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help! earrings at bestgem???

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mieze

Rough_Rock
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Dec 30, 2002
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This is my first post here,I´ve been reading a lot of posts in the past few days and now I can really need some help!

I´m interested in buying .5cttw diamond stud earrings and was looking into different sites using the vendor list here at pricescope. After looking into bluenile first and realizing that they only guarantee a minimum weight of .46 and a minimum of I and SI in their .5 earrings I decided I wanted to check at other places too. I was looking at the studs at bestgem.com impressed by their offer on .5cttw/E/vvs/vg cut/princess/14k for $750. They also have .5cttw/F-G/vs/vg/round/14k for also $750.
Now that I´ve been searching the posts on information regarding bestgem´s quality and reputation I´m very confused.
DCD seems to be getting great feedback here and I found almost nothing on bestgem. Is there anybody around with some advice concerning the listed studs, the reliabity of bestgem´s gradings (I´ve been reading about EGL being less strict than GIA)? Are the stones too small to really worry about it?
What I want is a pair of sparkly earrings of good quality (any thoughts on chosing between princess or rounds in this respect?).

Thanks in advance!
 

lacina

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
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146
Hi Mieze,
I know Best Gem was banned from selling on Ebay for poor grading of diamonds
at least 2+ grades up,... F/SI2 was H /I2... So your deal may be in the clouds...
I have purchased from Bestgem in person and I can tell you they are in deed
relaxed on grading more than anybody I know... They are nice people, but their grading is just "different".
In my opinion no reputable seller will grade mass production of earrings as E/VVS2 unless they are all certified by reputable lab!

But you are right the price is too low to worry about it! I know the cost of 1/4 at wholesale and yes, they still can do it for $750 and make money,...

Best
George
:))
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
George -
thank you very much for your help, I thought it was strange that they offered such high quality for that price.

I looked into DCD and I think I´ll rather go with them as they have had so much great reviews around here.
I´ll probably go with their G-H/vs2+ quality, although I would like to try to get a little higher color grade, maybe F. Or do you think I wouldn´t be able to notice a difference as long as the cut is equally good?

Mieze:))
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
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Okay, here´s what I found, would you say one is better than the other, or wouldn´t it really matter:

set no.1 : 1) .27/F/s1/d:60.9/t:60/4.18x4.21x2.56
2) .27/E/s1/d:60.6/t:59/4.16x4.23x2.54

set no.2 : 1) .26/G/vs1/d:59.7/t:59/4.18x4.19x2.49
2) .26/G/vs1/d:58.1/t:60/4.18x4.21x2.44

Both would total around $650 (I know a lot of you are buying much larger stones but for me this is a lot of money and I want to make the right decision, I´m afraid this will be the only pair of diamond earrings I´ll ever own - unless I start playing the lottery )

Mieze
 

lacina

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
146
Hi Mieze,
The price sounds fair but the depth for princess cuts is a bit shallow you need to be as close as you can to 69.5 % with min depth 64% and max 75%. The table is nice and small,..
The closest you buy to the avarage total depth the better light reflexion you get.
The downside is, that the deeper the stone is, the smaller it's size face up is,.. However you need to decide if you want the diamonds to return maximum light or are you ok with average to fair cut.
Well cut princess 1/4's will measure about 3.5 x 3.5 mm the examples you have are .26 and .27 with depth of 59-60% doo look face up more like .40 ct
but you may like it when you see the actual stones and that is what really matters!
Happy New Year!
George
GLE Gem Imports
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
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15
George -
I forgot to write that the stones mentioned above are rounds. So I guess slightly other ideal dimensions would apply to them?

Thank you so much for your help! I asked a few jewelers here in Germany and I seemed to know much more than most of the people there (except the owners) and I really don´t know much. And on top of that they didn´t really seem to take me seriously, which probably has to do with the fact that here it isn´t nearly as common as in the States for people my age to have or buy diamond jewelry. I tried wearing the beautiful 1.04ct ring I "inherited" from my mom (my Dad bought the stone years ago in NY), but that didn´t help very much .

Katja
 

lacina

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
146
Hi Katja,

Yes it makes all the difference if they are round brilliant cut.
In fact the price is awesome for G/VS1 RB quorters.


George
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
Hi, George!

Does that mean you would prefer the second set with the G/vs1 over the first with F/si1 ? If so, could you explain why?
I´m very new to this and appreciate your help very much :)) .

Katja
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
Oh, I almost forgot: Happy New Year to you!

