Help! Good price for a pear?

[stuckinthistown]

Hello. We''re looking at diamonds and have found one at a jeweler that we''re interested in. We just want to be sure that we''re getting a good deal. If anyone can offer us any insight as to what this stone should cost, it will be greatly appreciated. The jeweler is offering us a price of approximately $3500. Here are the specs:
GIA certified July 02/ cert # laser inscribed on girdle
.72 ct. pear, F color
Measurements: 7.41 x 4.90 x 3.04
Depth: 62%
Table: 54%
No culet or fluorescence.
Girdle: Medium- very thick
Clarity- SI1 with feather and cloud (these inclusions were very hard to find- even on a magnified image on a TV)
The diamond looks beautiful to the eye and the light return appears to be excellent. There''s a lot of fire and brilliance- lots of colors flashing from the stone. Also, the bowtie effect is not as pronounced in this stone as we''ve seen in others.
Please help. Thanks!

 

[Rook]

Off the cuff it does not appear to be a bad price. But there are many factors that can sway that.

"Clarity- SI1 with feather and cloud (these inclusions were very hard to find- even on a magnified image on a TV)"

As long as it is eye clean than you are good to go.

This has a very thick girdle. While, most of the time that will not have a major impact of light return, it will cause you to be paying for excess carat weight that you cannot see. This depends also on which parts of the girdle are very thick. Typically cutters make the tip the thickest part of the girdle to try to protect the tip. But, this is not needed if you have it set by a good jeweler.

Do you know the crown height and pavillion depth? Even though this has a good numbers for the overall depth (62%) this could relate to a shallow crown and deep pavillion which is quite common. And although it appears to have good light return, maybe you have not seen what truely great cut pears can look like.


This diamond appears to be a good cut, but without more info it is hard to tell for sure. Make sure to have an independant rep check it out for you. Dave, Rockdoc, and Richard Sherwood are highly recommended from this site.

Good luck,

 

[stuckinthistown]

Thanks, Rook.
It's too bad that the GIA report doesn't include crown angle or pavilion depth. We're going to try to get the price down some more and if we buy it, we will be having it appraised and all angles measured immediately. It did look a lot more sparkly than any of the other pears we've looked at (which tells me in a non-scientific way that the cut is better) and we've looked at quite a few

It feels and looks amazing, and that's what's most important, so this may be the stone for us. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again!
Chris

 

[Giangi]

Maybe the girdle is very thick only near the point... Check it when you can...
Are you able to get a Sarin? But keep in mind that while numbers are always important, they don't mean that much with fancy shapes... Your eye is your best judge!

Giangi

 

[Rook]

Chris,

You can also make the sale contingent on verification of the GIA report, and that there are no major problems with the stone, by an independant appraiser.

Even though the store probable does not have a Sarin, they have access to one at least from the distributor. Also, they can measure the crown and pavillion in the store themselves.

Good Luck,

 

[stuckinthistown]

Thanks, Rook and Giangi for your help! We went back to look at the stone again last night and put a deposit down. (I'm on the receiving end here, so I'm not sure exactly what the price turned out to be, but I know it was a bit less than the original $3500.) We looked for the inclusions again and looked for fluorescence under their special UV light. It's absolutely stunning! With the cost of the stone, the store will include an appraisal by their graduate gemologist for our insurance purposes, etc., but that's probably not an objective appraisal, right? Am I correct in thinking that it'd be best to take it somewhere completely away from the store?

 

[Rook]

You absolutely will want to take it somewhere else.

Why,

1) Most likely that will not be an inpendant and objective appriasal.
2) They may not inform you if the diamond is graded improperly.
3) They will most likely inflate the price to make it look like you got a great deal. I bet they tell you somewhere around $7000.
4) The insurance will be based off of that high price, thus raising your premiums, even though the price is inaccurate.

I would ask them to make the sale contingent upon verification by an independant, then find and indendent, or use Dave, Rock, Rich.

I would HIGHLY recommend this.

 

[Giangi]

Fluorescence can be cool

.
Have you looked at the girdle?
Also, about the appraisal, definitely get the diamond checked by an indipendent appraiser...