Rivalry among old cut diamond vendors

[Tourmaline]

I saw this on Instagram. Read the caption and the comments. Hmm.

There appears to be dirty laundry between Alex of Parks Fine Group and Adam of Old World Diamonds.

 

[Rhea]

Huh? I thought OWD owned all this stones though so is this Parks guy just slinging mud about now?

I'm feeling super nosy!

 

[yssie]

Alex Park proves again and again that he’s just a garden variety a$$hole.

Sorry not sorry. He isn’t “blunt”. He isn’t “forthright”. He doesn’t “tell it like it is”. He’s just a man-child who takes pleasure in being an abrasive and caustic jerk.

He regularly overhypes cr*p stones, his mounts are frequently flawed in designed and poorly executed, he flat out lies about GIA grading procedures, his “sense of humour” makes others’ most macabre offerings look tame, and to me the small handful of genuinely great deals on beautiful stones that he offers won’t ever be worth dealing with him.

I vote with my wallet and I demand at least a modicum of decency from my luxury products vendors.

Edit - his kid is super super cute though!!

 

[musicloveranthony]

Alex has since deleted his comment. I don't find any shady sales tactics to be admirable. I have no interest in paying someone a $3k fee for their name or reputation. So, I appreciate his candor.

I expect nothing from a vendor other than the product I payed for. I don't want to be their friend.

 

[Rfisher]

I’m not surprised by any allegation towards either party.
partly or totally true.

, his mounts are frequently flawed in designed and poorly executed, he flat out lies about GIA grading procedures,

anything written about either of these on a public forum?

 

[yssie]

Yes.
He’s spouted nonsense about boiling stones in acid prior to submitting to GIA numerous times.
His mounts speak for themselves, honestly. I don’t want to pick any PSers’ pieces apart (and I don’t know which have and haven’t been posted on PS) so to keep commentary generic - objectively incorrect metal choices for moving parts (meaning - clear lack of understanding re. properties of the metals he uses and recommends), objectively structurally flawed scaffolding designs, objectively anachronistic design (though this unto itself is a subjective preference of course), objectively poor finish.

 

[Karl_K]

Sounds like to me they both inquired about the stone at the same time and the stones owner held firm and would not discount. Leading to a lot of grumble grumble grumble blah blah blah.
It happens all the time.
Which is why its not a great idea to ask multiple vendors to hunt for rare stones.
$3.5k retail margin on an $18k wholesale diamond is not excessive.

 

[Tourmaline]

He edited the caption and, as @musicloveranthony said, deleted his further comment.

This is interesting.

 

[musicloveranthony]

He edited the caption and, as @musicloveranthony said, deleted his further comment.

This is interesting.

I've interacted with him in PM and he's been clear and concise, but friendly is not an adjective I'd use, lol

 

[Karl_K]

Yes.
He’s spouted nonsense about boiling stones in acid prior to submitting to GIA numerous times.

Im curious about what he is saying?
It is not uncommon to acid boil stones to clean them prior to a trip to GIA.
Freshly cut diamonds get one before sending them off routinely as one of the last steps of production.

 

[Mreader]

Huh? I thought OWD owned all this stones though so is this Parks guy just slinging mud about now?

I'm feeling super nosy!

 

[Tourmaline]

Huh? I thought OWD owned all this stones though so is this Parks guy just slinging mud about now?

I'm feeling super nosy!

Adam is the retail front of his uncle’s wholesale business.

 

[musicloveranthony]

Im curious about what he is saying?
It is not uncommon to acid boil stones to clean them prior to a trip to GIA.
Freshly cut diamonds get one before sending them off routinely as one of the last steps of production.

That's precisely what he's said and he's shown examples of the impact it has.

 

[yssie]

That's precisely what he's said and he's shown examples of the impact it has.

As far as I am aware he has not once posted publicly that he has
1. Sent a stone to GIA
2. Received it with a specific D-Z colour grade
3. Boiled it
4. Resubmitted it to GIA
5. Received it with a higher D-Z colour grade.

