Urgent advice needed on radiant...!

[Carats]

Hi everyone,

Today my fiance and I went to Philadelphia''s diamond district in an attempt to see/purchase a radiant ring. We looked through many stores and heard many different things from different people....The first store that we went to showed us a 3 carat radiant, igl (egl?) certified, H, VS1 that we negotiated down to 18k. Is this a good price? We heard that igl is very lenient and that the reason the price is so good is because it is igl and not gia. How does everyone feel about this?
Second, we saw another diamond: GIA, E, SI2 radiant, 2.25 carats for 14k. Is this a good price?

Third: (Seems like a more expensive store, but they told us not to buy from anyone else in the district since nobody could beat their quality/price) 2.01 carat, F VS1 GIA, 64%table, 72% depth, 7.9x6.45x4.69, excellent cut, excellent polish

Any suggestions? I want a radiant, between 2 to 3 carats but don''t want to get ripped off....I''m looking to purchase within the next week so your insight is greatly appreciated.

 

[Eva17]

I would be very leary of the first stone, because the chance of it appraising for the grade it was given, is really slim.....

The 2.25 with a color of E, is a nice color for a radiant, SI2 could be a concern. But since you already saw it in person, what did you think of the inclusions, and where were they?

The 2.01, you didn''t supply price. Don''t fall for don''t shop anywhere else!!!

Educate yourself and make your choice based on your confort zone of requirements/pricing.

With Radiants, the most important thing is to see them in person. Were they all rectangular? Which one did you love visually?

 

[Carats]

The third one, 2.01 carats, was 20k...

They all looked BEAUTIFUL visually The first one especially, so big, the color was beautiful, and to me, i couldnt tell the inclusions really with the naked eye, but definitely w the loop. my family is really against getting a diamond less than vs2, they think it takes away from the overall appearance of the diamond. I really don''t know, i want a large carat size for less of a price...

 

[Carats]

with these online dealers, is the price that they have listed on their website the final price or is there room for negotiation?

 

[Eva17]

If you really love the first one, then have it looked at by an independent appraiser, and if it still falls within your comfort level, then great!

If a vendor offers a wire discount, that is usually the only way to get discounted.

 

[Eva17]

2.01 F VS1 66.2% 66% GIA m-tk no gd vg slt 8.53-6.39x4.23 $8523 $17132*S
2.01 F VS1 66.2% 66% GIA med-thk no gd vg stg 8.53*6.39*4.23 $8617 $17320*S
2.01 F VS1 66.2% 66% GIA m-tk no gd vg slt 8.53x6.39x4.23 $8624 $17335SP
2.01 F VS1 66.9% 67% GIA med-thk no gd vg no 8.02x6.67x4.46 $9637 $19371SF
2.01 F VS1 61.4% 67% GIA extremely thn-s no gd gd no 7.71x7.05x4.33 $11968 $24055SF
2.01 F VS1 61.4% 67% GIA etn-stk no gd gd no 7.71x7.05x4.33 $12474 $25073SP



here are some examples of a quick search in 2.01. i would avoid any extremes. xthin to xthick.

the two asking the most for the same stone, has extremes, and only rates good-good.

 

[fullojoy]

Back in April, I was in Philly for a few days, and was looking for a 3 carat radiant. I made appointments with 2 stores ahead of time, and I wandered into some other stores. The 2 stores I had appts with brought in diamonds to show me. I felt the diamonds were very overpriced. I thought the prices there would be better due to the competition, but Sansom St is really just a bunch of retail jewelry stores all located near eachother. I was not thrilled with any of the diamonds shown to me- some of them lacked "life," and others just had dead spots with no sparkle.

I live in Maryland. I ended up buying my diamond at quest jewelers, in Virginia - www.questfinejewelers.com

Prior to my purchase, the jeweler at quest went online while I was there, and described available diamonds which he could bring in for me to see. One of the diamonds he mentioned was one that I had seen in Philly. (I was sure of it, as I had a copy of the certificate, which matched the details on the website). He priced the same diamond which I had seen in Philly at about $2,500.00 less then the stone was offered to me in Philly. I didn''t like the stone, so I don''t know if I could''ve bargained the price at all in Philly, but I thought that was a very significant amount of money.

You must see a radiant before buying one. You can''t just go by numbers. Do not rush into your purchase- I looked for months, and saw and rejected about 15 stones before I purchased the one which I have.

I had an E color, VS2 GIA round stone for the past 20 years. The radiant which I purchased is a GIA certified I, SI1. It faces up totally white, and there are no visible inclusions. When I had it appraised, the appraiser was surpised the stone wasn''t a VS2. She thought the color looked close to a J, but to my eye, it is totally white. I have seen GIA K stones which definitely have a yellow tint to them, but mine appears totally white to me.

