Diamond Pricine

[Jakejrny04]

I am trying to buy a diamond and had a few questions concering price and quality. I am dealing with a jeweler in another city and will have to wire funds before he ships the stone to me. As you could imagine I do not have enough disposable cash to have more than one stone sent to me at a time. This results in my not being able to compare stone "side-by-side". I am troubled by this.

Second, price is also an issue. I want to make sure that the options that have been sent by the jeweler are within the market.

Here are the specifications:

1.50 carets
GIA Certified
F color
VS1 clarity
57% table (Class 1A Ideal)
61.2% depth
Very good polish and symmetry
No flourescence
Medium to slightly thick girdle.

$13.5k

Any input would be appreciated..

Thank you,

Jake

 

[hoorray]

Often the vendor will ship one or more stones to an independent appraiser (one they approve -- it can still be independent if you check them out) before you pay for the stones so that you can see them side-by-side. You typically have to pay for return shipping for the one or both that you do not purchase, or something along these lines, depending on the vendor. It's a good way to get comfortable with the stone before you send money, and to protect yourself through the transaction. It will cost you a fee for the appraiser, but you really should do that anyway for insurance and to protect yourself from being sold something you don't receive.

Ask the vendor you are working with about this. They don't always volunteer it, but most good ones will do it.

Edited to add: and a good way to check out price is to run a search on the pricescope engine to see how your stone compares to othern similar stones offered.

 

[Jakejrny04]

Thank you. The chart that you recommended was helpful.

Some of the folks that I have spoken with have said that the diamonds in the range that I am looking at are probably a waste of money. Some have suggested that I can get a comparable quality stone for a lower price.

Do you agree?

 

[hoorray]

It depends on what they refering to. You could bump down your clarity and/or color to G/H VS2/SI2 maybe even SI2, and still have a beautiful stone for less $$. Most eyes wouldn't see the difference, but some people are color sensitive, so it's better to start by bumping down clarity. Clarity is expensive, and in this range only shows up under magnification.

I personally wouldn't reduce cut quality. Cut directly impact the look of the diamond. Well cut stones look bigger and whiter and sparkle like crazy.