Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

NYC Appraiser Recommendations Requested

Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
CharmyPoo

CharmyPoo

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
7,007
I was wondering if anyone can recommend a good appraiser in NYC for cushion cuts. I did a search and found four that were recommended frequently. Can any provide the strengths/weakeness of each?

Are there any that are especially skilled in cushion cuts?
Do they provide IdealScope, ASET and Sarin reports?

Justin Krall - www.manhattanappraisers.com(seem to have disappeared?)
David Wolf - www.justappraisers.com
Robert Aretz - www.robaretz.com
Deborah Villepigue - www.thejewelryappraiser.com

Thanks!
 
I''ve heard good things about David Wolf here! Good luck!
 
I used Robert Aretz to appraise my two old-cut heirloom rings five or six years ago. He was super nice. He didn''t use a lot of high-tech equipment--maybe because the stones were set? He certainly seemed to know what he was doing.
 
I just hired David Wolf for a cushion I purchased and I would recommend him. He''s very busy, so his turn around might not be best, but he is very good and has a ton of tools to use.
 
justin krall and bob aretz are the most "independant"
 
Date: 9/6/2008 9:17:00 PM
Author: bgray
justin krall and bob aretz are the most ''independant''
Click to expand...
bgray - what do you mean? Do you think the others mentioned are not so independant? Why? Just wondering...
 
bgray - do you have the contact information for Justin Krall? I can''t seem to find his current information.
 
2 of the 3 appraisers we contacted got back to us. We seem to have a preference towards one because of his responsiveness, detailed reports and equipment. However, he also cost $75 more. Is it worth it in terms of what we are getting - will we really know that much more?
 
david wolf knows many of the big vendors--they are too cozy in my opinion. the others may as well..........
 
If my memory serves there have been more than a couple of posts on PS where David Wolf graded their diamonds lower than the GIA report. Just something to be aware of.
 
David graded my AGS stone spot on to the cert. He was extremely friendly and I enjoyed his conversation about my diamond as he did the appraisal.
 
I've used David Wolf (Just Apprasiers) twice.
While he may know the vendors, he sure isn't "cozy".
He's actually known for being a very hard grader and often disagrees on the color.

I've never had any problems with him and when he reviewed my last stone, which GIA graded as a G, he agreed but said it was as low G. Closer to an H than to an F.

Hope this Helps.
 
I am actually pretty nervous about getting the diamond appraised and wondering if my opinion of the diamond will change. If the appraisal came back better, I would be really happy but if the reverse happened - I am wondering if I won''t love my diamond as much!

The G color of our diamond is one of the only specs we scarficed on because we couldn''t find a E or F given the other elements we wanted. Hearing that David Wolf could be tough on color makes me nervous but it is better we know than we don''t know. To be honest, I could barely tell in person between the four F diamonds we were comparing to our G diamond.

Anyone else have these feelings?
 
If you love the stone, and can barely see a difference between a G and an F, why would Wolfs grading scare you?
Is it a mind clean thing for you if he thinks it''s a low G or an H?
 
I can see where bgray is coming from as I''m working with ERD and they recommended me to David Wolf to get my diamond appraised. But after talking to him for about 30 minutes he seemed like a great guy, and informed me a lot on how the process would work and various details on how the diamond would be evaluated. David never sold me on getting the higher priced appraisals, and I thought he gave me a lot of advice that helped. In the end I never got service from him, but I would go to him in a heart beat if I needed his full services. Since I was only buying a .90 ct round, I figured I didn''t need that much info that David would provide and went with a local appraiser who will just do a basic comparison to see if it matches the certificate report.

I feel what you are feeling charmy as I''m going to get mine appraised this coming Monday, and I''m hoping for the best. But I think it comes down to if you like the stone, and if you think its worth the price. Sometimes pricescope.com and these other sites can give you a little to much info, and you are always looking for that perfect stone for months and months and never settle on one. I know I have cause I''ve been looking at stones for nearly two months now. But I got advice from my brother and I finally decided that I need to make a decision and not be so hung up on exact specs. Because I was also a bit hung up on the color grade, but in the end I couldn''t tell the difference between stones unless it was a D or E color stone next to a I or J colored stone. So if its within a grade you really have to be a expert I think to tell the difference, and even then it sounds like its very subjective.
 
Few folks want to get the best judgment of an expert which contradicts the quality or value stated initially by the seller. The reason you find an expert is to provide you a further assurance of what generally happens when an honest seller and consumer interact.

There are occasional problems of mis-grading or slightly differing opinions by labs and also by expert appraisers. These can be upsetting to clients and I see little that can be done to prevent this. Many of the expert opinions are correct ones and bad news is just attached to that aspect of appraisal opinion. A few opinions are less than totally valid, but it would take a court of peers to review and offer their opinion of what is incorrect. No one goes to that level of assurance, but this does create the infrequent problem.

We do also see consumers who have some form of buyer's remorse and who really want the appraiser to provide a dissenting opinion so that a return can be facilitated. Many of these requests by consumers are bogus and appraisers must be diligent in preventing misuse of their services and opinions. Once in a while I have provided the needed dissenting opinion which has allowed a consumer to make a return, to get an adjustment on the price, or to be offered an exchange in stones. I provide such dissenting opinions when I believe they are fully warranted, not because of any demand by a client. An appraiser must realize the consequences of providing accurate as well as inaccurate work.

I know three of the four appraisers mentioned reasonably well and I believe they can provide honest and dependable service. I don't know Mr. Krall to any extent. NYC is such an expert market that an appraiser who caused problems with wrong opinions with any degree of frequency would become well known for their problems and we would have heard here. I doubt David Wolff gives purposefully low color or clarity grades. I'm sure he takes his work seriously and he might be conservative in hopes of doing his very best for consumers. We all have slightly individualized approaches which I'd hope lead to reasonably consistent, long term results.

