yellowish green diamond uncertified at pawn shop

[ChickityChicken]

I found this wedding set at jewelry/coin pawn shop. They also custom design fine jewelry. This is a pawned set without any certification. The jeweler does believes it to be untreated. What do you think? He thinks the color has grey and yellow in it. Do you think it looks treated?

 

[SimoneDi]

I would negotiate a return period and take it to an appraiser if you like it and if the price is right.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Hi Chickety,
What's the carat weight of the center stone and the asking price?
No one can say what it is from looking at a picture on the web, but some of the details can be helpful to determine the best course of action.

 

[ChickityChicken]

All the tag stated was : 18k wg approx .75ctr, yellow cushion 1.1 and total price of the set is $4995.

 

[ringo865]

Agree with SimoneDi, if there is a solid return period (no questions, 14-30 days, no "restocking" fees), offer them 25% less, then after you buy, schedule an appointment with an appraiser within the return period.

If the diamonds are natural, even if the center is color enhanced (irradiated), it is a very pretty ring.

 

[SimoneDi]

I wouldn't pay $4990 for the set, you can recreate it for less. I would offer max 3k, if you really like it and only with a return option. Otherwise, it is really not worth it in my opinion

 

[tyty333]

You can look on James Allen and find .75 for around $2500. These are with GIA reports. Throw in another $1200 for the setting and a wedding band
like that shouldnt run you more than $500/600 at ID jewelry. Totals to $4300 and you get to pick your stone.
https://www.jamesallen.com/fancy-co...00&PriceTo=&ViewsOptions=Images&Shape=cushion

Cushion setting
https://www.jamesallen.com/engageme...lo-diamond-engagement-ring-cushion-item-17429

 

[kenny]

It may be a steal or a ripoff.
Buyer beware.

I would not take an FCD to any appraiser to help with a buying decision.
GIA is the only authority that can get me to part with my money for an FCD.
Too much money is at stake and GIA is the entity most-qualified to catch the newest tricks the scammers come up with when it comes to manipulating FCDs of all the hues.

I'd only buy it if they'll put in writing something like these conditions:
Buyer gets a 30-day return period for a full refund, no questions asked.
The stone will be temporarily removed from the setting for grading by GIA by the bench of the seller's choice.
Buyer agrees to pay the previously-disclosed bench fees but is not responsible for damage to the setting or the stone that was cause by the bench.
GIA grading, shipping, and insurance are at buyer's expense regardless of whether the ring is returned.

Rush the loose stone to GIA in NYC or Carlsbad, CA.
Better yet, walk it in personally if you live close.
You don't need to pay a pro to submit it; GIA deals with the public.
Since GIA can take weeks to grade a stone tell them to rush the grading (this doubles their fee).
If not rushed the fee is $97 or $147 depending on level of detail requested.
https://www.gia.edu/gem-lab-fee-schedule



Two things about a Fancy Colored Diamond, FCD, can be natural or not.
1. Material could have been grown in a lab or mined from the earth.
2. The color could have been the result of treatment in a lab, or exactly what came out of the earth.

If GIA determines both are natural I'd consider keeping it. (see below)
If not I'd reject it.

Some dishonest sellers sell FCDs that were mined but treated for color and calls them "genuine diamonds" or "natural diamonds".
Arguably in court those descriptors are true, but they fail to mention the elephant in the room; the color is the result of treatment.
IMO this is very dishonest and perhaps fraud because poorly-ionformed customers think they're getting a fully natural FCD (for a hundredth of the price of a fully natural). Sad.

But wait, even if GIA grades it to be fully natural it still may not be a good buy.
Value of an FCD is enormously, to a very surprising degree, dependent on the blend of hues GIA assigns, and the order of their strength.
A Yellowish Green is worth WAY more than a Greenish Yellow, even if color looks look very similar to you and I.
Some hues are worth more, Red, than others, Brown. ... supply and demand.

Green with no other modifying hues would be worth a fortune.
If GIA says it has 2 or 3 hues, with green listed last (the position reserved for the strongest hue), it's worth more than if yellow or brown were listed last.
Brown being on the list lowers the value.
Then there's the "ish" ...
Greenish has less green than Green.

