Thoughts..

[k9fan]

I am thinking about taking my wife existing original engagment ring diamond and trading it up for a larger stone
(Current stone is a .7 H SI2 Oval that I bought while I was in College 10 years ago). Thoughts on this..would most of you ladies rather have a larger new stone (I am considering 1-1.25) or keep that existing stone? I have really nice platinum setting with bagguets on the side that also has a matching band with .8 carats of VVS bagguets and it is made of platinum that I got off of ebay for $799 (already appraised at a replacement value of $4700).

Thoughts on this idea..I am new to this forum but have a weird fasination with diamonds. I like the permanence of them. I love buying them for my wife. Unfortunately I am not rich so I have to watch for good deals online and I also have a friend who does insurance replacement work for State Farm who I buy most of her stuff from..

Any thoughts on what I might be able to get a 1.25 stone for..or any thoughts on trading my .7 stone along with a .57 H SI2 stone that is currently in the ring for a 1-1.25 stone (like the oval and pear shape). Anythoughts on how to go about this?

I appreciate you gals help here. I have been bed ridden after a ankle surgery for two weeks so I have been lurking on this board after I bought her setting pondering what I should do. I am trying to suprise her, but should I involve her in this decision? Sorry to ramble..just looking for a woman''s Point of view..

 

[kcoursolle]

JamesAllen.com offers about 80% if you sell your diamond to them, which is pretty good if you did not purchase your diamond from a company. Some potential vendors with great prices and beautiful diamonds are: jamesallen.com, whiteflash, goodoldgold, among others.

Sadly, I know very little about pears and ovals. Hopefully someone will chime in to help you find a good one.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI K9fan:

Welcome to PS--and sorry about your ankle!

A couple of things come to mind: you mentioned that you bought a ring 10 years ago; does the store--where you bought the ring from originally--have a trade up policy? Are you still in posession of the original certification and purchase receipts?

Second, were any of these diamond purchases (from you Insurance friend) accompanied by documentation/lab certs/appraisals? I ask this b/c if you were to try to sell any of these items privately--friends, newspaper, etc--having these types of papers offer specific sought after information to potential buyers.

Third, you could also try and sell your stones thru an Estate or consignment dealer in your area. Depending on what you have, these vendors either offer cash out right, or take a percentage of the sale if and when your item sells.

BTW, have you visited the FAQ forum here? There are several great threads about appraisals, jewellery for resale and the like. I highly recommend you read those.

I hope this was helpful. As was already mentioned, some online vendors will take "trade in''s" (stones not originally purchased from them), as might some B & M''s in your local area. It is up to you to find out who.

Glad you like to buy diamonds for your wife, and yes, a 1-1.25 diamond would always be welcome! Good luck.

cheers--Sharon

 

[diamondseeker2006]

It''s always good for guys who like to buy diamonds for their wife to find this website! As far as involving her, I always think that is a good idea. But in this case you have already bought the setting which can''t be returned, so you may as well go forward with a complete surprise.

I doubt seriously that James Allen or any vendor will give anyone 80% of retail on a random diamond. WhiteFlash buys back their own stones at 70% and Good Old Gold will buy back theirs at 75%, so I don''t see any possibility that anyone will give 80% for a stone not bought from them. And it would probably have to be certified. Is it?

Honestly, if it''s not GIA certifed, you may as well let her keep it and put it in a pendant or something and start over with the new diamond. But you would do well to read the knowledge section on this site as well as the 4 C''s section on the Good Old Gold site before you attempt to buy a new diamond to be sure you get a high quality, well cut one.

Your best bet would be to work with one of these vendors to bring in stones for you to choose from. They won''t have tons of ovals in-house since that shape is not as popular as some others at the moment. I bought from Good Old Gold and I highly recommend them.

 

[tanuki]

I had a nice .75 or so RB that I went through the same issues with.

It''s sort of an awkward size to upgrade if you didn''t buy it from somewhere with a buy back policy.

I''m the wife so I didn''t have to guess what I wanted. Still, it took me about 2 years to decide.

A number of my friends were getting three stone "past, present, and future" rings as they had significant anniversaries.

So I considered keeping it and buying two more 0.75''s and making a three stone ring.

