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new BGD stone! now, setting and appraisal questions

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sunnyside74

sunnyside74

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 10, 2014
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147
thanks much to gypsy, wink, & randG for all their advice. i had picked a lovely-by-stats BN stone and we were all set to purchase when i made a final sweep of some of the PS delers and found a preloved BGD H&A of the same size & specs that I had eyed for a while which had literally just been marked down and now fell into my price range (almost exact same as the BN stone).

2.304 / J / VS2 / AGS000 / table / depth 56.6% / 60.8 % / crown/pav angles 34.6/40.7 (hca 1.2/aga 1a). Given the that we could see all the images (idealscope/aset/h&A) and BGD having a good rep around here we went that route and she got here this AM. lovely stone, totally eye clean, and could not be happier.

Now for the setting question: I'm a surgical resident, and I work a lot with my hands, there's a lot of purell, gloves going on and off... I have had bezel set stones before, and they make me feel like the stone is safe - but i don't like them as much asthetically. i'm partial to the more antique 8 prong tiffany style approach and pave set bands, but I'm worried that's totally impractical given my occupation (and I think engagment rings are to be worn and not left at home, or else I would never wear it...) any suggestions on settings you think would fit the look and hold up to the abuse?

last question - I took the stone to my local jeweler for the and he felt the stone was beautifully cut, but K/L color, SI1 clairty. I've read a lot of the appraisal threads here, and I know the color/clarity grade is always subjective to wiggle room, and the AGS cert should stand - but this seemed to be a big hit on both cut and clarity, and would swing the price point of the stone a fair bit... (no, he is not AGS certifed - the owner is a jeweler who does custom work himself, onsite, and repairs antique jewlery, I've used him the last 6 years I've been here and always found him to be fair. He has performed interim appraisals on a number of my pieces and been spot on as far as color/clarity are concerned when compared against the GIA reports I had for the unmounted stones in these pieces which he did not have access to)... is this something i should be concerned about?

many thanks!

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few more photos

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Maybe it's the surroundings, but the stone does look quite warm to me. I could believe K or L for it, as seen on my monitor. I see more warmth in my AGS-graded F than I did in my GIA G, which looked nearly colorless to me. If the stone is too warm, return it and go up in color is all you can do with that.

Clarity: I believe there has been a lot of grade creep in the past 10 years. The old-school GIA trained people are all for calling an I1 and I1, but I'd wager that with the current climate at GIA, they are going to get SI2. I have an ungraded diamond that I bought 10 years ago and the GIA GG graded it I1. I want to sent it to GIA and see if they don't upgrade it to SI2. LOL

One thing to keep in mind re. clarity is that as the stone increases in size the size of inclusion that can be a VS2 or SI1 is also going to be allowed to be larger. A VS2 1ct might look a lot cleaner than a 2ct VS2, and the larger VS2 stone might not be eyeclean enough.

I stopped upgrading, because I hit the point where I'd have to go up in color as well as clarity when I went up in size. I decided I just didn't need a larger diamond.
 
thanks TC

re: the color, my camera which is usually set for landscape does have a slight warm tint programmed in my custom settings that I forgot to take out, it looks a little whiter in pics after I cleaned up the white balance.

that being said, I have a 2.2 K VS1 OEC and I would say they looked pretty identical in color when I looked at them side by side today. I can find the inclusions pretty easily with my surgical loupes, but I'm not a gemologist and I don't know how to quantify easy - they aren't visible without loupes, but there are 2 small crystals under the table.

I think I am just torn about value - it s a beautiful stone, and if money were grew on trees, I wouldn't give it a second thought -- as certed J/VS2, it would have been purcahsed just below the rap sheet (~9300/ct), but would be quite a bit overpaid for as an L/SI1 (~6500/Ct)... its a big investment, and I guess I just don't want to feel like I paid for something I didn't get - if that makes sense.

--thanks,
a
 
Here's the thing. What you paid for is a diamond with an AGS lab report that states that is a J VS2.

And that's what you got. So you got what you paid for. And no vendor is going to give you an adjustment or a anything based on an appraisal or even a re-grading. Because at the time you bought it... the stone was graded as a J VS2 and that's what they sold you. There is no breach of contract or obligation on a vendors part to do anything further.

Whether the stone is accurately graded or not at J VS2, is a different matter. You can submit it for regrading if you want, I'm sure your jeweler could do that for you. But I guess my question is... do you have a return policy on the stone? Because if you don't have a return policy on the stone, then I'm not sure it matters what the stone "would be" or "could be" graded as. Because it's yours now. And if the grading comes back lower-- you devalue your stone. And if you DO have a return policy, then re-grading it isn't really purposeful because it won't change the STONE. The stone is what it is. And you can't get an adjustment.

So where does that leave you: If you have a return policy and the stone isn't mindclean for you return it. If you don't have a return policy, then I recommend trying to get to a mindclean space.

