Just a ball park quote question on a three stone...

[lizzyann]

Hi everyone, I currently have a three stone round diamond ring - 1cttw (center is .5, sides are .25 each) They are all G - SI1 ideal cut. It is set in platinum. I paid $3800. I am thinking of maybe upgrading to close to 2cttw. I ideally would like the center to be 1ct, sides .5 each. I like the current ratio so I want to stick with that. I would be willing to do .8-.9 center with .4-.45 sides to help save on cost a bit. I ideally only want to spend $2500. I also want to stick with the same high quality stones. I love my current setting so I would just have my jeweler make me the same one but to accommodate the larger stones. My jeweler said he would let me trade for full value. he is a local family owned jeweler who I know well. but I want to be prepared when I go in there and have a number in my head that he should be able to do for me roughly.

So couple of questions...

1. what do you think it will cost me roughly to upgrade to .8-1.0 carat center and .4-.5 sidestones? Is $2500 going to do it?
2. Do you think that if I end up with .8center/.4 sides I will notice enough of a difference in size from my current ring? I want to make sure that it is noticeable you know?

Here are some pics of my current one.

 

[lizzyann]

profile.

 

[elle_chris]

Well, the total would be 6,300. If I look online- it''s doable with the center stone between .80-.90ct and .40''s sidestones. These are not H&A diamonds and I don''t know how well cut they are but they are GIA graded and I saw a few .40 AGS graded stones as well.

Depending on how much your jeweler is going to charge you, it could be done. But I don''t think you''re going to get top cut and not sure if they''re going to be GIA or AGS graded diamonds.

As far as the size difference, yes, I think it''s a very noticeable.

 

[lizzyann]

Thanks Elle for responding. I definitely don''t want to sacrifice quality for a larger carat weight. My current stones have a lot of fire and I love that about them. They are not GIA graded, but I trusted my jeweler (family friend - I know everyone says that tho!) as he is GIA certified. Because it is a RHR at such a small carat weight and I loved the brilliance I went with it and love it.

But now that I want to bring the carat weight up I think I want a certified stone. Unfortunately I know I will have to go thru this jeweler for the trade or I won''t get anywhere near what I paid for it back in the trade. How much more do you think I would need to spend to get .8-.9/.4-.45 gia cert ideal cut? Before I go in to see my jeweler I am going to study up on what specs I need to look at thru PS. Is there a quick list of things to look for? Any threads you would highly recommend? I don''t want to drive myself crazy analyzing all of the stats, just a couple things that are easy to remember. I will post the specs once I find a couple. Should I worry about having certified sidestones too? Once I have my center stone selected I know it is going to be all about finding two matching sidestones!

 

[upgrade]

Depending on the trade in poicy of your jeweler, you may find your best bet is to keep your current centre stone as a side stone, buy a centre and a matching side and proceed that way (and you could use your .25s for earrings!). That was how I ended up doing mine (for reference, my 3 stone is a .76 centre with .48 sides (I think... without pulling out the certs) on a size 5 finger). If you're buying a new centre stone from scratch though, $2500 isn't going to do it in the size/quality you want. I think it all really depends on what your jeweler is willing to give you on trade in. When he says 'full value' that could mean a wide variety of things. If he means he'll give you full retail, I'm sure he's going to expect you to pay full retail on your new stones too, which would likely end up costing you a lot more.

ETA: I just re-read your OP. It looks like he'll give you $3800 on trade?

 

[elle_chris]

Ok, so here's what I found:

I did a search at the top of the page for G, VS2-SI1 stones in the .80-.9 range. For a well cut stone with AGS cert Expect to pay anywhere betweem 3,600-4,800 for a stones that's about .80-.90ct. These stones are AGS0 H&A's.
For a GIA stone, there are too many variables but the prices are usually a little less than the AGS0. Once you hit the 1ct mark, prices are almost double.

For the .40-.45ct sidestones in the G, SI1 range I found quite a few at James Allen. The prices ranged from 670 for a .40ct, to 734 for a .43 all AGS0. Once you hit the half carat mark, expect to pay about 1200 for each. That's why I kept my search under the magic number mark.

What's quoted here over, and over is try to stick with a crown angle of 34-35 and a pavilion of 40.6-41, table of 54-57 (unless you like larger tables?), and a depth of 62.3

I don't expect your jeweler to have an Idealscope or Aset image but if you can get those numbers and post them here, others can help.

I agree with you about wanting a cert for a larger stone. If you're going to be paying a simliar price to what I posted above, you want a cert. If you're paying much less, then they stones aren't the grades your jeweler is claiming.

Upgrade has a good idea with maybe using your existing stone as one of the sides, and the other two as earrings. Or you can even make it a 5 stone ring.

 

[Dreamer_D]

There is a search button at the top of the screen that will give you a ballpark estimate of the cost for the diamonds you want, with GIA/AGS certs. A nice 1ct G would run about $6000 and .50s will run close to $1300 each from my memory. Add more for the B&M premium.

Have you thought about just upping the center stone size? I know you like the proportions, but with a larger center the .25s you have would be lovely.

 

[lizzyann]

Thanks for looking up that info for me Elle and for giving me a cheat sheet for when I visit my jeweler. I will post some center stones for you guys to look at.

Dreamer, you know that''s not a bad idea! I could invest my 2500-3000 in a center stone only for now and see if that will fulfill my urge to supress my DSS.

Does anyone know of anyone on PS with a .8-.9 center with .25 sides? I''d love to see it!

 

[MustangGal]

My SIL has a 1ct center with .33ct sides (sorry, no pictures!) and it looks great, it''s her e-ring but still very 3-stone-ish.

 

[lizzyann]

thanks mustang. good to hear. i really want to make sure it doesn''t look like an e-ring, you know? I think that''s why i like my current proportion. I''m a visual person so i am going to start doing some searches to see what i can find!

 

[lizzyann]

I found this ring on PS... 2.12 center and .6sides. Nice proportion but a lot bigger than mine so hard to judge.

Considering my budget is $2500 and don''t want to sacrifice quality, what do you think if I left my .25 sides and upgraded the center to .8-.9? Would it still look like a RHR not an e-ring? That should work in my budget if I trade my .5 carat center.

Also, what do you think if i upgrade the whole thing to .75 center/.33 sides? Would I notice enough of a difference? I am going to aim for .8center/.4 sides but I want to be flexible if my jeweler can''t do it. Setting aside, I would estimate my current total diamond value around $2000. Do you think I am close? If my jeweler gives me "full" value, I might be able to pull off .8/.4 for around $3000 don''t you think? Thanks for your help!

 

[lizzyann]

Forgot to attach the pic

 

[lizzyann]

here''s a smaller one...1.1/.3 sides