Trust but Verify…Wish It Wasn’t Necessary

[mellowyellowgirl]

Well this thread just put the fear of God into me. I have a tendency to trust vendors who have been trustworthy in the past, but this is such a great reminder to check and verify.

Haha it's got the opposite effect on me!

I'm reading it and thinking: If things from well known, popular vendors are coming back crud, I might as well risk it getting a deal from someone a little more unknown (and either get a report or don't get a report and make peace with things)! I ain't paying a premium if no one knows what's going on with gems anyway!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Thank you for sharing your experience @Mrsz1ppy . It’s an excellent reminder and lesson for us to verify what we have is what it was sold as. I had a situation several years ago and shared about it in this thread. I was surprised to see how many others here had similar experiences.

Have you ever unknowingly purchased a synthetic Sapphire or other CS?

I just found out I did. :wall: I had purchased my very first pre-loved finished piece of jewelry from Loupe Troop about a year ago. A lovely sapphire and diamond ring set in platinum. The ring was from a ps’er and came with an appraisal from a very well known retailer of estate pieces, so I...

www.pricescope.com

A year had passed since my purchase, so the seller offered me a $500 refund on my $2,350 purchase. In the end it was an expensive lesson learned, since I never could bring myself to reuse the setting the synthetic sapphire was set in. It just sits in the back corner of a drawer and I will most likely scrap it someday.

I‘ve only sent three other stones in for testing and they were all natural. I think I will send any sapphires I already own to the lab for testing before investing in having them set, just in case I need to sell them in the future.

I just read your thread!!! You poor poor poor thing!!!!! This is why I don't sell stuff and just give it away!!! I'm really happy with my gems but I don't want to cause anyone upset in case they are not what we thought they are or people find some inclusion that I missed.

It is a lovely setting. Considering the prices these days are you sure you don't want to stick in a kick ass stone and wear it?

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

its BS isnt it
im sorry you will be out of pocket
this thread is scaring me sh*tless to be honest
lucky my mistake was under $100 and i learnt a good lesson but i do want to buy loose gemstones in the future

i brought 'Genuine' Italian Larimar thinking that Italian was more like a brand name/colloquial term rather than being dyed Italian Pectolite (but its probably just dyed quartz)
i only discovered it because the dye rubbed off inside the baseball cap i had them sitting in while i admired them
i know now the price was too cheap but its not like it was ridiculously cheap.
......im going to need so much help from PS when i do buy gem stones

I think it is important to talk about the ’finds’ too. I sent 14 different stones/pieces in. The majority were what the vendor said—for example 2 spinels from Finewater Gems—no treatment, spinels. Check. A emerald pendant I bought 2 years ago, from 1st Dibs, before getting back in the swing at Pricescope—Columbian but type 2 treatment. I didn’t ask so my bad I guess. Check. Spinel from Instagram, Burma! No treatment, as the vendor said. Check. Sapphire bracelet from Instagram. Vendor didn’t know if heated. They are. Fair enough. I didn’t pay for unheated. Check. Cab ruby. Vendor didn’t know. Came back as heated. Check

Now for the pleasant surprises. Pink and green sapphire ring. Vendor had no idea if treated or not. Both came back unheated! Pink spinel ring from TRR, came back untreated, purplish pink, Tanzania! Does that mean Mahenge? And I have saved the best for last. I bought a 1920s 3 stone ring from an individual on eBay who only had stories about her grandmother and lousy pictures. Something about the half moon diamonds just grabbed me, so I bought it. The ring was in terrible shape, with the central emerald rattling around the the platinum setting. It was just rubbed flat, but the stone had an ethereal glow I had never seen before and no inclusions. So we sent it to a lapidary my jeweler uses, and he recut to .46 from .75 which was amazing if you saw the before. GIA says Columbian Origin and No treatment! I will post pictures when we get the ring put back together. Had to polish the diamonds too.

 

[icy_jade]

Haha it's got the opposite effect on me!

I'm reading it and thinking: If things from well known, popular vendors are coming back crud, I might as well risk it getting a deal from someone a little more unknown (and either get a report or don't get a report and make peace with things)! I ain't paying a premium if no one knows what's going on with gems anyway!

Exactly. Personally the risky IG purchases/sellers have been ok. The ones from established websites not… hmm… so to me now any online buy is the same risk.

 

[Neptune]

I think it is important to talk about the ’finds’ too. I sent 14 different stones/pieces in. The majority were what the vendor said—for example 2 spinels from Finewater Gems—no treatment, spinels. Check. A emerald pendant I bought 2 years ago, from 1st Dibs, before getting back in the swing at Pricescope—Columbian but type 2 treatment. I didn’t ask so my bad I guess. Check. Spinel from Instagram, Burma! No treatment, as the vendor said. Check. Sapphire bracelet from Instagram. Vendor didn’t know if heated. They are. Fair enough. I didn’t pay for unheated. Check. Cab ruby. Vendor didn’t know. Came back as heated. Check

Now for the pleasant surprises. Pink and green sapphire ring. Vendor had no idea if treated or not. Both came back unheated! Pink spinel ring from TRR, came back untreated, purplish pink, Tanzania! Does that mean Mahenge? And I have saved the best for last. I bought a 1920s 3 stone ring from an individual on eBay who only had stories about her grandmother and lousy pictures. Something about the half moon diamonds just grabbed me, so I bought it. The ring was in terrible shape, with the central emerald rattling around the the platinum setting. It was just rubbed flat, but the stone had an ethereal glow I had never seen before and no inclusions. So we sent it to a lapidary my jeweler uses, and he recut to .46 from .75 which was amazing if you saw the before. GIA says Columbian Origin and No treatment! I will post pictures when we get the ring put back together. Had to polish the diamonds too.

