To the experts at pricescope...

[leftwing8]

All,

Over the past several months, I've been lurking around this site, obtaining my "free education" from the many knowledgeable folks on this board. Now that I am close to making my purchase, I would like to get some feedback on my impending deal...

Princess Cut
Carat Weight: 1.90
Color: F
Clarity: VS1 (one small pinpoint under table, one small feather hidden off to the side)
Depth: 65.5%
Table: 68%
Symmetry: VG
Polish: Ex
Girdle: Thin to Med
Culet: None
Flour: None
L/W ratio: 1.01 (I really like "square" diamonds)

In order of importance, I've been looking for:
Cut (best cut I can find)
Color (D-F)
Carat (1.50-2.00)
Clarity (depends)

I think this VS1 is a nice compromise on the clarity side. What do you all think?

 

[pricescope]

Hi Leftwing8,

Your "paper" data looks very nice. By "paper" I mean only what is written - no live examination by an expert.

What are the measurements for the stone, width and depth?

Depth and table sound very nice but you probably know already that without crown and pavilion nobody can tell you much. Have you seen the stone, compared to others and like its look?

And finally is it worth the money? Because every diamond, ugly or lovely, has its price? But I guess you already had enough time to shop around and compare prices

 

[leftwing8]

Leonid,

Thanks for the quick reply, this is why I came here for answers!

More info...

Measurements: 6.99x6.92x4.53 mm
Crown Height: 12.4%
Pavillion: I'm getting an email of the Sarin scan shortly... I'll let you know.

I haven't seen the stone in person (internet purchase), but I have been in touch with RockDoc and I will probably be sending the stone to him for an independent appraisal. The only issue right now is that I have to pay for it up front. I would have more than 30 days to return for a full refund, however... So I think this should be ok. Any recommendations? Am I crazy to buy a diamond and ship it to someone I've never met without even seeing it? I appreciate any advice you can provide. I'm a first timer if you haven't figured it out yet.

 

[pricescope]

Well, if you're sending it to Rockdoc you should be ok. Post your experience here, please

Proportions still look very nice

 

[leftwing8]

Oh, almost forgot, the price is weighing in at a hefty $16.5k...

I can't find anything similar on pricescope nor anywhere else I've looked, especially one with such square proportions and great cut. Pricescope has one with similar cut parameters and carat weight for approximately $8k, but it's got faint flourescence, the clairity is SI1, color is H.

So does that make it half as valuable as the rock I'm looking at? I really don't know for sure if this is a good price We're talking about a difference of 2 color levels and 2 clairity levels + no flourescence...

Still waiting on the Sarin scan...

 

[leftwing8]

Ok, I searched pricescope by radients and came up with the following...

Carat 1.78
Color F
Clarity VS1
Depth 67.6%
Tbl 72%
Lab GIA
Gdl med-sthk
Cul no
Sym gd
Pol gd
Flr no
Measurements 6.88X6.86X4.64MM
$/Crt $6525
Price $11614

From what I've seen, the rock I'm looking at is bigger by about 0.1ct, has a more desireable table %, has better symmetry and polish... ~$5k price difference? What do ya think, eh?

 

[pricescope]

Well, I'm able to find 1.91-F-VS1-69.4%-76%-GIA-gd-gd for about $13k. It might not be as nicely cut as yours but I'm not sure whether it worth 3k$ difference.

Let's see what Bill will tell you.

 

[leftwing8]

OK, I heard back from the seller, they emailed me a portion of the Sarin scan.

More info:
Girdle Thicknesses: 1.2, 1.0, 1.6 mm
Pavillion: 33.8

How does that look? Hopefully more than

I'll probably close the deal Monday. I'm considering hopping a flight to florida to visit the rockdoc for a day

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

33.8 does not make sense

 

[leftwing8]

I'm sure I don't my pavillion angles from a hole in the ground. The seller sent me an image of the scan with the info, but the quality was bad and I probably misread it... we'll see.

I sent it out to rockdoc today for an evaluation, so I'll let you all know how it goes...

thanks all,

leftwing8

BTW, now that I have a rock, can anyone point me to a good resource for settings? I'm looking for a platinum solitare setting, something modern, comfort fit. No other preferences. please reply if you know of any good resources. Thanks again.

 

[tonysgeko]

Leftwing, check out Jan of www.diamondbrokersofflorida.com she carries the eclipse line of comfort fit settings for solitaires among others.

