1.51 Princess cut, bought it this morning at Bailey Banks and Biddle and they are sending it out to

[MP]

I only see Marie as a contact at Good old Gold. Does any one have John aka Rhino''s contact info. I''d be happy to give him a chance to have my business if he can get me something spectacular inside my budget.

 

[mrssalvo]

I''d probably call, they are open today, and ask for Jon...

(516) 798-5151 ext. 2

but he checks the email at sales(at)Goodoldgold.com..

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/26/2008 11:49:07 AM
Author: mrssalvo
I''m not Ellen, but the nice thing about places like GOG is 1) they can make a video for you to actually see without having to ship stones anyplace. also, I''d trust Jon''s eyes over my own any day when picking a diamond. it would at least be worth a look with nothing to lose IMO.

Absolutely.

MP, the great thing about the places we deal with, and recommend here, are that they carry stones cut very well, the likes of which many will never see in a regular jewlerry store. They deal in the best.

And as mrss so aptly pointed out, Jon will do a video if you want, or, you can purchase the stone, have it sent to you and you can view it yourself. You have 30 days to return it, no questions asked.

And honestly, as mrss also said, unless you''ve seen a ton of well cut Princess (and who has?), I''d trust Jon to find you a killer stone. If I were in the market for a fancy, I would trust him over my own eyes, as I know from what I would see looking around my area, I wouldnn''t be as good a judge.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/26/2008 11:52:28 AM
Author: MP
I only see Marie as a contact at Good old Gold. Does any one have John aka Rhino's contact info. I'd be happy to give him a chance to have my business if he can get me something spectacular inside my budget.

Call the stores main number, and ask to speak to Jon. If he's not the one who answers, tell whoever that he posted to you on PS, that you are interested in possibly purchasing from him, but you need to personally speak with him further. That should do it.

ETA Didn't know mrss posted already!

 

[MP]

I just sent an e-mail to the address previously listed.

Thanks guys

 

[Ellen]

You''re welcome. Let us know how it goes!

 

[March-8-2008]

MP, there''s still Blue Nile.

I just found a 1.5 carat Signature Ideal Princess for $8755 here.

Just throwing that into the mix to further muddle your brain.

 

[bem3231]

Date: 1/26/2008 11:19:20 AM
Author: Ellen

Date: 1/26/2008 11:03:01 AM

Author: MP

Well I am open to some quotes on an ideal cut. I contacted God old Gold and they were very expensive with the quotes they threw back at me. Upwards of $11,000 on a 1.5 princess. To be honest, I wasn''t very impressed, but maybe I was dealing with the wrong person down there.


Who should I be talking too?

You should ask to speak to Jon, he''s the guy who posted here. Tell him who you are (from here).


I will say, as I believe ds did, you will pay more for a very well cut stone, kinda the, you get what you pay for adage. But I can assure you, all of us would opt for a very well cut, slightly smaller stone. The cut really does make the difference MP. So you might have to go just a bit under a 1.5. Although, you don''t say what color and clarity you were quoted, I see 3, G''s and H, in the 1.2-1.3 ish range, and the most expensive is 7327.00.


I''m glad to see you''re open to other stones. You have such a beautiful girl there, we just want to see her wearing the most beautiful stone you can afford.

I totally agree with these comments. You may have done very well, but as stated, most stones can look impressive in the right lighting conditions when there isn''t something truly spectacular to compare them to. My sense is that if you''re after the very best cut giving the very best light performance, you could likely do better.

GOG''s prices are extremely competitive and they have an edge over other online retailers, in my opinion, by virtue of Jon''s extraordinary expertise, customer service, and the various technologies that they have at their disposal (including, critically, their videos which have already been mentioned and which are a great resource). If you found their prices high it''s probably because Jon hand-selects the best of the best, and, as Ellen said, ''you get what you pay for''. Jon has many videos available for download on the GOG site which offer excellent tutorials to get your eyes trained to notice how an extraordinary light performance stone compares to lesser stones.

Good luck!

 

[talen316]

I’m not familiar with GCAL certified stones so I’m curious to know how strict their grading standards are vs. AGS/GIA and what discount or premium they may sell at vs. AGS/GIA. Also not familiar with CGAL’s measurement and grading system for light performance either. Perhaps one of the resident experts can elaborate on that for you so you can get a better apples to apples comparison?

