What would you do?

[Azusa]

I have been toying with the idea of resetting the diamond ring my parents gave me a while back, but it looks like resetting the stone here will just cost as much if not more than buying a brand new one (including center stone) from US.

I am after a halo, the diamond ring i want to reset is probably about 0.5ct RB. Budget hard cap at $2000 if buying from US (as there will be customs duty)

Contacted IDJ and Luann gave me a good idea of the halo setting I want (Gabriel) quoted $750, which leaves $1250 for the diamond, Luann gave me one suggestion of a GIA stone but it performed badly on HCA. I saw some on JA and get a lot more confused than i started...

There is a 0.66 J SI VG GIA stone that came back with a 0.8 score on HCA, the feeling i get from the forum is to only look at excellent/ideal cut. So can a VG be getting a good score on HCA? if so, what else do i also need to look out for?

also with that budget, would you think that staying at 0.5 will be safer than trying to look for anything bigger than that? color and clarity is not really my concern considering its such a small size, but i want something nice and sparkly...

I am going to talk to a local jeweller regarding a reset just to get a firm quote on what i want, i have also emailed a couple of US vendors and they are all lovely, but i think with my budget constraint I probably cant look at too many places...

This is a graduation gift so i will be wearing as RHR.

thanks all!

 

[MAC-W]

Could you send the whole ring to one of the US vendors and get them to do the complete reset you are getting the local quote for?

Or at least get a US quote for reset so you have an apples to apples comparison?

To me, it seems a shame to buy a brand new diamond instead of being able to wear the one your parents gave you.

 

[Christina...]

I'm curious too as to why you wouldn't ship the stone your parents bought you to the US to be set in the Gabriel setting. Why purchase a second stone if you have one now that you are happy with?

 

[Azusa]

Thanks MAC-W and Christina!
yes i did think about that option and send the stone to US, whats holding me back is that i am very worried if the stone get lost in transit, with full insurance to US, it will cost about $200, and i dont trust australia post insurance (had them nearly lost a valuable item once I am worried) using other companies the cost escalates, then when it comes back, our custom will put duty on the whole ring including my own stone, thats another good $300+ not including shipping.
if i do that, i might still come out ahead by a few hundred dollars, but the risk of losing it and the cost of sending it back and forth is just too much. Hence i started looking at buying another one brand new altogether.