Hello all, newbie needs some advice

[spatula]

Hello all, I''ve been lurking here for a few days now reading the forums. Very helpful information. I''m looking for an engagement ring for my girlfriend, and have been comparing the online vendors to some of the smaller B&M stores. I looking for a round cut diamond around 1.0 carat. I''m pretty set on something in the H-J color range, SI1 or better. I have a couple of questions.

Today I spent my afternoon at a locally owned B&M store to look at some loose diamonds. I''m pretty new to all of this, so I just wanted to get an idea of what the differences in color and clarity looked like in person. I was quickly helped and shown some loose diamonds all around 1 carat and of varying colors and clarity. All of what I looked at seemed good to me, but my eye is pretty untrained. The associate told me that all of their diamonds are ideal or premium cut. I then went on to look at some of the rings that they had, and was drawn to the Scott Kay collection. I found a couple of rings in the collection that I really liked and so I started to ask the sales associate about pricing, and he told me that it would be no problem to get a stone of the quality that I looked at today in the Scott Kay setting for $4000-$4500 including tax. This caught me a little off guard because that''s about what I had expected if I were to buy online. Does this seem too good to be true, or is this just a good find. Every purchase includes free lifetime maintenance and one year of free insurance. The associate told me that he would get some more diamonds for me to look at later this week. So I plan on returning later this week to take a second look. I feel pretty good about the store, but what type of questions should I be asking when I return? Also some questions I already have:

1. When shopping in a B&M store and they tell me the all of their diamonds are ideal or premium cut how can I make sure the diamond I''m looking at is really of the cut quality they claim it is?
2. Is $4000-$4500 seem like a reasonable price I color, VS1-SI1, 1 carat, ideal cut diamond?
3. What things should I be asking the associate for to make sure that I get to see the quality cut diamonds?

I''m sure I have more questions than this, but there''s so much to learn I can''t think of them all at the moment. Any other advice is much appreciated. Thanks

 

[kaigun02]

Hey there,

I''m also a total newbie so you may want to wait for the advice of the experts, but I''d definitely do two things. First, use the "Pricescope your diamond" feature at the top of this page. I came up with a range of $4575-5737 for loose diamonds meeting your description, so figure a bare minimum of $5000 set in a ring. If a B&M were offering me a better price, I''d be on my guard.

Second, next time you go in, ask your dealer if he has lab grading certificates for any of those diamonds. Without an AGS, GIA, or similar certificate to back up his claims, he can say whatever he wants and someone like you or me won''t know any better. I like to take the information from the certificates I find online and enter it into the cut advisor. Don''t use that as your final judge (read up on the description and disclaimers), but you can rule out obviously bad diamonds with it.

If you really want to go all out, you can purchase an Ideal Scope and post images of your favorite diamonds here to get feedback. Or maybe start by seeing if the retailer has one in house. If I had the ability to shop for diamonds in person, I''d have an IS. Unfortunately, I''m on a ship from now until just before I plan to propose, so that limits my options. But that''s my problem. Hopefully I''ve helped some with yours.

-J

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 8/9/2009 4:38:54 AM
Author: kaigun02
Hey there,

I'm also a total newbie so you may want to wait for the advice of the experts, but I'd definitely do two things. First, use the 'Pricescope your diamond' feature at the top of this page. I came up with a range of $4575-5737 for loose diamonds meeting your description, so figure a bare minimum of $5000 set in a ring. If a B&M were offering me a better price, I'd be on my guard.

Second, next time you go in, ask your dealer if he has lab grading certificates for any of those diamonds. Without an AGS, GIA, or similar certificate to back up his claims, he can say whatever he wants and someone like you or me won't know any better. I like to take the information from the certificates I find online and enter it into the cut advisor. Don't use that as your final judge (read up on the description and disclaimers), but you can rule out obviously bad diamonds with it.

If you really want to go all out, you can purchase an Ideal Scope and post images of your favorite diamonds here to get feedback. Or maybe start by seeing if the retailer has one in house. If I had the ability to shop for diamonds in person, I'd have an IS. Unfortunately, I'm on a ship from now until just before I plan to propose, so that limits my options. But that's my problem. Hopefully I've helped some with yours.

-J

Well done thats a great post!!!

I would just add for spatula to post all the details from the lab reports here for any of the diamonds he is interested in, then we can take a look for him and help decide which is best for his needs. Also definitely stick to AGS or GIA graded diamonds.

 

[spatula]

thanks for the responses. the diamonds have GIA certificates and the business card I got says the owner is a GIA graduate gemologist, I didn''t take a look at the certificates when I was in the store this last time because I had just stopped in sort of on a whim, but later this week I will definitely ask to see them. Provided the certificates check out and I post the measurements on here is there anything else I should be on the look out for? I like the vibe I got from this store much more than others I''ve been to, and they seem to do a lot of local business, so I''m really hoping it all works out.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 8/9/2009 12:06:41 PM
Author: spatula
thanks for the responses. the diamonds have GIA certificates and the business card I got says the owner is a GIA graduate gemologist, I didn't take a look at the certificates when I was in the store this last time because I had just stopped in sort of on a whim, but later this week I will definitely ask to see them. Provided the certificates check out and I post the measurements on here is there anything else I should be on the look out for? I like the vibe I got from this store much more than others I've been to, and they seem to do a lot of local business, so I'm really hoping it all works out.

With SI clarities make sure they are eyeclean, see if you can ask to check them out away from the store lighting if their insurance permits as inclusions can jump out in some lights more than others. Also blue fluorescence is fine but be cautious with strong or very strong as rarely this can make a diamond look cloudy in some lights. Medium or faint no need to worry.

Also as a field exercise, if there is a Jareds near you check out their AGS0 Peerless cut grade or Hearts on Fire if there is a dealer near you, so you can see how well cut stones look, this will give you a better visual idea of how any others you view compare.

 

[spatula]

Alright so I''ve been doing some more looking around online today since I had some free time. And this is what I found on James Allen:

Round .91 carat
Ideal Cut
I
VS1
depth 62.6
table 56
crown 35.5
pavilion 40.4
$3090

Round 1.04 carat
Ideal Cut
J
VS2
depth 59.9
table 57
crown 32.0
pavilion 41.0
$3750

Round .95 Carat
Ideal Cut
I
VVS1
depth 61
table 55
crown 34
pavilion 40.6
$3740

Round .91 carat
Hearts and Arrows
I
VS1
depth 62
table 56
crown 35.5
pavilion 40.8
$3850

I like all of these, but wanted to get some more expert opinions on them. Josh over at James Allen recommended the Hearts and Arrows diamond to me after looking at the first 3 in the list, and I wanted to know what you all thought. Is is really worth spending $800 more over the Ideal cut .91 carat just to get the H&A? I looking and all of these seem to score pretty well in the cut adviser, but I dont'' know how seriously I should take that tool. I appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance.

 

[spatula]

any thoughts? Here are the item numbers for the diamonds at jamesallen.com

.91 Ideal 1103352
1.04 Ideal 1241370
.95 ideal 1240204
.91 H&A 1240169

 

[Lorelei]

I would be most interested in the h&a Josh recommended, ask him for hearts images for this one and definitely an Idealscope image. Also with the .91 and 1.04 might be worth further investigation, an Idealscope image for each would be the next step. The first might be ok also, its a bit deep for my taste but might be worth a look if the others don't pan out.