Ideal princess specs

[jenmc]

Hi, i''m a newbee here and know practically nothing about diamonds. My fiance and I are looking at having a ring custom made, I''d like to get a princess cut with trillions either side in a platinum setting. We''ve been to a local jewelers who claim to speicalize in custom erings. They''ve shown me a princess cut 1.41 G VS2, with trillions matching color and clarity weighing a total of .96 carats - all loose, they look beautiful, but being a novice I''m not sure i''d know the difference.
The price they quoted is $15,500 with the custom platinum setting.
My question is - is this a good deal ? I don''t know anything about the other specs - if I were to ask what should I look for ideally ? I''d really appreciate an experts opinion.

Jenmc.

 

[jenmc]

I forgot to mention that the diamonds are EGL certified and i''ve noticed people on here don''t tend to recommend them - are stones certified by them ones to stay away from as a rule?

 

[jenmc]

Anyone???

 

[jenmc]

Is my question just silly ?
I could really use some advise - I don''t want to be ripped off and my boyfriend is very close to buying this set.

 

[YoungPapa]

jenmc,

We do a lot of custom rings so let me give this a shot.

EGL graded diamond of that size and quality would sell on the net for about $6000-$7000. Same stone with GIA papers is worth closer to 8-9K.

One carat worth of trillions is worth another $2000, although I can''t believe that trillions that big would work this a 1.4 princess. Seems like they would overpower the center diamond.

Custom platinum setting from a really good quality custom manufacturer is another $1500-$1800 assuming it has no other diamonds than the three mentioned above.

So, if I were selling that ring it would probably be about $11,000.

I wouldn''t sell that ring, however. I would upgrade the diamond to GIA and use smaller side stones.

 

[sluke]

The price quoted is a bit on the high side, however, if you love it, and feel more comfortable dealing with a local jewelry, that is all that matters.

You can find something just as beautiful online from one of many vendors here. I did almost a year ago and have no regrets.

Good luck!

 

[jenmc]

Thanks so much for your advice guys, I think i''ll do as you suggested and check out some online options.

 

[Rhino]

Hi Jen,

First thing is to take this one step at a time.

The Center Stone: Hrm... well ... there are a ton of variables we don''t know about if we are to give you an accurate assessment and what we do know isn''t the most promising. It is true that EGL stones tend to be liberally graded so the first questions that come to mind are ... is this diamond *REALLY* a G VS2? A recent study carried out by the owners of this site claim EGL has made a face lift and that their grading is more accurate. So ... assuming it is a conservatively graded G VS2 ... what are the proportions (ultimately to try to determine light performance for brilliance/fire/scintillation)?

A 1.41ct G VS2 princess cut ... a search on a wholesale engine we have access to pulls up 5 stones ranging from $7150 up to $8200 in the 1.40-1.49ct zone and we are a full service jeweler. This should give you a ballpark of what the stone would cost however jewelry stores markup their stuff differently. Competing on the net forces low markups if anyone is going to play ball here and this jeweler may or may not care about that.

Tackle the stone first, get these questions answered ... then we can discuss the setting.

 

[Rhino]

How funny ... what''d we all respond at the same time?

When it rains it pours. LOL>.. Jim! Good to cya around! I''m sitting here with a calculator by my side and 11k is the exact number on it. Are you sure you''re not prowling around in Long Island somewhere?