EGL LA bought Diamond

[newguy]

Hello!

I recently bought a 0.99 ct EGL-LA (USA) certified diamond set in a Tiffany style platinum ring for $4500.

Color: G
Clarity: VS2
Measurements: 6.25 - 6.23 X 4.03mm
D: 64.6
T: 59.0
C: 16.0
P: 44.0
Girdle: Md to SL Thick
Polish: VG
Symmetry: G
Flour: None
Cutlet: None

I know it doesn''t compare to some of the diamonds I''ve see listed here, but to me the diamond is gorgeous!
Under fluourescent white light it appears icy white and scintillates beautifully!
Do you think I got something that''s worth what I paid?

Thank you!!

 

[DiamondOptics]

Congratulations, on your new sparkly diamond...

 

[Mara]

Does it really matter what we think, as you bought the stone already and seem to love it?

I wouldn't worry about whether or not you got what you paid for...thats something you already decided when you made the decision to purchase the stone. A stone is worth what you will pay for it.

That said, the depth is tad deep for a stone of this size, so your stone may look a little smaller than .99c. The HCA gives it a 3.6 -very good & "purchase if the price is right" so if you feel that you got a good deal, then you probably did.

Best of luck and congrats! Enjoy the new stone

 

[newguy]

Thank you all!!

I don't mind being critisized about this purchase. Yes the HCA says that it doesn't have the best spread. Actually the apparent size was the least important to me. I was originally on the market for a ~0.75 VVS1 E grade diamond, but I soon found that she wanted something a little bigger. So I decided to step up in size, and acceptably down in grade. To my untrained eye this was the most imposing diamond any dealer showed me at this price range at this size (in the Jewerly District in LA). After coming to this awesome website, I realized that I could of possibly saved $500 or more dollars, oh-well, live and learn (what's the difference between $4500 and $4000 anyway!?). I guess I just want to know if I paid a high, average, or low price, and if I am correct in assuming that this is basically a B quality diamond (ABCDF scale).

Thanks to all the experts here!

 

[aljdewey]

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On 1/29/2003 3:54

5 PM Mara wrote:

"Does it really matter what we think, as you bought the stone already and seem to love it?"

I suspect he wouldn't be wasting his time posting if he wasn't interested in feedback; what we think may not make a life or death difference to him, but obviously he feels it would be nice to have opinions and is soliciting them.

Quote: "I wouldn't worry about whether or not you got what you paid for...thats something you already decided when you made the decision to purchase the stone. A stone is worth what you will pay for it."
----------------

There are two kinds of value to any purchase; an "emotional" value (what one is WILLING to pay for something" and an "actual" value (does this thing have a monetary value equal or greater than what I paid for it?). I don't get the sense he's "worried"; I sense it's more of a reassurance or inquiry, and this is a perfectly acceptable forum for that.

Just my two cents.

 

[newguy]

Hey aljdewey, thanks! That's exactly what I'm trying to get.
So what do you all think???

 

[Mara]

Since you already have the stone, solicit opinions but don't get too caught up in them. It's easy to ask for opinions then fret about what is said. You have the stone, you love it...it sounds fine. Enjoy.

Value is value, whether it's emotional or monetary, the bottom line is that value is always someone's opinion, I can say its worth X, an appraiser can say its worth Y and the original poster can say..well I paid Z. In the end, the value of the stone is what was paid for it. That is how much it can be replaced for if it had to be purchased again.

 

[carbon lover]

New Guy,

Congratulations!

I'm exploring diamond shopping in the LA Jewerly District. Can you let me know where you bought your diamond? It sounds terrific.

Thanks.

 

[newguy]

----------------
On 1/30/2003 4:12:45 AM carbon lover wrote:

New Guy,


Congratulations!


I'm exploring diamond shopping in the LA Jewerly District. Can you let me know where you bought your diamond? It sounds terrific.


