Why you should ask for a complete appraisal.

[oldminer]

A retrospective assessment based on thirty five years of experience.
This doesn’t just apply to jewelry or diamonds, but this is what nearly everyone here is interested in and what is good in general, is specifically quite important to our core interests on Pricescope. Appraisers often get consumers who have questions related to some of the details covered constantly on the Internet. What is the H&A pattern? How does it look with an Ideal-Scope? What sort of ASET image do you get? Does this diamond have the best light behavior? Is there any “problem” with the cut? Is this “excellent” cut equivalent to this 000 cut? “Can you supply one or more of these without doing anything else for me?”

The answer is sometimes “yes”, but must also sometimes be “no”. I have found that there is a natural progression of supplying one answer and then having the next naturally logical question become the issue of importance to be covered. My experience tells me that there are a series of questions which thinking consumers need to have answers to or they will not have sufficient advice in order to make a comfortable decision to proceed with a purchase. Appraisers can do the best for people, at the least cost, if they make reports which cover all the usual questions leaving the odd questions which might arise until after the report is formulated. Knowing that odd questions often happen, one allows for this working with distant consumers, so that they won’t need to pay more for what we have grown to expect from buyers who want full disclosure documentation and professional guidance. There are several appraisers focused on Pricescopers who have similar characteristics. We may not be numerous, but this relatively small group of independent appraisers provides very similar services. We are sort of Johnny Carson-like Karnaks in that we probably know your answers before we hear your questions. Just imagine your appraiser sitting in a darkened laboratory with his fancy turban on his head, lying back on some overstuffed pillows, puffing on his hookah while awaiting the diamond to come by Fed-Ex…..dream on..

Anyway, if we are asked to do a partial job, we might fail to give you what we truly know you need. It might save you a little money, but we know that you will likely ask the next question or wonder why you never asked us and regret it somehow. You know, you won’t be buying diamonds frequently although the vendors wish that wasn’t the case. Taking a decision to accept more risk on a large purchase is not a good plan with diamonds or with many other large purchases. You can lose enough on one deal that you can never recover over a lifetime of future smarter transactions. You can still be impulsive. You can still enjoy the purchase. However, letting an expert give you the full benefit of their experiences is not without value for the careful consumer.