Diamond boiling in acid isn’t a specialty thing. It isn’t an uncommon thing. It’s actually a routine part of cutting.

Diamonds on the D-Z scale are graded face-down as if a chip of stone is removed. That is a quote direct from a GIA grader, by the way. Acid boiling (the usual sort, not the crazy long variety that involves super concentrated acids) can improve face-up colour, clarity, and general appearance by removing all external dirt. But if GIA isn’t able to grade a diamond because it needs cleaning, they won’t even try - they’ll send it back to you and tell you to clean it. GIA isn’t doing any deep cleaning - an alcohol wash is about the extent of what they do when they receive a stone. But they’re certainly not assigning undeservedly low colour grades to grubby stones willy nilly.

When he says “GIA graded too low” - which he says with rather alarming frequency - it’s a testament to his inability to accept reality, not a revelation regarding GIA incompetence.

 

[musicloveranthony]

@yssie

 

[yssie]

@musicloveranthony I saw that post. I did the proverbial facepalm.

So where’s his initial submission to GIA pre-boil? And where’s the second submission wherein colour grade was higher post-boil? The diamond dealer’s opinion is completely irrelevant to the topic of GIA grading.

No one is disputing that acid boils improve appearance.

My point - with which GIA explicitly and publicly concurs - is that if a diamond is in a state wherein the colour of a hypothetical chip of that stone could in fact be improved so dramatically by boiling that assigned colour grade would change meaningfully (edit. Ie more than the generally accepted “one” or a split) then GIA would simply refuse to grade the initial submission.

He has not once proven otherwise. The burden of proof is on him here, not GIA - please demand it.

 

[musicloveranthony]

I saw that.
So where’s his initial submission to GIA pre-boil? And where’s the second submission wherein colour grade was higher post-boil?

I don't care enough to indulge whatever it is you're searching for. You're sounding to me like you're critiquing him for sounding to you.

 

[maryjane04]

I’m not surprised by any allegation towards either party.
partly or totally true.




anything written about either of these on a public forum?

I feel like his mounts are actually very reasonable. I paid $300 ish for mine so I can't expect CVB or VC level of perfection. Obviously you get what you paid for but definitely happy with my current setting which was initially a temp setting. I feel like it's too beautiful to take apart.

 

[yssie]

I don't care enough to indulge whatever it is you're searching for. You're sounding to me like you're critiquing him for sounding to you.

Ok

 

[yssie]

I do want to say that I wouldn’t ever buy anything significant from Adam either, after he arbitrarily refused to honour another PSer’s documented upgrade policy a few years ago

 

[DejaWiz]

@yssie

I can't ignore the probable elephant in the room, here: the lighting color/conditions/intensity are obviously different, which is going to have a major impact on the appearance of any diamond, regardless of color and clarity.

 

[Karl_K]

I can't ignore the probable elephant in the room, here: the lighting color/conditions/intensity are obviously different, which is going to have a major impact on the appearance of any diamond, regardless of color and clarity.

yes it is an issue.
The difference is exaggerated in those images.
However the bragging that he got a good deal because the other dealer did not acid bath it. That does happen.

 

[Karl_K]

Interesting fact:
Master sets need to be cleaned in an acid bath pretty often if they are used a lot, the metal from the tweezers can become embedded in the girdle changing the face down appearance.
The only way to remove it is an acid bath.

dang I miss Rockdoc.

 

[yssie]

Interesting fact:
Master sets need to be cleaned in an acid bath pretty often if they are used a lot, the metal from the tweezers can become embedded in the girdle changing the face down appearance.
The only way to remove it is an acid bath.

That’s exactly what the two reps I talked to when this first came up said. Well one said “rubber tweezer tips” but same issue. Apparently they boil them as much as every couple weeks!!

 

[lovedogs]

yes it is an issue.
The difference is exaggerated in those images.
However the bragging that he got a good deal because the other dealer did not acid bath it. That does happen.

I agree. I think that post wasnt about GIA persay, but was about the other dealer not knowing what he/she had, which allowed alex to get a better price