Please help with this diamond.

[Striddy]

Hi,

I am acting as a "diamond expert" for my friend who is looking for a diamond for her engagement ring. I''ve been on pricescope for awhile now, but since I am not really an expert, I really would like your input on this. I feel that this diamond, while it was in her price range, is not exactly a good diamond. I couldn''t even run a holloway cut adviser on it. It was IGI certified (not good)...Here is their specs. She asked me to ask you guys about her diamond. She''s a first time buyer, ystd was her first time at Robbins Bros, the first jewelry store she went in...and they walked out w this "stone" but I was told that this was a returnable purchase.

cut: is a round brilliant good
.9 carats
F
clarity SI2
5.94-6.00*3.91
depth 65.4%
table 56.5
crown height 15%
34.5 degrees
pavilion 44%
angle 41.5 degrees
girdle thick to very thick
$3500

igi number gt11025106

I would like your guys'' help on this, I think personally she got ripped off, but I would like the experts input on this. Any help is appreciated for her. She sounded really excited about it, and I would hate to break this to her if it is really not that bad. I told her to go to another store today and just look and get a feel for it. I just don''t want her to put down money if she''s not getting what she feels is bad

Here are my issues with it:
IGI cert- is more lax
The girdle is really thick...and therefore the diamond itself will appear smaller...other 0.9 comparisons i see are above 6mm
SI2- I don''t know if it''s eyeclean or not.

Thank you everyone.

 

[Lorelei]

Hi Striddy!

This diamond is very deep, so it will face up smaller for it's weight, also the girdle being thick to very thick could be also hiding weight. Using the charts as a guide, .90 should measure over 6mm thereabouts, and this one doesn't appear to measure up. It is a tricky situation, but as she asked you to ask here, as it seems she is ok with the truth, I would advise her to return it for sure. Also you have obviously read up on opinions of IGI. Then you have done all you can, you can lead a horse to water as Cleo or someone said this week, but you can't force it to drink!

I think you have also given her good advice, by suggesting she shops around to look at some other diamonds. Some here think the branded Hearts on Fire are a good comparison diamond, as they are usually well cut, if she could find a store which carries them. That way she may be able to see for herself how cut can make such a difference. You could perhaps suggest, especially if she isn't open to buying online, to ask her preferred jeweller to get some AGS0 and GIA Excellent cut grade for her to see.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 4/27/2008 1:22:04 PM
Author: Lorelei
Hi Striddy!

This diamond is very deep, so it will face up smaller for it''s weight, also the girdle being thick to very thick could be also hiding weight. Using the charts as a guide, .90 should measure over 6mm thereabouts, and this one doesn''t appear to measure up. It is a tricky situation, but as she asked you to ask here, as it seems she is ok with the truth, I would advise her to return it for sure. Also you have obviously read up on opinions of IGI. Then you have done all you can, you can lead a horse to water as Cleo or someone said this week, but you can''t force it to drink!

I think you have also given her good advice, by suggesting she shops around to look at some other diamonds. Some here think the branded Hearts on Fire are a good comparison diamond, as they are usually well cut. You could perhaps suggest, especially if she isn''t open to buying online, to ask her preferred jeweller to get some AGS0 and GIA Excellent cut grade for her to see.

Ditto.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I agree, that diamond is terrible. I do think the best advice is to tell them to ask for GIA certified stones with excellent cut only and at least very good or excellent for polish and symmetry. At least we know they will get a decent stone that way. Tell them also that if they buy an SI stone, they need to look at it closely from all sides and with a loupe so that they know exactly what they are getting. Tell them that the depth should be no lower than 62 or the stone may appear smaller than it should. The girdle should be thin, medium, or slightly thick only.

 

[Striddy]

Thank you for your responses

Do you think that the price itself was a little high? I know that at a b&m you''re paying for the service, and well for me if I''m paying for the service, I will be utilizing that to the utmost degree. I am going to advise her to take it back, but for a 0.9 carat average diamond...how much do you think she should be paying for?

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 4/27/2008 1:49:43 PM
Author: Striddy
Thank you for your responses

Do you think that the price itself was a little high? I know that at a b&m you're paying for the service, and well for me if I'm paying for the service, I will be utilizing that to the utmost degree. I am going to advise her to take it back, but for a 0.9 carat average diamond...how much do you think she should be paying for?

I did a quick search, it seems diamonds of the same size, colour and clarity with a GIA report ( which means generally the price may be higher than IGI and EGL graded stones) are around $3k. So it seems the price is high in this case. You can play around with the search tool above Striddy, see Pricescope your Diamonds at the top of the page, so you could run a search and print out the results to show her if you wished. Prices depend so much on the grading lab, colour and clarity grades, cut quality, whether the diamond is eyeclean or not in with this clarity, but I think the bottom line is for her budget, she can definitely get far better, especially if she would consider buying online.

You are a good friend in trying to help her with this, I only hope she listens to your advice, and acts upon it.

 

[Striddy]

diamondseeker- thank you for your helpful advice! I''m wondering is a thin girdle okay? I was recommending her for medium to slightly thick...Is there a more ideal guideline?

Lorelei-
she is wondering whether or not she really should go with specs or how she feels about the diamond. To me, I''d rather get specs, and then choose diamonds that personally appeal to me but that is already in my spec configuration. I feel like specs don''t really lie when you put them against two diamonds of different garde.

Also...what is everyone''s experience in choosing B&M stores vs. shopping online? She''s afraid that if she chooses a diamond based on pictures she won''t know how good it really is, and if she doesn''t like it it would be a hassle in returning it...

After speaking with her, I felt like Robbins Brothers really pushed her to make a decision that she wasn''t given all the full available information, she overpaid, they gave her a "somewhat shitty diamond for the price", and that they didn''t teach her all this stuff I''ve been learning.

I myself am in the process of learning about diamonds bc my bf wants me to pick out a stone, but I like asschers so that''s what I''ve been reading about.

Thank you everyone. You''ve all been soo helpful. I wouldn''t know what to do without this site!

Striddy