I everyone.
First and foremost, apologies for all questions whose answers are already on other forums--its just too difficult to get all the information in a concise place.
So the here is the 411:
In February, I bought from Costco, a Lady''s platinum , diamond solitaire ring, the center containing one round brilliant cut diamond weighing .7 cts, the clarity being VS-2 or better, and the diamond color being 1 or better. It is appraised by the gemologist with her signature, to be valued at $5400.
Here is the issue. My fiancee is from Beirut. She is coming here in the fall, however, in order to be able to see each other before then, we decided to have a rendez-vous vacation in Paris, where I would officially propose to her. This vacation is coming up soon.
I finally found her ring size which is quite small, its a 5. The Costco ring is about a 9, hence the reason for my following questions:
1. Can I trust a big name--like Barmakian, to keep my ring for a couple of days, without them swapping the diamond?
1. Wherever I go to make it smaller, how can i be assured they dont swap out the diamond. From reading forums, they say I can ask to look at a before-picture through microscope to look at inclusions and an inscribed #?? Will the jeweler let me do this? And then will he/she sign something saying the before-picture characteristics--to compare with after-picture??
2. How can I make sure that when they are shrinking the ring, they dont "de-purify" the platinum with other metals....I think there is a "Girdle" number which I can look at before-and-after, but how does that prove they did not mix with other metals?
3. Since I need the ring to be shrunk, theoretically there should be access Platinum taken out, no? Are they supposed to give me this access platinum, or do they keep it? Platinum is expensive, I dont want them to just keep it.
4. Since a smaller ring will be less platinum, will the value of the ring be reduced, if lets say, I brought it afterwards, to an independent appraiser?
Thanks everyone...
First and foremost, apologies for all questions whose answers are already on other forums--its just too difficult to get all the information in a concise place.
So the here is the 411:
In February, I bought from Costco, a Lady''s platinum , diamond solitaire ring, the center containing one round brilliant cut diamond weighing .7 cts, the clarity being VS-2 or better, and the diamond color being 1 or better. It is appraised by the gemologist with her signature, to be valued at $5400.
Here is the issue. My fiancee is from Beirut. She is coming here in the fall, however, in order to be able to see each other before then, we decided to have a rendez-vous vacation in Paris, where I would officially propose to her. This vacation is coming up soon.
I finally found her ring size which is quite small, its a 5. The Costco ring is about a 9, hence the reason for my following questions:
1. Can I trust a big name--like Barmakian, to keep my ring for a couple of days, without them swapping the diamond?
1. Wherever I go to make it smaller, how can i be assured they dont swap out the diamond. From reading forums, they say I can ask to look at a before-picture through microscope to look at inclusions and an inscribed #?? Will the jeweler let me do this? And then will he/she sign something saying the before-picture characteristics--to compare with after-picture??
2. How can I make sure that when they are shrinking the ring, they dont "de-purify" the platinum with other metals....I think there is a "Girdle" number which I can look at before-and-after, but how does that prove they did not mix with other metals?
3. Since I need the ring to be shrunk, theoretically there should be access Platinum taken out, no? Are they supposed to give me this access platinum, or do they keep it? Platinum is expensive, I dont want them to just keep it.
4. Since a smaller ring will be less platinum, will the value of the ring be reduced, if lets say, I brought it afterwards, to an independent appraiser?
Thanks everyone...