I thought I would provide a little feedback based on my experiences found here on PS. I’ve been reading this forum nearly every day now for over a month after initially deciding to “pop the question” and after doing some initial research I landed here.
I’ve found that the best postings that I learned from are those that provided experience when selecting their stones and I’m hoping to the same.
A little background; I wanted this to be a surprise. She doesn’t know about this (planning it for July when we’re in Hawaii w/ her family). Planned for $10k-$15k (I know…let’s not go there), reason? 2CTW minimum… she mentioned it before, not sure if it was a joke, but even if it wasn’t, wouldn’t it be priceless to see her face?? Plus, her social group, where we live, and among other things dictate that I’m to land around that weight.
ADVICE: Reach a little, I think it’ll go a long way and looking back, it’s just money but there’s a journey ahead that you can’t put a price on.
So doing hours (if not days) of research, I got read up on all sorts of opinions and decided to go with the RB and prioritizing size (dimension)/Carat/Clarity and then finally color. I knew there had to be compromises in order to stay within the budget and find a stunner. I’m a spreadsheet junkie, so I started building a notes spreadsheet to help review and filter numbers quickly.
ADVICE: Take good notes, advice and copy/paste links for reference later.
Finally, I got an idea of what I wanted and started building yet ANOTHER spreadsheet that was filled with detailed information on each diamond I looked at (yes! looked at). I wrote down the date I looked at it, CTW, Cut, Color, Clarity, Lab, Certification # … I’m thinking you’re getting the idea… it went for rows A through P and my last column was “notes” for my thoughts or ideas. (spoiler; I ended up with nearly 100 rows).
As for certification, I know this is a sensitive subject, I won’t dwell on it too long but I’ll probably get bashed on it anyway… I researched either GIA or EGL-USA exclusively (AGS too, but there was only 1 or 2 that were in my criteria). EGL-USA based on recent postings from that Vegas show topic.
ADVICE: You’re buying a rock, certification is nice, but should be secondary to what your see (IMHO).
Most if not all buyers are looking for the biggest BANG. I’m not any different. So filtering my choices down, I started by calculating all the HCA’s, and eliminating anything above 2.5 HCA. I sorted by dimensions, then carat, then price. I next sorted by certification, and my minimums… GIA-J in color (EGL-USA-I), GIA-SI2 (EGL-USA-SI1), and all had to be at least excellent cut. I reached out to 3 PS vendors (different experience with each) and found out everything I researched was nearly virtual inventory. Now, if you had the bank roll to shop PS vendors that had the stone in house, by all means that would be a way to slam dunk. But based on my research, I found I could save some $$ if I were to go the virtual diamond route and either go by paper, or the PS vendor calling them in.
I spent a week working with vendors trying to score a SI2/I1 that was eye-clean. No luck, all the opinions off of certifications and through the gemologists was coming in no so eye-clean (or bad light return). Plus, I saw certifications I was interested in dated 1-2 years ago, so that inferred that they’ve been floating around for some reason or another. So much for trying to save $3k. (jealous to the bunch of posters on here that were able to find one!) Here's what i was getting back:
I then found a very NICE (HCA of 1.2) 2.4CTW (!!), hearts and arrows, EX, EX, EX EGL-USA (H), SI2 that (on paper) look like a super winner. Plunked down the CC for $11k and told the vendor to pull the trigger. Well, few days later, they got back to me once they had it reviewed and recommended NOT to purchase due to it’s “milky” appearance. Little disappointed, but they’re a PS recommended vendor and that’s what you need to not get lead astray.
ADVICE: PS Vendors are really the way to go, virtual inventory can be tricky, so finding a good vendor to work with who’s responsive is a bare minimum on finding “the one”.
Back to the drawing board…. Realizing I’ll need to step up my clarity to make this somewhat mind settling. Plus, getting a little frustrated and disheartened that it’ll just take more $$ at this point. Then I remembered my 1st advice…. SO…. Here’s what I found, after stepping it up.
