Look at this listing!

[Gypsy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-23-carat-pear-diam...=item4aa45365ff

D, E and F are clearest for clarity?? Unless all I've learned eludes me, doesn't the letters mean COLOR not CLARITY?! Another reason we all need to educate ourselves as best as we can before making purchases like this!

Mods, please feel free to move if I've posted this in the wrong place, thanks!

 

[nikkikeith]

WOW all i have to say

 

[kimicarol]

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-23-carat-pear-diam...=item4aa45365ff

D, E and F are clearest for clarity?? Unless all I've learned eludes me, doesn't the letters mean COLOR not CLARITY?! Another reason we all need to educate ourselves as best as we can before making purchases like this!

Mods, please feel free to move if I've posted this in the wrong place, thanks!

Good catch MissyD! If the stats are correct (which I highly doubt) this is an included diamond that is "colorless" (hence the "F" rating).

SI3 is a clarity rating used by "non GIA" labs. If I remember correctly (and correct me if I am wrong) GIA goes from SI2 to I and SI3 is a rating that "others" use to try to afford the dreaded "I" rating on a stone.

Don't get me wrong, sometime "I" rated stones can be lovely depending on the inclusion and it's location, but the fact remains that "I" rated stones sell for much less and some high end stores won't carry diamonds with less than an SI2 rating, so some "labs" have started using the SI3 rating.

 

[Gypsy]

Thanks, Casey! You're right, SI3 was created by the labs so as not use the I clarity grading. I think that's also known as "grade bumping". Sometimes the clarity doesn't have to be VS grade to be beautiful, you're right on that also. It's a matter of the cut.

My pear diamond is I1 nothing hidden. It has carbon spots but it sparkles beautifully. My jeweler said the lower price and I1 grading was because of the carbon spots. Also, pear diamonds aren't as popular as EC and PC these days. Even better for me!

I would rather have a true I clarity and know exactly what I'm getting than buy a diamond that's "grade bumped".

 

[kimicarol]

"Grade bumping" only makes an unscupulous jeweler more money and makes you pay higher premiums to an insurance company on an inflated "replacement value" based on an inflated appraisal.

You never get the "appraisal value" on those types of appraisals if you loose your stone anyway, so you are better off paying for a "true" appraisal up front from a reputable lab.

 

[Gypsy]

Exactly! That's why I would rather know up front what I have. Sure, it's great to have VS clarity. But like you said, you pay extra for that VS clarity only to find it may not be, you lose and they profit. Thus, paying more to insure it based on the appraisal value.

 

[holli_80_73]

Thanks for posting..any ideas, help or warnings are valued when we get ready to send our hard earned money no matter the source..to merchants who sell diamonds or any jewelry and try to cheat and scam or just do not stand behind any product they sell..I hope that the companies such as Trax, Oxford diamonds on ebay and others are the source of their own decline due to their lack of respect for a customer and their own products they put their name on