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| From Bill |
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| I am a first time diamond buyer looking for the perfect diamond for an engagement ring and was very skeptical about diamond dealers and whether I would be able to get a good deal without being ripped off. I rarely go shopping for ANYTHING without first finding out everything there is to know about the item by searching the internet, Consumer reports and various specialty magazines that deal with the item I am looking for. So I went searching the net for info on diamond buying and was pleasantly surprised that everything you need to know is readily available. I was especially surprised to find the sites that sell the diamonds giving you info on the 4 C's, etc. I was expecting them not to want to give you too much info so they can try to rip you off (hey, I am from NYC, what can I say. I am skeptical of everything! ) Even a few jewelry stores I went into had a sign on the wall giving you tips on diamond buying. Maybe buying a diamond wouldn't be that tough after all&. So I did my homework, read everything I could about diamond buying, and then went searching. Pscope was the best site I found as far as providing info and diamond talk really opened my eyes as to what is really important to look for in a diamond. One key bit of info that I found out that was very important was the pavilion and crown angles. Even if a diamond has "ideal" table and depth %, it doesn't mean it is a great diamond. I would never have known the importance of this if it weren't for diamondtalk and also the Holloway Cut Advisor. I didn't understand how I could use the HCA without these 2 dimensions. So many of the diamonds I was looking at had GIA certs that did not have these key dimensions, so how was I to use the HCA properly? So I asked on diamondtalk and Barry from Superbcert advised me to ask for a Sarin/ megascope report to get this information. Since the most common cert laboratory GIA doesn't provide these dimensions, I wouldn't have known to ask for this information. I would have bought a diamond based solely on the table and depth dimensions (and of course clarity, color, carat). So after finding out the need for these dimensions, I emailed a few online dealers for certs on a few diamonds I was interested in. Those with AGS certs already had these angles and those that had GIA certs I had to request a Sarin/ megascope report (as was advised to me by Barry of Superbcert) so I can see these angles. I liked the EGL certified diamonds because they provided this info but I was advised to stay away from EGL due to lower grading standards and go with an AGS or GIA cert (I know this is a debatable subject but I took the advice) What I found was a bit frustrating. Many of these dealers did not have the diamonds in their possession but rather the diamonds came from a wholesaler who would drop ship the diamonds to the buyer. Most could not provide this Sarin/ megascope report. Most didn't even have a picture of the actual diamond. Drop shipping would not bother me as much if they were able to provide these key dimensions and a simple picture of the diamond for me. Since they couldn't, I had to keep looking. I learned about the brilliancescope, H&A viewer, megascope, Holloway advisor and all these other great technologies that make determining the quality of a diamond a lot easier. I knew that having 1 or 2 of these reports/ pictures would make me feel comfortable buying the diamond of my choice. This led me to Barry at Superbcert. After reading the glowing testimonials from diamondtalk about Superbcert, I knew I had to check them out. I am not usually one to buy into the need for a "Branded" product (I love my Shoprite generic brand mac & cheese, much cheaper than the Kraft ) but even after becoming well versed on how to buy a diamond, I still needed some assurance of a great diamond. I couldn't trust my untrained eye to determine the quality of a diamond; I needed scientific information to give me a guide as to the diamond's quality. Superbcert gives you everything you could possibly need to judge the quality of the diamond. They give you a magnified picture of the actual diamond, not a stock "sample" photo like many sites do. They give you the brilliance scope report, the megascope report, and a picture of the diamond through the H&A viewer. And if you give Barry a call, he will be able to get the actual diamond out of his stock to give you a play by play view of the diamond's characteristics. I am fortunate enough to work 2 blocks down from the Superbcert's office here in NYC so I was able to stop by to visit the infamous "Barry" and his son to see the diamonds in person, but I would have felt 100% confident buying the diamond right over the Internet. Everything you read on the Internet about what the ideal diamond should be is exactly what a Superbcert diamond is. I had 4 diamonds that I was interested in and Barry was able to have all four available to view. They were: .97 H VS2 $4,993 .95 D SI1 $5,586 1.08 H SI1 $5,540 1.17 J VS1 $5,113 I was particularly interested in a .97 H VS2 diamond because it fit perfectly into my price & quality range but I also wanted to compare it to the others. If I could really see the difference in color with the D color and the lower clarity didn't detract from the diamond or I couldn't notice much difference, I was going to spring the extra cash. The same with the 1.08, I wanted to check out the difference in clarity. What the heck is the J doing in there you ask? Basically I figured if I was going to go with an H color, why not then compare it to a J to see if I could tell the difference. So when I showed up, Barry showed me two diamonds and asked which I thought was the bigger diamond and which was the better color. He told me which was the .97 H VS2 but I didn't know which of the other three diamonds the second one was. So I stared at those diamonds for what felt like forever and my untrained eye told me that the .97 H VS2 diamond was the better color and the other diamond was the larger diamond. It turns out the other diamond was the smaller, better colored .95 D SI1. I learned a lot that day. Barry could easily have tried to sell me on the better color diamond or the larger stones for more money but he helped me decide that the .97 was exactly what I needed. No high-pressure sales techniques. I was even able to view the diamond through a high-powered microscope, no looking through an awkward loupe. I was so comfortable dealing with Barry and his son Judah that I highly recommend Superbcert for all of your diamond needs. I know I got the highest quality diamond that I could afford. I did have one problem though. Barry packaged the diamond and all the information so well and in so many Fed-EX boxes that it took me 15 minutes to open the package! LOL Thank you Barry & Judah at Superbcert, you guys were the greatest! |
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| -Bill |
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