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My eBay hunt for an OEC and a find of a lifetime!

panda08

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
797
I couldn't get over my lust for a OEC so I embarked on the hunt for one on eBay with the hopes of scoring something great without making a gigantic dent in my pocketbook.

My first attempt was a NIGHTMARE. It was my first big purchase from eBay. To make a long story short, the seller claimed to have shipped me the ring and sent me on a wild goose chase with the US Postal Service. She was a TOTAL psycho and even went so far as to have someone call me from NY who claimed to have my ring. Anyhoo... I disputed the purchase through eBay and THANKFULLY got my money back after several weeks.

Shortly after I got my refund from eBay, I saw a listing for a 2.59 OEC solitaire ring. DH thought I was insane to give eBay another chance. The pic in the listing was very unflattering. It was of the ring from a distance and the lighting made the stone look like it had a brownish gold hue. But the listing said that the seller had an appraisal that stated that the stone was J/K color and SI1 clarity. I figured I had nothing to lose so I emailed the seller for more pics and a copy of the appraisal. The additional pics looked the same as the one in the listing but the appraisal looked promising. It was very detailed, like the ones I've received from an independent appraiser, unlike some of the questionable "appraisals" I've seen on eBay. BUT... the listing stated that there were no returns. I wasn't willing to take that kind of risk, so I exchanged several emails with the seller to convince him to allow a return. He finally agreed and changed the listing. On the day of the auction, I placed my bid with 10 minutes to go. I figured that there was no competition. However, with 2 minutes left, someone placed a bid! I up'ed my bid but the other person put in another bid above mine! With the last seconds winding down, I thought about it but decided to let it go because I didn't want to go over budget. So I lost. After the auction was over, I sent an email to the seller, thanking him for his willingness to work with me and expressing regret that I lost out in the end. He responded and said he'd keep me in mind of things didn't work out. I thought "yeah, right."

Well, a week later, I received an email from the seller and he asked me if I was still interested as the other buyer fell through. Heck ya! Instead of an auction, the seller agreed to make it a "buy it now." So I did, and it was mine! (I won't get into the drama I had with PayPal in order to pay for the ring...)

Here's what the seller's pic looked like:

OECsellerpic.JPG
 
And here's what it looked like IRL:

oecIRL.JPG
 
Anyhoo... I immediately took the ring to an IA, who essentially confirmed the seller's appraisal. Whew! :)) However, she couldn't confirm the dimensions or weight of the stone because of the setting. I had the stone removed from the setting and returned for a more accurate appraisal. It is a J color but because the stone had some slight blue flour, it faces up like an I . And instead of 2.59, it weighed in at 2.94!!! :shock: She believed it is an early American European cut. She was on the fence about the clarity grade and thought it could be either SI1 or SI2 and didn't necessarily disagree with the other IA, who gave it an SI1. But because there's some internal graining, she decided to be stricter and gave it a SI2. She said, however, the stone's eye clean and that it is a great find.

The appraisal came in at around 3x what I paid. Antique jewelers who saw it thought it would be about 4x. Regardless, Woo-Hoo!!! I thought I would be extremely lucky if I could get a 2 carat stone with my budget. Never in my wildest dream did I think I could score a beautiful near 3 carat one!

Measurements: 9.13 x 8.84 x 5.97... she's a little wonky ::)
Table: 41%
Depth: 66%

Here it is, unmounted in a ring box:

oecinbox.JPG
 
Here it is unmounted on my hand, for real life perspective:

oeconhand.JPG
 
Wow, it is so beautiful, what a great find!!! :love: :love: :love: :love: :love:
 
Pandy, what an amazing stone!!!! I'm so excited that you found such a jewel of a deal!! You know how much I love vintage diamonds, and this one looks fabulous! And almost 3 carats???? Congratulations!!! Now you must share with us how you plan to have this beauty set! I'm soooo happy for you!
 
Panda that's awesome!! What a great find!
 
What a find!!!!! I can't believe how little that seller's pic did it justice!
 
You did great girl! Fantastic! What a find! Congrats! :appl: :appl:
 
Such a LIVELY stone!! And, huge! I am beyond impressed at your skill in finding such a treasure, and I'm a wee bit jealous too!! :appl: :appl: :appl: How will you set it?
 
