what's the value of transition cut diamond?

[yrrp3738]

I am new here. Nice to find this place!

I just saw a transition cut diamond over 1 ct on an old ring. The diamond may be not as shiny , but it is less crowded in my opinion. I kind like it. The problem is there is no certificate. Just look at the ring, it's definitely not a very white diamond, likely H-I or even J. Clarity is hard to tell. Didn't see obvious problem with naked eyes or under X10. setting is not really attractive with 10% iridium and 90% platinum. The crown seems much shallower with larger table than normal round diamond.

Any major concern of a transition cut stone? If I buy it, is there a way to get it re-cert? Thanks!

 

[kenny]

You can send it to GIA to get it graded.
Just call them, you don't have to be in the industry.
You can have a jeweler do it for you but they'll charge you GIA fee plus another fee on top of that.

You could buy it but without a lab report there is no way to know what the price should be.
I'd tell the seller to send it to GIA before the sale.

You could pay an independent appraiser (who does NOT sell anything) but that's not the same as a GIA report.
Then if you get it graded by GIA you wasted the money on the appraiser.

 

[yrrp3738]

Thanks, kenny. Here are more information. The main stone is 1.28 ct. Looks quite big. Two side stones tw 0.16. The price in my eye is quite low at around 4000 w/o tax. It's a store selling a lot of estate jewelry. One of myconcern is lacking of cert, hard to judge the value. Second is re-selling a transition cut in the future if I want to have a upgrade.

 

[slg47]

Thanks, kenny. Here are more information. The main stone is 1.28 ct. Looks quite big. Two side stones tw 0.16. The price in my eye is quite low at around 4000 w/o tax. It's a store selling a lot of estate jewelry. One of myconcern is lacking of cert, hard to judge the value. Second is re-selling a transition cut in the future if I want to have a upgrade.

those are both valid concerns. are you looking for an older piece specifically?

 

[yrrp3738]

slg47: No. I don't even know the term before I saw this diamond ring. It looked different so I asked the sales lady. The pattern ooks very symetric and not so many facets. More like a feeling towards emreld cut. Very clean. I am looking a 1ct. This one is much bigger and costs less than other candidates in my mind.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Can you post pictures? Really, it would be a shot in the dark to buy a diamond with no information on it. Do they have a return policy so you could get an appraisal and then return it if it is not what you hoped?

 

[yrrp3738]

Here is the best pic they provided.



No. I don't think they accept return.

 

[MyDiamondSparkles]

Do you have the mm x mm x mm measurements of the diamond? Some of the older cut diamonds (european and transitional) face up smaller than the modern round brilliants. So even if the dimaond is 1.28 carats it may only face up like a 1.15 or even smaller modern round brilliant. Regardelss, I do love the big bold flashes of the older cut diamonds!

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

It would be hard to guage unless you can see it in person. I have a transition cut E-ring that is priceless as it is hands down the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen. But if you think you may need to resell the diamond prepare to take a substantial loss as it is very hard to get nearly what you paid for when reselling.

 

[yrrp3738]

I did see the ring in person and comapred it with a loose D diamond in similar weight and a loose H around 1.1 carat. The stone is close to the D diamond in size and bigger than the H. Since it was on a ring, looked yellower than D and close or little yelloewer than the H.

Thank you all for your replies. I will go back next week to get more information.

 

[suchende]

It would be hard to guage unless you can see it in person. I have a transition cut E-ring that is priceless as it is hands down the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen. But if you think you may need to resell the diamond prepare to take a substantial loss as it is very hard to get nearly what you paid for when reselling.

Maybe I am totally off here, but if you're going to be buying a secondary market/used piece, shouldn't you be able to pick it up for around the price you could also sell it for?

 

[LGK]

It would be hard to guage unless you can see it in person. I have a transition cut E-ring that is priceless as it is hands down the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen. But if you think you may need to resell the diamond prepare to take a substantial loss as it is very hard to get nearly what you paid for when reselling.

Maybe I am totally off here, but if you're going to be buying a secondary market/used piece, shouldn't you be able to pick it up for around the price you could also sell it for?

Not unless you're very lucky and/or a heck of a good shopper. If you buy from Joe Schmoe who happened to list the ring on eBay or Craigslist, perhaps- however the reason you probably don't do that, is that Joe doesn't know a thing about diamonds like most laypeople, nor will he accept returns, nor does he have a GIA cert for his item, nor can he tell you the answers to a lot of questions like "is it eyeclean" or what types of inclusions the stone has. So it's more likely you buy from a professional reseller if you're buying online, like JbEG, Singlestone, OWD or whomever, who resells jewelry/antiques for a living, guarantees their descriptions, has refurbished any damage or chips, and can accept returns and tell you more about the item you're buying. As such you pay for that service- by paying a higher price, even if it's used/antique. Or you buy from an antique store or some other type of boutique that carries nice antique jewelry- and again, you pay for the overhead and perks of buying like that, to get more security with your purchase.

Of course when you go to resell, you're Jane Schmoe as far as buyers are concerned, and to take the risk of buying from a random person who doesn't professionally sell jewelry they want a rock, rock bottom price. You may know a good place to consign and thus get closer to retail price, but consignment takes a decent chunk of a percent- 35% is typical for antique consignment, not sure about jewelry consignments (they might actually be a higher percent, probably not less).

Sometimes you get lucky on the secondary market and score a heck of a deal you can always resell for same or more than you paid- most always those are people who took a decent size risk by buying from Random Dude on Ebay. That happens, sure, but it takes skill to spot those deals, and spare money to pounce on them when you find them as well as risk losing it. Lucking into a great deal like that is a lot harder.

It typically takes time to resell something high end too- people looking to spend thousands on a ring are out there, but not every shopper can/will be doing that.

Hope that makes sense! I work with antiques & antique jewelry, so I get to see how the secondhand market works on a daily basis.

 

[yrrp3738]

I agree that reselling as the individual owner of a jewelry is a money-losing process. So unless reallly need the money, I think I will keep all and pass to kids or relatives.

Here is one more my concern. (seems I have so many Please see the image:

OEC usually has higher crown. But this transition cut has very low with big table. I tried the ring in the store with normail day light. Should I ask to bring it out to under direct sunlight?

 

[yrrp3738]

Update:

After a few trips to the store, I still could not make up my mind to buy a stone w/o any certificate. The measures of the stones are 6.9-7.0-4.1. The weight of the stone is an estimated one (not sure how this is done). I will give myself a break and try not to think about it during the weekend.

 

[Lnw522s]

I know this is an old post and this is a long shot... But did you buy the piece? We found my engagement ring at a pawn shop and it looks almost exactly like that picture (except 3 small stones on each side in stead of one long one). I took it to a jewler and it appears to be the same size and clarity as the one in the post. Its platinum as well.The jewler didn't know enough about old diamonds to give a vale and could only tell me how much it would be worth if it were trimmed down to a modern cut (no way). Did you ever find out the value?