[John 070]

Originally Posted by danniexi

Note: GIA means jack shiet as they are forged very very easily. After purchasing your diamond, go to a REAL INDEPENDENT jewelry appraiser. This appraiser should have all the necessary certifications (GG, GMJ, AGA, RMV, etc.). Once you have an official appraisal, get it insured.

This is wrong. How do you forge a GIA document? You can forge a US Passport, birth/death certificate, doesn't mean anyone will accept it (there is a shortage of the needed paper in CA).

Also, the appraisal is jacked. Now why would that happen. Hmmm.

Let's say you paid $25,000 for the ring, full on discount. Every appraiser under the sun will appraise it for $40,000. You go to do the rider and lo and behold, your insurance co. insures you for $40,000.

You lose the ring? They will replace it, according to the GIA report, costing them around 9 or 10k. The 40k figure jacks up the premium well beyond what the ring is even worth at full retail (31k).

It's all good though we all have an opinion

[danniexi]

Originally Posted by John 070

This is wrong. How do you forge a GIA document? You can forge a US Passport, birth/death certificate, doesn't mean anyone will accept it (there is a shortage of the needed paper in CA).

Also, the appraisal is jacked. Now why would that happen. Hmmm.

Let's say you paid $25,000 for the ring, full on discount. Every appraiser under the sun will appraise it for $40,000. You go to do the rider and lo and behold, your insurance co. insures you for $40,000.

You lose the ring? They will replace it, according to the GIA report, costing them around 9 or 10k. The 40k figure jacks up the premium well beyond what the ring is even worth at full retail (31k).

It's all good though we all have an opinion

I should've worded it correctly. The GIA report can sometimes not be accurate to the associated diamond (even if both the stone/document have the same number). If there are shady dealings, the documents can be tampered with and someone inexperienced with purchasing the diamond can be duped. It's a rare occurrence, and like you said, many documents can be forged. I guess buyer beware... ask me how I know.

And again, it depends where you get an appraisal. If a person were to purchase a diamond and get an appraisal at any jewelry store (or the one they bought it from), then yes, jacked. They hand out generic certificates printed from Staples. They do not mean anything. If you do get your appraisal from a proper gemologist with all of the right certs/credentials (as I had mentioned earlier), the insurer will go by the appraiser's numbers and not the GIA report it comes with. Of course, due to "market" fluctuations, an appraisal should be done every three years. Also, I wouldn't go through an jewelry insurance company like Jewelers Mutual. Their policy is not that great and does what you describe above (they will cover the cost of getting you the exact same diamond and pay the jeweler), even if the selling price is less than the appraisal. A separate valuable item's rider to your home/renter's insurance should cover the entire appraisal cost at a much cheaper price compared to Jewelers Mutual.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by casper83

Seems like all the local places (Kenosha & Milwaukee, WI) don't have what I'm looking for in the store. Too yellow, not a great cut, etc.

The following would be minimum requirements on a GIA rating scale:

Size: .90 ct
Color: F
Cut: Excellent (ideal)
Clarity: SI1

I know there is a lot more that goes into diamonds than the specs, you really need to see it and there are other categories like scintillation to think about. I'm really looking to see if anyone has recommendations for a quality source that offers good pricing.

Thanks.

In all honesty, in my experience, I call bullshit on almost all of that. Women know fuck all about diamonds except how big they are. Yeah don't go super cheap with visible yellow but so long as the colour is good, just buy the biggest one you can afford, they all dull anyway after a few weeks unless you polishing the dang thing.

I bought the mres an outstanding diamond at a touch under one carat for our engagement and honestly, all her friends went with a much larger lower quality diamond, the girls cannot tell the difference.

Think about it, how many women do you know that still watch SD and only watch HD if you force them??

See .. .that's my point.

[Stage1]

I bought my fiance's diamond from Blue Nile. I was very happy with the stop, the setting was not up to par for me and has already been sent back once. But their sig ideal diamonds are awesome. Details are: 1.04carat, H, vs1. Also look at the table and depth. A lot of larger stones (carat-wise) can hold their weight in the bottom. The stone I got appears much larger than it really is due to a big table

[jophish17]

Jamesallen and enchanteddiamonds are where I'm shopping - both offer photos, videos, hearts & arrows etc. I recently read an article which shopped the same exact diamonds on those sites and blue Nile and blue Nile was the most expensive of the three without the availability of imagery.