 

[pricescope]

.

Check these rings for example:

. The last one is very similar to famoust Tiffany Lucida(tm) settings.[/u][/u][/u][/u]

 

[leftwing8]

I really like both the royal crown and x prong designs, but it doesn't look like those settings would accept the 1.87ct princess that I've purchased. Is it possible to get something in this style (say x-prong) that is all platinum? I saw one but it was half 14k (ring) and half plat (prongs). I know she wants all platinum...

 

[pricescope]

You can get Xprong with 1.5-2 carat princess diamond as well.

 

[leftwing8]

That's what I want! How can I find a jeweler locally that has this setting? I live in Central NJ...

 

[pricescope]

and select "Store locations"-menu.


How coped without the Internet? [/u]

 

[leftwing8]

An update on my quest...

I purchased the stone and had rockdoc take a look at it. Here is a pic...

 

[leftwing8]

And here's a picture of the firescope test (this rock didn't fit entirely in the viewer)...

 

[pricescope]

Congratulation Leftwing8! Firescope image looks fantastic for the princes cut.

If it's not a sicret, who are the vendor and the cutter?

 

[leftwing8]

Here is a scan of rockdoc's evaluation of the cut, fortunately for me he does know his pavillion angles. Oh, and the color was F, clarity VS1. The only inclusions are far off in the corner of the diamond and to date I still have not been able to spot them.

 

[leftwing8]

Leonid,

I really got serious about the search back in October, and after lurking around the boards and surfing the net, I narrowed down my criteria considerably. I was looking for a colorless to near colorless diamond (ranges from E in the center to G towards the edges, rockdoc gave it an F), in the 1.5ct range, with VS1 or better clarity (the major inclusion here is in a favorable spot), and the best cut I could find (this one has excellent polish and VG symmetry). One of the big hurdles I had was finding a diamond with really square proportions (this one is 0.99 length to width). This made my search more difficult, but hopefully in the end more rewarding.

I purchased the stone from BlueNile (found it in the princess/signature ideal collection), had them ship direct to rockdoc. He gave me his evaluation, and then sent it on to me.

 

[pricescope]

Thanks Leftwing8, well done!

Enjoy your diamond!

 

[leftwing8]

Also, here's an update on the setting...

My town in NJ has many jewelers, so my first thought was to shop around locally and see what they have. Unfortunately, the platinum solitare settings were mostly very bland and uninspiring. In addition, several of the jewelers told me that they wouldn't set a diamond purchased elsewhere. One jeweler told me that they set only rounds. I had enough of that, so I went to the net.

Impressed with their styles, I went to www.dvatche.com to look at the platinum solitare settings. In particular, I really liked the x-prong design. The x-prong styles shown on their site, however, were for rounds only. So, I called the customer support number and the individual I talked to was very helpful, and told me that for my 1.87ct princess I would require style 880. He directed me to the store locations page on the website, and asked that I contact a local store so that I could view the setting in person. He told me that if the store didn't have the style in stock for me to view that the store could call eclipse and have one shipped in for me to look at.

So, I called up my local fortunoff, since I live in Central Jersey. First, I got someone in their jewelry dept. and the person there didn't even know what I was talking about when I asked about the dvatche settings. They told me that they did not have anything and pretty much blew me off. I called eclipse back and they said that fortunoff should know the style, reiterating that they could send a sample to fortunoff for my review. The person I spoke to at eclipse seemed annoyed that I would be treated in such a way. I called fortunoff again, got another employee who flat out told me that they would not set a diamond that they did not sell me. Finally, I called eclipse again, told them my story, and so they told me that because I had such a poor experience with the local jewelers that I could bring my stone in personally and have it set.

Needless to say, I was really pleased with this approach. Eclipse showed me a commitment to customer satisfaction that I thought was nonexistent in this area (my NY/NJ customer service experiences have varied greatly). The next day, I hopped a train to midtown manhattan and met the employees of eclipse. There I was not only shown the setting that I would be getting, but they answered all of my questions. That was last week. Tomorrow, I'm going back to pick up the completed ring. I'll try to post a picture or two when I get back.

Now, an equally difficult task lies before me- how to propose? I already have a date picked out next month. My GF loves New York City- so I know it has to be there. The only thing I'm still struggling with is the how... Luckily I still have some time to get everything right.