Even after GIA grades the color determining fair value is a can of worms.
There are too many colors and combinations of colors and FCDs are too rare to find comparable FCDs listed for sale.

FCD grading and values is a very complicated subject.
Since lots of money is at stake the only way I'll buy an FCD is with a GIA report.
Period.
I'm not a risk taker with my money, so I'll never get ripped off, but I'll never win the FCD lottery either.

 

[tkyasx78]

under no circumstances would I pay that much money for a maybe stone. ESP one from a pawn shop.

I highly doubt the pawn shop would be willing to follow the terms I would require for purchase and if they did I wouldnt trust a pawn shop to allow a return if they sold me an item that was not what they " thought" it was.
pawn shops are great for some things but the chances of you getting scammed out of your money are incredibly high .
if they TRULY believe it is an untreated stone they can pay the fee to get it graded and then charge WAY more.
I bet they know it isnt untreated and are hoping to take an unknowing customer for a quick buck though. most pawn shops that is how they make money . buy low sell high. I can count on one hand the number of pawn shops that I consider mostly honest and even then I wouldnt buy that ring from them without having the center stone GIA certified and laser inscribed.

have you checked the girdle for a laser inscription?

 

[kenny]

under no circumstances would I pay that much money for a maybe stone. ESP one from a pawn shop.

I highly doubt the pawn shop would be willing to follow the terms I would require for purchase and if they did I wouldnt trust a pawn shop to allow a return if they sold me an item that was not what they " thought" it was.
pawn shops are great for some things but the chances of you getting scammed out of your money are incredibly high .
if they TRULY believe it is an untreated stone they can pay the fee to get it graded and then charge WAY more.
I bet they know it isnt untreated and are hoping to take an unknowing customer for a quick buck though. most pawn shops that is how they make money . buy low sell high. I can count on one hand the number of pawn shops that I consider mostly honest and even then I wouldnt buy that ring from them without having the center stone GIA certified and laser inscribed.

have you checked the girdle for a laser inscription?

I agree the odds of this being treated are nearly 100% and a pawn shop is the least likely place you'll win the FCD lottery.
(But, I realize hope springs eternal.)
I agree the odds of getting scammed at a pawn shop are very high.
I agree a pawn shop will never agree to the terms of sale I outlined above.
I'm sure there's near zero chance this sale will happen now that the buyer is better-informed.
But buyers vary, and in some hope springs eternal.

Besides the color being the result of treatment perhaps the material itself was grown in a lab.
Maybe it's some material other than diamond.
A pawn shop is a terrible place to gamble by trusting their word, especially on an FCD.

BTW, why are you recommending looking for a GIA laser inscription?
The OP already stated the diamond was not "certified", though the correct term is graded.
The lack of a laser inscription does not mean an FCD never got a GIA report.
That means an inscription-less FCD could still be fully natural per GIA.
FCD submitted for GIA's cheaper report do not get a laser inscription unless customer requests it and pays an add-on fee.

BTW, I made a mistake above.
For GIA's cheaper FCD report the diamond does not have to be removed from the setting.
Leaving the stone in the setting would greatly simplify the terms of the sale I'd require in order to proceed.
Also GIA's rush service is same-day.

 

[tkyasx78]

I agree the odds of this being treated are nearly
BTW, why are you recommending looking for a GIA laser inscription?
The OP already stated the diamond was not "certified", though the correct term is graded.
The lack of a laser inscription does not mean an FCD never got a GIA report.
That means an inscription-less FCD could still be fully natural per GIA.
FCD submitted for GIA's cheaper report do not get a laser inscription unless customer requests it and pays an add-on fee.

I asked to see if the OP had done the " homework" they could have done in person prior to posting here.
When an item is brought to a pawn shop with out any paperwork or proof of purchase , pawn shops are supposed to look at the lists of items reported stolen and make sure it isnt on that list in most states.

If the diamond was untreated and a good quality stone - there probably would have been paperwork brought in when they pawn it to show the cost at retail Since there is NO paperwork it would be possible that the pawn shop may not have been " looking very hard" for numbers to identify it.

