Is this a good buy? Diamond

DawnMin · Post by **DawnMin** » Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:31 am

Symmetry: Excellent
Carat: 0.77
Polish: Very Good
Cut: Very Good
Girdle: THIN - MED FAC
Color: F
Cutlet: NONE
Clarity: VS1
Fluorescence: STRONG
Depth%: 62.5%
Table%: 56%
$6500 SGD

i'm buying this from a local retailer as an engeagement ring. and i dont know much about diamonds but here are the specs. it is GIA cert. would this be a reasonable/good buy?

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Wed, 21 Apr 2010 8:15 pm

DawnMin wrote:Symmetry: Excellent
Carat: 0.77
Polish: Very Good
Cut: Very Good
Girdle: THIN - MED FAC
Color: F
Cutlet: NONE
Clarity: VS1
Fluorescence: STRONG
Depth%: 62.5%
Table%: 56%
$6500 SGD

i'm buying this from a local retailer as an engeagement ring. and i dont know much about diamonds but here are the specs. it is GIA cert. would this be a reasonable/good buy?

Reading through this guys blog might give you some pointers... http://www.diamondhelpers.com/fivesteps ... onds.shtml
(I would suggest digging around, to find all his five articles).

Having done that you will appreciate that the question is akin to 'how long is a piece of string?'.

A few comments though:
- I think you're wise to pitch around .75-.8ct. Because the 'necessity' so many people seem to have have to 'get a carat' on their finger means the price leap from say .85ct to 1.01ct is huge [they basicly don't cut stones between .85-1.00ct, but that is another story].
- F colour is nice.
- VS1 is nice too. I (personally) wouldn't aim that high, SI1 'eye clean' fits my bill, as in reality after a single days wear with the body sweating and skin flakes, grot and grime, even an IF stone will look like SI2. So -TOP-TIP-TIME buy one of those $10 jewellery dip pots, lovingly clean the wife's ring each weekend (just dip it for 5 minutes, then give it a 2 minute scrub with a soft toothbrush, and rinse off, and dry on a tissue) and it is going to completely outshine anything not going through that routine. I.e. for $10 it will look like a $1million

! The money you save on clarity, spend on cut.
Sidenote: For something like an Emerald Cut, clarity is a higher priority, as the table is more open... i.e. you can see into the body of the stone. For fancier cuts incl round-brilliants it is lesser so.
- I am quite taken aback at how cut impacts the impression of a stone. I got my wife a super-ideal cut, an AGS certified '0' stone. The amazing fire makes it look materially larger than it is! At times (esp. if it has been cleaned) it is like a lighthouse going off from across a room. Cut has only come to be considered important relatively recently... trust me, it makes a heck of a difference!

Couple of other things:
- Fluorescence seems to be very subjective. It seems it can make a stone look blue, or even foggy under certain conditions. That said I have seen experts report that a stone with strong fluorescence has had no discernable impact on appearance. I'd suggest reading through the above link/s, getting a feel for how to talk-the-talk a bit, and then ask your question again on pricescope.com. What the jewellers on there can't tell you, no one can.
- Depth of 62.5% is arguably pushing at the ideal limit. What it means is that the depth (from front surface to the pointy bit at the back, the culet, or cutlet as you refer to it

) is relatively large. In other words more of your 0.77ct is going into depth (not visible to someone looking on) than apparent size. So your .77ct might look smaller than other .77ct stones.

Anyway, as you see, you can go down into multi-multi-levels of minutae and nuance.

I'd suggest looking into the fluorescence issue as your priority. The price on the face of it seems pretty good (for Singapore), although that does unsettle me a bit. If you saw or copied 'the Cert' check there are no other hidden surprises within it, beyond the '4Cs'... graining, repairs, treatments etc...

Very best of luck to you and the intended. Happy to (try) and give other pointers if needed...

februus · Post by **februus** » Thu, 22 Apr 2010 8:28 am

Top Tip: My wife stopped wearing her engagement ring after she started wearing her wedding ring! I'd check what her plans are before you fork out 6000$ for anything.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Thu, 22 Apr 2010 9:00 am

Hey JR8, great informative post! And no hidden hyperlinks!

Now I know why I don't buy diamonds. I don't know enough! matter of fact, I've got an estate ring (man's) with 4 huge (to me) diamonds in it. They are round diamonds but as this is an older piece it's not a brilliant cut and for that matter I don't even think it's "semi-brilliant" just big. Will have to get it appraised for insurance purposes pretty soon though I reckon.

For anybody who might be looking for a trustworthy appraiser here, another member here, QRM, recommended this guy:

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/sutra3 ... sal#389910

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Thu, 22 Apr 2010 2:03 pm

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Hey JR8, great informative post! And no hidden hyperlinks!

