Is this a good deal?

[dbarrett]

I''m looking at a 1.86 carat round brilliant cut, F, VS1, 61.7% depth, 57% table, no culet, excellent polish and symmetry, medium-slightly thick girdle, no fluorescence for $18,775. From the prices I get here, this seems like a good deal. Needless to say it''s a beautiful rock! Can anyone confirm? THANKS!

 

[Magnum]

Have you seen this diamond? If you haven't, it's tough to get a good idea of the cut of the diamond with just table and depth percentages. To really evaluate the beauty and value of this diamond, it would help to have crown and pavilion angles. If you don't mind, who quoted you the price you listed? the reason I ask is because I'm 99.9% sure that exact diamond is listed on Pricescope by at least five different vendors. The two lowest priced are www.usacerted.com at $17,912 and www.whiteflash.com at $17,914. The others are a couple hundred dollars more expensive. If this is a diamond you are interested in, I'd pick the vendor you feel most comfortable dealing with and ask them to bring in the diamond so they can look at it for you and get more info on the diamond like a full sarin report and possibly idealscope and H&A pictures.

 

[dbarrett]

Saw the stone with my own two eyes today (am buying from a B&M). I am having an appraisal done within the next two days where I hope to check the cut quality. (The GIA cert. does not list angles.)

I also noticed the multiple listings for what seems to be the same diamond (in fact, even the dimensions for mine are exactly the same). Can't explain it really...

 

[Magnum]

I'm not in the diamond business, so I don't know all the ins and outs of how the retail side of the house works, but there is a decent chance that's the same exact diamond as the one listed on pricescope. There's a virtual datbase that lists thousands of diamonds that several different vendors have access to, which is why when you do a search on pricescope, the same diamond appears several times from different vendors. If this is indeed the same diamond the two possibilities I see are that either your B&M has already purchased this diamond off the virtual list for its own inventory and the other vendors have not yet updated their list, or your B&M has called in the diamond for you to look at and has not purchased it for inventory yet. Either way, even though it's a few hundred dollars more than what other vendors are asking on the internet, that's actually really good for a B&M. The fact that they are that close to internet pricing means they are giving you a good price. The extra cost is due to the extra overhead that comes with being a B&M, and many people feel that the extra services a B&M can provide coupled with buying from someone face-to-face makes up for the slight price difference.

The fact that you think "it's a beautiful rock" is more important than what other people think, and is definitely a good start. Have you compared it to other ideal cut stones? That's one way to get an idea on the quality of the cut, since to an untrained eye, a lot of diamonds will be beautiful. But when you start comparing them side by side, you can start to see a difference, and a diamond that may have been beautiful when you first started looking, might pale in comparison to a better cut diamond. To get a more detailed evaluation of the cut, a full sarin report would help. If you're able to at least get the crown and pavilion angles, we'll be better able to comment on the cut of the diamond.

 

[dbarrett]

Megascope results:

Depth- 61.5
Table- 57.2
Crown- 34.6
Pavil- 41.0

AGS 0

Any thoughts?

 

[dbarrett]

Well, I ran those numbers through the "cut advisor" and they scored a 2.0. I see that anything under 2.0 is considered excellent. Any cause for concern?

 

[valeria101]

Sure you have inspected the HCA already... so the stone gets a go-ahead from that point of view. It would be hard to find a much better deal (although not inconceivable). All is well, I would think

GIA's Ex-Ex does not do much good for me in absence of the H&A signature - since the respective grades do not insure the required facet alignment and what not else makes H&A show harts and arrows (Example). The respective notes did marginally influence the price a bit - I suppose. But since the H&A pedigree does not seem to count here, why not!

 

[Magnum]

I'm assuming you got those sarin numbers from the appraiser you said you were going to take the stone to. The HCA score doesn't give me much concern. A 2.0 is a good score, and really, the HCA's main purpose is as a sorting/rejection tool to try to narrow down your search. It can not definitively tell you if a specific diamond is beautiful, because there are certain factors that it does not take into account that can affect the diamond's beauty. Assuming that you did take the stone to an appraiser, I would more highly value his opinion since he has actually evaluated the diamond in person and can compare it to other diamonds he's seen in his experience as an appraiser. If he thinks it's a beautiful stone at a good price, I say go for it.

 

[dbarrett]

Wow-- you guys are awesome. I did indeed take the stone to an appraiser (one recommended on this site, no less), and he provided me with the Sarin report. In all respects the stone matched the GIA report.

In my eyes, the stone is beautiful, so maybe I should go forward with this.... I can't say enough how much I appreciate the thorough and remarkably prompt advice you all have provided. Thank you.