Tiffany Lucida Questions

[BrainGrenades]

So I'm on the market for a (pre-owned) Tiffany Lucida solitaire. I'm a total newbie but learning fast about diamonds and rings. The reason I'm looking at pre-owned is because from what I can tell these rings depreciate faster and much worse than the purchase of a new car. The questions I have on this piece is more to help me know if what I'm looking at is in fact a genuine Lucida and what I'm really missing by purchasing a pre-owned ring.

1) Is there a standard inscription inside for all these rings? For example, is the date inscribed always 1999 because I have also seen 2002?
2) Is the diamond inscribed with Lucida TM?
3) Many pre-owned rings I've come across only have GIA and no Tiffany paperwork. Could this pose any problems?
4) Say I do get all the official Tiffany paperwork but it's in someone else's name would this pose any problems for me down the road?
5) What else would you recommend doing prior to buying a pre-owned Tiffany so that you could sleep soundly at night? Maybe take to the store to verify it's authentic?

Thanks in advance for your help. I've been to the stores, looked at prices with the sales person on their computer and they're seriously around 50% higher than pre-owned rings I've seen on the market. For example I can find a Lucida .51 ct VVS1 H with all Tiffany paperwork for $3000 (maybe I can even negotiate lower). Ideally though I'm looking for .75ct to 1 ct if I can get it for a reasonable price.

 

[BrainGrenades]

One last question I meant to include although not really Lucida specific is does ring resizing have any negative effects? For example if I find a pre-owned ring in her ring size 5 vs buying a larger/smaller ring and then resizing it.

 

[Mayk]

One with paperwork and box and able to make an offer

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9800-Tiffany-Lucida-Platinum-Solitaire-G-VS1-Diamond-Engagement-Ring-Band-/172022386395?hash=item280d554edb:g:06sAAOSwwE5WZfW3

 

[Fulvia]

Jewels by Grace - which is an extremely trustworthy vendor - has a Lucida:

http://www.jewelsbygrace.com/rings/estate-modern/1-01ct-tiffany-co-lucida-solitaire#.VwTawMfYklY

As for certification, you can get the paper work from Tiffany after buying the diamond (although Grace may have the original - check).

 

[MollyMalone]

Hi, Brian
To answer some of your questions:
* For some time now, Tiffany has been laser-inscribing "serial numbers" on a facet of their diamonds. But every Lucida diamond is laser-inscribed on the girdle with Lucida TM -- and that's been true since "day one" of the Lucida, so a seller who tells you the diamond doesn't have the Lucida inscription because the ring predates that practice is either uniformed or dishonest -- or doesn't have a powerful enough loupe/good enough vision to see it.

* And because that's always been true, a GIA report on a Lucida will have the notation that the diamond is inscribed with Lucida TM. . Whether the original purchaser's paperwork included a GIA lab report and/or a Tiffany "Diamond Certificate" seems to depend on the size of the stone, when the ring was purchased.

* The ct weight indicated in the inside of the shank should match that reported on the GIA report/the Tiffany Diamond Certificate. And the string of numbers (that aren't the US patent numbers) seen in the same general place should correspond to the first digits of the "Diamond Regisration Number" at the top of the Tiffany Diamond Certificate.

* It's my understanding that Tiffany won't give a replacement Diamond Certificate to even the original purchaser; I know they won't do appraisals or authenticating paperwork for anyone nowadays (generally speaking; I imagine they make exceptions for Very Important Pieces).

* The best new paperwork that anyone can hope for nowadays is a Retail Price Update
http://www.tiffany.com/Service/FaqDetail.aspx?faq_id=1150&FAQ_CATEGORY=83
-- which has fewer details than a customer's original retail valuation, and the recent ones I've seen posted seem purposefully designed to be the barest bones for insurance purposes. For an example of why I say this, see the Retail Price Upgrade that's shown with the Lucida ring that Fulvia linked for you on the Jewels by Grace web site; any of us could quickly recreate it on our home computer & the wording beats you over the head about how it doesn't mean anything for authenticity purposes, etc.
https://jewelsbygrace.smugmug.com/Signed-Pieces/Signed-Pieces-Rings-and-Bands/101ct-Tiffany-Co-Lucida/i-DGb3Tz8/A

Anecdotal evidence here on PS re availability of the Retail Price Update to those who are not a ring's original owner doesn't seem to be consistent recently. Some people who purchased second-hand rings say they were able to get an RPU from Tiffany for a fee of a couple of hundred; others say they were flatly turned down, without Tiffany laying eyes on the ring; still others have not reported back, unfortunately, on what happened when they took a pre-owned ring into Tiffany for resizing and/or a RPU.

So I think I'd make the decision on the basis of the seller and "what you see is what you get" & not bank on Tiffany being willing to supply reassurance that a pre-owned ring is indeed one of theirs. The advantage here is that these particular stones are self-authenticating because of the Lucida TM on the girdle