HELP! Marquise diamond for under $2k

[Arkteia]

It is important - I am not a diamond buyer, but a regular CS visitor. As I was checking my favorite items on ebay, I got a call from the priest at my church. He is a pillar of our small community and I would like to help him out. Bottom line, his son is going to propose. The kid''s total budget is around $ 2000.00 for the whole ring. The fiancee likes marquise-shape cut. I asked about specifics - they said, "we would like it to be around 1 ct..."

Now I am trying to be realistic - I put 0.5 - 1 ct, G-H color, SI2 into the search engine and come up with a huge list. I can read RB parametres, but not marquis. Reasonably speaking, I won''t end up with 1-ct stone, but 0.71-0.75 I can buy. Small-size marquis may look very unattractive if the cut is poor. What should I look for?

And, if the upper limit is about 1.5 - 1.6 K, can I buy the setting for a marquis for the rest of the money? And where?

In short, a nice marquis ring on a very small budget per request of a very nice man.
I think they may go a little bit but not too much higher...

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think that for this fancy shape your best luck would be to call some vendors and ask them to source something for you.

I would call:

www.goodoldgold.com
www.whiteflash.com
www.jamesallen.com

I don''t think there is a big in house inventory of marquise cuts floating around, and you can''t assess that cut style without images and really, someone with good eyes to pick it for you. So finding a good vendor to help out is probably the best course of action.

 

[kenny]

Here's a link to PS's Advanced Tutorial page on marquise cuts.
Scroll down to the bottom of the link to find other links to threads about well-cut marquise diamonds.

Link

A nice 1-carat stone in a ring will probably be well over $2,000 no matter how nice the customer is.

Another way to get one vendor's opinion of what comprises good cut in marquis is go to Bluenile and filter on their highest cut grade.
Make a note of their cut specs if they are shown.

 

[Firestone]

Perhaps you could try purchasing a used one. Some people do sell their diamonds and they usually go for much less than retail.

 

[yssie]

Ditto on finding a used deal - a nice new 1ct will be a stretch I'm afraid

 

[HopeDream]

Hi, Crasru

If the hunt gets desparate, and the usual vendors can't find much, here are some ebay options that fall in your size and price range - I tried to find some that didn't have crazy obvious bowties or inclusions. I assume he wil want to re-set the stone. (PS please don't shoot me for showing ebay stones)

Ebay 1 1ct+ I-J? Si2?

Ebay 2 1.10 E (F-G?) Si3/I1

Ebay 3 1.02 H-I? Si2?

Ebay 4 .90 H-I? Si2?

Ebay 5 9mmx5mm H-I VS1(Si1?)

$650 and pretty 0.70 I-J I1 platinum with baguettes Vaguely HW (prongs a bit bloby)

These are not ideal cut, but I hope they're not frozen spit either (no guarantees).

Good luck

 

[Firestone]

Date: 3/20/2010 3:04:24 AM
Author: HopeDream
Hi, Crasru


If the hunt gets desparate, and rthe usual vendors can''t find, much here are some ebay options that fall in your size and price range - I tried to find some that didn''t have crazy obvious bowties or inclusions. I assume he wil want to re-set the stone. (PS please don''t shoot me for showing ebay stones)


Ebay 1


Ebay 2


Ebay 3


Ebay 4


Ebay 5


$650 and pretty


These are not ideal cut, but I hope they''re not frozen spit either (no guarantees).


Good luck

You found some good stuff. That would be great.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 3/20/2010 2:11:51 AM
Author: dreamer_d
I think that for this fancy shape your best luck would be to call some vendors and ask them to source something for you.

I would call:

www.goodoldgold.com
www.whiteflash.com
www.jamesallen.com

I don't think there is a big in house inventory of marquise cuts floating around, and you can't assess that cut style without images and really, someone with good eyes to pick it for you. So finding a good vendor to help out is probably the best course of action.

Ditto, be very careful if buying a used stone Crasu, one thing to watch out for is that marquise can be prone to chipping on the tips so check extremely carefully. Its going to be a stretch trying to find 1 carat for the budget unfortunately but one good thing is marquise can look large for the weight in some cases so even if they had to lower the size they could still achieve good visual size.

