Help needed- Marquise cut

[BSP2019]

Hi all,

I recently purchased an uncertified marquise, .83 ct, SI-2 (eye clean), H color for $1250 for an engagement ring. It's a beautiful stone, but I did not pay a lot of attention to the girdle until now. I've only had it for a day and am terrified I might have made a bad call. The girdle is very thin to my eye and is white in a couple of places. I saw this when originally picking out the stone, but the jeweler assured me it was fine structurally and was the sole reason that the diamond was graded an SI-2 rather than SI-1.

I am fine with the look of it, as it is not terribly noticeable unless you are really looking for it. The white chalk-looking lines are on the side. However, will it impact the structural integrity of the ring?

Question 2-
I called the jeweler back, concerned about the girdle, and she told me I could come look at a GIA-certified diamond with almost the same specs to reassure myself. I'd also have the option of purchasing the GIA stone for about $500 more. If they look comparable, I'm not sure its worth it. I also thought about getting an independent appraisal of this diamond before going back to look at the GIA-cert diamond.

I am kicking myself for not doing all of this comparison BEFORE I bought the thing. I have been looking for a marquise for a few weeks now (and had seen very, very many), so I was confident in my ability to tell a good from a bad stone. The girdle issue has me stumped, though.

It's already set in the ring, so I am not sure how worth it all of this is. I would just rather handle my mistake now if I made one. This entire process has been a nightmare, and I am ready to be done .

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Bfelix]

I’m not an expert but if I were in your shoes, I would send it to GIA and see what they say. Also, what is the return policy with your jeweler? Maybe, if you let them know that you are going to send it in just to make sure that everything matches up so that they are aware, will help in case you need to return the diamond. It will be cheaper to send your stone in than to pay 500 for a different diamond.

 

[Lorelei]

Hi BSP and welcome!

This is a tough one with the diamond not having a report, we can't know whether the girdle is actually fine or not, it could be perfectly ok but the best person to tell you that is an appraiser.

Are you locked into buying from this jeweller is my question, can you return the ring and get a refund?

Also, the chalk looking lines could be the girdle reflection if those sit beneath the girdle about half way down and go around the stone, that's normal. But it's impossible to tell what you're actually seeing without photos.

 

[BSP2019]

Hmm. I'm likely locked in unless the jeweler did something wrong, like misrepresent the clarity/color, etc. It might be easiest to just get a third party appraisal. That's good to know that the girdle could still be fine structurally (just maybe not polished?). I wasn't sure what it should look like to the naked eye.

Thank you!

 

[Lorelei]

Hmm. I'm likely locked in unless the jeweler did something wrong, like misrepresent the clarity/color, etc. It might be easiest to just get a third party appraisal. That's good to know that the girdle could still be fine structurally (just maybe not polished?). I wasn't sure what it should look like to the naked eye.

Thank you!

You're welcome, some girdles do look frosty, it's called bruting where the girdle is left unpolished and not a problem.

I'd maybe think about the other stone if you can swing it, as it has the GIA report, by the time you'd paid an appraiser, that might be the way to go.

As this diamond doesn't have any grading report at all, I'd really want an indie appraisal before keeping it to make sure.

 

[BSP2019]

Hi BSP and welcome!

This is a tough one with the diamond not having a report, we can't know whether the girdle is actually fine or not, it could be perfectly ok but the best person to tell you that is an appraiser.

Are you locked into buying from this jeweller is my question, can you return the ring and get a refund?

Also, the chalk looking lines could be the girdle reflection if those sit beneath the girdle about half way down and go around the stone, that's normal. But it's impossible to tell what you're actually seeing without photos.

Also, I think the lines are the actual girdle. I read a little bit about a bearded girdle? Which is hilarious.

 

[BSP2019]

UPDATE: I brought the ring to another jeweler (didn't get a full appraisal just yet), to see what he thought about the girdle. He told me that the girdle is unpolished, but otherwise there isn't anything wrong with it. It does have an indented natural on the side, which I knew about when I bought it. He said otherwise it's fine structurally, esp for the price. He's a friend of a friend, so was really just doing me a favor looking at it. Probably should have bought from him in the first place.

I then brought it back to the original jeweler where I bought it and discussed the girdle and compared the stone to several other GIA-cert and non-cert stones they had. I noticed that mine does sparkle a little less than some of the other stones, as it has a larger table (probably a little too large). But the stone itself looks much bigger than the others, and the overall shape of the stone was better than the others as they either had weird symmetry issues or more prominent bowties. I just didn't love the GIA stones as much as this one.

SO New question- if I keep this stone, would it enhance the sparkle and/or structural integrity to have the girdle polished? I thought maybe because of the indented natural it might be a good idea anyway. The jeweler said they could have it polished for about $150 with very little impact to the ct wt.

I read a little bit about it here, but how risky would it be seeing as how this is an SI-2 with a couple of feathers? Debating whether I should go for it or just accept that it's a little flawed but still beautiful.

Thanks!

 

[Lorelei]

UPDATE: I brought the ring to another jeweler (didn't get a full appraisal just yet), to see what he thought about the girdle. He told me that the girdle is unpolished, but otherwise there isn't anything wrong with it. It does have an indented natural on the side, which I knew about when I bought it. He said otherwise it's fine structurally, esp for the price. He's a friend of a friend, so was really just doing me a favor looking at it. Probably should have bought from him in the first place.

I then brought it back to the original jeweler where I bought it and discussed the girdle and compared the stone to several other GIA-cert and non-cert stones they had. I noticed that mine does sparkle a little less than some of the other stones, as it has a larger table (probably a little too large). But the stone itself looks much bigger than the others, and the overall shape of the stone was better than the others as they either had weird symmetry issues or more prominent bowties. I just didn't love the GIA stones as much as this one.

SO New question- if I keep this stone, would it enhance the sparkle and/or structural integrity to have the girdle polished? I thought maybe because of the indented natural it might be a good idea anyway. The jeweler said they could have it polished for about $150 with very little impact to the ct wt.

I read a little bit about it here, but how risky would it be seeing as how this is an SI-2 with a couple of feathers? Debating whether I should go for it or just accept that it's a little flawed but still beautiful.

Thanks!

Well, to me it's not flawed having an unpolished girdle and a natural, nor would I go for repolishing, there's a risk you could lose or damage the stone ( albeit small) and possible loss of weight for very little return. I don't think the polished girdle would improve the performance of the stone nor removing the natural, you'd probably lose carat weight doing that.

I think you have to accept it for what it is or change it, you could go for the repolishing but there's lots to think about and for me repolishing a pointed end stone is extra risky because of the potential for breakage.

 

[motownmama]

MY ER diamond is an H/SI1 - it HAS a bruted girdle. Doesn't bother me int he least - very sparkly. However, IF it bothers you now, it will bother you MORE in the future - that's been proven over and over here on Pricescope with myriad issues.