Except that I wanted "bigger". So I thought why not get one more 0.75 and put a bigger one in the middle.

But by the time I spent that much money I might as well buy a new bigger solitaire.

So I did that and once my bank account recovers I''ll probably make a pendant with the 0.75 stone.

 

[k9fan]

Thanks so much. Yes, the Insurance guy I bought my original diamond from would actually do all the paperwork for me (runs a shop in Atlanta that state farm does most of the replacement work through). I appreciate all of the web site addresses you guys gave as well.

I will post a picture of the setting once I get a new digital camera I just ordered (sold my old one on ebay and replaced it with a new one from ebay ) to get all of your feedback. Her current setting is set as a three stone setting so I also have 2 .25 H SI1 stones that I could maybe incorporate into the new setting.

Thanks again..I appreciate all of the feedback!

 

[Lorelei]

Welcome

One thing you could try, but you really need time to do this, is to sell the other diamonds on consignment, but normally they need a GIA cert. This can be a good way to sell them, however there are no guarantees they will actually sell, the vendor normally takes a commision if a sale results. Dirt Cheap Diamonds used to offer this program, don't know if they still do though. Also you could try Pearlmans and maybe James Allen, but again you do need a GIA cert.

My preference would be to keep the exisiting stone and have a whole new one, that way she could wear the original diamond close to her heart in a pendant perhaps. Use the search tool above to price the diamonds you are interested in to compare prices.

Fancy shapes are tricky to assess by the numbers, as you have been here a couple of weeks you have probably realized how important cut is, but the numbers do play a part. It is best to judge beauty in a fancy cut with the eyes if at all possible, but use the numbers to try to weed out contenders. Also try to concentrate on vendors who have in house diamonds, that way they can look at them for you and advise which ones might fit the bill for you. You know your wife best and if she would prefer to be surprised or be involved in deciding which diamond...

I hope this helps, and that your ankle feels better soon

 

[kcoursolle]

Diamondseeker, thanks for correcting me. I re-read jamesallen policy, the 80% number was buying back a stone you purchased from them. Thanks again.

 

[Eva17]

I would like to add, I would hate to give up my original diamond that was my engagement. I agree with Lorelei that you may want to keep it and put it in a pendant.

If possible, price not being an issue, buy another diamond and keep the original for old times sake.....

 

[k9fan]

Believe me, that would be my first choice too..unfortunately I don''t have alot of extra money to buy a brand new larger stone. I do appreciate the feedback though as I fear that she may be of the same mind, so she may end up with a new nice setting and wedding band for for very nice .75. Thanks ladies and Gents (if any are gents )

 

[k9fan]

Here are some picttures and additional info on the setting I mention..Current stone in ER is .56..her stone is a .75..
Here is more on the set..

Thoughts from you guys, do you like these?

The engagement ring is 8.7 grams of 90% platinum and 10% iridium and has a Premium cut .56ct. Oval shaped diamond that is SI-2 clarity and G in color. It has 8 channel set baguette diamonds (VS1- VS2 clarity and F-G color) and 2 round brilliant diamonds ( VS2- SI1 clarity F-G color) with a total weight of .35cts. The matching band is also made of 8.3 grams of platinum and has 12 baguette diamonds and 2 round brilliant cut diamonds with a total weight of .74cts. The quality of the diamonds in the band are the same as the engagement ring.

 

[DillPickle]

Not sure if it was mentioned or not, but is the wifey willing to let go of the e-stone? Basically, is she a sentimental gal? IMO, I would lean towards Eva17''s suggestion of getting another stone and using the existing in a pendant.

 

[ladykemma]

if you look at my avatar that is a 1.25 carat pear. pears are nice! 1.25 is a poifect size.

i like your setting too.

do I see fluorescence in your oval?

edited to add: i think an oval for that setting or a round. a pear would be too busy.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 8/26/2006 6:27:18 PM
Author: DillPickle
Not sure if it was mentioned or not, but is the wifey willing to let go of the e-stone? Basically, is she a sentimental gal? IMO, I would lean towards Eva17''s suggestion of getting another stone and using the existing in a pendant.

yep better ask her, my wifey2b would have had a fit had she been asked to give up her original engagement diamond.
It now resides on her right hand and its staying there.