Loose Diamond Appraisal / Insurance

[DaveMutant]

Hi all,

I'm just about to receive our new rock and although I completely trust the seller, I'd like to have it appraised for 100% piece of mind. I'm sure the seller would probably encourage me to do this too, considering they are super reputable.

However, here's where the problem arises. Because of my location, there's only 1 place nearby that will appraise it. They can't get it in until mid September and it'll take 10 days. I'm assuming they send it to a lab. Is this normal? Should I trust them? I'm naturally very worried about them switching out the stones or something similar.

What would you do if you were in my position? take the risk and get the second opinion? or take it on face value that the diamond is what it was sold as? (which, is also a risk...although since I trust the seller its not a big one)

Only reason I ask if because I won't be able to somewhere that can appraise the diamond until a few weeks time, in which case the 30 day money back guarantee will have expired.

Also, I've been looking into insurance for the stone. I've not yet found someone who will insure it unmounted. Is that a common thing? Any advice appreciated!

Cheers in advance!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Is the stone graded by GIA or AGS? if so, then it has been assessed by independent experts. At the very most, all you need to do is find a jeweler/gemologist who will look at the stone and the grading report and confirm that the stone is the one in the lab report. Choose a fine jeweler with a good reputation. Call and see if they will do this service. Some may charge a small fee while others may do it for free. If you are buying a setting locally, then use that jeweler. Once the stone is set, you need to have that written up for insurance purposes, but you may want to discuss value with the person doing that insurance valuation so that they don't inflate the value.

Oh, and just for the record, I have never seen any reason to do this with my Good Old Gold and WhiteFlash diamond purchases. I can pretty much look at the stones with a loupe and know they are the stones on the report.

 

[DaveMutant]

Yep, it's AGS graded. I've had a jeweller here offer to have a look at it under a loupe for free. He asked if I knew the stats of it, and I told him that I did, but I didn't want him knowing them.

Is this enough do you think? getting him to look at the inclusions and 4 C's and then make a reasonable assumption as to whether it matches the cert (which I'm almost 100% sure it will)

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Yes, take the diamond and the cert and he can very easily tell you if the stone matches up. It is a very, very rare occurrence for a vendor to mix up a stone. I am not sure if I have ever seen it happen in 6 1/2 years of being on this forum.

 

[DaveMutant]

Thanks! that's very reassuring

 

[denverappraiser]

Where are you?

There are 4 basic reasons people get new things appraised:

1) The selling jeweler told them something, or failed to tell them something, about the quality of the goods and they want a second opinion from an uninvolved source.
2) Quality control, usually with undocumented things like the mounting or the possibility of a mismatched lab document or damage that occurred since the lab saw it.
3) Documentation for insurance.
4) Confirmation that they got a ‘deal’.

It sounds like 1 and 4 don’t apply to your situation. It sounds like #3 doesn’t apply because the item isn’t completed and your insurer won’t do a loose stone.

This leaves #2. Is it the correct diamond and has it been damaged or altered since the lab saw it. Assuming the store is local to you, it’s entirely possible that they can do this for you with a microscope in the store and a few minutes. Inspect the stone with you and point out the evidence as appropriate. If it’s coming from far away, you may be able to recruit a local store to help or you can use an appraiser who works through FedEx or a similar service. It’s a pretty common request.

 

[GirlyGirl]

Jewelers Mutual insures loose stones so long as the stones wil be set in the near future.