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Show me or tell me about your "Best Find..."

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kristy_lyn

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jun 18, 2006
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Since most of you all have multiple diamonds & diamond jewelry pieces - I''m curious... where did you find your "best find" - the best deal you''ve ever gotten on a diamond or a piece of diamond jewelry?

At an estate sale? Online? E-bay (gasp!)? A garage sale? A pawn shop? craigslist? A consignment shop? An auction?

And - did you just stumble upon it, or did you know you were getting a steal? What were you looking for on your hunt?
 
I was looking for an upgrade for my engagement ring. We got the original from Gordons and it was really bad. I mean I guess the price was worth it for the setting alone, it was platinum with a .15ct baugettes on each side and a .30ct diamond in the middle. We replaced it with a .83ct diamond from James Allen and I think thats the best find we have ever gotten! A lot of people I know have gotten engaged or married recently and they are getting their rings from Jareds or other local stores. My hubby''s cousin even paid 7k for a 1ct assher in a yellow gold setting with small sapphires on eithier side. Yes the ring is pretty but thats an insane price! What Jareds wants for their diamonds is soooo crazy! So we paid $500 for the original ering, along with the cost of the replacement stone my ering cost still was only 2k. My center stone is a GIA certified, .83ct, Ideal Cut round brilliant, G in color SI2 in clarity but it''s eyeclean. It''s wonderful. Wish I would of known all of this when I got my wedding ring!
 
Well, I love a good find.. I''ve actually bought things just because they were a find, some stand the test of time, others, not..

However, I''m really happy with the little .38, G VS2 Hearts on Fire, in a platinum setting purchased on Craig''s list for $600.00.

That made me smile, still does when I look at it.
 
here is a show stopping piece i picked up in a pawn shop. it''s as big as a quarter. retails for $2000 i got it for $400.

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Here''s my best find: this is a .51ct OEC, uncertified but appraised by Martin Fuller as a G, VS2. Someone on Better Than Diamond was selling it for $500. I think, which included the 14kt white gold setting with diamond accents.

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So, I took the stone and had it put into an 18kt yellow gold x-prong setting for when I wear yg jewelry.

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And had an aquamarine put into the old setting, since it''s my husband''s and my birthstone.

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I spotted this ruby in the "Formerly Owned" case in a local jewelry shop. It looked exceptional to me, and the price was below what it should have been for a heated ruby. I got it in spite of the icky ''40s mounting it was in.

Soon thereafter another jeweler looked at it and thought it was might be lab grown...it was so clean.

Horrified, I had it sent off for a cert. It came back from the GIA with "natural ruby, no indication of heat treatment"!!!

Here it is remounted...1.4cts:

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Diamond - ebay purchase from a private seller (failed engagement) 1/3 c G VS1 excellent cut with cert & sarin for $250.00.

Finer jewelry - antique shop - $250.00 for tourmaline & diamond ring - loved it - found out later it was a classic signed Cartier piece from the 1920''s.

Plus tons of other period jewelry that I collect.
 
I got a Scott Kay platinum ring on ebay for $300, and a .94ct oval diamond to put into it on ebay as well, they look great!
 
I have a bunch of things that I have picked up here and there, including on ebay as well.

I think my all time best find is a Roberto Coin diamond butterfly pendant/chain that I bought on ebay about two years back for under $300. It is my all time favorite piece of jewelery that I own.
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I had just gotten a RC star pendant for my birthday and I did a search on ebay for RC stuff and found the butterfly listed. I could not believe my luck as I had always wanted a butterfly pendant and this was a designer piece as well.
I don't think the woman realized what she was selling as she had gotten it as a gift, so she had no idea what the retail value of it was. At the time it retailed for almost $1000 or so.

I love this pendant and even though I eventually started collecting RC stuff, I love it the most.
 
I love these stories! I think I''m going to start scoping out the pawn shops, flea markets, and e-bay. :)
 
Well, this isn''t quite as good a most of your finds, but I did get a 1/2 ct diamond and white gold bezel set pendant from the Zales *outlet* a few years ago. Even though it was so cheap, and honestly the stone is probably just crap (but it does sparkle!) I wear it ALL the time!
 
i have had a few ebay 'finds'...nothing super spectacular but:

1) a $1000 retail .50ctw diamond line bracelet on eBay for $200. the gal was just cleaning out her jewelry box and i happened to be the only bidder. i wore that thing daily for a year or two so i figured it was worth the $200.
2) a 1ctw 10 stone diamond shared prong ring, i think the stones were like I SI2/borderline I1s but they are sparkly and you can't see anything going on in them...and it was $200-300 i think, i can't even remember. if i'd gone the reputable jeweler route it would have been almost $2k.
3) my most recent ebay find was a right hand art deco ring that i think has something like .40ctw of melee in it, sparkly and fun for sometimes wear and it was $200 i think as well. i have no idea what retail would be. it's about 9mm wide.

there was a ritani solitaire ring on ebay recently that i hemmed and hawed over, it retailed in BBB for $1400 and it was on ebay for $300. it felt too iffy though so i passed on it, the seller did sell it so who knows if it was legit or not. but that would have been the deal of the year for me as i just LOVE that setting. and it was the right head size for my stone. wah!

ebay can be iffy but i don't mind spending $200 here or there on something small and fun. if it's anything more than around $200, i seem to have a mental block unless i know the seller or something. $250 maybe but over that i don't nkow, i don't feel very confident...maybe a branded item (other than tiffany!) but other than that not sure.
 
