Diamond Opinions Please?

Nov 14, 2012
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Ladies, please give your opinions of a diamond with these specifications:

IGI Certified Princess Cut Diamond
.33 carat
E color
SI1 Clarity
Ideal Cut
Excellent Polish

Would you consider this to be a "good" diamond? What might you expect to pay for a diamond of this quality (in a classic platinum setting)?
 
Good? i would not consider it good. i also wouldnt pay for it so i cant give you a guess on that either bec you dont know what youre actually buying. Its almost certainly not and e or an si1. Or ideal cut. At best it's maybe a f-g SI2-I1 and that is a generous guess. IGI is not a reputable or respected lab so the "grade" of what it really is anyone's guess. As to a value, you'd need to get it appraised or graded by a decent lab to get a feel for what it may actually be to get a feel.

Is this something you already own or is this something you're looking to purchase? If the former, is it for insurance or resale? Valuation for insurance would be significantly higher than resale. Resale value is much lower on second hand goods that are not of any significant provenance and with an IGI "report" it's not going to have as much as if it had one from a legitimate and respected lab like GIA.
 
Like ame said, labs besides GIA or AGS tend to grade more loosely. Sometimes their grades come close to reality, and sometimes they are comically far off. What a person needs to keep in mind is that you aren't getting a deal by purchasing a diamond graded by a lab like IGI or EGL. People selling diamonds know that a diamond graded by GIA can fetch a higher price; if they know it can get a good grade from GIA, they will have it graded there and charge a higher price. They know that other labs grade more loosely, so they often send lesser quality stones to those labs to get inflated grades, but they still sell for less, even with a "good" report from those labs. There really isn't much of a way around the fact that you get what you pay for in diamonds, and a GIA report is valued because it is regarded as accurate, whereas other labs may or may not be.

Obviously, the most important grade a diamond can get is your approval, at least if you are buying the stone for yourself. So if the stone performs better than any other you have seen and you love it and it is in your price range, then it might be worth the price. Just be aware that its certificate may be off by several grades.
 
Like ame said, labs besides GIA or AGS tend to grade more loosely. Sometimes their grades come close to reality, and sometimes they are comically far off. What a person needs to keep in mind is that you aren't getting a deal by purchasing a diamond graded by a lab like IGI or EGL. People selling diamonds know that a diamond graded by GIA can fetch a higher price; if they know it can get a good grade from GIA, they will have it graded there and charge a higher price. They know that other labs grade more loosely, so they often send lesser quality stones to those labs to get inflated grades, but they still sell for less, even with a "good" report from those labs. There really isn't much of a way around the fact that you get what you pay for in diamonds, and a GIA report is valued because it is regarded as accurate, whereas other labs may or may not be.

Obviously, the most important grade a diamond can get is your approval, at least if you are buying the stone for yourself. So if the stone performs better than any other you have seen and you love it and it is in your price range, then it might be worth the price. Just be aware that its certificate may be off by several grades.

+1. As I was shopping for a pendant with my parents and the SA's went over all the specs comparing each and every stone, my dad simply said when he was buying diamonds 30 years ago there wasn't much said about the specs and as long as it looked like a beautiful diamond, that was all that mattered. There is nothing wrong with wanting a perfect diamond but I feel sometimes people can get too caught up in what is written on paper than just enjoying a beautifully, sparkly natural stone.
 
I was asking because I was gifted a diamond solitaire ring a little more than a year ago that I have never worn (it's still brand new in the jeweler's packaging) and I have no intention of wearing it. I was looking at the IGI report and - while the stone looks entirely clean and sparkly and quite lovely - I wasn't sure what the resale value on something like this might be. The retail price was $3299.99 + taxes. I was considering selling it in order to purchase something I might actually use/wear.
 
Secondhand resale is typically 25% of what you paid, at best. You won't get anywhere near what was paid. You can try to ebay it, or shop it around at a few local jewelers for a price, but you might be better off having it removed from the ring and reset into a pendant or something else you may wear.
 
I agree w/ them :yes: Is it returnable instead?

IGI is not remotely reliable; I would not however put EGL on the same level as IGI.
 
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Unfortunately, it's not returnable, as it has been more than a year. Otherwise, I would have returned it long ago. (It was purchased on the gifter's store account, anyway, so I wouldn't have been able to get money for it, and I don't shop where it was purchased.)

Looks like it will be going up on eBay! Thanks, everyone.
 
From a jewellers point of view, in a stone below .5 , the cert. isn't that important.
Even in bigger stones. You can have 2 certified stones that are identical on paper, yet one is brighter and whiter to the eye. Reselling non-branded jewellery is tricky. Jewellers will offer you a fraction what you paid sometimes. I would recommend eBay or re-setting it into something you would wear. A Pendant ?
 
Can we see a picture?

Of course!

Sorry, it's almost impossible to get a great photo of this ring with my cell phone camera, and I don't own a "real" camera.

What you're seeing in the photos are facets, not inclusions. I am unable to find any inclusions when looking at the stone. I have to block the light when taking photos with my phone, otherwise I just see white light on the surface of the stone.
 

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I would recommend eBay or re-setting it into something you would wear. A Pendant ?

Considering the person who gave it to me (my ex-husband) ....I don't think I'll be wearing it. Ever. Even re-set into something else.

It was meant to be my 10th anniversary gift (as I gave him a lovely Movado watch). But he was cheating and filed for divorce two months before our 10th anniversary.

So.... Yeah. It's best that this thing find a new home entirely.
 
I mean it looks nice enough, I would not say it looks ideal cut, no offense intended, at least not from these images. I think you're better off getting it reset into something else you'd wear, since you are unlikely to get much money out of it or save it to give to one of your children if you have children together.
 
I mean it looks nice enough, I would not say it looks ideal cut, no offense intended, at least not from these images. I think you're better off getting it reset into something else you'd wear, since you are unlikely to get much money out of it or save it to give to one of your children if you have children together.

Oh, no offense taken!

It's from Kay Jewelers, so it's not exactly "top of the market" as far as diamonds go.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit superstitious and I don't believe on passing along jewelry from a failed marriage to children... at least not wedding or engagement rings. I'd be afraid of jinxing their relationship if they used it as their own wedding/engagement ring. I was told to only pass on those things from happy marriages that have lasted.

So... I've put it up on eBay with a few of my other things.