32 replies to this topic

[Instructor Dereck San]

yea dealer B was showing me everything I want and they will likely let me see under the scope, i didnt ask, but didn't make the effort to educate me on what I would be buying. I beleive it was actually my very first time looking and I wasn't armed with any knowledge anyways so I didn't know what to ask for. So would it be better to Visit the dealer with more diamonds? Now I feel that (dealer B ) might have more knowledge because all their stone were in the display case while (dealer A) had 6 lower grade stones displayed.

davidelevi, on 21 December 2011 - 03:53 PM, said:

Well, would dealer B be willing to show you things if you did ask to look at stones under the microscope? Sometimes people don't offer because they feel that people aren't so interested.

Other than that, there's plenty of other dealers that may be willing to help as A and have stock availability like B.

Edited by Instructor Dereck San, 21 December 2011 - 06:51 PM.

[denverappraiser]

I would pick A. Most dealers can get you pretty much anything you want and much of the process is using them as an ally to work with you in the hunt. Inventory is terribly expensive for jewelers and whether they have in stock what you happen to want is a crapshoot anyway. In my book good communication and character trumps inventory levels every time.

[Instructor Dereck San]

Hey Niel, thanks for the reminder about character trumps. It's just really so hard to compare diamonds without having a similar diamond to compare it too as I've learn from DR forum. Anyone else care to comment?

Anyone have any good sites to look for ring settings? I really don't like what (dealer A) has in his display.

Edited by Instructor Dereck San, 21 December 2011 - 09:24 PM.

[denverappraiser]

A huge selection of nice quality pieces with so-so pictures is at www.stuller.com. This is a huge manufacturer that nearly every jeweler in the country works with. If you see something you like, ask your jeweler about it and they can give you prices.

Edited by denverappraiser, 22 December 2011 - 11:17 AM.

[Instructor Dereck San]

When I look at the stone, do all just look at the top down or look all around with the loupe? And should I ask for a higher 30x loupe to view the stone since my eyes are untrained to look at the stone?

[davidelevi]

It depends on what you are trying to do. Clarity is graded face up at 10x, but it is often easier to find the inclusions face down and with more magnification, and then see if/how they are visible through the table/crown.

Since you are not relying on yourself to grade the stone, but you are only making sure that 1) the diamond corresponds to the lab report and 2) any inclusions are not obvious or visible to the naked eye, I'd stick to a normal 10x loupe.

[Instructor Dereck San]

Thanks davidelevi, Yes I was really worry about the inclusions. I will remember your advice.

Edited by Instructor Dereck San, 24 December 2011 - 04:05 PM.

[Nina Elle Jewels]

I would recommend doing a bit more research to find someone with a large selection AND helpful or going back to Dealer A and asking him to search for more stones in the jewelry district (provided Dealer A is in LA). This is an important purchase and one that will require the jeweler to take their time in answering your questions as well as offering you some choices. You mentioned in your previous post that you reside in LA. Luckily the LA jewelry district has a large selection of jewelers and dealers who work with various importers to bring in diamonds on a daily basis. If you find someone you like to work with ask them if they can get stones on "memo" to show you as they come in. This way neither the jeweler or you have a commitment on the stones and you have the option to choose.
It is my experience and opinion that one should buy from a jeweler they like who is helpful, informative and honest during the process.

Good Luck!

[Instructor Dereck San]

Thanks Nina for the suggestion, I want to make a purchase soon so I'm not sure if I will have enough time to see diamonds as they come in. I will ask the dealer and see what options I have.

So I was looking into this setting: [url][url]http://www.stuller.com/products/121663/?groupId=103443[/url][/url] can anyone tell me if I purchase a Round .80 ct... would the side stones make the .80 look small for this setting, how do I know how big are the side stones?

Can anyone else recommend a site with better pictures? Are there any sites to look at replica settings of brand name designers, like Tiffany or others?

Edited by Instructor Dereck San, 26 December 2011 - 11:03 PM.

[davidelevi]

Stuller makes the setting in three versions - for a standard 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00 carat round diamond centre (5.20, 5.80 and 6.50 mm). They will supply 1.70 mm stones for the 5.20 and 2.00 mm for the other two sizes; all this info is on the page - look at the bottom, and there's a box entitled "Can Be Set With", giving number and size of stones.

I think 2.00 is slightly too big in proportion to the centre, and I'd rather have the 1.70 mm even with the larger centres. Perhaps Stuller can do that - it's not a complicated thing to do.

A site with better pictures and the same variety as the Stuller catalogue - not really. A site with better pictures of several types of rings is pretty easy - look here: http://rockdiamond.c...ies/semi-mounts. You get much better quality pictures, but you don't get them in a normalised, standardised way, which is what the Stuller site is for (it's a trade catalogue, not a consumer marketing site, after all).

[Instructor Dereck San]

Why do some GIA reports have a diagram and some don't?

[denverappraiser]

GIA offers 2 basic styles of reports on colorless diamonds. One has a diagram and is called a 'Diamond Quality Report'. One does not and is called a 'Diamond Dossier'. DD's are a lttle bit cheaper. It depends on the clients objectives when the order the report which one they order. The DD came out about 10 years ago under competitive pressure from other labs who were getting the business on the less expensive stones. EGL must have 10 different versions of their reports for different circumstances and AGS has at least 4.

[Instructor Dereck San]

Instructor Dereck San, on 21 December 2011 - 01:18 PM, said:

So haven't been back for a while. Again, Thank you everyone and David for the last response. I've been studying up have a better idea of what I want Round GIA .80 ct F/VS2 ex/ex/ex

Which dealer would be wiser to deal with?
Dealer A: The genuinely helpful dealer, but not many diamonds to see /or/ Dealer B: the least helpful, but many diamonds to see and really nice people?

Dealer A: I went back to the dealer that educated me the most about diamonds, but the problem is that he doesn't have a whole lot of selection for me to look at. He seem genuinely helpful, but I don't have diamonds to see there and didn't like his settings that he had displayed. He was able to show me a recent piece that he just received, a Princess 1ct E/SI1 GIA and a mounted Round .9 E/VS1 GIA that was traded/used in.

Dealer B: (Before I found DR site or had knowledge about diamonds) Another dealer I was offered fair price for a diamond and ring setting, but didn't educate me on anything, just told me to get a Round F/VS2 .90Ct GIA and offered a very fair price (I compared the prices with Diamond Finder), but I never was offered to look at the diamond under a scope. They had a selection of diamonds to look at, at least 20 pcs.

Happy New Year 2012!
For sure my diamond knowledge has increased!

So I haven't been back to Dealer A to talk about prices yet. I'm still worry about not having enough pieces for me to view and compare at Dealer A, I called him and ask if I want to get a diamond, what are the terms. I learn from DR that I definaly have to view the diamond, but I need other diamonds to compare it. Dealer says I have to put a deposit first and the stone would come in 2-3 days. I will have to ask if this deposit is refunded or not. I want to know if I my eye would settle for G H I J color instead of just F. I'll keep you all posted. Thank you all.

Edited by Instructor Dereck San, 01 January 2012 - 02:37 PM.