2.17CTW [EGL-USA I/VS2] 8.39x8.42x5.03 HCA0.8 $13.2k
2.18CTW [GIA k/SI1] 8.42x8.45x4.98 HCA1.8 $13.3k
2.24CTW [GIA k/SI1] 8.43x8.47x5.12 HCA2.3 $13.6k
Pretty close right? That’s the assumption with the color and clarity grade being 2 steps off. I did comparables with that EGL-USA to GIA-J’s and GIA-SI1’s/VS2’s and that netted a few $k higher.
…. I went with the EGL-USA…. Why? Even if it was softer, I could live with a GIA-j/k and GIA-SI1. BUT.. the main reason… what if it wasn’t off that much (or at all??)? Yah…
Fast forward, received the diamond the other day… W.O.W. I think i've carried it around with me everywhere checking it out in all lighting situations and comparing it to GOG's online videos to make sure it behaves the same!
2.17CTW, EGL-USA Ideal Plus, Hearts & Arrows. VS2, super eye clean. I can’t seen anything even with a loop. Not too bad in color, but I’m OK with that, slight tint of yellow at certain angles. Saw it through an idealscope and saw the pronounced H&A's identified on the certification. Certification dated 2 months ago in 2012. This is a keeper, I’m good with it. Faces up white, eye-clean, fair price (I believe, such a thing?), nice and shiny! I'll work on getting more pics shortly.
Now I’m shopping for a setting…. Well, not really. Will come back later after the proposal to have her decide on the setting she would like. I’m looking for a reputable dealer to set it in a solitaire for now. I stopped by 1 well rep jeweler and one not-well repp'ed jeweler for their opinions. Without seeing the certification, they both agreed it's at least a VS2/VS1 and not the greatest of color but not yellow or badly tinted (take it with a grain of salt). The minor inclusion is a pin-head off the side of table (it's grey?) They both (at the sake of losing business) said it was a keeper and offered to buy it. Although i'm hearing that carats above 1.5ctw aren't selling well now...
I hope this helps others, love to hear some thoughts.
I’ve found that the best postings that I learned from are those that provided experience when selecting their stones and I’m hoping to the same.
A little background; I wanted this to be a surprise. She doesn’t know about this (planning it for July when we’re in Hawaii w/ her family). Planned for $10k-$15k (I know…let’s not go there), reason? 2CTW minimum… she mentioned it before, not sure if it was a joke, but even if it wasn’t, wouldn’t it be priceless to see her face?? Plus, her social group, where we live, and among other things dictate that I’m to land around that weight.
ADVICE: Reach a little, I think it’ll go a long way and looking back, it’s just money but there’s a journey ahead that you can’t put a price on.
So doing hours (if not days) of research, I got read up on all sorts of opinions and decided to go with the RB and prioritizing size (dimension)/Carat/Clarity and then finally color. I knew there had to be compromises in order to stay within the budget and find a stunner. I’m a spreadsheet junkie, so I started building a notes spreadsheet to help review and filter numbers quickly.
ADVICE: Take good notes, advice and copy/paste links for reference later.
Finally, I got an idea of what I wanted and started building yet ANOTHER spreadsheet that was filled with detailed information on each diamond I looked at (yes! looked at). I wrote down the date I looked at it, CTW, Cut, Color, Clarity, Lab, Certification # … I’m thinking you’re getting the idea… it went for rows A through P and my last column was “notes” for my thoughts or ideas. (spoiler; I ended up with nearly 100 rows).
As for certification, I know this is a sensitive subject, I won’t dwell on it too long but I’ll probably get bashed on it anyway… I researched either GIA or EGL-USA exclusively (AGS too, but there was only 1 or 2 that were in my criteria). EGL-USA based on recent postings from that Vegas show topic.
ADVICE: You’re buying a rock, certification is nice, but should be secondary to what your see (IMHO).
