Ring Arrived

J3OEF

Well, the ring i ordered arrived the other day, first impressions are great and to me its got a bit of weight to it which i expected being platinum. I also got my certificate and some booklets and stuff and a nice box.

I paid £1100 for it, but on my certs it says valued at £1950. There is a right up of the ring and its on some fancy paper and stamped.

Why is the value more then i paid? because its an online store? Also i have been considering getting it valued for piece of mind as when i brought it i read a bad review and sort of put me off.

I got it from Diamond Heaven situated in the jewellery quarter birmingham. Is there a process that rings have to go through before being given to customers? like independant checks of diamonds and stuff? Also what hallmarkings should i expect to see inside the band?

thanks

Horace

Hi the value of the ring is higher than what you paid for it for insurance purposes. If you went to a high street shop for instance then you could reasonably expect to pay £1950 for a ring of similar quality.

All rings made in Birmingham are assayed at the Assay Office - the fancy bit of paper you have been given is the certificate for the ring and the stones - you will need to keep that as it wil be useful when you have the ring valued.

I am not sure of the markings for Platinum but I think that you will expect to see the Lion Passant and an Anchor. If in doubt, you can always contact the Assay Office directly (I will post back with their details).

Assay Office details here:

http://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/

J3OEF

What would i say if i were to ring the assay office? just that i brought a ring and was a bit concerned about the quality etc? if i told them my name and details etc could they tell me no sir its great or whatever im expecting from them?

cheers

brazilianwax

All of my jewellery comes from the Jewellery Quarter (not the shop you've used, but there are hundreds within a tiny area).

All of my diamonds are beautiful, all certified, all worth far more than was paid for them.

I doubt you can go too far wrong to be honest. What exactly are you concerned about?

J3OEF

well being no diamond expect i was just concerned about the quality of the diamond, after seein a video on youtube about the company it kinda made me think ide made a wrong move in buying it. But the video is about 2 years old. Personally i cant tell if its poor quality or not, it looks the business to me and sparkels lots and weighs a bit being platinum

brazilianwax

the certificate (not the valuation) should tell you what you need to know.

there should be a grading for the colour of the diamond, and the level of inclusions. it's these plus the cut that determines the sparkle. compare what it says on your certificate to the guides on here and you'll know how good the diamond is

as for the platinum, that should have a number stamped into the band - that shows how pure the metal is. the purest platinum is usually 950 parts platinum per thousand (with the rest made up of related metals), so the stamp says 950. there may be other marks too, but without a magnifying glass they can be difficult to read.

hope this helps. if not, i'll send my mother round to look at it for you - she really knows her diamonds

J3OEF

Hi,

My certificate is on fancy paper with the valuation on it too, it has a write up of what the ring is etc. As far the stamps, im sure it says 950 but its so so small i cant see it, not even with a normal magnifier, i think i need a jewellers one.

brazilianwax

That doesn't sound like a certified diamond to me.

It should be on something that looks like this

And provided separately to the valuation.

J3OEF

sorry, my mistake, the valuation was seperate although my certified thing did not look like that, it was a booklet type thing with company info on and it detailed the clarity, weight etc and was stamped by them, no photo on it or anything

stumpjumper

is there a lab name on the certificate?

IGI (like the image above)
GIA (one of the largests labs in the world)
HRD
EGL
BGL
AGS

?

any precious metal like gold, white gold, platinum - has to be stamped by teh Assey office to confirm it is what it is being sold as. they stamp the metal with little stamps - the link above will give more information.

Diamonds are graded by independant bodies - if they are graded at all. there is no requirment to. but gemologists can give an assement of the quality of the diamond. It is important to remember weither the diamonds is certified or not by one of the labs - it is no garantee. the certification is given as the opinion of the grader - but should give confirmation that the diamond is as sold.

Ie if you paid the vendor for an E colour diamond (second highest gradeing for colour) but is graded by an independant lab as being a H (5th on the colour scale) then you'd be right to ask for your money back. but if it came back as a D or F (one grade either way) then that is within the tolerances of the grading scheme. (there isnt much difference between the D E and F grades... there is about the same differance between D and F as there is between F and G!)

ok i'm walffling now!

what it sounds like is that you have an inhouse grading and valuation. if your worried about it then taking it to a diamond valuers/apraiser - who will look at the diamond and give you his opinion on the colour and clarity of the diamond. since the diamond is set in a ring, it is difficult to give accurate information about the colour and carat - as this can only be done accuratly when the diamond is loose, but they can give a broad brush discription and valuation.

ie within about 2 or so grades. i had a pair of diamond earings appraised at the same time as i had a loose diamond appraised. while i got accurate info on the loose stone - i got that the earrings were about VS clarity and G/H colour and sized as about 0.25ct total carat weight