Thanks.
----------------

I bought it at the Gem City booth (C6) in the st. vincent building, plaza-1. A man named Sam helped me. I liked him because he was very straight-forward, and polite. I had good rapport with him and what I perceived to be a beautiful diamond so I bought. He was reccommended to me by a close friend's father. He had bought and EGL princess cut 1.02 VVS1 E and seemed to be very happy with his ring as well.

 

[aljdewey]

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On 1/30/2003 1:24:36 AM Mara wrote:
Since you already have the stone, solicit opinions but don't get too caught up in them. It's easy to ask for opinions then fret about what is said. You have the stone, you love it...it sounds fine. Enjoy.

Value is value, whether it's emotional or monetary, the bottom line is that value is always someone's opinion, I can say its worth X, an appraiser can say its worth Y and the original poster can say..well I paid Z. In the end, the value of the stone is what was paid for it. That is how much it can be replaced for if it had to be purchased again.

----------------

Newguy, I'm going to assume that you are mature enough to solicit opinions and appreciate those opinions at face value.

In the end, the value of the stone is NOT ONLY what was paid for it. If he had paid $20,000 for it, that wouldn't make the stone actually worth $20,000 even at replacement value.

I understand your point.....if he was willing to pay $x for the stone, then that's what it's worth TO HIM. But as I read it, he's not asking us to validate his purchase, Mara. He's asking if what he paid for the stone was reasonable according to it's actual market value. No big deal....you are deft at telling people all the time if what a stone they are considering for purchase at "x" price is reasonable compared to other stones you find. What's the issue here....that he didn't ask *before* he purchased?

It occurs to me that he may be asking because he has a window of opportunity on a return policy, and it's a valid question for him to ask. I know the common view of "if the stone speak to you....blah, blah, blah...." but from where I sit, a stone would speak to me a LOT less if I discovered that I significantly overpaid for it. I think Newguy is doing the right thing by asking questions.

 

[trichrome]

The guy you bought the stone from made at least 500$US on it.... that's FAIR!
Moreover, since you bought in a local store, you'll have full (maybe free) service
at this store until your jeweller is dead. NO net companies will be able to offer that
kind of service. They just want to sell the stone, and after 1 week return policy,
finish.....if you have a problem....you're in the !?%?!"
Believe me.. You had a good deal.

Trichrome.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

-----------
Do you think I got something that's worth what I paid?
-----------

New guy, it looks to me that you got a good deal on the diamond. Don't forget the platinum mounting it's sitting in is probably a $300-$400 mounting, so in reality you only paid $4100-$4200 for the stone. Was that including tax, or no?

As far as quality goes, a G/VS2 is a gorgeous combination of color and clarity. The EGL-LA lab is a good lab, so the grading is probably reliable. A 99 pointer is a smart buy, because you jusssssst escape the high 1.00 per carat price range.

The cut ranks an AGA Cut Class 3A, which translates as a "good" commercial cut. Not the best, not the worst. A pleasing stone to the eye. The depth on it makes it look about 10 points smaller than an "ideal" 0.99.

The DiamCalc light return analysis gives these results:

Light Return (mono)…...: 0.84 Good
Light Return (stereo)…..: 0.89 Good to Very Good
(Non) Leakage (mono)..: 0.60 Fair
(Non) Leakage (stereo).: 0.65 Fair to Good
Contrast............................: 0.97 Very Good
(Non) FishEye Effect…...: 1.00 Very Good

One thing the DiamonCalc program doesn't assess (yet) is dispersion, the colored light return commonly called "fire". Your stone has a nice high crown with a long "prism" length crown facet angle. That means it probably has a lot of "fire" coming off the bezel area of the crown. The high contrast rating confirms the nice "scintillation" you reported it to have.

Is it the best? No. Is it the worst? Definitely not. Not by a long shot. Is it probably beautiful to gaze upon? Yes. Was it a good deal? Yes.

Congratulations.

I've attached the DiamCalc computer simulated IdealScope image generated by the proportions listed.