I had a look and found this one as an example,

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/E-VVS2-Ideal-Cut-Marquise-Diamond-1256959.asp

 

[Arkteia]

Big thanks to all of you who have contributed. James Allen's looks very nice to me. The priest has found a larger one 0.72 but it is I color and at least S2 if not I1. So the one you have found is much better.

I might have not made myself clear - I realized from the very beginning that I could not find a good 1-ct marqus. Moreover, marquis is very difficult to find for a small diamond and I personally think it is a bad choice but maybe she can "upgrade" it later. I found a nice one at Blue Nile although not so nice as the one you have found for me.

So they are totally fine with a smaller than 1-ct and I think it is OK to go down to G or even H and to VS2 (I do not know about S1 in such a small stone) as long as the cut is ideal or very good. Trouble is, I can not read the cuts on marqus! I have to check the ebay, too and maybe someone could find the time to recommend me something from the PS list of diamonds with my parametres which are below James Allen's, slightly bigger than he offers with an ideal cut?

Also, is it OK if the girdle is thin to thick? This is what J. Allens' stone has.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Ooooh I love the shape of the JA stone! Nice and fat!

I think thick is ok in a marquise girdle. It is fine with RBs, you just want to avoid extremely thin and extremely thick. But maybe someone with more fancies experience will know for sure.

 

[Arkteia]

Date: 3/20/2010 3:04:24 AM
Author: HopeDream
Hi, Crasru

If the hunt gets desparate, and the usual vendors can''t find much, here are some ebay options that fall in your size and price range - I tried to find some that didn''t have crazy obvious bowties or inclusions. I assume he wil want to re-set the stone. (PS please don''t shoot me for showing ebay stones)

Ebay 1 1ct+ I-J? Si2?

Ebay 2 1.10 E (F-G?) Si3/I1

Ebay 3 1.02 H-I? Si2?

Ebay 4 .90 H-I? Si2?

Ebay 5 9mmx5mm H-I VS1(Si1?)

$650 and pretty 0.70 I-J I1 platinum with baguettes Vaguely HW (prongs a bit bloby)

These are not ideal cut, but I hope they''re not frozen spit either (no guarantees).

Good luck

BTW thank you very much. I am going to send emails to all of these vendors and ask for the specifics which I learned from an article that someone has so kindly provided to me. I am also going to check their reputation with the Toolhouse. I agree that worn diamonds may have problems. On the other hand, they may get the whole ring under $ 2000, which is great!

 

[Black Jade]

Date: 3/20/2010 12:36:41 PM
Author: crasru

Date: 3/20/2010 3:04:24 AM

Author: HopeDream

Hi, Crasru


If the hunt gets desparate, and the usual vendors can''t find much, here are some ebay options that fall in your size and price range - I tried to find some that didn''t have crazy obvious bowties or inclusions. I assume he wil want to re-set the stone. (PS please don''t shoot me for showing ebay stones)


Ebay 1 1ct+ I-J? Si2?


Ebay 2 1.10 E (F-G?) Si3/I1


Ebay 3 1.02 H-I? Si2?


Ebay 4 .90 H-I? Si2?


Ebay 5 9mmx5mm H-I VS1(Si1?)


$650 and pretty 0.70 I-J I1 platinum with baguettes Vaguely HW (prongs a bit bloby)


These are not ideal cut, but I hope they''re not frozen spit either (no guarantees).


Good luck

BTW thank you very much. I am going to send emails to all of these vendors and ask for the specifics which I learned from an article that someone has so kindly provided to me. I am also going to check their reputation with the Toolhouse. I agree that worn diamonds may have problems. On the other hand, they may get the whole ring under $ 2000, which is great!

What''s the Toolhouse?

 

[Black Jade]

You may not be interested in going this route, but marquise diamonds are very abundant at pawn shops right now, since they are not at all in style. If there is a local one, you might go and take a look at what they have. They will all be set in yellow gold and they will most probably be J-K color at best and SI2 quality (at best. However, when you see them in person, you can see which are pretty and lively. (Bring a loupe). At a pawn shop, it would be possible to get a 1 carat marquise within the budget, and then have it removed from the ring and put into something more contemporary. Plus you would have the ring to sell for the gold content, if desired.

