NYC Diamond Shopping Advice

[Dan6]

Hey folks,
We are traveling to NYC next month, staying in Times Square. Any vendors that you guys recommended we visit while we are there?
We’ll be shopping for a 2.5ct oval.
Any advice will be appreciated!

 

[Gussie]

IDJ. Contact Yekutiel and schedule an appointment. Let him know what you are looking for. They are awesome there!

 

[Dan6]

IDJ. Contact Yekutiel and schedule an appointment. Let him know what you are looking for. They are awesome there!

I saw that. They are on the list!

 

[ringo865]

August Vintage

 

[Dan6]

August Vintage

Yes, I spoke with Jonathan already. He is on the list as well. Thank you!

 

[Queenie60]

Yes, I spoke with Jonathan already. He is on the list as well. Thank you!

If I were buying an oval - definitely from Jonathan, opulence oval!

 

[Dan6]

If I were buying an oval - definitely from Jonathan, opulence oval!

We wanted to. But nothing that works with our budget has popped up yet, and we’ve been waiting for a while

 

[rockysalamander]

We wanted to. But nothing that works with our budget has popped up yet, and we’ve been waiting for a while

I think its totally reasonable to look at other options. Diamonds by Lauren are good with fancy shapes. I think they will set up viewing by appointment.

I'd also drive out to Long Island and visit Good Old Gold
5278 Sunrise Hwy.
Massapequa Park, NY 11762
Phone: 516.798.5151

We can also search online for you if you want to give us your budget and color specs. GOG and IDJ may be able to call in stones we find.

 

[OoohShiny]

We wanted to. But nothing that works with our budget has popped up yet, and we’ve been waiting for a while

Have you emailed @Rhino through the AVInc website to ask if he has anything coming that would suit?

 

[Dan6]

I think its totally reasonable to look at other options. Diamonds by Lauren are good with fancy shapes. I think they will set up viewing by appointment.

I'd also drive out to Long Island and visit Good Old Gold
5278 Sunrise Hwy.
Massapequa Park, NY 11762
Phone: 516.798.5151

We can also search online for you if you want to give us your budget and color specs. GOG and IDJ may be able to call in stones we find.

We’d like a 2.5ct +/-, D-F, SI1, as close to $20k as possible. But is so hard to tell by looking online. We don’t like any yellow tint in it, and we haven’t figured out what specs prevent that. Also, we’ve seen good prices with strong fluorescence, but with pictures we can’t see how it impacts the stone.

 

[Dan6]

Have you emailed @Rhino through the AVInc website to ask if he has anything coming that would suit?

We have been communicating, and he sends me updated emails with what’s to come. I like what I see, but they are lower colors for more money than we can spend. But I’ll contact him right before our trip to see if there’s anything new.

 

[valeria101]

We don’t like any yellow tint in it, and we haven’t figured out what specs prevent that. Also, we’ve seen good prices with strong fluorescence, but with pictures we can’t see how it impacts the stone.

Perhaps one of the shops could show you what the GIA colour grades & strong fluorescence look like. You might as well decide that only D is trully colourless, but G & H are worth seeing, perhaps - the 'colour' is still too faint to name in them ('near colourless' is a good name for these grades ! .. & I).

2c

___
... re. colourless-ness in pictures ... dunno: perhaps the G is left of D ? WWW

 

[Staceyjan]

I think its totally reasonable to look at other options. Diamonds by Lauren are good with fancy shapes. I think they will set up viewing by appointment.

I'd also drive out to Long Island and visit Good Old Gold
5278 Sunrise Hwy.
Massapequa Park, NY 11762
Phone: 516.798.5151

We can also search online for you if you want to give us your budget and color specs. GOG and IDJ may be able to call in stones we find.

I would also make an apt w GOG. They are great to work w but I always had an apt just to have individualized time w someone.

 

[Dan6]

Perhaps one of the shops could show you what the GIA colour grades & strong fluorescence look like. You might as well decide that only D is trully colourless, but G & H are worth seeing, perhaps - the 'colour' is still too faint to name in them ('near colourless' is a good name for these grades ! .. & I).

2c

___
... re. colourless-ness in pictures ... dunno: perhaps the G is left of D ? WWW

We seem to be very perceptive to color. But this is why we want to go see them ourselves, there might be stones with different specs that look just right to us!