Katja
 

lacina

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
146
Yes,...
Happy New Year to you too!
George
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
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15
Thank you :))

Katja
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
I´m sorry but here is another pair I found :)) :

1).29/G/vs1/d:60/t:59/culet: medium (as were the all the others)/ex polish, vg symm (all the others too)/4.30x4.36x2.60
2) .29/G/vs1/d:60.7/t:60/med culet/ex,vg/4.26x4.33x2.61

This pair would be $28 more than the other pair of G/vs1 stones.
Any thoughts?

A few questions which would make it easier to judge the specs myself: which dimension (depth or table) should be higher or are there other factors too? What should I be looking for in the measurements? Can I take si1 into consideration also or should I stick with vs? I suppose with my ears being on opposite sides of my head :bigsmile: differences won´t be noticeable as much as e.g. in a three stone ring, but what shouldn´t the differences in measurements and qualities exceed?

Sorry for asking so many probably stupid questions :halo:

Katja
 

lacina

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
146
Hi Katja,
You can't realy go wrong at this price,..,
What you should be looking when buying quorters? Dept and Table as close as you can to 60/60 and they will sparkle like there is no tomorrow!
If you realy want to get picky about it, The sane proportions to the cut apply as any RB diamond so If you want an ideal check the cut advisor on the top of this page. The only think I like to point out is the culet Medium culet would bother me at this size but that is my personal preference.
Should you consider SI1 that is fine for earrings but try to go color up!
E-F! As soon as you reach 30 points each, the earrings of this quality will look great!.

George
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
I tried the cut advisor, but it doesn´t work when I don´t have the % for pav. and crown. Or am I doing something wrong?
Oops, I messed up, I meant medium girdle, they all have no culet. Sorry ...

As to your tip on color, that´s why I had chosen the F stones before. I´ll try to find F/vs and see if the price goes over my limit .

This is so much fun, it´s a pitty I´ll probably never buy diamonds again ...

Katja
 

lacina

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
146
Katja,
As long as you are having fun,...
Diamonds are girl's best friend remember?
I can see you are slowly going up in size!
George:bigsmile:
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
I think I´ve reached my limit sizewise (at least that´s what my bank account says ;)) ). I looked into F/vs and with the setting they would be over my limit. I think I´ll stick with one of the three sets I posted. Although knowing my luck they won´t be available anymore ;)) . So is your "final" tip still to go for the .26/G/vs1 ?

I have to say this again: I really appreciate your help very much :))

Katja
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
We went to a jeweler here in town to find some more info on how large .5 cctw earrings can look in real life and what the differences in different qualities can be. I thought you might be interested what the prices were here.

.5 cctw/wesselton(H?)/si/18k wg setting ~ $1900

.4 cctw/top wesselton(F-G)/vs/18k wg ~ $2000

I guess now you understand why I´m looking into internet dealers

Katja
 

lacina

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
146
Hi Katja,
Are theese prices in Germany? I wonder how much 1ct diamond of the same grade would cost? Is there an import tax you will need to pay?
George
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
Hi George,
There is an import tax, but I haven´t found out how much it is yet. There is a tax of 16% one would have to pay on top of the import tax.
It´s very difficult to find pricelists on the German net here, since selling over the internet isn´t something that´s often done here, but here are a few examples of loose stones that I found:

RB/0.970ct/F/vvs2/g./vg./very slight fluoresc./IGI/~$6000
RB/1.010ct/F/vs2/vg./vg./slight fl./HRD/~$6800
RB/1.010ct/G/vs1/g./vg./very slight fl./IGI/~$6900

When I first asked about having earrings made here I was told $1750 for F-G/vs/.5ttcw plus $500 for the setting. I guess that was the most expensive jeweler in town.

Katja
 

mieze

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
15
Okay, I have two stones on hold until Monday and I´m not sure what to do, so I could really use some help
confused.gif
.

I had picked a pair of loose stones of which only one was still available and the wholesaler offered me another stone. But I´m not sure about the difference in the measurements, as the max diameter differs .1mm:

1) G/vs1/.29/d:60/t:59/ex pol/vg symm/med. girdle/4.30x4.36x2.60
2) G/vs2(could be si1)/.29/d:61.1/t:58/ex/vg/sl.thick/4.21x4.26x2.59

I have another pair of stones in consideration, haven´t checked on the availability yet though:

1) G/vs1/.26/d:59.7/t:59/ex/vg/med./4.15x4.19x2.49
2) G/vs1/.26/d:58.1/60/ex/vg/med./4.18x4.21x2.44

Which one would you prefer for earrings? I had decided to go with the slightly larger stones, but as the measurements of the available stones differ more than the original diamonds I had picked I´m not sure about what to do.
And as there are "only" .18mm difference between the .29 and the .26 stones should I rather stick with the smaller, better matching pair?

I really appreciate any thoughts on this!

Katja
 
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