What you would have to do is to check the policies of the pawn broker. You would need a good return period, the pawnshop near me which does good business has 15 days, return for any reason within that period. You want to be sure that you can return FOR ANY REASON, this is very important. (You can also pay with a credit card, which gives added protection). If you find a likely ring, buy it and have it appraised within the return period to see if it actually is of a quality that the girl would want. It is not going to be the kind of stone that you would get with a PS vendor but it will be better than what you would probably get on Ebay (at least you would see it before having it shipped to you and having to deal with mailing costs).

You can do a search on Pscope and see the kinds of things that some here have gotten in pawnshops. After seeing some of these I was inspired to look for the pawnshop in my area and have gotten some deals of my own. A one carat marquise is going there for $1000-$1900, depending on the quality. The ones for $1000 are frankly frozen spit, but around $1500 there are many that look good, to the naked eye, which is all you want.

It is lucky that she wants a marquise. You don''t find princess cuts or much jewelry made of white gold or much that is currently popular in pawn shops. But you do find a lot of the kinds of things that are out of date, and nothing is more out of date than 80''s styles right now so you probably can find what the girl wants.

 

[Arkteia]

Hi,

I have emailed all the vendors at the ebay and decided not to go that way because some of the answers were very unclear to me. So here are the choices we have now:

a) The diamond and the ring from James Meyer that Lorelei sourced out for me. Given the fact that the girl wants the simplest ring, it would come up to $ 1950 considering PS discount.

b) A diamond that we sourced out from someone close to a pawn shop (a resaler with a good reputation). The person has been pretty accurate with it. It is 0.79 ct, D color VS2. I am attaching the GIA certificate and 2 pics of the ring. The guy selling it to me says he doesn''t know much about a bowtie. To me it looks OK although with the table 0f 64 it may be not bright enough (it looks bright but I ran into this problem with a RB diamond). So...I am attaching a GIA cert. and 2 pics - for you to consider.

 

[Arkteia]

OK apparently I do not know how to attach huge PDF files so here are the spec:

D color VSI2, I see two small crystals and a feather, none of them close to the center one closed by the prongs, a feather is not close to surface. 9.18 x 5.31 x 2.67.
depth 50.3
table 64
girdle faceted extra thin to thick
no culet
good polish and symmetry
no fluorescence
comment: surface graining not shown
cert by GIA Gem Trade Lab

what do you think?

 

[Arkteia]

another pic

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 3/21/2010 7:26:44 PM
Author: crasru
Hi,

I have emailed all the vendors at the ebay and decided not to go that way because some of the answers were very unclear to me. So here are the choices we have now:

a) The diamond and the ring from James Meyer that Lorelei sourced out for me. Given the fact that the girl wants the simplest ring, it would come up to $ 1950 considering PS discount.

b) A diamond that we sourced out from someone close to a pawn shop (a resaler with a good reputation). The person has been pretty accurate with it. It is 0.79 ct, D color VS2. I am attaching the GIA certificate and 2 pics of the ring. The guy selling it to me says he doesn''t know much about a bowtie. To me it looks OK although with the table 0f 64 it may be not bright enough (it looks bright but I ran into this problem with a RB diamond). So...I am attaching a GIA cert. and 2 pics - for you to consider.

I think you mean James Allen!

Though James Meyer would be nice too.

I think I would go with JA because they ahve a 20 day return policy as well as upgrade etc., ad because if for some reason you need it, they have good customer after care. But I don''t know anything about marquise diamonds and can''t realy help with assessing cut! Did you read the fancy cut tutorial on PS?

 

[Arkteia]

Not great, but they are from the seller.
Pros and cons:
with James Allen, I am buying an ideal cut diamond which he can set, very fast and mail w/n one week.
I suspect it is also upgradable.
If I am lucky, he''ll agree to set my stone as well (I''ll try at least).

The main advantage of the other stone is the size. If I am lucky, this girl will have "a rock" under $ 2000.00. Usually inexperienced people are looking for "rocks".

What do you think?