Now I know why I don't buy diamonds. I don't know enough! matter of fact, I've got an estate ring (man's) with 4 huge (to me) diamonds in it. They are round diamonds but as this is an older piece it's not a brilliant cut and for that matter I don't even think it's "semi-brilliant" just big. Will have to get it appraised for insurance purposes pretty soon though I reckon.

For anybody who might be looking for a trustworthy appraiser here, another member here, QRM, recommended this guy:

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/sutra3 ... sal#389910

SMS. Could be Cushion Cut stones... see here for more info and the history of the cut...
http://www.thediamondbuyingguide.com/cu ... amond.html

p.s that site came up by simply Googling 'diamond cushion cut'. But it looks like is has a comphrehensive load of other info on it, including fluorescence! Hope it's ok posting a link... at a gance it is an educational site not an advert/sales site.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Thu, 22 Apr 2010 3:20 pm

We got no problems with posting links to information or other shite. We only got problems with posting links to sites where the poster has a financial interest in the linked site. We are here to help each other, not helping ourselves. A fine line I'll grant you, but a valid one.

irvine · Post by **irvine** » Thu, 22 Apr 2010 5:47 pm

With F color, you don't need a strong flourescent. It may make your diamond look blue, i.e. not as good as a F color with no flourescent should be.

I think this price is a little high for this diamond. Also, try to aim for Excellent - Excellent - Excellent. That will give your diamond a very nice shine.

ilovemywife · Post by **ilovemywife** » Sat, 01 May 2010 3:01 pm

DawnMin wrote:Symmetry: Excellent
Carat: 0.77
Polish: Very Good
Cut: Very Good
Girdle: THIN - MED FAC
Color: F
Cutlet: NONE
Clarity: VS1
Fluorescence: STRONG
Depth%: 62.5%
Table%: 56%
$6500 SGD

i'm buying this from a local retailer as an engeagement ring. and i dont know much about diamonds but here are the specs. it is GIA cert. would this be a reasonable/good buy?

I am in search for diamond too. Did you managed to get a good deal from this retailer?

tkuanhoo · Post by **tkuanhoo** » Sat, 01 May 2010 3:06 pm

DawnMin wrote:Symmetry: Excellent
Carat: 0.77
Polish: Very Good
Cut: Very Good
Girdle: THIN - MED FAC
Color: F
Cutlet: NONE
Clarity: VS1
Fluorescence: STRONG
Depth%: 62.5%
Table%: 56%
$6500 SGD

i'm buying this from a local retailer as an engeagement ring. and i dont know much about diamonds but here are the specs. it is GIA cert. would this be a reasonable/good buy?

0.77, VS1, F colour. No not a good buy. GIA cert is good but useless unless you want to sell your diamond. And if you want to do so, gold would be a better choice as diamonds are normally resold for only 50-30% of their original price. If you just want a nice looking diamond, go for in-house certified ones, much cheaper.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Sat, 01 May 2010 6:26 pm

Bollocks

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Sat, 01 May 2010 7:01 pm

JR8 meet bollocks, bollocks, or should I say "half-arsed troll", meet JR8!

raden888 · Post by **raden888** » Sat, 01 May 2010 7:11 pm

JR8 wrote:Bollocks

Yeah, I agree. If the girl is too obsessed with diamonds and gold rings means that she is gold digger.Run now while you can

Marriage is far greater than diamonds...

Welcome back JR8!

tkuanhoo · Post by **tkuanhoo** » Sat, 01 May 2010 7:34 pm

raden888 wrote:
JR8 wrote:Bollocks
Yeah, I agree. If the girl is too obsessed with diamonds and gold rings means that she is gold digger.Run now while you can Marriage is far greater than diamonds...

Welcome back JR8!

I agree. Cash is always better than jewellery

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Sat, 01 May 2010 8:52 pm

Yah, thanks Raden. You see SMS, some people appreciate my dry wit man

There are a few things on which I am a subject matter ('degree level') expert

These are diamonds (I nearly worked, entry level career, for de Beers as a grader), and scuba diving.

Let your buddies ride the outwaves eh, without the brushing of guilt?

Anyway Hey ho Raden, nice of you to notice I've been, gone and returned

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Sat, 01 May 2010 10:11 pm

I tend to agree with you on the diamonds, I admit I know nothing about them and girls that want them. (I shy away from those types). But let's just agree to disagree on "expert" on the diving arena as there are many types of diving and none of us are expert in all of them. Always remember what my first commercial diving instructor told me. There are old divers and there are bold divers, but there are damned few old, bold divers.

Yeah, welcome back. Hence my introduction earlier.

Oh yeah, I can always tell the difference between dry wit and BS.

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