Diamond battle royale! 27 days to return. Help.

[nevermender]

First post so bear with me here. It sounds like I am in a similar situation to a number of people I have read about here. Last weekend my girlfriend and I went to Robbins Bros to ostensibly just look at rings to get a feel for what was out there. She definitely had it in her head that she wanted a Round 1.25 ct, D, VS2 or above Tiffany setting. I figured in and out in an hour no problem... First mistake. Four hours later in order to preserve all that work I had kind of acidentally (didn''t realize financing instead of hold charge meant purchase) bought a 1.25ct H, Si1, and a custom palladium band. The one thing that wasn''t stressed and I can''t remember was cut but I believe the symmetry and polish were just good the cut was possibly very-good or possibly just good. It has a GIA report but I didn''t get a copy or the number (wish I knew then you could reference them online) and since it needed to be set and she wanted a custom band I only walked out with the sales slip. Also she didn''t know I purchased it. So here is the dilemna. I think I can do a lot better with an e-ring and I think she settled since it was the only place we looked. It took a lot of looking at f-g stones to convince her she couldn''t tell the difference but I think in her head she wanted at least a G. The diamond itself was $8995 and came with the standard 1 yr insurance and lifetime warranty with tax and setting its $10,200. I have done a bit of research online about diamonds (niceice) but had not found this site until yesterday. Here''s my question(s), how badly did I overpay? Is it realistic to expect to get something that is and ideal cut 1.25 ct. as close to colorless as I can get and eye-clean(a pretty discerning eye). My biggest concern with the e-ring is dealing with clarity since many of the stones we looked at (even VS2) weren''t eye-clean at least to me. She really doesn''t want to see dark inclusions. I''ll post the actual GIA numbers as soon they are emailed to me.

Tale of the Tape:

The "accidental" Wonder, Diamond 1
1.25ct
H
Si-1
Cut: Good or Very Good
Polish: good
Symmetry: good
Price: 8995
Total: 10150
vs.

The Northwest Beauty
http://www.niceice.com/certcopies2007/ags0008755409/index.htm
1.232 ct
G
VVS-2 (is this overkill?)
AGS Ideal 0
Price: 9870
Total:10756 (unless I splurge for the Pt band)

Or something else... Thanks for the insight!

 

[neatfreak]

Well, yes you vastly overpaid because cut is really the most important thing and I am pretty sure your diamond isn't ideal cut.

That being said, this stone is a bit cheaper if you pay in cash than the one you posted and every bit as nice. It would be perfect. No need to pay for VVS2 unless it's important to you, no one will know the difference.

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/2688/

 

[erica k]

did you overpay? likely yes!

the nice ice stone is actually $10,215.00, unless you do a wire transfer (i don''t know how you were planning on buying the stone, but the price you listed is for the wire transfer discount)

without knowing anything more about the stone you purchased, i would wager that the nice ice stone is a much better cut.

there are definitely eyeclean SI1s out there, so you might want to take a look at other reputable sites like Good Old Gold or Whiteflash.


GOG offers a bank wire discount, also.
search results

Round 1.22ct G SI1 $7,763 (you should ask if it''s eye-clean)
Round 1.232ct G VS2 $9,942.21
Round 1.32ct G VS2 $10,372.74


Whiteflash''s expert selection are really nice, too.

1.25 H SI1
1.22 H VS1
1.228 H VS1

plus, both vendors have very generous upgrade policies and great reputations. you should do a search for robbins brothers, by the way.

 

[honey22]

Return it! We will help you. For 10K you could get pretty close to a 1ct D VS range, I think, I had my wishing eye on one from WF not long ago.

Or drop colour and go larger. All of these options ideal cut of course.

Don't stress, the worst is over, and you are in good hands now!!

ETA - Whoops, I thought you were looking at 1ct, I'll try and find something else then.

Ditto the GOG ideas, I like (for colour, clarity reasons)

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/2688/

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/3585/

 

[nevermender]

Update:
So apparently my "diamond consultant" at RB is off tomorrow and didn''t email me the info today but I''m planning to go out on Saturday to cancel the order and continue my search in earnest here. I''ll also at least get the GIA number so I can be informed about what I might have done. Thanks for all the feedback so far. Now my biggest problem is the stock I was planning on selling to cover this is dropping so I need to decide on timing as well. How fast do the stones on places like WF and GOG turn over? Do you think I have hours, days, weeks? Also, the proposal date is a bit up in the air now. I definitely want to give her the chance to really analyze the stone and make an informed decision about whether she loves it or not. What were your strategies to make sure you maximized that 30 days and does that include shipping time?

Also, I love these forums. So much information that would have been useful to me a week ago.

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 5/16/2008 2:09:27 AM
Author: nevermender
Update:
So apparently my ''diamond consultant'' at RB is off tomorrow and didn''t email me the info today but I''m planning to go out on Saturday to cancel the order and continue my search in earnest here. I''ll also at least get the GIA number so I can be informed about what I might have done. Thanks for all the feedback so far. Now my biggest problem is the stock I was planning on selling to cover this is dropping so I need to decide on timing as well. How fast do the stones on places like WF and GOG turn over? Do you think I have hours, days, weeks? Also, the proposal date is a bit up in the air now. I definitely want to give her the chance to really analyze the stone and make an informed decision about whether she loves it or not. What were your strategies to make sure you maximized that 30 days and does that include shipping time?

