That's right got to ask the dealer if it's eye clean. I got a 1.521 AGS triple O color I and SI2 from Tom 1860) 677-8400 who stated that it was eye clean and it's a beauty. I recommend you call him and state what you're looking for at the price you like and he'll help you select the diamond. He was so helpful. He even acknowledge that his competitor had a good price on a gorgeous diamond that he didn't have in his inventory. Mention Janette recommended you not that it matters but I just like to let him know that I like doing bussiness w/ him so much that I'm recommending him everywhere I go. Also search eBay.com under AGS diamond and you'll see his store as well as Ely. eBay user: Aurely use code :RT05 for $50 off gift certificate. I'm in no way connected to them except that I've purchase two diamonds from them. Both have hearts and arrows ideal cut and they're beautiful.

rigor said:you can play number games all day long but that princess isn't going to sparkle unless its 1 out of 100. and if you haven't figured it out yet, that 1 out of 100 flashy princess is about as flashy as a medium round. Thats why a 1ct princess is far cheaper than a 1ct round.Rigor, once again, there is no such thing as a "medium round," so I have no idea what you're talking about. Yes, fancy cuts are significantly more difficult to choose based on the numbers alone than rounds since fancy cuts simply don't have the number of facets and the optical proportions that facilitate that sparkle.

I would say it is retarded to buy based on #'s and promises alone. LOOK AT the ROCKS. you will see for yourself. They are happy to present them to you for inspection. Look at them in all sorts of lighting and angles.Yes, whenever possible, especially with fancy shapes, you should look at the stones. Such an inspection is not, however, absolutely essential, especially with new AGS certified rounds and princess cuts (AGS does actual 3D scans of each diamond and then produces its cut ratings based on those).

The customer support is defintely where things count. DBOF has super customer service, and experience. Hence the reason i went back to get the wedding rings which where several thousand dollars.. Rigor, did you see my post above about DBOF's diamond offerings? I have no doubt that DBOF offers great customer service but they seem to combine it with very high prices. On the other hand, a number of other online vendors offer significantly more information about their diamonds than DBOF and then sell them at a lower price.

plus if they tried to screw me they are only 6.5 hours away from home lol heh.Just out of curiosity, what would you do? They don't hold a gun to your head -- you make an independent decision to purchase from them or some other retailer and the fact that they are not priced competitively (at least with respect to the stones I've looked at on their website) is not a crime. This is exactly why price shopping is sooooooooo important.


Rigor, I realize that you are very happy with DBOF and that's great. You could've certainly done way worse in terms of both price and quality by going through a mall jeweler. In light of all the information I've posted about their prices and diamond quality, however, I just don't see how you can continue to tell people that DBOF has the best prices and quality when there are a number of competitors offering better prices on their diamonds as well as impeccable customer service (more information about diamonds, more generous return/upgrade policy, etc...). For instance, Good Old Gold, which I consider to be quite expensive, offers this diamond (http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/1790/), which, as you can see from the link, is in every way superior to that offered by DBOF and has way more information than DBOF offers at a lower wire price of $6,800.

The best frugal engagement ring source

lamplighter13 said:That's right got to ask the dealer if it's eye clean. I got a 1.521 AGS triple O color I and SI2 from Tom 1860) 677-8400 who stated that it was eye clean and it's a beauty. I recommend you call him and state what you're looking for at the price you like and he will help you select the diamond. He was so helpful. He even acknowledge that his competitor had a good price on a gorgeous diamond that he didn't have in his inventory. Mention Janette recommended you not that it matters but I just like to let him know that I like doing bussiness w/ him so much that I'm recommending him everywhere I go. Also search eBay.com under AGS diamond and you'll see his store as well as Ely. eBay user: Aurely use code :RT05 for $50 off gift certificate. I'm in no way connected to them except that I've purchase two diamonds from them. Both have hearts and arrows ideal cut and they're beautiful.Just out of curiosity, I just look at a couple of diamonds that esalediamonds.com that you talk about in your post sells on eBay. Their AGS diamonds I've looked at have so far all been quite good and the price has been either in-line or somewhat higher than the prices offered by other internet vendors. What I did notice is that all the certificates at esalediamonds.com are fairly old, which leads me to believe that they're buying second-hand diamonds from pawn shops and the like and are then re-selling them on e-bay.

The issue with this is the fact that the second-hand market for diamonds is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper, so, if such a diamond is acceptable, you should be able to do significantly better by going through your local "for sale" ads. Another issue with the second-hand diamonds is the fact that the stone itself may've been scratched, repolished (which would make it slightly smaller), etc... Consequently, the original certificate that comes with the stone may not accurately represent the stone you are buying. The bottom line is that I just see no advantage to going through esalediamonds.com when there are much better retailers that can offer you more information about the stone at a better price.

MaxRC said:As an aside, who else has insurance on their stone? I currently pay $50 a year for a replacement-price policy from Chubb for a nice 1ct stone.With the exception of Chubb, all other insurance companies that I am aware of will only provide replacement coverage for your diamond but will base their insurance rates on the appraised value. This means that an inflated appraisal will cause higher insurance premiums but, when it comes time to make the claim, the insurance company will only pay for the fair market value of the diamond. What this means is that if your diamond can be replaced for $1,000, that's all the insurance company is required to spend in that case, a higher appraisal value notwithstanding.

Chubb provides stated value coverage for diamonds, so that they will pay out however much you tell them the diamond is worth up front. The catch is that Chubb's rates are higher than those of other insurance companies.