:love: :love: :love: :appl: :appl: :appl: :appl: :appl: Me, too on the little bit jealous, but so happy for you train:-) HOw are you going to set it?!?!?!? What a great find!
 
I am totally jealous! It's HUGE and goregous! Congrats....

2 questions-

1. how will you set it? :bigsmile:

2. if it's not too forward...what did you steal this for? :naughty:
 
WOAH! What an amazing find. I'm SO jealous. Beautiful stone!
 
OMG...what a great find! Congratulations!
 
Awesome story....and awesome 3 ct. stone! I'm so jealous! :appl:
 
WOW! That is a great big beautiful stone! I am impressed. :appl:
 
I was so happy to see this thread here Panda about your lovely stone and your journey to find it!
It does sound like this OEC 'chose you', which I don't think is uncommon with these old cuts ::)

Good for you for having the courage to go for it despite the listing photos quality too, just like mine
yours looks like a completely different diamond IRL - those listings with the poor photos are where the
real bargains lie ;))

Do you have your updated ring back from JBeG as yet? Looking forward to pics of your beauty set.
 
Thanks, everyone, for your kind words! I am beyond thrilled with this find. As some of you may ascertain from AJ's post, the stone's being set by JbEG. It's going to be in a 6 prong Julia with the single cut pave basket, 1.7mm shank.

Amy, I stole this for $6800.
 
arjunajane said:
I was so happy to see this thread here Panda about your lovely stone and your journey to find it!
It does sound like this OEC 'chose you', which I don't think is uncommon with these old cuts ::)

Good for you for having the courage to go for it despite the listing photos quality too, just like mine
yours looks like a completely different diamond IRL - those listings with the poor photos are where the
real bargains lie ;))

Do you have your updated ring back from JBeG as yet? Looking forward to pics of your beauty set.

Hi AJ,

I'm glad you found your way over to this thread! You're right, I do feel like this stone and I were meant to be ::) Like you, I took a chance on a so-so pic of a stone on eBay and found a real treasure! Looking forward to seeing how your pretty will be set!

Still waiting for JbEG....
 
Wow, Panda, what a score! It's just beautiful!
 
panda08 said:
Thanks, everyone, for your kind words! I am beyond thrilled with this find. As some of you may ascertain from AJ's post, the stone's being set by JbEG. It's going to be in a 6 prong Julia with the single cut pave basket, 1.7mm shank.

Amy, I stole this for $6800.

What a beautiful stone and a killer deal! I can't wait to see it housed in the amazing new setting!

Congratulations!!
 
Wow, that's gorgeous. Can't wait to see the Julia on your hand!
 
Wow, I'm stunned! How awesome! Enjoy your find! What are you going to do with "her"?
 
panda08 said:
arjunajane said:
I was so happy to see this thread here Panda about your lovely stone and your journey to find it!
It does sound like this OEC 'chose you', which I don't think is uncommon with these old cuts ::)

Good for you for having the courage to go for it despite the listing photos quality too, just like mine
yours looks like a completely different diamond IRL - those listings with the poor photos are where the
real bargains lie ;))

Do you have your updated ring back from JBeG as yet? Looking forward to pics of your beauty set.

Hi AJ,

I'm glad you found your way over to this thread! You're right, I do feel like this stone and I were meant to be ::) Like you, I took a chance on a so-so pic of a stone on eBay and found a real treasure! Looking forward to seeing how your pretty will be set!

Still waiting for JbEG....

Hey Panda,

you did great girl!
My setting should be less than 2 weeks away now - eeeep!
 
Hey Panda,

Any updates on your ring???
 
sphenequeen said:
Hey Panda,

Any updates on your ring???

I just got it tonight!!! Promise to post some pics as soon as I get a chance.
 
What a wonderful stone! Are you going to sell the mount, put a colored stone in it, or scrap it?
 
Wow Panda! I'm so thrilled it worked out for you and that stone is to die for gorgeous. It does look like and earlier OEC w/ the tiny table, larger depth and cushionyness. But nice OEC symm and patterning. How utterly cool! I bet you're over the moon... as you should be! (I know I couldn't have ever ended up with a huge OEC any other way than random ebay luck, too.)
 
Thanks for everyone's kind comments; you can see pics of my OEC in its setting over at SMTB.
 
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