Please help with diamond upgrade

[Bridetobe88]

Hi all. I've been lurking for a while and finally can post because my fiancé has agreed we can upgrade my diamond before our wedding. When he purchased my engagement ring he didn't do any research on diamonds. He went the bigger is better route, which as we all know is not always true with diamonds! He bought my Tacori setting and diamond from Solomon Brothers online. The diamond is EGL-I G SI1 good cut, but was told it's more like a K I1 in GIA standards by another jeweler. It's definitely very warm. Also, although it's 1 ct, it only faces up at 6.2 mm. After much discussion we've decided to upgrade my ring because the extremely warm color, visible inclusions and poor cut bother me. The thing is though that we need to go through Solomon Brothers for the upgrade because we can trade in the original stone for the value we paid to put toward the new stone.

I know it's hard to tell from just the numbers, but how do these look and is one better than the other? I can try to get pictures from Solomon Brothers but they said they don't do ideal scopes. Both diamonds are GIA and have an HCA under 2.

J VVS2 1.09 ct
6.62 x 6.64
Excellent cut, vg polish, excellent symmetry
Table 53%
Depth 62.1%
Crown 34.5
Pavillion 40.6
Faint fluorescence

J VS2 1.10 ct
6.64 x 6.67
XXX
Table 55%
Depth 61.6%
Crown 33.5
Pavillion 41
Faint fluorescence

If you have any other suggestions I am definitely open, but it needs to be from Solomon Brothers so we can get the trade in value. I'm looking for eye clean, maybe SI1 but preferably VS2 or above, and J or above. Preferably a little fluor to help whiten the color since our budget doesn't allow us to go very high in color. $5500 max and at least 1 ct or faces up like a 1 ct. TIA!

 

[Gypsy]

Did you run them through the HCA?

 

[MarionC]

Have you seen them in person? What exactly were the HCA scores?
I would go with the one that looks best to your eye performance-wise - unless the VS2 has inclusions you don't like.
[Personally, without any further information to judge them with, I would go with the VVS2].

edit: should not be typing before coffee

 

[Bridetobe88]

The HCA for the first diamond is .9 and the HCA for the second is 1.

I have not seen either in person as I am buying them online, but I am going to ask if they can provide pictures. Jimmianne, would you go with the VVS2 just because of the higher clarity grade or because the angles look better? I wasn't sure with that one whether the 53% table was too small. I've read varying things about whether 53% is good or not.

 

[Ashleigh]

Do you have their idealscope?

 

[Bridetobe88]

Ashleigh, the vendor will not do an idealscope. I know this isn't preferable, but as I said in my initial post, we need to go with this vendor, Solomon Brothers, because that is where my first diamond was purchased and they will give us the full value of what we paid for the initial diamond to put toward the new stone.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Solomon Brothers is a good jeweler, so I wouldn't worry too much. I am glad your fiance is letting you upgrade the diamond because honestly, he really did zero homework before buying a "good" EGL stone!

Are you sure 6.6mm will fit in that setting? Will they send it back to Tacori to reset? I hope they can at least provide magnified images of the diamonds.

I will look to see what else they have before I comment on these two diamonds.

 

[Bridetobe88]

Well now I'm frustrated. Solomon Brothers just called me back and said they can't do a trade in with any of the diamonds online because they aren't in house. Wish they had mentioned that during our first conversation! I am going to see what they have in house and hopefully there's something there with an HCA under 2. I'll report back with any contenders. The good thing is that since they will be house, I can get a picture.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, no!!!

Did you tell them it has to be GIA Excellent cut?

 

[Bridetobe88]

Yes, I said GIA excellent cut, J or better VS2 or better. She's double checking with Tacori with the absolute max diameter my ring can hold because my fiance said to go ahead and get the biggest size possible without replacing the setting.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Yes, I said GIA excellent cut, J or better VS2 or better. She's double checking with Tacori with the absolute max diameter my ring can hold because my fiance said to go ahead and get the biggest size possible without replacing the setting.

Perfect! Glad she is checking with Tacori because that is important! Do they know you are a Pricescope member? Important for them to know that. I hope they wouldn't have sold him that first stone if they had known that.

Which Tacori setting do you have?

