newbie with a dilemma

[happygal]

Greetings from a newbie. I have been lurking for about 2 months now doing ring research and have learned a lot from this forum so I would like to thank everyone on this forum! My situation is this: we found a diamond from a trusted internet vendor and had him send it to a master gemologist/appraiser in our city. He appraised it, let us see the hearts and arrows and did a test (using an ASET machine) that made a report that came out to be AGS 0.

Being a first time diamond buyers, we had nothing to compare it to. It was sparkly and pretty but do you think we were supposed to bring in at least another diamond in to have something to compare it to? The only times i really look at nice diamonds is my mom's wedding set when we go out for dinner and her rings are mcsparkles galore. There was not direct sunlight shining into the window so that didn't help. (The diamond is still at the appraiser waiting on our decision to purchase or not) We are not quite sure what to look for. Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Stone Hunter]

Welcome

I''m not a RB person but wanted to respond anyway. I found it very helpful to go to stores and look at many many diamonds. I found that some look yellow and some have visible flaws and some just don''t sparkle. I really only saw a couple, maybe 5, really nice diamonds. That''s out of all the local stores high end and low.

What I got out of my search; I knew what shape looked good on MY hand. Not a friend''s hand or a model''s hand.

I knew what a good diamond would look like. This took alot of comparison and looking!

That said your appraiser probably can give you an idea of the diamond quality. Just take your stone around and compare it to what is out there. You will be able to see pretty quickly how your stone mearsures up.

HTH

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 10/8/2006 9:19:07 PM
Author:happygal

It was sparkly and pretty but do you think we were supposed to bring in at least another diamond in to have something to compare it to?

Happy Gal,

Welcome to Pricescope.

A few thoughts.

Re your comments...it''s too bad that appraisers somehow don''t help more with comparative perspective, or at least, not independent appraisers. But...their independence provides other alternate advantages. I presume they found nothing about the diamond to at least give you any concern. The decision to get an "IF" one is, I presume intentional, because...having read here, you''re probably aware that that high characteristic may not provide a visually perceivable bonus.

Otherwise, presuming you can tell your appraiser to give a green light, I presume the clock only begins ticking at that point, and that you still have anywhere from 7 to 30 days to so some comparing at stores of your choice. I agree with Stone Hunter. Not sure if the aset did its job for you. In principle, it is supposed to confirm, somewhat at least, for you, the ways you have optimized on cut, or failed to do this. Did your appraiser comment on this tool? Anyway, quickly do your own comparisons. If you''re not completely satisfied, do return it, despite getting your appraiser''s thumbs up. Consider the appraiser having only given you a pass on the first test...that it is what it is supposed to be. Since you are concerned that you optimize, and since the appraiser has not been able to give you any confidence with respect to this, you need to get this confidence, or start over.

Do you see any problems with this? Are you led to understand that...you now buy it, you keep it? That''s not the ground rules that were working when I had my diamond sent from a vendor to an appraiser.

Best wishes,

 

[happygal]

Hello again and thanks for your words of advice.

Regular Guy, those were my thoughts also that the appraiser would provide me with an extra advantage. I guess I really wanted a BrillianceScope report done but I have yet to find one in my area. My fear is a dull stone even though the reports came out good (I guess this comes with lack of looking at more stones to compare). He did give me the thumbs up (which I am happy about) but I am extra worried because of such a large purchase. Are there any numbers here that I should be concerned about? I am still trying to understand steep/deep and why in some photos some RBs just look bright white even in a low light environment. We have decided to purchase it and in the 7 day period to return it, we will try to take it around to compare to other stones at the local stores.

I really appreciate all your thoughts,
HG

 

[Regular Guy]

I did a bit of this myself.

The only modest additional advice....don''t be shy sharing with your prospective jewelry vendors you''ll now take this to...the important details of that you can return this within 7 days, this is not necessarily a done deal (which they might tend to think otherwise), and encourage them to give it their best shot to come up with something that would match or better your selection.