Seeking advice on a 1.07ct VVS2 / G / GIA stone

[DR650SE]

Hey guys!

I've posted my concerns on another forum and received some wonderful advice (Thanks Neil and David! ). I thought I'd post here as well since I've been lurking and seems to be a wonderful and respectful knowledge base. I wanted to post her just to see if maybe different minds may offer something I hadn't yet thought of or learned.

What I have is a Princess cut GIA certified stone. ( GIA# 11996979). I purchased this thing in 2003 when I was young and (21ish) dating a girl for several years, but things went south before ever popping the question due to military obligations. In the mean time, life went on, life got busy, and as a result this ring sat in it's original jewelry box, and in a lock box for the last 14 years.

The ring is a platinum ring, hand tooled with an 18K yellow gold heart set into the lower portion of the ring head (actual term??). The ring weight is 4.7 dwt. It was sized down to a 4 or 4.5 I think, don't really remember, but I was dating a tiny gal. Details on the diamond are below.

GIA Report: 11996979
https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=11996979

Square Modified Brilliant
5.88 x 5.72 x 4.00 mm
Carat Weight: 1.07 carat
Color: G
Clarity: VVS2
Total Depth 69.9%
Table Size: 77%
Girdle: Medium to Thick, Faceted
Culet: None
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Good
Fluorescence: None


Now it has come time that I don't need it, wife doesn't want it (of course, who can blame her), and rather than let it sit, I want someone to truly appreciate it. It seems like such a shame for such a beautiful stone to be sitting in a box.

I have posted the item on Craigslist, LetGo, Facebook marketplace but have been met with the typical low ballers ($1000), and scam artists. I have it listed at $4600 with the ring, $4400 without the ring. The ring is only worth about $200 in scrap from my research. The main point at pricing it at this range was to bring the low ball offers up. I've reached out online for a few vendors who buy diamonds and have gotten a typical range of $2200-$3600, contingent upon inspection.

Only one actual offer of $3000 with the ring, from a woman on Facebook.

Bottom line, what should I realistically list it at? I realize that I won't be getting anything close to what I paid for it, and I know diamonds are poor when it comes to investments. I believe I paid $5600 for the stone and ring together. I don't need the money, but if it sells I will use it to pay off student loans. ($6k left! ) Since I'm close to paying them off, that got me thinking I could sell this thing and pay one of them off as both are around $3k remaining, freeing up additional money monthly for other expenses.

At the moment I have the ring at a jeweler who is unmounting the stone. The jeweler said he was interested buying it, and I'm guess once unmounted he may make an offer. While the stone is unmounted, I am planning to send it back to GIA to have it regraded. I don't mind eating this cost because when I sell it, I want to have confidence in what I'm selling is what I'm actually advertising, even if that means it drops from VVS2 to VS1. I'd sleep better knowing I'm not misleading the customer. Plus I don't have the original certificate, as that was in a separate lock box that left with the gal. I'd like to have an original and recent GIA cert to go with the ring. Right now I only have a duplicate that I ordered in 2009.

So what are your thoughts? Is there any route that may net a better price that I haven't considered that would put the most money in my pocket? That's one thing that turns me off from consignment and wholesalers, though that may be the best route to go. I'm just not sure. Time isn't an issue and I'm not in a crunch where I need the cash quickly. What should I realistically expect to get from selling it? Looking at the current GIA report there is a minor could and three naturals on three of the corners.

Last thing, when I purchased the ring/stone (2003) princess cuts were popular. My understanding now is that fad has passed. Is this indeed the case? Or is it something I'm being told to influence my decision to bite at a lower offer?

Thanks so much guys and I appreciate any and all feed back!! I really do! Sorry for the pic quality, they were taken with my phone (Galaxy S4)

 

[ringo865]

Okay, just some quick thoughts after reading your post:

GIA doesn't give cut grades for princess stones. AGS does though. But GIA is more well-known. I have no idea how well cut your stone is, so cannot say whether having a cut grade would help/hurt you.

Princess cuts were more popular when you bought your stone, but many people do still like and prefer them.

Have you looked on James Allen to compare princess G VVS2 stones of similar carat weight for pricing comps?

Have you checked out loupe troop or diamond bistro? You can sell preloved jewelry to a specific audience and hopefully avoid some riffraff from the general world found on FB and Craigslist.

Consigners such as love affair diamonds or jewels by grace, for a small fee since you're not in a hurry. Or,

Would your wife consider the stone as a pendant, or one of a pair of earrings?

Congrats on getting your student loans down to the end. Keep plugging away. Your stone is very pretty.

 

[DR650SE]

Awesome, thank you for the reply!

I have not yet checked out loupe troop or diamond bistro. I will look into those this evening.

I have looked at James Allen, as well as other sites/diamond finders, and comps range from $4500 -$6K occasionally I see one for $7k which has probably been sitting in inventory for a while.

I have considered a pendant or earrings, however my wife doesn't want the stone. My ex was very into bigger diamonds for the sake of bigger diamonds and bragging rights I think. My wife is happy with what she has and puts less emphasis on the details. She has a .5ct Princess D/SI1 or SI2 (Leo). She does like diamonds, but she doesn't want to upgrade or anything like that.

As for the AGS, I'm half tempted to send it there to be graded as well, just out of curiosity. I'd like to know how the cut would be graded. I'm not sure it would receive a top grade, but I'd definitely be interested in knowing. I'd also like to know the light performance of the ring too, as well as how AGS would grade the cut/clarity.

If a ring is sent to AGS, is it laser inscribed with a number like is done with GIA? In this case it would have both numbers on the inscription?

Definitely looking forward to dumping the student loans!

Thanks again and I appreciate the response. I'll be checking out the sites recommended.

Regards,
Dan

 

[DR650SE]

Out of curiosity, do you know if Loupe Troop charges a listing fee? I see diamond bistro charges a 99¢ fee, but didn't see any specifics in the Loupe Troop terms of use. Thanks!

Dan

 

[DR650SE]

Well I finally got the stone removed and should be submitting it to GIA this week for regarding. Too some quick pics a few days ago. Just wish I had cleaned the stone before snapping some pic. Maybe in a day or so.

 

[DR650SE]

And here are a few of the band that I will sell off or scrap.

 

[SimoneDi]

Great that you will be submitting the diamond to GIA!

You should definitely list the setting on LT, diamondbistro and eBay. It is a pretty setting and you should be able to get some money for it, not just scrap money, which will be much less.

Let us know way the diamond comes back as. Hopefully, GIA will grade it the same!

 

[DR650SE]

Hey guys,



I'm back. I just got notice that the diamond is on it's way back from GIA. It was re-graded. As far as color and clarity, the grades remained the same. G, VVS2, 1.07ct. There were a few changes, things I didn't expect. Depth is larger now, and width and length are now smaller.

Below is the spreadsheet that GIA sent with the notification that the stone was shipped. I modified the spreadsheet to show the previous reports information so I can see where things may have changed.



One question that comes to mind. Does GIA only add things to the Key that are relevant on the particular stone? If soo it looks like they identified a new pinpoint that was not previously identified, as well as a chip. Kind of disappointing if it does have a chip as the thing has sat in a lockbox for a while. However, apparently it wasn't enough to bring the clarity grade down. Will it affect the resale value? What are your thoughts on the new grade?

Any idea how long it takes for GIA to update the online report? It's still showing the old date.