In general, the darker pink areas indicate areas of greater light return, with the lighter pink areas indicating areas of lesser light return. The black areas indicate areas of greater contrast, with the gray areas indicating areas of lesser contrast. The white areas indicate areas of light leakage. A good explanation of the IdealScope image along with examples can be found at https://www.pricescope.com/idealscope_indx.asp

Disclaimer- The facet arrangement and symmetry of the image will probably vary from your actual diamond, which may affect the light performance indicated. The computer simulation is reproduced best when the actual diamond is being viewed and the image "tweaked" to the appearance of the diamond. However, this "blind" reproduction should be fairly close on the major points.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

image...

 

[newguy]

----------------
On 1/30/2003 9:49

7 PM Richard Sherwood wrote:

-----------
Do you think I got something that's worth what I paid?
-----------

New guy, it looks to me that you got a good deal on the diamond. Don't forget the platinum mounting it's sitting in is probably a $300-$400 mounting, so in reality you only paid $4100-$4200 for the stone. Was that including tax, or no?

As far as quality goes, a G/VS2 is a gorgeous combination of color and clarity. The EGL-LA lab is a good lab, so the grading is probably reliable. A 99 pointer is a smart buy, because you jusssssst escape the high 1.00 per carat price range.

The cut ranks an AGA Cut Class 3A, which translates as a "good" commercial cut. Not the best, not the worst. A pleasing stone to the eye. The depth on it makes it look about 10 points smaller than an "ideal" 0.99.

The DiamCalc light return analysis gives these results:

Light Return (mono)…...: 0.84 Good
Light Return (stereo)…..: 0.89 Good to Very Good
(Non) Leakage (mono)..: 0.60 Fair
(Non) Leakage (stereo).: 0.65 Fair to Good
Contrast............................: 0.97 Very Good
(Non) FishEye Effect…...: 1.00 Very Good

One thing the DiamonCalc program doesn't assess (yet) is dispersion, the colored light return commonly called "fire". Your stone has a nice high crown with a long "prism" length crown facet angle. That means it probably has a lot of "fire" coming off the bezel area of the crown. The high contrast rating confirms the nice "scintillation" you reported it to have.

Is it the best? No. Is it the worst? Definitely not. Not by a long shot. Is it probably beautiful to gaze upon? Yes. Was it a good deal? Yes.

Congratulations.

I've attached the DiamCalc computer simulated IdealScope image generated by the proportions listed.

In general, the darker pink areas indicate areas of greater light return, with the lighter pink areas indicating areas of lesser light return. The black areas indicate areas of greater contrast, with the gray areas indicating areas of lesser contrast. The white areas indicate areas of light leakage. A good explanation of the IdealScope image along with examples can be found at http://www.pricescope.com/idealscope_indx.asp

Disclaimer- The facet arrangement and symmetry of the image will probably vary from your actual diamond, which may affect the light performance indicated. The computer simulation is reproduced best when the actual diamond is being viewed and the image "tweaked" to the appearance of the diamond. However, this "blind" reproduction should be fairly close on the major points.


----------------

Wow!! Great!!

Thanks Richard! That's exactly the type of assessment I was looking for. That's an average 0.825 from the DiamCalc! Looks like a B grade diamond to me. I don't think a higher quality diamond at this size would have been in my budget.

I'm very satisified with this!! And yes, $4500 includes tax. Looks like I did better than I expected on the price.

This board rocks!! Thanks again to you all!!

 

[trichrome]

Also, if it's not done already, get your diamond appraised.... There are so many
sharks out there, you wanna be sure your stone matches the certificate.

Trichrome.

 

[newguy]

----------------
On 1/31/2003 1

5:22 PM trichrome wrote:

Also, if it's not done already, get your diamond appraised.... There are so many

sharks out there, you wanna be sure your stone matches the certificate.


Trichrome.
----------------

Yes I plan on doing this. The dealer I bought it from says if that if that was the case, he would refund my money. He's been there for 18 years, I'd be surprised if the cert didn't match the diamond.

Thanks for the advice!