Regarding your OEC. Color is graded face down. SO unless you are comparing the OEC and this stone unset, face down against a white background and against a set of master stones-- you have no idea if they the same color. Because if that OEC is set and you are comparing them... a J and K face up... yeah, they are going to look alike. Even if they are both completely accurately graded.
 
gypsy - thank you as always.

i DO have a return policy - I am mostly trying to decide if I should let it be mindclean or if I should return it. ie - should i be concerned this stone is probably a bit lower colored and more included than the AGS report indicates? Would you (other PS folks) return it on those grounds knowing that? Or am I just being over critical?

I don't think it the dealer did anything wrong nor am I looking for price adjustment, I guess I'm just trying to wrap my head around the discrepancy between the cert and the appriasal since I've never had one be 3 grades apart before - maybe a G/H swithch or VS1/VS2 in isolation.

--thanks, a
 
Okay. So where are you located? What metro area?
 
I think it's stunning!! Can't wait to see how you set it.

ERD does a nice bezel or Sholdt has a few semi bezels.
 
Gypsy - I'm in the Boston metro area

Mayk - I do like sholdt bezels but was looking to get away from a bezel if I could this time
 
The bottom line question is this: do you love the stone? Has this appraiser's opinion deflated that love in any way? If it has and you can still return it, go ahead. If you love it in spite of everything, then keep it and wear it with pride. For myself, I'd be happy with the paper supporting what I bought as opposed to one man's opinion. He sells stones as well so he is perhaps not as unbiased as he should be?
 
thanks missgotrocks -

yes i do love the stone, in all truth its eyeclean and really sparkly - i think i just let the appraisal get in my head because when I first pulled the stone out it looked a little more yellow than I was expecting and the inclusions were larger/more easily visible than I expected. and yes, he is a jeweler who does sell diamonds - and i would never rule out other motives - it just hadn't been my expereince with him in the past.

I think as gypsy put it, its not mindclean to me now, and I need to figure out if I can resolve that before the return period is over

I really appreciate your input!

--a
 
While we have seen color discrepancy from one grade to another, I truly find it hard to believe that your AGS J stone is an L. However, you need to be perfectly happy with it and if you're not, you need to do what you need to do. Paying more is never a great feeling but if it will get you a stone that you are happy with, then the dollars will be well spent.
 
OK. Great. Can you go see Jeff Averbrook: http://www.metrojewelryappraisers.com/ He's a great appraiser and a nice guy. If it were me, I would want a second opinion and I think Jeff will be very straight with you and tell you if he thinks you should keep it or return it for the price.

That's what I would do.
 
Setting: I completed 1 year of R.N. school at a diploma school, recently. And the rule there was "No rings, except a plain untextured band, and definitely NO rings with stone(s) in them." Many hospitals are instituting a no-rings / no watches policy. The nurses RANTED about how the doctors transmit infections from patient to patient on their hands and/or clothing. So, I'd plan on not wearing the rings in any hospital setting. With all of the antibiotic resistant stuff and now ebola and plague and whatever else, I think it's a good policy to leave the jewelry at home. But perhaps the physicians are not getting the same training that we nurses got, re. patient care, isolation procedures and policy, etc., because the issue of rings for a physician's hand continues to come up here all the time. And every time, I say the same: It's going to be no-rings soon. Fomites = bad. Every R.N. is getting rigorous training in that!
 
Hi OP, I hope you do get a second appraisal, since it sounds like you do really love the stone. This color/clarity grading things has come up a lot lately about AGS stones, it's very concerning. I hope it gives you some peace of mind. Please post what you find out.
 
gypsy - emailing him now to set up an appt - many thanks for all of your help!!! will report back on the findings...

TC - very fair point, we don't yet have that rule here (the surgical teams here gel and glove in the anteroom on AM rounds, and I am in the OR the rest of the day with the ring on a necklace for cases or any out of OR procedures I might do)
 
btw - TC congrats on 1 year of RN school, we <3 our surgical nurses!
 
Thanks again all for your advice!

Met with Jeff today - so lovely. He finds the stone to be per AGS cert, maybe even a hair paler than the master J, and VS2 for clarity.

mind = clean. :angel:

now on for some input on a solitaire setting - non bezeled, platinum, but as protective of the girdle as can be...

thoughts?

thanks!
a
 
Such great news! Yay :appl: If you want a solitaire I say Vatche U113 :love:
 
That's awesome! Whew, now you can move on to settings. I have a Tiffany repro like the U113, I love it. So simple and elegant, can't go wrong.

I had a similar experience with my ring when I walked into a couple of jewelery stores after I had JUST had it set. Sales people are so rude sometimes, this one had the nerve to say that he thought my J looked like a K but probably was an L. I didn't ask for his opinion so I now feel that they must be trained to make you feel badly about your stone so they can flip into being a buyer again. So, this might be a tactic everywhere, just be on the lookout and don't let them make you feel insecure about your stone ever again :dance:
 
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