 

[Miss Sparkly]

I love pawn shops and you're in luck with trying to locate a marquise! They're more difficult to sell and tend to go for lower prices. I think that one that you chose is a pretty ring

How much does the pawn shop want? The ones that I visit would ask around $900 to $1,100 for it (northern USA) however, the jewelry specific pawn shop would be around $1,600.

 

[Black Jade]

I am not sure that GIA Gem Trade Lab is the same thing as GIA? Perhaps experts could weigh in?
.80 for a good price does sound tempting, however, I would make sure that the ring was returnable if you don''t like the diamond once you see it, and that you have a reasonable time to return if you don''t like it. (OR rather, if the priest''s son doesn''t like it, since you''re buying it for someone else). You also want a return time window so that you can get it appraised.even though it has a cert.
good luck! The pawn shop ring sound good (D color is always nice)and I hope that works out for you, if that''s what you decide. If not, James Allen is a very good dealer.
It''s never been important to me if a dealer had an upgrade policy or not, because I''m not interested in upgrading, especially not my engagement ring. And I think, off of Pricescope, few people are interested in doing this (and it also makes little economic sense). However, the intended fiancee may be one of those few people that would like to upgrade-- is there a way to find out if she is?

 

[Dreamer_D]

As I thought when I saw the measurements, the pawn store diamonds is *very* shallow, 50-ish compared to 60ish for the JA diamond. Based on the fancy shapes tutorial, the pawn shop stone is outside the ideal range by a lare margin. I worry this will affect its optics. So once again I vote for the JA stone because a dead rock is not as good as a sparkle one

 

[motownmama]

I concur on the James Allen - I would feel more comfortable that I could trust what I''m really getting. Also, if there is a good upgrade policy that''s a plus.

 

[Arkteia]

Date: 3/21/2010 9:34:13 PM
Author: Black Jade
I am not sure that GIA Gem Trade Lab is the same thing as GIA? Perhaps experts could weigh in?
.80 for a good price does sound tempting, however, I would make sure that the ring was returnable if you don''t like the diamond once you see it, and that you have a reasonable time to return if you don''t like it. (OR rather, if the priest''s son doesn''t like it, since you''re buying it for someone else). You also want a return time window so that you can get it appraised.even though it has a cert.
good luck! The pawn shop ring sound good (D color is always nice)and I hope that works out for you, if that''s what you decide. If not, James Allen is a very good dealer.
It''s never been important to me if a dealer had an upgrade policy or not, because I''m not interested in upgrading, especially not my engagement ring. And I think, off of Pricescope, few people are interested in doing this (and it also makes little economic sense). However, the intended fiancee may be one of those few people that would like to upgrade-- is there a way to find out if she is?

Funny, the groom never heard about upgrading - it was totally my idea and I got if from Pricescope - although people who were discussing upgrading were into huge rocks!

His biggest concern is time - his father called me Friday evening, and the kid needs the ring by the end of this week! So if James Allen has the stone in house, we can go this route. If not... Problem is , from my lilmited experience, it is also hard to find a ready-made setting for a marquise, it is not a RB, for which the setting could be adjustable. I told the groom that his bride-to-be surely chose the most difficult stone to set!

Actually, I advised him to make pictures of two stones on paper, then cut them out and try on his mom''s hand and see which seems OK size-wise. But I think he left it all for me to decide, because he has no idea about diamonds.

 

[Arkteia]

Date: 3/21/2010 7:50:38 PM
Author: dreamer_d

Date: 3/21/2010 7:26:44 PM
Author: crasru
Hi,

I have emailed all the vendors at the ebay and decided not to go that way because some of the answers were very unclear to me. So here are the choices we have now:

a) The diamond and the ring from James Meyer that Lorelei sourced out for me. Given the fact that the girl wants the simplest ring, it would come up to $ 1950 considering PS discount.

b) A diamond that we sourced out from someone close to a pawn shop (a resaler with a good reputation). The person has been pretty accurate with it. It is 0.79 ct, D color VS2. I am attaching the GIA certificate and 2 pics of the ring. The guy selling it to me says he doesn''t know much about a bowtie. To me it looks OK although with the table 0f 64 it may be not bright enough (it looks bright but I ran into this problem with a RB diamond). So...I am attaching a GIA cert. and 2 pics - for you to consider.