Try not to get hung up on a letter of the alphabet. The diamond remains the same. If it was lovely going into the appraiser, it will remain that way. A grade one way or the other is not the main issue. Beauty and reasonable value are far more important in the long run.
 
As to David''s color grading, he initially graded the color of my loose stone in a machine. This machine gave a readout of where there were roughly 3 or four steps in either direction around the actual graded color. For instance, my stone was graded an ''E'', and the machine indicated the stone was about 3/4 of the way towards E, but between E & F. I believe he then compared the stone against a set of masters (although I think they were CZs).

Needless to say, he wasn''t tough on the color grade. He was simply confirming what his machine was telling him. If the machine said my stone was an F, he would''ve graded it an F.
 
Those machines are "nice" because no one can argue with a machine. They appear objective and give a result which cannot be disputed with the machine. The PROBLEM is that these machines, to date, don''t work perfectly. They are not considered better than human eyes and master diamonds. No major lab grades color yet with a machine as the final arbiter of color grade. There are a couple growing labs using machine grading, but they are not in the USA and limit the results given to smaller stones or as secondary sources of what color is being examined.

I have had three electronic color graders over the years and decided they were not yet ready to replace a qualified gemologist''s eyes and opinions. They were entertaining to own and prevented several heated arguments with diamond dealers. In that respect, they are a success. I suspect that within a couple years, we will have machine grading of color which the trade will be forced to accept as proper in 98% of all cases.
 
*Update on my earlier post*

I''m still waiting for my report from David. He had my diamond last Thursday and gave it back to the dealer the same day. He told me he''d get back to me later that same day or Friday morning. Didn''t get my report so I gave him a call on Friday at noon, he apologized and told me it would have to wait until Monday, but that he would get it to me by then. Still no report.
29.gif
So his turnaround stinks in my opinion.
 
That''s interesting regarding the machines. Something I was definitely not aware of.

That being said, I certainly don''t want anyone to think I''m speaking for David regarding his methodologies. He did not rely on the machine alone as he did compare the stone to a set of masters.
 

Wow - thank you very much for everyone''s feedback. Has anyone else noticed a long turnaround time from David W? What is the typical turnaround time for an appraisal? At this point, I am not too picky on the timelines - we waited months and months on the diamond ... it is no longer a surprise for me.


David - your perspectives are always amazing. I have really enjoyed reading your posts throughout the archives. I would love to send my diamond to you but it would be easier logistically to keep the diamond close by the dealer etc.

 
Well I could wait too (and obviously have to) and I wouldn''t be put out about it, except that David quoted me one day turn around and here it is 6 days/four business days later.

Considering I am a first time customer and he has already charged my credit card, I''m unhappy.
38.gif
 
I can totally understand why you would be upset. Did he at least verbally give you the findings?
 
I have no problem with people going to local appraisers when they feel comfortable about it. It is a big world out there and there is usually and thankfully enough to do. My belief is to only accept work that I can do with great immediacy. I just finished a 573 item appraisal, sadly for a divorce. I promised it by the end of August and worked over several weekends to make it on time. All of us appreciate good work and we all especially like a job to be fully completed when it was promised.
 
Date: 9/9/2008 2:41:38 PM
Author: CharmyPoo
I can totally understand why you would be upset. Did he at least verbally give you the findings?
Click to expand...

Somewhat. He said it was a great stone and I should take it off the market and it will go up in value because it is a rare cut. He also stated that the clarity should actually be one higher than listed in the GIA report, so that''s a bonus to me. But that''s it, that''s all he said and that was after I told him I was disappointed having to wait until Monday because I wanted to give the vendor an answer before then so he mentioned the above comment. So it was enough for me to go ahead and say yes to the stone, but not worth the $250 I paid him.

I left him a message this morning about my missing report and I still haven''t heard back. No return call and no report. He will NOT get my business again.
 
I have not spoken to any of them personally. My boyfriend has been doing it but he told me David was really responsive. He called him back within minutes and answered all his questions. Now, the report and appraisal could be a different. I will let you know how everything goes - I am not sure if he already sent off the diamond.
 
Another update:

Still no report from David. I called him again this morning since he didn''t call me back from my message yesterday. He was surprised I didn''t get my report and said he would send it over to me. That was two plus hours ago...still no report.
 
That really sucks - did you verify the email address with him? I wonder if it would work better if only half the payment was made up front and the other half when you get the goods. Too bad they typically charge in full.
 
Date: 9/10/2008 1:01:30 PM
Author: CharmyPoo
That really sucks - did you verify the email address with him? I wonder if it would work better if only half the payment was made up front and the other half when you get the goods. Too bad they typically charge in full.
Click to expand...

Yes, I double checked my email with him. I think you are right, it would have worked better if I didn''t give him the full amount upfront. He had no trouble remembering to charge my credit card.
32.gif
 
Just called David again. Seems all my information, including my report was lost in the "database".
29.gif
He would have to do the whole thing again, only he didn't have my information, just some paperwork. Did he call me to tell me this? NO! He actually never once called me during the entire process. Anyway, I digress and to make a long story even longer, I told him that I was unhappy and that I would like to use someone else. I asked him to refund my card, which he already charged. He said that he would refund my card, but he didn't know how and asked me to give him all my credit card information again, which I did. Now I wait and see if he is able to do that for me. The good thing was that he did say he would refund my money since I was unhappy. Fingers crossed that I will get that refund since I never got that report and appraisal.
 
Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top