 

[Dan6]

I would also make an apt w GOG. They are great to work w but I always had an apt just to have individualized time w someone.

We want to as well, but we are trying to figure how we’ll get there from Manhattan, given that we are only flying there for 2 days.

 

[Staceyjan]

We want to as well, but we are trying to figure how we’ll get there from Manhattan, given that we are only flying there for 2 days.

Are you renting a car? I will check w DH but I think the Midtown Tunnel is the fastest from the city. What airport are you flying into? From NJ, we did the GW bridge in and then then the Midtown Tunnel from GOG to NYC.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

We wanted to. But nothing that works with our budget has popped up yet, and we’ve been waiting for a while

Cut is SO important, and I seriously would try to wait on an Opulence Oval. They are just going to be so much better cut than generic ovals. Better cut is worth paying for. I heard him say on IG that he has two or three coming in. Are you aware of those? I just looked and he said the highest color 2 ct one is H color. Oh well.

But I think your price and specs don't line up. I just looked up 2.5 cts D-F SI1 on James Allen, and there is one diamond at $22,800 and the next lowest is $24k and they go up from there to $28,800 for a 2.5 E SI1. So you are either going to need to go smaller than 2.5 or go lower in color than F. (And of the 10 diamonds, there is not one that I think is cut well enough to recommend.)

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I didn't really see any D-F SI1's from 2.0-2.7 cts so I bumped up to VS2 clarity.

These two may have potential if eyeclean:

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.00-carat-f-color-vs2-clarity-sku-3535854

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.04-carat-d-color-vs2-clarity-sku-3668961

I should add that most jewelers simply aren't going to have multiple diamonds (if any) in house with the specs you want. Even if they did, if you look at JA, there might be one good oval out of about 20. So you are going to have to choose one vendor, make an appointment, and have them pick up diamonds from suppliers for you to look at. That's the only way your visit will work.

 

[valeria101]

.
+1 vote for D/VS2

Adding a 2.3 E / VS (medium blue) candidate - www (#LD09690541 at Blue Nile)

 

[Maggiemeans]

You should be able to take the LIRR (long Island railroad) to Gold Old Gold or close by.
Rhino is local so GOG can pull stones in from him.

 

[Staceyjan]

You should be able to take the LIRR (long Island railroad) to Gold Old Gold or close by.
Rhino is local so GOG can pull stones in from him.

Ah yes, it is close by and we mentioned that we should have took it in one day instead of driving in and they stated they would have picked us up and dropped us off at the station. What a nice offer and great customer service that is so personalized! When I was changing my wedding band sets, we had such a great relationship as we were texting ideas back and forth. That type of service is amazing!

 

[WillyDiamond]

call Chris at BE in advance and he will line up some stones for you to see.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

You should be able to take the LIRR (long Island railroad) to Gold Old Gold or close by.
Rhino is local so GOG can pull stones in from him.

I don't understand this post. Rhino (Jonathan) no longer works at Good Old Gold. He sells August Vintage stones on his own website.

 

[pyramid]

I'm surprised you wouldn't understand about Jonathan and Good old Gold as you are the one who promotes them the most. I understood they are all the same family owned.

 

[Maggiemeans]

I don't understand this post. Rhino (Jonathan) no longer works at Good Old Gold. He sells August Vintage stones on his own website.

Long story short I hope. I knew I wanted an AVC in Nov 17 when I was able to purchase. I had visited the AVC's years ago at GOG and at that point Jonathan showed them to me. When I contacted the store in Nov I learned of Jonathan's new venture. As well, I came back to PS after a several year hiatus and started doing some searching.
My first visit with Matt (terrific by the way) we reintroduced me to the AVC to make sure it still made my heart skip which it did. Then when we reviewed my criteria of budget color, clarity, etc. He had a few stones in house but gave me a list od what was available through Jonathan as well. I made a few selections from that knowing from my education on PS which I thought my choice would be. Next visit with my husband we reviewed the stones that were in house and brought over from Jonathan with out knowing exactly how they matched against "the list". Sure enough I picked through viewing the one that I picked from the list... best part is my husband who knows next to nothing about diamonds picked the same. I though that was very cool.

I see they already contacted Jonathan directly so I see my suggestion doesn't make sense. Other than they Can take the LIRR to GOG.