I think you mean James Allen!

Though James Meyer would be nice too.

I think I would go with JA because they ahve a 20 day return policy as well as upgrade etc., ad because if for some reason you need it, they have good customer after care. But I don''t know anything about marquise diamonds and can''t realy help with assessing cut! Did you read the fancy cut tutorial on PS?

I read the tutorial and that is why I was posting all the questions. Without the tutorial, I''d just go with a bigger stone but the tutorial came in very handy.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 3/21/2010 7:47:45 PM
Author: crasru
another pic

To be totally honest, I really don't like the stone in that photo....I am pretty sure its going to be dull and lifeless and it is shallow also. The proportions suggest it is going to be a flat stone and it does appear to be a poor cut to me.

With the JA marquise if you are interested, check if there is much of a bow tie showing on the stone.

 

[Black Jade]

Date: 3/22/2010 3:35:37 AM
Author: crasru

Date: 3/21/2010 9:34:13 PM

Author: Black Jade

I am not sure that GIA Gem Trade Lab is the same thing as GIA? Perhaps experts could weigh in?

.80 for a good price does sound tempting, however, I would make sure that the ring was returnable if you don''t like the diamond once you see it, and that you have a reasonable time to return if you don''t like it. (OR rather, if the priest''s son doesn''t like it, since you''re buying it for someone else). You also want a return time window so that you can get it appraised.even though it has a cert.

good luck! The pawn shop ring sound good (D color is always nice)and I hope that works out for you, if that''s what you decide. If not, James Allen is a very good dealer.

It''s never been important to me if a dealer had an upgrade policy or not, because I''m not interested in upgrading, especially not my engagement ring. And I think, off of Pricescope, few people are interested in doing this (and it also makes little economic sense). However, the intended fiancee may be one of those few people that would like to upgrade-- is there a way to find out if she is?

Funny, the groom never heard about upgrading - it was totally my idea and I got if from Pricescope - although people who were discussing upgrading were into huge rocks!


His biggest concern is time - his father called me Friday evening, and the kid needs the ring by the end of this week! So if James Allen has the stone in house, we can go this route. If not... Problem is , from my lilmited experience, it is also hard to find a ready-made setting for a marquise, it is not a RB, for which the setting could be adjustable. I told the groom that his bride-to-be surely chose the most difficult stone to set!


Actually, I advised him to make pictures of two stones on paper, then cut them out and try on his mom''s hand and see which seems OK size-wise. But I think he left it all for me to decide, because he has no idea about diamonds.

His being in such a rush will make it difficult to get a really, really good deal, but you can''t really argue with that--young people get like that when they are in love.

If he makes pictures of two stones on paper and puts them on his mom''s hand, the pawn shop diamond will end up getting picked. It is about 2X as big. However if size is not her first or only consideration (which it COULD be, I know plenty of women who would rather have the larger stone in any circumstances), I would seriously consider what Lorelei and the other knowledgeable person who chipped in are telling you. Lorelei knows a lot (she helped me to pick a beautiful pair of earrings about two years ago) and if she says the stone is too shallow and will not have good light return, I am sure she is right. I am sure that the stone she has picked will be very pretty.The only question would be, whether the bride will CARE about that as much as about size.

I have a friend, and she is a lovely person who is not at all materialistic, or greedy, who was miserable for literally twenty years about her engagement ring, to the point that she would not wear it. Her husband went to a lot of trouble and picked out a D color, nearly flawless diamond which has beautiful sparkle and is really lovely. But it is .50 carat. she wanted a whole carat. Her husband made the mistake of telling her, also, that he COULD have got a whole carat, but lesser quality and had chosen to give her ''the best''. She was miserable for twenty years thinking about how he had actually spent enough money to get the larger diamond and had picked the smaller, because the size of her engagement ring was very important to her. This is a woman who is not flashy and wears no other jewelry to speak of. She was unhappy and her husband was unhappy because she never wore her engagement ring and they have only settled this whole thing recently, after twenty years.

