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look 171 look 171 is online now
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 17,705
I am afraid not. You must buy retail or find the best deal possible given that they are all the same grade unless you know someone can get you into a "real" wholesale place. Diamond is easy, precious gem stones are a pain in the ass in terms of pricing as the standard is far off from the diamond grading standards. Don't look at the ct. weight alone but the physical size. A stone might be bigger in diameter but not as thick so they weight the same. I used to tell people all grading is just a base line, but ask to look at three stones. For example, if you are after a 1 Ct stone that's in the 8000 bucks range, then ask to see a stone at 7000 and 9000 just to compare the three. YOu should immediately see the difference. Have the sale person put the stone on a black velvet tray with light shinning from above. I try to use halogen light, not those damn LEDs or florescent lighting. Once you are happy with one of the three stone, then look under the scope. Have them explain to you what to look for. Depend on the grade of the stone, personally I much rather have a smaller (in ct weight) stone with slight black inclusion then a larger slightly yellow or one with white inclusions. I have a train eye, so one look from far (without a scope) I can tell if its a nice stone or not. My father is now a retired custom jeweler. Grew up sitting on his lap while he worked on the bench and eventually working for him in high school and college on and off. Thinking back, those were the best times.
Old 11-29-2014, 09:28 PM
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