MaxRC, if you don't mind, what's the stated value of your policy with Chubb that's only costing you $50/year? The policy premiums will of course vary depending on the state, county and the face amount of the policy, but the stated value of your policy should have the biggest influence on the premiums.

rigor said:yah good idea to use JM or chubb. JM covers travel to europe too so you can wear your bling without worries. Just keep it appraised so you are only paying the actual replacement cost. Diamond pricing is an up/down market and quality is based on how well the appraisal is.Jewelers Mutual is a very good insurance company that even provides coverage for things like mysterious disappearance, which is often excluded from standard homeowners insurance policies. Their rates are higher, however, and they require periodic inspections of your item (Chubb's rates are typically even higher but the coverage is also more extensive). If you are like most people who get too busy and forget to get these inspections done, your claims can be denied if the loss can be attributed to your failure to comply with the inspection requirement.

the people who are using ISEE2 and Brilliancescopes are doing you alot of justice when you have a super brilliant stone on your appraisal. You can fight for a stone of equivalent.Sure, the more data you have on the appraisal, the better off you are if you ever need to get your insurance company to replace your diamond with an equivalent. It's important not to get carried away with this, however, and, at the time of the initial purchase, not to pay a ridiculous premium for a stone with all these tests when an equivalent stone is available for a much better price.

the whole model is a trust system. Your diamond which is the most fiery on the planet in theory could be mailed to AGS to get certified and laser inscribed and be swapped out.

Most professional setting houses like DVATCHE' set the stones too. This ensures the lifetime setting warranty on the VERY expensive settings.

So your stone travels around quite a bit. Your only reassurance is the other guy doesn't have a laser enscribing machine to dupe your stuff and has good intentions.

Crook in the diamond biz? never heard of it Respectfully, I have no idea what you are saying in the portion of your post above. What does dvatche have to do with anything? Can you please rephrase your post, so we can understand what you are trying to say.

I did some research and settled on this one. Bought it OCT 1, 2004, how did I do?

1 carat rock

Your Ring

Description: Round 1.04-Carat Diamond
Price: $4,291.00
Description: Platinum Six-Prong Solitaire Setting
Stock Number: 2
Size: 5.5
Price: $350.00
Item Total: $4,641.00

Shipping: Free (FedEx Priority Overnight(R))
Order Discount: -$100.00
Subtotal: $4,541.00
Sales Tax: $0.00
Total: $4,541.00

By the way, on the subject of BlueNile, they do have the reputation of being slightly on the expensive side, at least when compared to the other drop-shippers. I do not know whether they've changed their price models lately but the prices that I've seen, especially when they're combined with FW's CashBack, have been quite competitive. For instance, I recently came across the following stone on BN (it was NOT listed on pricescope) and strongly recommended it to my friend: it is a NEW performance-based AGS000 round brilliant, 1.21ct., I, SI2 (confirmed eye-clean by BN), 62.1 depth, 55.7table, 34.9 ca, 40.9pa. Fluo: strong blue. The dimensions are 6.80-6.84 x 4.24mm. The HCA score is 1.9. The price is $4,421 after FW's Cash Back (http://www.BlueNile.com/diamonds_details.asp?pid=LD00919924)!!!

Yes, it is slightly deep and has strong blue fluo but it also comes with a NEW AGS000 report with DQD and an excellent HCA score. The numbers and the price of the stone look terrific and strong fluorescence can actually be beneficial for I colored stones (as long as it doesn't look milky in daylight). The stone was actually held by Waldman Diamond Company, which is one of Blue Nile's suppliers, an enormous and very reputable Israeli diamond wholesaler with offices in the heart of the NY diamond district, on 47th street.

The point of this post is not that BlueNile offers the best prices on outstanding diamonds (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't) but that price shopping with a number of different vendors can really yield wonderful results.

gexi said:Yeah, I haven't recommended DiamondTalk since it seems to highlight small vendors and bans discussion about other online retailers. I have seen similar complaints about Pricescope but it didn't appear to be anywhere near as bad. In general I found more helpful information on PriceScope than DiamondTalk. Just out of curiosity, I decided to explore this whole Diamondtalk vs. PriceScope issue and came across the following rather bizarre threads: Diamond Brokers of Florida Trashing Pricescope and Brad's problem with Pricescope. Pricescope explains the issue by pointing to the following articles: Internet sites may be undercutting retailers and Pricescope: Friend or Foe?.

Here's a quote: Roshto [of DBOF] is upset about pricescope.com, a site that compares diamond prices for consumers on sites like dirtcheapdiamonds.com and jewelryzone.com. Roshto says that most of the companies selling on pricescope.com simply use listings from Polygon’s CertNet and RapNet – which retailers use as well... “Sometimes you try and sell a stone to a customer and the customer comes in two weeks later with the exact same stone for 2% over cost,” he says. “There is no way a retailer can survive on that kind of margin. A lot of business is flying out the door because of it.”

Honestly, I am not sure that we, as consumers, really need to care about personal dislikes and disagreements among diamond vendors. I have seen very good things that have been said about Brad's company as well as about the Pricescope and the non-pricescope vendors. As long as the vendor of your choosing gives you the type of customer service that you desire and your research shows that you are purchasing a great diamond at a terrific price, that's all that matters.

The Internet has definitely made price shopping significantly easier and, consequently, caused some diamond vendors to lose business to the lower priced competitors (it sounds like this is what's happening with Brad's company). We, the consumers, are the beneficiaries of these price wars, however, and are in a great position to use them to our advantage.

Still don't understand. Spend ludicrous amounts of money for shiny stones.