Reassurance Sought for Purchase Doubts (by a diamond newb)

[brigton]

Hi everyone,

I''m one of the umpteen-thousand lurkers of these forums. I learned quite a bit in a short period of time -- I could''ve learned more but had to have a ring by a specific date.

Anyway, I don''t have "buyer''s remorse"...but I do have some doubts.

I bought a Superbcert diamond, and although it is lovely, I''m a little underwhelmed by its scintillation. Because I don''t have much experience with diamonds and jewelry in general, I may just be expecting too much and would welcome any comments to that effect. However, I have seen some diamond rings in person before that were quite noticeably more "sparkly" than this diamond.

I realize the static picture I included isn''t going to reveal much about it -- especially not how it performs with respect to scintillation. But I was wondering if maybe anyone has any opinions on how it looks or comments on its specs. I''m still within the time-frame to exchange it for something _better_ to the jeweler...although I wouldn''t expect anything should be much better from them...unless there is more variance in the Superbcert line than I thought.

And now for the specs (per Gia): 93 points, G, VS2, EX cut, EX polish, VG sym, Faint fluor (As a matter of fact, the specs are still online even though it''s been sold: Link) Note that the Gemex report shows scintillation is the one area the diamond is lacking relative to the other areas.

I''m dying for some reassurance and don''t want to bother the people who sold this to me (whom I''d recommend without reservation).

Thanks for any comments -- good or not.

P.S. My fiancee would ask that you excuse her dry skin in this image! Incidentally, she doesn''t know of my secret doubts about the ring. She seems to like it; she would like anything I could give her.

 

[Ellen]

Hi brigton,

It looks like a beautiful stone. Where all have you observed the diamond so far? (lighting situations)

 

[coatimundi_org]

Hi!

Looks like a sparkle bomb!

Like Ellen asked, where have you observed it?

I'd take it around and look at it under a myriad of lighting conditions. Different lighting can change everything.

It's beautiful!

 

[brigton]

Thanks to you both for your nice comments.

I have looked at it under all the lighting I can think of: fluorescent office light, incandescent, sunlight (direct and indirect) and I even shined an LED flashlight at it. The LED flashlight gave it great scintillation, but I count that as cheating.

Too bad scintillation is a subjective thing and not really something I can share with my pictures. Does anyone have any opinions on the "Brilliancscope" (or whatever its called) rating for scintillation? Should I have opted for something higher? I realize that I had access to the reports before I purchased, but I was _so certain_ that the report wouldn''t tell the whole story. Now I''m wondering if I should have paid more attention to it...

I wonder if it''s the mount? Maybe a different setting would let more light hit it? I just don''t know...

 

[Ellen]

Get it under spot lighting/track lighting, resturant/bar lighting. Not sure what you have in your bathroom, but many times it's pretty good too. A stone will show scintillation under these types of situations better than others. Because the LED flashlight caused great scint, I believe you just haven't caught it in the right lights, because it's proven it does/can scinitillate well.

Office lighting is the pits btw.

As far as the BS report, you were correct in your thinking. They're fun to look at, but tell you nothing definitive about the stone. Read: not much stock is put into them by most experts.

I think you just need to get that baby out on more "field trips".

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 4/7/2008 5:05:47 PM
Author: Ellen
Get it under spot lighting/track lighting, resturant/bar lighting. Not sure what you have in your bathroom, but many times it''s pretty good too. A stone will show scitillation under these types of situations better than others. Because the LED flashlight caused great scint, I believe you just haven''t caught it in the right lights, because it''s proven it does/can scinitillate well.

Office lighting is the pits btw.

As far as the BS report, you were correct in your thinking. They''re fun to look at, but tell you nothing definitive about the stone. Read: not much stock is put into them by most experts.

I think you just need to get that baby out on more ''field trips''.

Ditto. I was surprised by my own ideal stone, because it isn''t a bright white as I thought... rather it shows more sparkle than other people''s rings seem to show. If you FI will let you, try wearing the ring around all day so you can really see it in different lighting. Then you will really see how it performs. If for some unknown reason you are uncomfortable wearing a woman''s engagement ring on your pinky all day (

), they go on lots of excursions with your FI and check it out! It has tops numbers, so just enjoy!

DD

 

[brigton]

Thanks all. It''s so nice to meet helpful, friendly people here.

This is good...I am feeling reassured that I didn''t mess up in buying my first diamond.