 

[Bridetobe88]

Perfect! Glad she is checking with Tacori because that is important! Do they know you are a Pricescope member? Important for them to know that. I hope they wouldn't have sold him that first stone if they had known that.

Which Tacori setting do you have?

No, they don't know I'm a Pricescope member. Will that get me a discount or a better quality stone? I can tell her when she gets back to me this afternoon. Here is my setting, Tacori 2573 in white gold.

 

[Ashleigh]

I hope they have some nice stones in house. Do update us with your finds and we'll try to help.

 

[Bridetobe88]

I hope they have some nice stones in house. Do update us with your finds and we'll try to help.

Thanks for your offer to help, I will definitely update!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Yes, they have incentive to give you a better stone seeing that it is going to be publically critiqued on here. They may or may not give a Pricescope discount, but absolutely always tell a PS vendor that you are a Pricescope member! I would call and tell her that right this minute and ask if there is an additional discount. That can be the reason for calling her, but regardless, they need to know you are showing these stones on the forum and hopefully they will have incentive to choose better stones for you. It makes them look bad if they are offering you pooly cut EGL-I stones!

Your setting is very pretty! I am interested to hear what Tacori says!

 

[Bridetobe88]

This is just getting more and more complicated and not in a good way. Apparently, there are three versions of this setting, the smallest is for .65 to .89ct and the middle is for .9 to 1.14 ct. We thought we had the .9 to 1.14 since the carat weight of the diamond is 1.02, but we were actually sold the smallest version. I'm really frustrated that we were sold a 1 carat diamond in a setting that can't even accommodate an ideal cut 1 carat diamond. I'm also frustrated all of this is coming out now and not when I first discussed upgrading the diamond with them. This means that if I want to keep my setting I can only go up to 6.3 mm according to Tacori, which means I won't be able to get an ideal cut 1 ct diamond. My fiance will absolutely not go for downgrading the carat size, because in his eyes carat is king (this is why I am taking the lead on finding the new diamond and not him!) and truthfully I would like to be able to see at least a little size difference if I'm spending a few thousand dollars.

Solomon Brothers can offer me around 75% off the retail price of the larger setting, but it just kills me to be spending any money on the setting when we're not even changing it. We didn't even get around to talking about actual diamonds because I said I needed to process whether or not we'll be upgrading to the larger setting. Do you have any advice? Is $600 for the setting upgrade worth being able to get a diamond up to 6.8mm?

 

[Magpie4426]

Poor thing. This is an annoying situation, but I'd definitely get the bigger setting.

 

[LLJsmom]

It just seems that there has not been a complete disclosure of information upon the purchase of your setting and stone. I'm so sorry you have to go through this.

 

[MarionC]

Have you seen them in person? What exactly were the HCA scores?
I would go with the one that looks best to your eye performance-wise - unless the VS2 has inclusions you don't like.
[Personally, without any further information to judge them with, I would go with the VVS2].

edit: should not be typing before coffee

For me, the VS2 I looked at was not mind clean because it had a black inclusion
that reflected on the facets. I could only see it with the a loupe - but I wan't comfortable with that.
I thought if you could not see the diamonds ahead of time that you would be safer with the higher clarity, but many will tell you here that you can go even lower that VS2 and have a a wonderful eye-clean stone.

 

[Gypsy]

Sounds to me if they are offering you the setting at such a discount they know they screwed up.

Take it up the chain. I'd see if they can do if for free.

 

[caldwa]

So they sold you an incorrect setting for the original diamond you purchased, and tried to hide that fact? If it were me, I would ask for all your money back so you can take your business elsewhere and complain until you get that. Shouldn't we expect higher standards from PS vendors?

 

[Gypsy]

So they sold you an incorrect setting for the original diamond you purchased, and tried to hide that fact?

Yeah. I'd tell them flat out that it's their problem. Not yours. And that you expect them to make it right with no cost to you.

Did you pay with a credit card initially? Cause if you did, you've got them over a barrel.

 

[thecat]

Maybe your first diamond was too deep and hence they gave you the smallest version. If so, I don't think you have a case. 75% off seems like a very good deal but can you please confirm.with them that it's a new setting and not pre-loved? There's nothing wrong with pre-loved if bought with full disclosure. I'm just surprised that they can make you a deal like that for a new setting. Also ask if they can take back the old setting as estate or scrap. Hopefully you pay less than $600 for the new setting with the trade in.

