New guy needs advice... big surprise

[spobot]

Hey everyone,

I''ve been lurking on here for the past week or so and the wealth of knowledge that is available has been invaluable. I knew nothing about diamonds before and now I feel like I know... a little more than nothing. Anyway, I live in Toronto and I was looking for a local place to buy an Asscher cut. I actually managed to find a link that someone posted on these forums for DWC Diamond Wholesale Group which is located close by. Has anyone dealt with this company before?

I called them and they sent me a list of diaomnds according to my specs (which I took directly from one of strmrdr posts) and they sent me a list of what they had. The sales woman said that they have to bring it in from the US because it''s really hard to find quality Asschers in Canada. Also, I would have to buy it before seeing it. I asked her if there were pictures and she explained to me why they don''t do that. She said it''s extremely difficult to get a good picture that accurately represents the diamond - you have to be an amazing photographer to do so. She said it''s entirely possible to get a great looking picture of a so-so diamond or a lousy picture of a great diamond, so taking pictures and showing customers is essentially lying to them as they are (or most likely are) completely unrepresentative of the diamond in question. Does this sound right to anyone? It sounds plausible to me, but it makes me uncomfortable given that there are so many pictures of Asschers to look at here on these forums. She told me that they only bring in top quality diamonds - so bascially to trust them. Also, she said that very good polish and symmetry will equal a top quality diamond and that it doesn''t have to be excellent/excellent - from what I''ve read here about Asschers, excellent/excellent is the only safe bet. Anyway here is the list she sent according to the specs I gave. I highlighted the ones I thought to have the best specs. Any winners in there?

 

[JulieN]

ex/ex is quite rare...

that's why you send regular pics along with aset or ideal scope-to corroborate. collaborate?

you might as well work with a US vendor who doesn't require you to buy first. same thing...but better?

 

[strmrdr]

I would not buy an asscher without at least pictures it just should not/cant be done.
Ass for the pictures yes they are hard but even a great photog isn''t going to make a bad one look great once you know what too look for in them.
But a photog can make a great one look bad.
That is a problem I run into helping people here all the time, bad photos but often I can see enough to get a good idea if its worth looking into further.

Check out this thread if you haven''t already.
I don''t know why the first picture isn''t showing up but it is shown further down in the group images.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/why-good-asscher-photos-are-hard.37525/

 

[strmrdr]

Both of the G vs2's are showing up in the pricescope search so they are available to the PS vendors.
If it was me id use Good Old Gold and have them brought in for an eval. and buy from them.
They do the best job with the pictures and I have bought from them and would again.

edit: www.goodoldgold.com

 

[spobot]

I just noticed that the D VS1 is available with Mondera. Does that mean it is available to Good Old Gold as well? I''m not sure how this all works.

This diamond with Whiteflash also stuck me by surprise:

0.72
D
VS2
Depth: 69.4%
Table: 58%
Girdle: stk-tk
Culet: no
Sym: vg
Pol: ex
Fluor: mb
Dim: 4.95-4.80x3.33
PRice/carat: $2242

$1614*S

Why is it so cheap? Do specs really mean that little with Asschers?

 

[strmrdr]

If they are listed with multiple vendors then any of the vendors should be able to get them.
Some of the ones that are just listed once that arent in the inhouse diamond search are also avialable from others.
The last one you posted looks like a pricing error.
Checking yea it looks like a pricing error or there is a problem with the stone it shouldnt be that far under the rest of them.

 

[spobot]

Thanks for the help, Storm. You''ve been a huge source of information with this since I''ve been reading a lot of your posts on Asschers. Your knowledge and willingness to help is truly appreciated.

I have a another question though

Are these stones available to anybody in the business? More specifially, if I know the GIA cert number, would I be able to get someone local to bring it in so that I can see it in person, or are these stones only available to a select few vendors? There''s someone close by that is going to bring in a bunch of stones for me to look at and I want them to get a specific one I''ve seen listed here...

 

[spobot]

Anyone? I was hoping to figure this out soon since GOG is willing to bring in the diamond I want, but if I can get it brought into Toronto that would obviously be ideal.