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Travelling to new york to buy an engagement ring

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Rodney

Rough_Rock
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Sep 10, 2009
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HI All,

Id appreciate some advise in relation to shopping for diamonds in new york, Im from ireland and i am planing on travelling to new york in oct to buy an engagemnet ring with my girlfriend, she is keen on a three stone platinum. I have priced rings with 1.65c F Vs2 Triple ex 0.75 F Vs2 Triple ex side stones all GIA and found prices in new york much cheaper.

Until coming accross this website i thought it may have been possible to travel for 5 days pick out 3 stones get them mounted and come home safe in the knowledge i had bought a GIA certified stone with triple excellent cut and that the fact it was GIA certifed excellent cut it was going to be the best cut possible.....???Now im not sure,

should i be looking for hearts and arrows specifically as i want the stones to look the best they can. Or should i be just going on measurements rather than jsut GIA telling me the cut is excellent. It seems Hearts and arrows can be harder to come accross and i could be taken advantage of when i would be in a rush to purchase.

I could buy in tiffanys but they seem way over priced but id at least have some piece of mind
I wonder does anyone have any ideas to help

Thanks
Rodney
 

stone-cold11

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
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14,083
H&A is not the same as a good performing stone. It is the result of optical symm. A good optical symm might not be classified as a H&A because of the cutting. Good optical symm does not necessary equate to good performing stone. You can get a good performing stone without H&A and a H&A with bad optical performance.

There are several good vendor in NYC. GoodOldGold in Long Island, JA and ExcelDiamond in NYC. Contact them to get an appointment and probably a line up of stones for you to select when you visit.
 

Lorelei

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
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42,064
Date: 9/15/2009 6:04:48 AM
Author:Rodney
HI All,

Id appreciate some advise in relation to shopping for diamonds in new york, Im from ireland and i am planing on travelling to new york in oct to buy an engagemnet ring with my girlfriend, she is keen on a three stone platinum. I have priced rings with 1.65c F Vs2 Triple ex 0.75 F Vs2 Triple ex side stones all GIA and found prices in new york much cheaper.

Until coming accross this website i thought it may have been possible to travel for 5 days pick out 3 stones get them mounted and come home safe in the knowledge i had bought a GIA certified stone with triple excellent cut and that the fact it was GIA certifed excellent cut it was going to be the best cut possible.....???Now im not sure,

With GIA Excellent cut grade be cautious as this grade can allow for some less desirable proportion configurations - what we call steep deeps which can lead to light leakage. So evaluate each diamond carefully on its own desirable physical and visual properties.

You can use this tool to help you find the best GIA Excellents, aim to score below 2 then evaluate with your own eyes and or images such as Idealscope or ASET.

https://www.pricescope.com/cutadviser.asp

http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=education-performance

should i be looking for hearts and arrows specifically as i want the stones to look the best they can. Or should i be just going on measurements rather than jsut GIA telling me the cut is excellent. It seems Hearts and arrows can be harder to come accross and i could be taken advantage of when i would be in a rush to purchase.

H&A results from top optical symmetry, this is not the same as lab graded symmetry which is the grading of how well the physical symmetry of the diamond is crafted, optical symmetry is responsible for h&a patterning and the quality due to overall cut precision. You don't however need to have a h&a cut to have a beautiful diamond, if the proportions of the diamond are good then that should result in a lively and beautiful diamond. Also some diamonds show h&a patterning but might not be considered ' true' h&a as the patterns don't meet the required standards, however these diamonds can be well worth considering if you don't want a picture perfect h&a. Also some diamonds don't have great optical symmetry but do have excellent proportions, so it depends on what you want.

I could buy in tiffanys but they seem way over priced but id at least have some piece of mind
I wonder does anyone have any ideas to help

Thanks
Rodney

Vendors you can try in the NY area are

www.goodoldgold.com in Long Island, most of these vendors you will need an appointment.

www.exceldiamonds.com

www.engagementringsdirect.com

www.jamesallen.com have offices in NYC.
 

Rodney

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
4
Thanks guys for the replies,

So if i want a stone that looks great i first need to look at the proportions with the holloway cut advisor and if < 2 consider and then get an idealscope image to decide between the remaining stones? Is that generally how it works?

What if they don''t have an idealscope image, say if i went to the diamond district......(would most of them there have the same).... would i have to get numberous diamonds independently appraised if they were not available?

Thanks for the help
 

Lorelei

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
Messages
42,064
Date: 9/15/2009 9:01:21 AM
Author: Rodney
Thanks guys for the replies,

So if i want a stone that looks great i first need to look at the proportions with the holloway cut advisor and if < 2 consider and then get an idealscope image to decide between the remaining stones? Is that generally how it works?

What if they don't have an idealscope image, say if i went to the diamond district......(would most of them there have the same).... would i have to get numberous diamonds independently appraised if they were not available?

Thanks for the help
Thats the idea. You could buy an Idealscope or ASET, this would help you as the resultant images are fairly easy to interpret, check out the link in my earlier post which shows you how.

http://www.ideal-scope.com/cart_zoom_item.asp?Id=2&ShowAdd=Y
 

tap02150

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
275
i''d stick to trusted vendors. If I were you,

My first place i would stop would be Good Old Gold.

They have all the information you will ever need about the diamonds you are looking for. They are top notch and very very competitive price wise.

They could select top performing diamonds for you quickly because they have all the information ready to go.

The second place i would go to would be James Allen. This selection might take a little longer, but they are another very reputable vendor with competitive pricing.
 

Rodney

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
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4
Thanks for the help, need to do some more research i think!
 

MatchMadeInCarbon

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 16, 2009
Messages
65
Hey Rodney -

As the others said, stick the recommended vendors in the forum (look around, I think there were others). The diamond district is a tough place to navigate, so just go where you know you''re in good hands.

I recently made a trip to NY and should have scheduled more meetings (one particular vendor only does scheduled meetings- sorry can''t remember) so that all parties involved can be relaxed.

I''m not sure if you were planning on leaving NY with the ring in your pocket. If that''s the case, you''ll have to devote even MORE time to planning. The vendors (some of the best listed above) may be able to offer you the 3 stone plat of your & gf''s dreams, but not without some prior notice for them to acquire the setting.

For instance, Good Old Gold offers some top designer rings, but may not have all the latest settings on hand & wouldn''t be able to get your size until a couple weeks or more.

Good Luck!
 
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