I would prefer smaller but sparkly myself and I think the .62 James Allen is a nice size--and being a marquise, it is going to look bigger than a .62 round. However, the ring is not destined for me. In your original post, you said that the fiancee wanted one carat. .80 is closer to l carat than .62 is and also, the pawnshop diamond is the size of a one carat marquise, just about (probably because it is so shallow and not cut well--it was cut for size.). There are girls who would say that they want one carat but pick the prettier (and not small stone) if they saw two and one sparkled a lot and one did not, and there are also girls who really would still prefer the larger size. Is there any way that you can sound anybody who knows the girl out on this? (and in any case, I don''t think you should buy the pawn shop one anyway, if it is not returnable without any strings).

What would really be nice would be if they would give you a bit more time--I guess he is really against proposing with some sort of placeholder ring? Then, after he proposed, he could ask her what she would prefer, and probably take some time to pick out something that she really likes, if not together with her, at least with some input from her.

But I understand wanting it right away. When my husband proposed to me, I picked out the ring the first time he took me shopping and NOTHING mattered so much as having a ring immediately--I wouldn''t have waited even one more day, I don''t think, even if I knew the ring was going to be better, I just wanted something on my hand!

Best to you,

 

[Arkteia]

I think we shall go with J. Allen for one reason - that the groom can get the ring by Friday. I do not know why the haste, he is leaving for 1 week next Tuesday and will be back in one week and then propose, so he has over two weeks but he wants to have this ring "in his pocket" as he put it by the end of this week! I just thought, that with the other ring being not here, and the need to take it out of the prong, and ship, and then us finding a jeweler to set it. No offense, but the jewelers here seem to be much slower than in New York! And from my experience, it will be very hard to find a ready-made setting for a marquise diamond.

So I called J Allen and got the inventory nr and the kid is going to call them today. Hopefully, it all works fine.

Thanks to all of you. The lady accepting the order did not know anything about the bowtie but I guess we have to take this risk - hopefully, an ideal cut will minimize it.

I shall keep you posted on the progress. All in all, given that the first call was received by Friday evening, I think we did a very good job. Thanks, Lorelei!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 3/22/2010 3:04:22 PM
Author: crasru
I think we shall go with J. Allen for one reason - that the groom can get the ring by Friday. I do not know why the haste, he is leaving for 1 week next Tuesday and will be back in one week and then propose, so he has over two weeks but he wants to have this ring ''in his pocket'' as he put it by the end of this week! I just thought, that with the other ring being not here, and the need to take it out of the prong, and ship, and then us finding a jeweler to set it. No offense, but the jewelers here seem to be much slower than in New York! And from my experience, it will be very hard to find a ready-made setting for a marquise diamond.

So I called J Allen and got the inventory nr and the kid is going to call them today. Hopefully, it all works fine.

Thanks to all of you. The lady accepting the order did not know anything about the bowtie but I guess we have to take this risk - hopefully, an ideal cut will minimize it.

I shall keep you posted on the progress. All in all, given that the first call was received by Friday evening, I think we did a very good job. Thanks, Lorelei!

Sounds like the couple are not wild cut nuts, so even if it is not *perfect* I bet they will love it! Come back with photos or an update if you can!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 3/22/2010 3:04:22 PM
Author: crasru
I think we shall go with J. Allen for one reason - that the groom can get the ring by Friday. I do not know why the haste, he is leaving for 1 week next Tuesday and will be back in one week and then propose, so he has over two weeks but he wants to have this ring ''in his pocket'' as he put it by the end of this week! I just thought, that with the other ring being not here, and the need to take it out of the prong, and ship, and then us finding a jeweler to set it. No offense, but the jewelers here seem to be much slower than in New York! And from my experience, it will be very hard to find a ready-made setting for a marquise diamond.

So I called J Allen and got the inventory nr and the kid is going to call them today. Hopefully, it all works fine.

Thanks to all of you. The lady accepting the order did not know anything about the bowtie but I guess we have to take this risk - hopefully, an ideal cut will minimize it.

I shall keep you posted on the progress. All in all, given that the first call was received by Friday evening, I think we did a very good job. Thanks, Lorelei!

You are welcome!!! Let us know how they like the diamond!!