Also, I love these forums. So much information that would have been useful to me a week ago.

hmmm..I will attempt to answer some of your questions here.
as far as inventory, its hard to say - different cuts like great cushions are really popular right now, according to Strm the best asschers are leaving even before GOG can list them.
As always, the "popular" weights in RB''s such as the magic carat weights (ict, 1.5ct etc) will sell quickly as are in high demand.
So basically, if you find something you think may be "the one" always best to reserve it while you''re deliberating..
especially if you''re posting about particular stones here, apparently it has happened that "lurkers" have nabbed them

As far as new inventory, not sure on WF but from asking JOn he told me he gets new stuff as he needs it, no patterns as such.
That said, if you have something specific you know you want, he can scour his resources for a match if there''s nothing in house.

hope taht helps, good luck in your search.

 

[Imdanny]

Why don''t you go to whiteflash.com and see how big of a diamond you can get at G, VS1. (click on "ACA" and don''t spend another second worrying about the cut either). Their website lets you get prices for exact colors, clarity you want, or ranges of color, clarity you want.

I know a lot of people are going to say "get SI1" or "get whatever" but different people have different priorities. If you want to thrill her about the color- you could get her the lowest color SHE wants and if you want NO chance of seeing an inclusion, you could get VS1 (the chances of being able to see an inclusion in a VS2 are 1 in 100, if that bothers you get VS1- that''s just what the pricescope tutorial says).

 

[Raider2]

If your stock is continuing to drop, why not sell it now so you have the cash ready? As far as stones go, don't limit yourself to in-house. The 1.25 ct inventory seems pretty thin now, especially for in-house stones. I'd suggest the following:

1)Go to Whiteflash and do a search for 4 star stones in the grade/size/clarity you want
2)You probably won't get GIA/AGS reports for virtual stones there, but you can get table sizes and depth that will allow you to search for the stones here
3)The stones will likely appear at 3-4 vendors, one of which will probably have the GIA/AGS number that you can use to get more info at the GIA/AGS websites
4)Using the cert info, you can further screen the stones using the HCA tool
5)Pick 3-4 stones and have someone like WF bring in a few to look at. They won't steer you wrong.

I did the above, and picked up a 1.3ct G VS2 ideal cut for well under $10k.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 5/16/2008 2:09:27 AM
Author: nevermender
Update:
So apparently my ''diamond consultant'' at RB is off tomorrow and didn''t email me the info today but I''m planning to go out on Saturday to cancel the order and continue my search in earnest here. I''ll also at least get the GIA number so I can be informed about what I might have done. Thanks for all the feedback so far. Now my biggest problem is the stock I was planning on selling to cover this is dropping so I need to decide on timing as well. How fast do the stones on places like WF and GOG turn over? Do you think I have hours, days, weeks? Also, the proposal date is a bit up in the air now. I definitely want to give her the chance to really analyze the stone and make an informed decision about whether she loves it or not. What were your strategies to make sure you maximized that 30 days and does that include shipping time?

Also, I love these forums. So much information that would have been useful to me a week ago.

you and i own the same stock.

 

[nevermender]

First diamond update:
Specs:
$8,995
Cut: Good
Color: H
Clarity: SI1
Size: 1.25
Measurements:6.66x6.77x4.3
Polish: Good
Symmetry: Good
Fluoresccence: None
GIA15882843
Depth%: 64
Table%: 60
Crown Angle: 35.5
Paviliion Angle: 41.2
HCA: 5.5 (This is the deal breaker I think since it says "Good - Only is price is your main concern" and its more expensive)
cost without any warrantee is $7646 (seems more in line with what I am seeing online but with a worse cut)

Here''s the latest contender:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4011/
1.3 H SI1 Ideal but has medium blue fluorescence. Does anyone have experience with this level of flourescence? I think it sounds neat but is this something I would definitely have to see in person?

Thanks for the advice

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 5/17/2008 5:55:56 PM
Author: nevermender
First diamond update:
Specs:
$8,995
Cut: Good
Color: H
Clarity: SI1
Size: 1.25
Measurements:6.66x6.77x4.3
Polish: Good
Symmetry: Good
Fluoresccence: None
GIA15882843
Depth%: 64
Table%: 60
Crown Angle: 35.5
Paviliion Angle: 41.2
HCA: 5.5 (This is the deal breaker I think since it says 'Good - Only is price is your main concern' and its more expensive)
cost without any warrantee is $7646 (seems more in line with what I am seeing online but with a worse cut)

Here's the latest contender:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4011/
1.3 H SI1 Ideal but has medium blue fluorescence. Does anyone have experience with this level of flourescence? I think it sounds neat but is this something I would definitely have to see in person?

Thanks for the advice

never, many informed people actually think med to strong fluor is beneficial factor to have in a diamond - it will glow in the dark under blacklights, and in strong natural sunlight it may have a pretty violet glow to it.
At the moment, you *can* get a slight discount for stones with fluor as due to misinformation it used to be regarded as negative, so that is also a bonus!
here is a current thread you may like to read https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/fluorescence.85495/

imho, you can do better than that last stone you posted. I know its a lil "lower" than you were looking in colour, but how about the following:

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4308/ 1.32 G vs2 - as before fluor should be ok, but just check with Jon as is strong blue.
or http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4383/ 1.31 G vs2