I'm in the process of an e-ring upgrade, and happened across Pricescope.... well next thing I am spending hours and hours reading past threads!! We live in New Zealand, and over here OECs are very uncommon, and largely regarded as inferior. After seeing various OECs on PS I have just fallen in love with them so decided I had to have one for my upgrade. I've got this one secured, and just needing some advice on it:
http://www.jewelsbygrace.com/loose-diamonds/2-01-to-3-00/2-41ct-old-european-cut-diamond-gia-i-vs2#.V7UQN5N95E4
We are coming to NYC for a vacation in September, so I'm going to have the stone shipped to me there to avoid taxes and duty in New Zealand, and will also have the stone set in NYC (I've chosen Valmanin's setting from Brilliantly Engaged and have been in touch with Mark to make sure he will have time to set it for me). Grace was unable to hold the stone for that long which I totally understand, and I didn't want to risk losing it by waiting until we arrived to purchase it in case it was gone. The problem is though that once we arrive in NYC the stone will already be outside of the return timeframe, so i'll be stuck with it if I don't like it! Having never seen a decent OEC in person before, and nowhere in new zealand to see one before we go, this really will be a leap of faith purchase.
To try and mitigate the risks I had the stone sent to Neil Beatty for appraisal. He said it's a nice stone, very round, and on the J side of I instead of the H side. I'm not concerned about the clarity or condition of the stone as both seem to be fine. He said the stone is quite spready and has good light return and sparkle but not great fire and not a lot of contrast.
Here are the specs:
Carat Weight: 2.41 Carats
Clarity: VS1 Color: I
Dimensions: 8.71 x 8.78 x 5.10mm.
Table: 49%
Depth: 58.4%
Crown: 35.0
Pavilion: 38.4
Girdle: thin - medium faceted
Fluorescence: none
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Good
Culet sl large.
Cut Grade: Good GIA
Neil felt the stone could be a modern reproduction of an OEC due to the faceted girdle, very good polish and round shape.
I cannot for the life of me figure out how to post a picture of the ASET sorry, but there was no leakage. The colours were quite a random pattern of light red, light blue and light green (mainly red in the centre, red and green around the edges, and a bit of blue randomly interpersed through).
My concerns are mainly that the stone will:
1) be too tinted for me at an I - Grace said it faces up white, but worried that her meaning of this may be different to mine? I want to look down at my hand and see a white diamond, not yellow. The videos on the JBG site might give you a good idea of the colour.
2) not be a good performer - I'm not sure how important the 'fire' is, or if good light return is enough?
I love the size of the stone, and have checked with GOG and OWD and for the same kind of price I'd be looking at more like a 2 - 2.2ct with them, still an I colour. To go H I'd have to go down a lot in size.
I don't wan't to cut off my nose to spite my face here, so I don't want to let this diamond slip away if in all reality I would have found it white and sparkly! I don't need 100% perfect stats, just a nice big white facing sparkly stone!
Thoughts? I have 3 days to decide and I've just about driven my husband crazy asking him so I'm now turning to you! Thank you!
http://www.jewelsbygrace.com/loose-diamonds/2-01-to-3-00/2-41ct-old-european-cut-diamond-gia-i-vs2#.V7UQN5N95E4
We are coming to NYC for a vacation in September, so I'm going to have the stone shipped to me there to avoid taxes and duty in New Zealand, and will also have the stone set in NYC (I've chosen Valmanin's setting from Brilliantly Engaged and have been in touch with Mark to make sure he will have time to set it for me). Grace was unable to hold the stone for that long which I totally understand, and I didn't want to risk losing it by waiting until we arrived to purchase it in case it was gone. The problem is though that once we arrive in NYC the stone will already be outside of the return timeframe, so i'll be stuck with it if I don't like it! Having never seen a decent OEC in person before, and nowhere in new zealand to see one before we go, this really will be a leap of faith purchase.
To try and mitigate the risks I had the stone sent to Neil Beatty for appraisal. He said it's a nice stone, very round, and on the J side of I instead of the H side. I'm not concerned about the clarity or condition of the stone as both seem to be fine. He said the stone is quite spready and has good light return and sparkle but not great fire and not a lot of contrast.
Here are the specs:
Carat Weight: 2.41 Carats
Clarity: VS1 Color: I
Dimensions: 8.71 x 8.78 x 5.10mm.
Table: 49%
Depth: 58.4%
Crown: 35.0
Pavilion: 38.4
Girdle: thin - medium faceted
Fluorescence: none
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Good
Culet sl large.
Cut Grade: Good GIA
Neil felt the stone could be a modern reproduction of an OEC due to the faceted girdle, very good polish and round shape.
I cannot for the life of me figure out how to post a picture of the ASET sorry, but there was no leakage. The colours were quite a random pattern of light red, light blue and light green (mainly red in the centre, red and green around the edges, and a bit of blue randomly interpersed through).
My concerns are mainly that the stone will:
1) be too tinted for me at an I - Grace said it faces up white, but worried that her meaning of this may be different to mine? I want to look down at my hand and see a white diamond, not yellow. The videos on the JBG site might give you a good idea of the colour.
2) not be a good performer - I'm not sure how important the 'fire' is, or if good light return is enough?
I love the size of the stone, and have checked with GOG and OWD and for the same kind of price I'd be looking at more like a 2 - 2.2ct with them, still an I colour. To go H I'd have to go down a lot in size.
I don't wan't to cut off my nose to spite my face here, so I don't want to let this diamond slip away if in all reality I would have found it white and sparkly! I don't need 100% perfect stats, just a nice big white facing sparkly stone!
Thoughts? I have 3 days to decide and I've just about driven my husband crazy asking him so I'm now turning to you! Thank you!