Well, I'm a bargain shopper, and this thread finally brought me out of the Land of the Lurkers. This is my replacement wedding set (the size doesn't merit calling it an upgrade around here, though it was an upgrade from my original .15) that I bought on eBay for $380 including shipping. It's a 1930's vintage white gold set with a .35 center (G-H, SI1) and .16 in baguettes (G-H, VVS), and I love it! In real life the edges of the center stone blend into the illusion setting, so it faces up much larger than it really is, and even though I bought it before I learned much about diamonds, the stones are completely eye-clean and seem to be well-cut. I love the classic setting, love that it has history, and love love love that it was such a bargain!

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One more picture without the flash . . .

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OK, last one, I promise! The first two pictures just didn''t seem to show what it really looks like once I posted them. Didn''t intend to be a thread hog . . .

Lastone97080.jpg
 
Christa, I really like your wedding set. My original ring was illusion set as well and it really does make the stone look bigger. Plus I like the way it looks. You don''t see that as much today, so I consider it sort of an antique setting.
 
Thanks, I like it too.
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It''s definitely something you see more often on older ladies, but that''s part of the reason I like it--it''s different from what most of my friends have.
 
Christa,
I think it is great!!

I stalk the ebay pages hoping that one day I will find my ''great bargain''!
How much did you find this one for?
 
Date: 8/15/2006 10:04:04 PM
Author: Sophie
Christa,
I think it is great!!

I stalk the ebay pages hoping that one day I will find my ''great bargain''!
How much did you find this one for?
Click to expand...
I paid a total of $380 including shipping and insurance--yay for me!

It was from a seller who deals mostly in antiques, which is one of the keys to not getting ripped off on eBay: look at what else they sell. And look them up on Toolhaus.org!
 
My best deals ever were from when I worked at a major deparment store in their fine jewelry dept. about 9 years ago. I was given the go-ahead to mark down certain items to 70% off and took advantage of some of the great deals because the store had a layaway program then. (I was a college student working in my parents'' hometown for the summer.) I now have in my possesion 3 YG bracelets, of beautiful design, and a few pair of earrings, and several rings, all 14k. When gold went up so much in price a couple months ago, I considered selling some pieces, but didn''t. I find them sentimental because I was working hard for my money and really, really enjoyed that job and all the perks. Many of the pieces I would consider giving to family or children someday, as they are of very good quality. I would not consider them exceptional, but they are decidedly well-made, and I know they are of some value due to the carat weight of he gold alone.

I also have some pieces (mainly 14 and 18k chains of different styles) from my father when he was going through his "midlife crisis." LOL! I have a solid herringbone 20" chain, and two rope chains, 20" and 24", respectively, that are solid as well...I think he gave them to me knowing that I could sell them if I ever got into a pinch, but I never have...they are my "insurance" or "savings" for a rainy day, so to speak.
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Double post. Sorry about that.
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I picked up this .65 point I1~h-i pear in yellow gold for 320 dollars at a flea market. It''s good to be a gemo and know what you''re looking at!

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What a wonderful trip down memory lane this thread brings.

I was a 27 year old student at GIA, ancient by comparrison to most of my classmates and my wife was pregnant with our first child. You should have seen the Instructors at GIA worry about them during her six hour final exam, but that is a whole ''nother set of memories.

I was at the Jewelry Mart in the 607 Hill street building talking with one of my diamond vendors when he showed me an estate piece he had just bought that morning. It had what was then a .97ct powder blue diamond in a platinum ring with about 1.10cts of pave set diamonds in it. He wanted $2,000. (Remember this was 1975, just at the ultra beginning of the diamond investment phase, actually about 2 years before it became a serious market consideration, and a 1ct D-IF was about $4,000 retail if my memory serves me correctly.)

We negotiated for several days as I was a poor student and did not have $2,000 and eventually he sold it to me for $1,200 cash. I pulled the stone and had it lightly repolished to take out a chip on the girdle which must have cost me about $50 at the time. I then had it papered by GIA and set it into a yellow gold ring from ALA Castings which really emphasises the blue color. Two or three weeks later the vendor called me back and tried to buy it back. Resa, my wife turned down first $4,000, then $5,000 then $10,000 and finally $15,000. I asked my friend what in the heck was going on, turns out he was new in the business, had married into the business. His father-in-law had a standing order for such a stone and would have been able to sell it for $20,000 plus. My friend was in DEEEP Doodoo with his father-in-law and I was in clover with my wife, who years later turned down $35,000 for the stone. It is her favorite diamond in the whole world, and we eventually sold the pink I got for her since she never wore it or even had it mounted as she just prefers the light powder blue.

And THAT children, is my best best find back when I was just a wet behind the ears student at GIA in 1975...

Wink
 
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