You can do a quick price comparison on the site to get a basic idea what a 1.5 I VS2 with comparable dimensions are selling for, but that really on tells part of the picture since there are many other attributes with princess stones that you really can’t compare until you have more dimensional data, reflector images and visual confirmation.

However, if you decide you want to shop around some more, then Jon at GOG would be one of the very first that I would call. His hand picked stones are some of the best performers you’ll come across and the prices are very fair, especially considering the quality and what you would pay for a comparable stone in the typical jewelry store assuming the store can even offer similar caliber stones.

I just received a Princess 1.58 G VS1 from GOG on Thursday that is EVERY BIT as spectacular as Jon promised. In fact, it looks better in person than it does in the video and I thought it was gorgeous in the vid.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4000
Jon has a beautiful 1.58 H VS2 that he just recently got in (he called it in at the same time along with the stone I just bought from him) that is under $10k if you pay by bank wire.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4001

If you’re willing to drop down about .25 ct, he has some gorgeous AGS ideal cuts in the $8k-$9k range too.

GOG sells high quality stones at a very fair price and I can’t personally think of someone that I would rather rely on to find me a great stone than Jon. This is no slight to the other fine PS vendors, I just haven’t purchased from anyone else yet.

Anyway, not trying to talk you out of your stone in the least. If you’re perfectly happy with it, then why not stick with it? If possible, see if you can view the stone under other lighting conditions than just the store spotlighting to get an even better in person assessment.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[Jonathan the Jeweler]

Rest assured you are getting a good deal. I work with these diamonds with the GCAL certs at my store, and I have had good luck with them. I find them to be of a high quality and extremely well priced. We locked in vendors at a set price for I/SI minimum. Some of the stones are higher clarity and color, and thus you can get an even better value. (you are getting a VS stone for an SI price). My customers even appreciated the basic palladium settings the stones came with. I am glad to hear BBB came through for you.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/27/2008 12:22:40 PM
Author: Jonathan the Jeweler
Rest assured you are getting a good deal. I work with these diamonds with the GCAL certs at my store, and I have had good luck with them. I find them to be of a high quality and extremely well priced. We locked in vendors at a set price for I/SI minimum. Some of the stones are higher clarity and color, and thus you can get an even better value. (you are getting a VS stone for an SI price). My customers even appreciated the basic palladium settings the stones came with. I am glad to hear BBB came through for you.

And why would that be? Why would any jeweler do that?

Unless maybe, it''s because the cut, or lack of, is what is actually bringing the price down?

 

[Jonathan the Jeweler]

These stones are bought in large parcels. I imagine that in order to fill such a large order a dealer will put some slightly higher quality goods in the lot just to fill the order. Maybe he only has 400 carats of SI stones and we ordered 700. Its still a good deal for him to use VS2 stones to fill th gap, as the quality difference is mostly marginal for the dealer. These stones are sold at set weight and prices, while an 1.56 H/VS2 is a much nicer stone than an 1.50 I/SI2, both would be sold under the same sku and thus have the same price. We payed the same for these stones, so we sell them for the same price. Such situations are only possible when buying on a very large scale.

 

[Jonathan the Jeweler]

The cut is not factored into our prices on these particular diamonds. They have to have a minimum cut quality, but I have a stone in my store that is "ideal" and it is selling for the program price. When you buy in such large quantities, you always get a few exceptional stones a few lousy ones, and the vast majority in between, but all conforming to some set of minimum standards.

 

[iheartscience]

GCAL is not a respected certification, whereas AGS and GIA are. Your best bet is to check out AGS 0 princess cut diamonds for the best performing and ideal cut princess diamonds.

MP, please keep in mind that Jonathan the Jeweler works for BBB and is very pro-BBB. You are better off listening to the advice given to you by the impartial, long time members of the forum, like Ellen.

 

[bem3231]

Date: 1/27/2008 1:22:13 PM
Author: thing2of2
GCAL is not a respected certification, whereas AGS and GIA are. Your best bet is to check out AGS 0 princess cut diamonds for the best performing and ideal cut princess diamonds.