I figured diffuse office lighting would be bad for showing scintillation; however, believe it or not, the ring that I remember as having amazing sparkle was worn by a former coworker of mine and I only ever saw it under fluorescent lights. It was a RB cut, too. I don''t normally take notice of such things, but her ring was pretty noticeable! I then made up my mind that the ring I buy my fiance one day would be no less brilliant. (I guess the memory of what her diamond looked like is not a fair thing to compare to the diamond I bought. I probably am remembering it as more brilliant than it was.)

My FI would definitely allow me to wear her ring, but she would also look at me like I was crazy!

Hehe. I think I''ll take your other suggestion and pay close attention to it on various outings.

 

[coatimundi_org]

Date: 4/7/2008 5:05:47 PM
Author: Ellen


I think you just need to get that baby out on more 'field trips'.

Take that beauty to Home Depot!

Disco!

 

[pixley]

Date: 4/7/2008 5:49:37 PM
Author: coatimundi

Date: 4/7/2008 5:05:47 PM
Author: Ellen


I think you just need to get that baby out on more ''field trips''.

Take that beauty to Home Depot!

Disco!

LOL! Just a wee suggestion - you may want to clean up that baby before you take it out to the disco.

My stone got manhandled at the appraiser and it came back looking so uggers. It''s amazing what a little cleaning can do to make it look freshie again!

 

[motownmama]

I think it looks really lovely!!! I echo the suggestion to clean it - do you have (or can borrow) an ultrasonic cleaner? Ask the jeweler to clean it - I also like Tarn-X liquid and Blitz jewelry foam - much better than the pink stuff in the jar at the grocery store, altho the ultrasonic cleaner at the jewelry store cost thousands of dollars and you can really see a difference. Good luck - it looks perfect on her hand!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I looked at the stats and you did great! It is a hearts and arrows stone! It is very dirty in the picture above, though, and that will effect performance. Even if you don''t get an ultrasonic, the little jar of jewelry cleaner that the jeweler sells is adequate.

Flourescent light does nothing for diamonds. Mine looks best in WalMart and other places with maybe halogen (?) lighting. It looks pretty good in incandescent light, which is why I was unhappy to hear that those will be phased out!

I may have to stock up on a lifetime supply because I really hate flourescent lighting!

 

[swingirl]

It looks like a gorgeous stone, great ASET, good scores on HCA and the photo looks great. Stones are all unique and have a personality. You might just need to get used to what this one looks like. Sometimes one''s expectations can be unrealistic, too. But I bet once you see it in different lighting you''ll notice a killer spark here and a dazzling rainbow there. Stones like yours represent a very small percentage of all the diamonds out there.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Date: 4/7/2008 5:49:37 PM
Author: coatimundi
Take that beauty to Home Depot!

Disco!

Great minds think alike

 

[FrekeChild]

Home Depot is a great idea.

My gemstones (no diamonds here!) perform BEAUTIFULLY under my halogen lights. You should hunt some of those down...

 

[tberube]

Heh....well, I dunno dude, but I looked at that picture before I even read your text (I''m a visual person!)...and all I thought was "woah! that thing is bright!" I swear.

It''s just gorgeous, and very, veeeerrrry sparkly. Be happy with your purchase, it''s going to blow her away!

 

[spike13]

Memories are weird and tend to exaggerate things.

I have a co-worked with a spectacular ring. I''ve only really looked at it up close once -- but my memory was that it was just insane with sparkle. Now that I''m shopping for a diamond, I of course asked to see it again. Viewing in the same lighting, same everything I realized:
1) it wasn''t as spark-i-ly as it was in my memory
2) now that I know more about diamonds I''m looking for different things.

So, I wouldn''t measure a diamond you can see today against what you think you remember for awhile ago.

Hope that helps!

I think your ring is beautiful!!

 

[hearts-arrows_girl]

I think your doubts are perfectly normal. It seems like when you only get one shot at getting something right, the stakes are soooo high, that people just need reassurance that they did good. Your stone looks beautiful! And the reports on it look great too. I had 4 different diamonds before I got to my final resting place, and each one had its own highs and lows. Different locations made each stone look great or not so great, so like others here have suggested, (and really only the person wearing the ring daily can do), try to notice the places where your stone really shines. One stone I had went crazy in the supermarket, where as my current stone gets a little overwhelmed in the same market. and my old stone looked a bit milky in sunlight in the kitchen window and my current stone looks fantastic. Your girl will find her stone''s "special places". I know I found my stone''s and I love seeing it perform in its favorite forums. Your stone has the potential, now it is up to it''s wearer to bring that out. I find my stone looks its best after I have steamed cleaned it. Nothing can cut down the performance of your diamond like water spots or lotion. Good luck!