My advice is to bite the bullet and just pay that $600 now. Else your DH will be unhappy with the diamond size always.

 

[Bridetobe88]

Re: Please help with diamond upgrad

Maybe your first diamond was too deep and hence they gave you the smallest version. If so, I don't think you have a case. 75% off seems like a very good deal but can you please confirm.with them that it's a new setting and not pre-loved? There's nothing wrong with pre-loved if bought with full disclosure. I'm just surprised that they can make you a deal like that for a new setting. Also ask if they can take back the old setting as estate or scrap. Hopefully you pay less than $600 for the new setting with the trade in.

My advice is to bite the bullet and just pay that $600 now. Else your DH will be unhappy with the diamond size always.

You hit the nail on the head. It does fit my step/deep diamond, and my fiancé never asked at time of purchase which setting we were getting. We just assumed that we had the middle setting since it matched the carat size. I was not involved at all in the original transaction. I think my fiancé should have asked more questions, but Solomon Brothers should have been clear with what they were selling us.

As for the 75% off, they said it is a standard setting trade in program they have when you trade in a designer setting for another designer setting and purchase a diamond. I will certainly make sure it will be new.

Truthfully I don't think I have a case here. I think it boils down to my fiancé not asking the right questions and not putting in the research. I do think Solomon Brothers should have disclosed more at the purchase time, but I'm not sure if it's worth making a fuss at this point. With setting and diamond trade in its still the best deal we're going to get.

I've decided I am going to go with the new setting. I'm kind of ready to just wash my hands clean of this current mess of a ring! I will hopefully get some diamonds to run by y'all later today.

 

[Bridetobe88]

Well I'm not quite sure how everything changed again, but apparently Tacori came back and said actually they can fit a 6.6 mm diamond into my existing setting, which is great news. Also, after I told Solomon Brothers I was a PS member and looking for a diamond with a good HCA, they told me they could make an exception and let me pick from their diamond selection online! I'm really happy that this is all working out. I am leaning toward the VS2 diamond I posted in my original post because it is triple X and $400 cheaper. I'm going to try to get pictures of both of them though! Do you all think it's worth going down to SI1 to be able to move up to I color? It would be around $800 to $1000 more.

 

[luvdajules]

Hi OP, I've been following your story and I'm so glad SB is working with you. See, it was good to mention PS membership (has it's advantages, lol). To answer your last question, I say yes as long as the Si1 is eye clean and find out what that means to them and if that's okay with you. It might mean eye clean from 12" or 18" away and what are the type of inclusions? Going up in color is always nice, in the long run, you won't regret it.

 

[Bridetobe88]

Thanks so much for your reply luvdajules. The diamond I would consider if I move up in color is this:

1.06 I SI1
6.56 x 6.61
X VG X
Table 58%
Depth 60.5%
Crown 34.5
Pavillion 40.6
HCA .8 X X X VG

Here's the plot for clarity. Obviously I would check to make sure its eye clean.

 

[Bridetobe88]

There are no pictures available for any of the three diamonds I'm interested in. I decided to up my budget and spend $400 more to get a 1.08 ct I VS2. It scores a .8 on the HCA and looks to have great proportions. If it's available, I'm going to go with this one. If I have to do it blind, which it appears I do, then this seems like the safest bet.

 

[luvdajules]

Your last selection looks great! I'm sure you'll be happy with it. Enjoy and congrats.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Did you say that SB doesn't do idealscope images once the stone arrives at their store? They really need to offer that if they want business from PS.

I would strongly consider switching the setting. I certainly wouldn't want the stone to look too big for the setting. They rightly sold the first one based on the diameter of the first stone (6.2mm), because .89 ct stones can be 6.2mm. But if that was the upper end for that setting, I think you probably do need to move to the next size setting.

A .65 ct to .89 ct is about a 5.6mm to 6.2mm diamond

.90 to 1.14 is for around 6.2mm to 6.7mm

I would definitely change to the next size. Had he gotten a diamond that was the size of a 1 ct in the first place (6.4+mm), they would have sold him the right setting. It was only because he went with a 6.2mm stone that he ended up with the wrong setting. The stone you are now choosing is well into the range for the second size (assuming it is 6.6mm+). I'd take them up on the offer to pay the $600 and get the right setting.