MP, please keep in mind that Jonathan the Jeweler works for BBB and is very pro-BBB. You are better off listening to the advice given to you by the impartial, long time members of the forum, like Ellen.

Second this!! I find it hard to believe that BBB would pass whatever savings they may get by buying large volumes onto the consumer. The way that Jonathan the Jeweler explains it makes it sound like a bit of a crap shoot from the point of view of the diamond-buying public. What''s important is not to get a ''good price for BBB'', but rather to get a good price for what you actually purchased. If you are considering keeping this stone I would absolutely get it independently appraised before it''s set so that you can know exactly what it is you purchased.

 

[Jonathan the Jeweler]

Actually GCAL is quite a respected gem certification. They use objective techniques for evaluating stones and are well regarded. I seen independent appraisers on this forum come out in their support. While it is true they are not as established on the "scene" as AGS and GIA, they are well regarded by those in the "know".

 

[strmrdr]

ok guys and gals lets keep this real...

GCAl is fairly well respected mid-sized lab, my comp would be EGL-USA level or better.
Internet price would be around $7600 w/ps discount so there was a b&m premium.

The stone itself seems too be reasonable well cut.
Not up too the standards of the best from GOG,WF, and Infinity but reasonable.
Too move up too a the top level of cut is a lot more money.
So I dunno, dont be too hard on the guy. It all comes down too whats important too him.
Since Jon has some premium too play with he may be able too come up with a better stone for the money then it would be time too say go for it.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 1/27/2008 12:49:31 PM
Author: Jonathan the Jeweler
These stones are bought in large parcels. I imagine that in order to fill such a large order a dealer will put some slightly higher quality goods in the lot just to fill the order. Maybe he only has 400 carats of SI stones and we ordered 700. Its still a good deal for him to use VS2 stones to fill th gap, as the quality difference is mostly marginal for the dealer. These stones are sold at set weight and prices, while an 1.56 H/VS2 is a much nicer stone than an 1.50 I/SI2, both would be sold under the same sku and thus have the same price. We payed the same for these stones, so we sell them for the same price. Such situations are only possible when buying on a very large scale.

also could be a borderline stone that the seller graded as si and the lab gave it a vs that happens even with AGS/GIA.
Since these were bought uncerted then sent too GCAL that is likely the case.
It would not be unexpected for a huge store too sell it at the same price because the added cost of another sku would offset the added profit unless a large amount of them graded higher.

 

[MP]

Update:

Well over the weekend I decided that perhaps I jumped the gun with purchasing the ring and stone I did. I went ahead and cancelled the order and got my money back. I felt a little like I was taken to the cleaners by a salesperson. Likewise, I've been getting a ton of good advice so I wanted re-evaluate who I go with. I still may go back to BB&B, but I'm giving Jon and a small jewlery shop in Old Town Alexandria a try.

I'll update you guys as news comes in.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[bem3231]

Date: 1/28/2008 8:57:07 AM
Author: MP
Update:


Well over the weekend I decided that perhaps I jumped the gun with purchasing the ring and stone I did. I went ahead and cancelled the order and got my money back. I felt a little like I was taken to the cleaners by a salesperson. Likewise, I''ve been getting a ton of good advice so I wanted re-evaluate who I go with. I still may go back to BB&B, but I''m giving Jon and a small jewlery shop in Old Town Alexandria a try.


I''ll update you guys as news comes in.


Thanks for all the help.

I''m glad that you are reevaluating this purchase. It may turn out that you go back to BBB and that they have they very best to offer based on what you want, but at least by looking a little further afield you''ll be more certain when you do take the plunge again that you''ve done your due diligence and have the absolute *right* stone. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 1/28/2008 8:57:07 AM
Author: MP
Update:

Well over the weekend I decided that perhaps I jumped the gun with purchasing the ring and stone I did. I went ahead and cancelled the order and got my money back. I felt a little like I was taken to the cleaners by a salesperson. Likewise, I''ve been getting a ton of good advice so I wanted re-evaluate who I go with. I still may go back to BB&B, but I''m giving Jon and a small jewlery shop in Old Town Alexandria a try.

I''ll update you guys as news comes in.

Thanks for all the help.

We''d love to hear how things unfold. Good luck!