My radiant sparkles much more then my round stone ever did. I wanted a stone with a lot of fire, and my stone sparkles rainbow colors all day long. Good luck.

 

[oldminer]

I am not rushing in to defend the retail jewelers of Philly''s Jeweler''s Row. I leave them to defend themselves. Personally, I think my local retailers have not done the maximum to promote the diversity and depth of inventory in the local market and they are missing the boat in becoming streamlined and cost effective in operation. I am pretty sure that a person armed with excellent price information could haggle the price down a lot on a diamond with local retailers. They are very hungry to make sales, but not at all afraid to see how easy or tough the customer might be. If you don''t start high, you can''t ever make the extra money. Tradition!

This is not the way the Internet works, but the vast majority of the retail jewelry trade is still in the stone age, no pun intended. Don''t be afraid to ask for "the best price" when you are ready to make a purchase. If it is said politely, it will never be resented by a jeweler. Your surgeon might find it humorous or insulting, but a jeweler generally will take such a request very seriously and without offense.

 

[Carats]

Date: 7/2/2007 9:15:55 AM
Author: fullojoy
Back in April, I was in Philly for a few days, and was looking for a 3 carat radiant. I made appointments with 2 stores ahead of time, and I wandered into some other stores. The 2 stores I had appts with brought in diamonds to show me. I felt the diamonds were very overpriced. I thought the prices there would be better due to the competition, but Sansom St is really just a bunch of retail jewelry stores all located near eachother. I was not thrilled with any of the diamonds shown to me- some of them lacked ''life,'' and others just had dead spots with no sparkle.

I live in Maryland. I ended up buying my diamond at quest jewelers, in Virginia - www.questfinejewelers.com

Prior to my purchase, the jeweler at quest went online while I was there, and described available diamonds which he could bring in for me to see. One of the diamonds he mentioned was one that I had seen in Philly. (I was sure of it, as I had a copy of the certificate, which matched the details on the website). He priced the same diamond which I had seen in Philly at about $2,500.00 less then the stone was offered to me in Philly. I didn''t like the stone, so I don''t know if I could''ve bargained the price at all in Philly, but I thought that was a very significant amount of money.

You must see a radiant before buying one. You can''t just go by numbers. Do not rush into your purchase- I looked for months, and saw and rejected about 15 stones before I purchased the one which I have.

I had an E color, VS2 GIA round stone for the past 20 years. The radiant which I purchased is a GIA certified I, SI1. It faces up totally white, and there are no visible inclusions. When I had it appraised, the appraiser was surpised the stone wasn''t a VS2. She thought the color looked close to a J, but to my eye, it is totally white. I have seen GIA K stones which definitely have a yellow tint to them, but mine appears totally white to me.

My radiant sparkles much more then my round stone ever did. I wanted a stone with a lot of fire, and my stone sparkles rainbow colors all day long. Good luck.

Joy,
thats really interesting. So you think that radiants sparkle more than rounds? I just went into a jewelry store in the mall to look around and just see some stones and the lady working there, a gia trained gemologists, told me that round by far sparkles has the most fire out of all the cuts..and really discouraged me from radiants. So now i''m torn between the two cuts!! I really like the radiant because it seems slightly modern/classic while not being too common and boring like a round can be....

 

[Carats]

Jewelers row in philadelphia is definitely a confusing place. There are so many places and you never know where to go. Every where people show you so many diamonds one after another, so many different prices, that it is really hard to (a) keep track and (b) know if you are getting a "good" deal....

 

[kcoursolle]

Date: 7/2/2007 5:49:53 PM
Author: Carats
Jewelers row in philadelphia is definitely a confusing place. There are so many places and you never know where to go. Every where people show you so many diamonds one after another, so many different prices, that it is really hard to (a) keep track and (b) know if you are getting a 'good' deal....

How about purchasing from a trusted online vendor such as jamesallen.com, whiteflash, or goodoldgold? Their prices are very fair, they provide quite a bit of information about their stones, they have upgrade policies, and they are trustworthy.

 

[fullojoy]

the radiant which I purchased has much more sparkle then the round which I''ve had for the past 20 years. However, I now know that my round stone was cut poorly, and that my radiant is cut well. I am no expert on diamonds, and most of what you will read here states that round stones have the most sparkle. However, if you like radiants, you can find radiants with lots of sparkle...it just may take a bit of time until you find what you''re looking for. I originally wanted one which was rectangle, but I just couldn''t find a nice one, so I ended up purchasing one which is more square- it has a 1.07 ratio