Leon Mege Sourced Diamond?

[thelvyn123]

Disclaimer: I''m not shopping for a Leon Mege ring at this time. I was just browsing his website and his diamond prices piqued my interest.

So Leon claims to source stones at cost for his customers. Granted he''ll only e-mail out a cert for a single diamond, his prices do seem to be significantly below market value.

For example:

1ct G VS2 58% Table 61% Depth "Hearts and Arrows" is priced at $5,311

compared to Blue Nile ($1,300+ Difference 21% discount)

1ct G VS2 56% Table 61% Depth "Signature Ideal" is priced at $6,699

Going larger the gap widens even more

1.31ct F IF 56% Table 62% Depth "Hearts and Arrows" is priced at $13,811 for Leon

compared to Blue Nile ($6,000+ Difference 30% discount)

1.3ct F IF 57% Table 61.6% Depth "Signature Ideal" is priced at $19,946

Given these wide gaps in cost, I''m surprised that so many people source stones themselves instead of having Leon do it.

Does anyone have any experience with purchasing a diamond from Leon? Is the quality comparable to other vendors on this site?

 

[neatfreak]

I''m not so sure about that...something weird. When we were ring/diamond shopping he offered for us too when we were considering his settings. His prices weren''t any cheaper than elsewhere and I really didn''t like that he only offered us one choice for a stone. Not happening in my book!

 

[kenny]

The diamonds may not be comparable.
There are other things that affect the value beyond what you listed.

Also, perhaps those prices are for the diamond only when you pay him to set it. (I don't think he'll sell you the loose stone for that price)
Since you must pay the package price for the stone and setting you really don't know what you paid for the stone.
IOW you may feel the high price of the setting makes the "savings" on the diamond vanish.
Then again you may feel his quality is worth it.

Do a search for past threads on Leon.
There is wide agreement that he does fine work but some people get along with him better than others.
There was just a huge thread about him.

Link

 

[thelvyn123]

Hey Kenny,

To be clear the prices for the diamond are definitely only for when you pay him to set it. At the same time, I recall hearing that his fee for custom work is something like $5,000 (Link) so the difference in cost between the Blue Nile F IF diamond and his F IF diamond would actually cover the setting and leave you with $1,000 left to spare.

As far as other factors influencing the value of a diamond, could you please clarify? I''m still fairly new to this forum so I''m sure I could be missing some nuances. At the same time, although we don''t have all of the angle measurements for these stones or ASET images, this is a Blue Nile Signature Ideal Cut diamond not an Infinity/ACA. I''m not sure if it''s readily apparant to me what other factors would make the Blue Nile stone that much more attractive. I''m going to assume that Leon''s stones are at least GIA certed (does anyone have any insight into this?)

FYI: Compared to ACA ($3000 difference)

1.06ct G VS2 58% Table 61% Depth "Hearts and Arrows" for $5,311

1.12ct G VS2 56% Table 61.6% Depth "ACA" for $8,411

I''m sure the ACA probably outperforms the generic "Hearts and Arrows", but I think this price difference does suggest that Leon may be selling at wholesale prices.