price advice

[huskeypm]

Hi
PS has been an incredible help for educating me about my first diamond purchase. I had a couple questions of my own:

I''m currently saving for a diamond in the 5-8K range (princess, G-I,VS1-SI1). As the holiday season nears, I wonder if the prices can be expected to escalate and whether its prudent to purchase now and pay my %5 credit card interest rate on the remaining balance. A competing factor is that there''s wide speculation we are in a recession and I''m aware things are cooling off globally as well, so perhaps this would temper prices somewhat.

Second, by visual inspection, does a 1.25 cwt diamond look much different from a 1.5 cwt once its in the setting? It seems that the difference is a fraction of a millimeter, which would seem to be difficult to discern once its mounted.

Lastly, I would like to get the best cut that I can afford. That being said, is an ideal cut diamond that much more brilliant than non-ideal but nevertheless excellent quality diamond (say, comparing AGS0 with AGS 1)?

I haven''t decided on a particular diamond yet, hence the dearth of statistics. I appreciate your insight on my vague questions!

pete

 

[denverboy]

In regards to prices - in my opinion there's no great way to predict what will happen with good accuracy. But maybe one of the pros here can give you better insight. Like you said though, expect a small bump in prices around christmas time perhaps. Personally, I wouldn't worry TOO much about price increases if you are talking about purchasing in the next few months. I really doubt prices would jump 15% or anything crazy in that short of a time frame. Instead, I'd simply buy when you feel comfortable making a purchase, have found something you really like, etc.

When comparing diamond sizes, you can do a few things. First, go to a store (even a mall store) simply to compare various diamond sizes and that gives you a feel for what a 1 carat stone look like in person, mounted and unmounted. Then when comparing the numbers, look at diameter and area and you can calculate percentage differences for comparison. At the same time, calculate the % difference in cost and ask yourself "is it worth it to be to pay x% more for x% more area?". At some point you'll see that you will be paying quite a bit more for a pretty minimal (and maybe unnoticeable or negligible) increase in size.

While at the stores, you can also try comparing different cut qualities (but you'd need to do this in natural lighting , not jewelers lighting). But in general, the reason ideal cut is so highly praised in this forum is b/c it basically optimizes the diamond's light return, which is usually the best quality of a diamond!

 

[JulieN]

Date: 9/1/2008 4:11:45 PM
Author:huskeypm
Hi
PS has been an incredible help for educating me about my first diamond purchase. I had a couple questions of my own:

I''m currently saving for a diamond in the 5-8K range (princess, G-I,VS1-SI1). As the holiday season nears, I wonder if the prices can be expected to escalate and whether its prudent to purchase now and pay my %5 credit card interest rate on the remaining balance. A competing factor is that there''s wide speculation we are in a recession and I''m aware things are cooling off globally as well, so perhaps this would temper prices somewhat.

Second, by visual inspection, does a 1.25 cwt diamond look much different from a 1.5 cwt once its in the setting? It seems that the difference is a fraction of a millimeter, which would seem to be difficult to discern once its mounted.

Lastly, I would like to get the best cut that I can afford. That being said, is an ideal cut diamond that much more brilliant than non-ideal but nevertheless excellent quality diamond (say, comparing AGS0 with AGS 1)?

I haven''t decided on a particular diamond yet, hence the dearth of statistics. I appreciate your insight on my vague questions!

pete

5% is a lot...I think it is more than you can expect prices to go up.

I don''t feel like the holidays have an impact, especially on the engagement market. On trinkets, probably.

You''ll be able to tell. A lot? Not really... I''d just buy whichever one works better for your budget.

AGS 1s that get dinged for symmetry or polish tend to be good deals. AGS 1 for light performance, some are good looking, and some are not as good looking as an AGS 0.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/1/2008 4:11:45 PM
Author:huskeypm
Hi
PS has been an incredible help for educating me about my first diamond purchase. I had a couple questions of my own:

I''m currently saving for a diamond in the 5-8K range (princess, G-I,VS1-SI1). As the holiday season nears, I wonder if the prices can be expected to escalate and whether its prudent to purchase now and pay my %5 credit card interest rate on the remaining balance. A competing factor is that there''s wide speculation we are in a recession and I''m aware things are cooling off globally as well, so perhaps this would temper prices somewhat.

Second, by visual inspection, does a 1.25 cwt diamond look much different from a 1.5 cwt once its in the setting? It seems that the difference is a fraction of a millimeter, which would seem to be difficult to discern once its mounted.

Lastly, I would like to get the best cut that I can afford. That being said, is an ideal cut diamond that much more brilliant than non-ideal but nevertheless excellent quality diamond (say, comparing AGS0 with AGS 1)?

I haven''t decided on a particular diamond yet, hence the dearth of statistics. I appreciate your insight on my vague questions!

pete

Hard to say what will happen with prices....As to AGS, either AGS0 or AGS1 could be excellent choices, evaluate each diamond in each circumstance.

 

[Allison D.]

As mentioned, there's no way to say with certainty what will happen in the next few months with price increases, but I wouldn't think it would be staggering enough to price one out of the market.

However, I do think it's prudent to start looking now and to act promptly when you find a diamond you like. Decent princess cuts can take a while to come by, and even moreso when you're targeting a heavily desired range as you are (1 ct, G, VS1-SI1). Inventory moves quickly in that range, and it can be slow to replenish.

A princess cut doesn't *have* to be an AGS0 to be well cut, but it's a very easy way to narrow the search if you're not interested in delving into the minutae. Other stones can be stunning, too (i.e AGS1, etc) if you're comfortable doing a little more homework to see what your eye likes.

There will be likely little if any discernable visual difference between a 1.25 and a 1.50 once it's set/worn. If you held them next to each other, you miiiiiiiiight be able to see it, but if the two stones were worn separately by two gals in the same room, they'd provide materially the same look.

 

[huskeypm]

Thanks so much for all of your help! I will definitely investigate the AGS1 stones, in particular the idealscope images when they are available. These images provide some information about the light return, though the physicist in me questions the lack of benchmarking or numerical values

In any case, I''ve seen different sized stones mounted, but I suppose I''m not careful enough to notice the size disparity unless its very large. My girlfriend, however, seems to have knack for noticing minutia (she was a lot better with the loop than I!).

Thanks again
pete

 

[:)]

I would try to hold off purchasing until you don''t have to pay c/ cc unless you can fully pay it off right away. Many of the vendors give a discount for wire transfer which would also make it cheaper. The prices won''t jump around the holidays simply because it is a holiday, athough usually we start seeing a run of guys at holiday time wanting to propose for the holidays so the inventory starts going down closer to Dec. THen VAlentine''s comes around and there is another frenzy.