The EW oval ring looks great on you.

 

[2Neesers]

I just read your thread!!! You poor poor poor thing!!!!! This is why I don't sell stuff and just give it away!!! I'm really happy with my gems but I don't want to cause anyone upset in case they are not what we thought they are or people find some inclusion that I missed.

It is a lovely setting. Considering the prices these days are you sure you don't want to stick in a kick ass stone and wear it?

That is so nice of you to give stuff away!! You must have very happy family and friends!
I have taken the setting out and loosely placed stones in it a bunch of times and even though it’s pretty I just don’t have good feelings looking at. For me, jewelry is an emotional thing and purely for my pleasure, so I will part with it at some point. I’ve thought about putting one of the stones I have set aside to sell in it and sending it to theRealReal, but some of the prices they list pieces at are crazy low, so I‘ll have to do the math and see if that’s a better option than scrapping it.

 

[2Neesers]

I think it is important to talk about the ’finds’ too. I sent 14 different stones/pieces in. The majority were what the vendor said—for example 2 spinels from Finewater Gems—no treatment, spinels. Check. A emerald pendant I bought 2 years ago, from 1st Dibs, before getting back in the swing at Pricescope—Columbian but type 2 treatment. I didn’t ask so my bad I guess. Check. Spinel from Instagram, Burma! No treatment, as the vendor said. Check. Sapphire bracelet from Instagram. Vendor didn’t know if heated. They are. Fair enough. I didn’t pay for unheated. Check. Cab ruby. Vendor didn’t know. Came back as heated. Check

Now for the pleasant surprises. Pink and green sapphire ring. Vendor had no idea if treated or not. Both came back unheated! Pink spinel ring from TRR, came back untreated, purplish pink, Tanzania! Does that mean Mahenge? And I have saved the best for last. I bought a 1920s 3 stone ring from an individual on eBay who only had stories about her grandmother and lousy pictures. Something about the half moon diamonds just grabbed me, so I bought it. The ring was in terrible shape, with the central emerald rattling around the the platinum setting. It was just rubbed flat, but the stone had an ethereal glow I had never seen before and no inclusions. So we sent it to a lapidary my jeweler uses, and he recut to .46 from .75 which was amazing if you saw the before. GIA says Columbian Origin and No treatment! I will post pictures when we get the ring put back together. Had to polish the diamonds too.

Wow! You have had amazing finds!! I can’t wait to see what you do with the Instagram spinel. It’s gorgeous

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

Wow! You have had amazing finds!! I can’t wait to see what you do with the Instagram spinel. It’s gorgeous

Here you go! And thank you.

 

[MidModMin]

If this is who I think it is -
There’s been a few incidents lately with this vendor (looks to be the same crooked pointer finger) that does happen to be on the “List for vendor reference” thread here on PS.
I know it’s not fun to publicly name vendor’s when things go awry. It’s great you got to return it but it does suck you are holding the bag for funds related to their mistake.

If there is a trusted vendor who had had several instances of selling misidentified gems, why is everyone being so hush-hush with the name? This is a pattern of concern and seems like it should be discussed openly on this website, yet?

Either that or the trusted vendor list needs to be edited to quietly remove their name.

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

If there is a trusted vendor who had had several instances of selling misidentified gems, why is everyone being so hush-hush with the name? This is a pattern of concern and seems like it should be discussed openly on this website, yet?

Either that or the trusted vendor list needs to be edited to quietly remove their name.

I don’t want to step on toes. Not sure who others are referIng to, either. But I’d tell a moderator if asked.

 

[T L]

If there is a trusted vendor who had had several instances of selling misidentified gems, why is everyone being so hush-hush with the name? This is a pattern of concern and seems like it should be discussed openly on this website, yet?

Either that or the trusted vendor list needs to be edited to quietly remove their name.

That is not a trusted vendor list. It’s simply a list of vendors that people in this board have used, but the list still maintains that you may not have a similar experience as others have had.

There’ are actually people on that list that I would never buy from, but that doesn’t mean that others shouldn’t.

 

[Rfisher]

If there is a trusted vendor who had had several instances of selling misidentified gems, why is everyone being so hush-hush with the name? This is a pattern of concern and seems like it should be discussed openly on this website, yet?

Either that or the trusted vendor list needs to be edited to quietly remove their name.

Since you quoted me -
I won’t because mostly it’s not my story to tell and
I don’t know enough of the ‘real’ facts of the transaction(s) to make such a public statement.


I don’t believe the vendor listing was ever meant to be a ‘trusted’ vendor list, or if it ever was, that word was removed a while back.

 

[icy_jade]

The vendor refunded me promptly, and said it was a genuine mistake. I have no reason to say that it’s deliberate or there is a pattern. In case it was a genuine mistake, then it would be unfair to name the vendor - after all it is someone’s livelihood. I will name the vendor if it doesn’t seem to be isolated.

Also, I don’t wish to get into an online spate in case people step out to defend their fav vendor and it becomes nasty. Which has happened before for other vendors…

 

[2Neesers]

Here you go! And thank you.

It’s beautiful!!
I‘m impressed by how quickly you picked a setting and had the spinel set!