What is the best way to go about buying a loose diamond for an engagement ring you already own?

Question

My boyfriend was given a ring that belonged to his stepfather's late wife. It's absolutely gorgeous, but the stone was removed. We are working together to become engaged, and we want to find a diamond together. Where do we start with all the appraisals, rock shopping, resizing, etc?

Answer 1

I'd go on the jewellery channel, you can buy lose stones all the time really big ones too. www.thejewellerychannel.tv you can buy all sorts of loose diamonds.

Answer 2

When buying a loose diamond only buy certified diamonds. GIA, ASG, DCLA are good labs, EGL and a few others are a bit dodgy (not as accurate/specific)...

First thing for you to do is get some education on diamonds and what all the acronims mean and what is decent quality for which cut.

Long story short I suggest you go for:

Colour: D - G anything after that is faint yellow and will not hold its value as well.

Clarity: Flawless - Slightly Included 1 for most cuts (round brilliant, princess, cushion) Or flawless to Very Slightly included 2 for more open fancy cuts such as the emerald or baguette

Cut: Find out what the dimention angles and percentages for the specific cut shape you are going for and compare them to the Certification dimentions. This links tells you what they are for which cuts. Depth and table are the most important

Round http://diamonds.pricescope.com/round.asp

Princess http://diamonds.pricescope.com/fnc1.asp

Emerald http://diamonds.pricescope.com/fnc2.asp

Heart, pear etc http://diamonds.pricescope.com/fnc3.asp

Dark bands or triangles show areas where light is leaking from the diamond.

When choosing the cut always go for the one you like to look at, thats the most important part after all.

I then suggest you go to a reputable private jeweller and ask if they sell loose stones (most do). You tell them what you want and they do the leg work. They will order the stones in for you to see, you should not pay any money at all to the jewellers just to see the stones (some try to scam you like that, it doesn't cost them more than a few $ to get them in). Always look at 2 or 3 stones next to each other so you can compare.

Get the details and compare the prices online (which are retail prices despite them saying things like "wholesale direct to public"), remember that shops do have overheads though and they will be slightly more expensive, but 200% additional or more is ridiculous (I have seen heaps of jewellers do this). Do your research and go with your gut on whether it seems to much for the size and quality.

You will also have to take the setting in with you as they really can't be altered all that much, you will have to go with a stone close to the size it was already set with, with a little leeway bigger or smaller.

It is also a good idea to go to many different jewellers for differernt quotes, you will see the huge price range you get for the same thing.

Also try private/independant jewellery artisans as they are sometimes the most competitive.

Answer 3

The best online education I've gotten came from bluenile.com

They have great reputation, and give you examples of what great diamonds cost...

http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-and-jewe...

check it out... it even lets you shop around, and select the attributes that matter the most to you... price, color , cut, shape, carat, clarity...

http://www.bluenile.com/diamond_search.a...

The most important thing to remember: Have fun!

Answer 4

The best online sites are http://www.bluenile.com and http://www.jamesallen.com/

James Allen also has true images for their diamonds which helps a lot if you want to see what you are getting before ordering it.

Answer 5

Find a nice jeweler, there they can assist you with the resizing and if they do not sell loose diamonds they could refer you to someone who deals with that. I would be a bit hesitant buying stones online because you can't be 100% sure that they are real even if they can provide documentation. My fiance and I used Michael Hill Jewelers to resize, strip the ring of gold and white gold plate our ring and it was really cheap. Just look in the yellow pages and make a few calls :) good luck!