So I wondered if the OP had taken a loupe and looked at the girdle of the stone to see if it was laser inscribed.
Many/ most expensive stones are graded and inscribed nowadays. At the very least - if the ring was not lost/stolen prior to arriving at the pawn shop , a simple check of the girdle could save them the hassle of taking the stone to GIA as the inscription would tell them the specs they wanted to know to begin with.

 

[kenny]

Ah yes; It may be hot.
Good point and good suggestion.

Recently I filed a police report for something stolen.
Police asked for the serial number and told me every pawn shop is required to send them info on everything pawned that has a serial number.
Then they checked their database and told me to not waste my time looking in pawn shops since it has not been reported as pawned.

So if the buyer loupes it and see's a GIA report number (often very difficult for the untrained to spot let alone read the numbers, especially with a cheap loupe) then (s)he must ponder the ethics of buying stolen goods vs. reporting it to the police.

Also if it really is fully natural with a GIA laser inscription on the girdle, and hot, the pawn shop is not going to be happy about the buyer loupeing it.
The ring will 'vanish' from the shop the moment that customer exits.

 

[tkyasx78]

Excellent points Kenny.
I am shocked that the police told you not to bother looking at the shops. Legally pawn shops are required to report and keep sales reciepts. Legally all pawn shops are supposed to hold jewelry for a certain number of days before putting it up for sale ( the length of time varies from state to state , now of course not all follow these laws like they are supposed to because enforcement of these laws for the police when there are bigger crimes to solve is VERY low on the totem pole -- but the shops are supposed to - by law - hold them before melting the gold or selling the ring )

If it was recently I would check the pawn shops.

Sadly, when a pawn shop buys something from someone that is stolen , the information they get for the sales receipt from the thief is not accurate ( or the thief has no assets to go after if it is stolen ) and so if the item shows up stolen they are supposed to report it to the police and the pawn shop is OUT the money that they paid the thief. ( going after a thief to get money back that is probably LONG gone isn't worth the shops energy )
The police do not reimburse the shop for the stolen merchandise and the shop almost always takes the WHOLE loss out of their pocket.

When they are out hundreds of dollars or more it doesn't take many losses like this before a pawn shop doesn't look very hard to find the owner if they dont absolutely have to or if it isnt plainly obvious. ( How many rings would most people want to give to the cops that they paid for in good faith and the seller signed papers stating it was not stolen, if they knew they were going to be out all that money? )

Almost all pawn shop jewelry rings are cheap small rings worth less than 2-3 K and the vast majority of them are worth less than 1K ( I have yet to see a pawn shop with dozens of rings on open display that are worth over 5-10K ) If you lost / had one stolen I would check the shops and if they have your ring have the police go and reclaim it for you.

 

[kenny]

Actually it was not jewelry.
... but thanks for all the info.

Love learning stuff here on PS.
Amazing community!

 

[kenny]

Confession.
It wasn't stolen.
I eventually discovered I'd left a couple grand of high-end audio electronics at a friend's house.
Very embarrassing.

Moral of the story: Don't get old.

 

[tkyasx78]

Lol.
You want to hear my confession?
So I had an iPhone and AT&T was going to do away with subsidized phones
I was due for a subsidized upgrade so I purchased an iPhone for the subsidized price

Since there was nothing wrong with my current phone at the time I put the phone inside of a box and put it in my office
Knowing that my memory isn't great I put the location of the box that it was in on my iPhone

I didn't want any of my teenagers to find the phone and try to switch it out for one of their phones because I don't give them thousand dollar phones
A few months goes by and my phone is doing great and I haven't thought twice about the second phone that I bought and hid in my office
One day my phone just dies - no rhyme - no reason -no damage .

I take it over to Apple and they replace my phone at no cost for free
So one of my kids wants the new phone That they gave me as a replacement . I say no problem I'll just go ahead and use the one I just bought a few months ago
( i bet you can see where this is going)
Long story short I search my office top to bottom and a very large cold storage room every square inch and cannot find the box with the phone that I purchased
To this day I still haven't found that phone . to replace it would have been over 1k
It was a very expensive reminder to never hide things because I can hide them so well I will never find them : oops.

 

[kenny]

Oh Boy.

You, like me, need to get younger.