Newbie diamond ring questions...

[Twinkle_Twinkle]

Hello, I have a few “newbie” questions about a small brilliant round cut diamond solitaire ring that I recently bought (on a very tight college student budget!

) from a private party…

The seller estimated the diamond to be about 0.35-0.45 carat, and I am guessing that the latter number is the correct one since the diamond is a tiny bit more than 5mm in diameter (and it is about 3mm from top to bottom).

The diamond did not come with any paperwork; and I don’t own a loupe, so all I know is that it sparkles and looks “okay” (okay in that I don’t see any horribly glaring spots or anything of the sort in the stone).

I would like to have the ring band resized to fit my finger, but I am apprehensive (possibly erroneously) about the extremely rare possibility that the diamond is in fact a decent stone (which I have no idea of knowing) and could be switched. Or is that a silly thing to worry about with a diamond this small? Do I go to a jeweler or a gemologist to have them map out any inclusions in the diamond and weigh it in order to identify it somehow before I take the ring to be resized?

 

[Twinkle_Twinkle]

--continued from above post--

I would also like to have the diamond possibly graded and was wondering if there is some sort of less expensive preliminary work that can be done by a jeweler to determine if the diamond is even worth paying money to have sent in to a lab. (Cheap college student here!) Or is a diamond this small not worth having graded? I suppose too that the diamond would have to be removed from the ring in order to be properly graded?

One more thing: I don’t know of any good jewelers around me. (I live in Southern California in between the Antelope Valley, which is near Santa Clarita, and Bakersfield, if that helps.) Are mall jewelers not worth going to?

Thanks so very much!