much do major retailers come down on such items generally?

Thank you so much in advance for your help and ideas.

JL
buying a 10k EC ring without GIA report is a big no,no

especially from a mall retail store giving you that B.S. "on sale this weekend only " at 50% off. you may still over pay for the ring.

 

[f0rbidden]

Hi and congrats!
I wanted to tell you that I''ve been searching for a great emerald cut diamond, too - a couple of weeks ago I happened into a retail store in my community and the sales person there was really helpful - he pulled out a G/VVS2 and an E/VS2 stone, each at about 1 carat for me to look at - I was AMAZED at the difference in the color. I can honestly tell you that I didn''t notice the clarity difference at all, but the color was noticed by my 16 y/o daughter who knows nothing about diamonds (and, in fact, doesn''t even LIKE diamonds *gasp!*).
We found the G color was very ''dark'' compared to the E color in plain daylight, and under the store lights, when viewed side by side.

I also saw several stones in the ''maul'' stores today - Mostly I looked because I wanted to see different stones, not because I was considering buying at the mall, but I''ve been told the more I see, the better off I''ll be in the long run - I saw one that was SI2 without flaws that I could see, and I saw a VS1 that was clear as a bell.

I don''t know if any of this will really help you, but it certainly won''t hurt!

Happy shopping!

 

[just looking]

The stones that I looked at from the major retailer did have a GIA report with them, however I have seen Internet stores that did not have a GIA EGL etc etc. Sorry for the confusion on my end.

I agree with your consensus. Maybe I am just to trusting in this matter and there was another post very simliar to yours as well. I appreciate your thoughts. In fact I appreciate everyones thoughts on this matter, everyone has been very helpful.

Regards,
Matt

 

[just looking]

Thank you for your post. I did view some D,E and F but unfortunately they didnt have the same size in the stones or the same style. Of which I know can make a big difference. Of course I will find out more tomorrow when "she" has an oppurtunity to look at the different styles and try them on, maybe then I can take another look at the color.

Thanks again for all of your help.

Matt

 

[just_looking!]

Spooky!! Your user name is similar to mine, my finger size is a 5 and my husbands name is Matt!!

Do you work in IT?

 

[just looking]

Well hunny, sorry you found out this way. I wanted to surprise you with your new 6 ct ring. I guess we wont be going shopping today. Hahaha

Actually, I don’t work in IT, I work in the engineering field. But your right, this is a little spooky, and it would be even spookier if we had some of that corny scary movie music in the background.

Have a wonderful day.

 

[just_looking!]

Tee Hee! If you were my Matt you''d know that I hate surprises..... But if I could split that 6ct up into a pair of earrings and a pendant then I might be nicely surprised!!