Most if not all buyers are looking for the biggest BANG. I’m not any different. So filtering my choices down, I started by calculating all the HCA’s, and eliminating anything above 2.5 HCA. I sorted by dimensions, then carat, then price. I next sorted by certification, and my minimums… GIA-J in color (EGL-USA-I), GIA-SI2 (EGL-USA-SI1), and all had to be at least excellent cut. I reached out to 3 PS vendors (different experience with each) and found out everything I researched was nearly virtual inventory. Now, if you had the bank roll to shop PS vendors that had the stone in house, by all means that would be a way to slam dunk. But based on my research, I found I could save some $$ if I were to go the virtual diamond route and either go by paper, or the PS vendor calling them in.
I spent a week working with vendors trying to score a SI2/I1 that was eye-clean. No luck, all the opinions off of certifications and through the gemologists was coming in no so eye-clean (or bad light return). Plus, I saw certifications I was interested in dated 1-2 years ago, so that inferred that they’ve been floating around for some reason or another. So much for trying to save $3k. (jealous to the bunch of posters on here that were able to find one!) Here's what i was getting back:
I then found a very NICE (HCA of 1.2) 2.4CTW (!!), hearts and arrows, EX, EX, EX EGL-USA (H), SI2 that (on paper) look like a super winner. Plunked down the CC for $11k and told the vendor to pull the trigger. Well, few days later, they got back to me once they had it reviewed and recommended NOT to purchase due to it’s “milky” appearance. Little disappointed, but they’re a PS recommended vendor and that’s what you need to not get lead astray.
ADVICE: PS Vendors are really the way to go, virtual inventory can be tricky, so finding a good vendor to work with who’s responsive is a bare minimum on finding “the one”.
Back to the drawing board…. Realizing I’ll need to step up my clarity to make this somewhat mind settling. Plus, getting a little frustrated and disheartened that it’ll just take more $$ at this point. Then I remembered my 1st advice…. SO…. Here’s what I found, after stepping it up.
2.17CTW [EGL-USA I/VS2] 8.39x8.42x5.03 HCA0.8 $13.2k
2.18CTW [GIA k/SI1] 8.42x8.45x4.98 HCA1.8 $13.3k
2.24CTW [GIA k/SI1] 8.43x8.47x5.12 HCA2.3 $13.6k
Pretty close right? That’s the assumption with the color and clarity grade being 2 steps off. I did comparables with that EGL-USA to GIA-J’s and GIA-SI1’s/VS2’s and that netted a few $k higher.
…. I went with the EGL-USA…. Why? Even if it was softer, I could live with a GIA-j/k and GIA-SI1. BUT.. the main reason… what if it wasn’t off that much (or at all??)? Yah…
Fast forward, received the diamond the other day… W.O.W. I think i've carried it around with me everywhere checking it out in all lighting situations and comparing it to GOG's online videos to make sure it behaves the same!
2.17CTW, EGL-USA Ideal Plus, Hearts & Arrows. VS2, super eye clean. I can’t seen anything even with a loop. Not too bad in color, but I’m OK with that, slight tint of yellow at certain angles. Saw it through an idealscope and saw the pronounced H&A's identified on the certification. Certification dated 2 months ago in 2012. This is a keeper, I’m good with it. Faces up white, eye-clean, fair price (I believe, such a thing?), nice and shiny! I'll work on getting more pics shortly.
Now I’m shopping for a setting…. Well, not really. Will come back later after the proposal to have her decide on the setting she would like. I’m looking for a reputable dealer to set it in a solitaire for now. I stopped by 1 well rep jeweler and one not-well repp'ed jeweler for their opinions. Without seeing the certification, they both agreed it's at least a VS2/VS1 and not the greatest of color but not yellow or badly tinted (take it with a grain of salt). The minor inclusion is a pin-head off the side of table (it's grey?) They both (at the sake of losing business) said it was a keeper and offered to buy it. Although i'm hearing that carats above 1.5ctw aren't selling well now...
I hope this helps others, love to hear some thoughts.
Congratulations! 
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