Hi guys,

Thought I'd expand my new found interest in diamonds into a past time.

Some background of me:

1. I've recently got interested in diamonds as I was researching about getting a diamond for my darling.

2. I've read shit loadz about diamonds, went to more than 20 stores and viewed diamonds in about 10 stores in the quest of diamond hunting. I was hell bent on getting the best bang for my buck, and also getting more practice on what I have read online about diamond cut grading and what not.

3. Here's how I started my reading. I've read through Beyond4Cs and YourDiamondTeacher websites to cover all of the basics. I read those 2 sites as they were very well written and broken down into sections which is easily digestible. The I proceed to read ProsumerDiamonds and NiceIce to get an alternative view.

4. If any of you have read online about diamonds, you are bound to stumble across the so-oft mentioned Holloway Cut Advisor score. Almost everyone out there mentioned that HCA is a rejection tool, and not a selection tool. And the small print of it evaluating only 17 of 57 the facets in a diamond is often acknowledged but ignored by most consumers. Hence I proceeded to read the GoodOldGold on HCA, which explains the limitations of HCA in great detail to understand what does HCA tell you and what it does not.

Start here:
http://beyond4cs.com/
http://yourdiamondteacher.com/

Expand your knowledge:
http://www.prosumerdiamonds.com/
http://niceice.com/

Must Read on HCA:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/consumers-guide-hca


5. More important than HCA is the diagrams - Hearts and Arrows and ASET Scope images. In the absence of ASET Scope images, I made do with H&A Scope images which most stores offer.

6. After searching high and low, I got my diamond through a diamond trader of sorts. The price offered is very competitive, and I am very happy with it.



What I learned about diamond cut vs the price you pay in Malaysia:

7. Many online websites have a preference towards the super ideal cut for a diamond, and it is often mentioned that the price of buying it online is cheaper than the price offered at brick-and-mortar shops. While this is likely true for the US (due to high wages and overheads) and SG (high rental for the shop), I don't believe this is necessarily true in Malaysia.

8. Compared to diamonds available in Malaysia through established retailers, you're going to be paying about the same or slightly higher, around 5%, for diamonds purchased online (factoring in GST you have to pay to customs) if you know how to negotiate your way through in the Malaysian established retailers. However, what you could be getting online (again, this needs effort) are ideal or close to ideal cut diamonds which is rarely available in Malaysia established retailers (unless you're willing to fork out more than 30%-50% premium and go for branded diamonds like Tiffany, Hearts on Fire, etc) for the price that you pay.

9. Throughout my search, Habib and Wah Chan offers the best deal for loose diamonds. Habib has a greater selection, but Wah Chan has better cut diamonds in general, for the same price. I personally prefer Habib as I get to choose from a greater variety of diamonds as I already know the basics of evaluating cut of a diamond.

10. What online websites kept going on and on about is how to evaluate an the cut of a diamond (which is a good thing), but what they do not tell you about the price premium that you're paying to get it. What is the fair trade off to pay for an ideal cut diamond? Imagine seeing a 0.5c D VS2 for RM 9.8k for an Ideal cut with 'perfect' proportions (assuming HCA 1.4), is that a good price? Or is Cut everything regardless the price premium? And what if you are suddenly being offered an alternative, a close to Ideal cut diamond with good proportions (assuming HCA 2.3) , at the price of RM 8.8k (which is RM 1k cheaper)? Would you still hold on steadfast to the perfectly cut diamond, or opt for a good cut at a discount, or even better, opt for a larger diamond with a good cut at the same price of RM 9.8k. What if the discount offered is more, at the price of RM 8.5k?

11. Diamond selection is often a game of give-and-take. All of us have a limited budget. So if you want a bigger diamond, you have to sacrifice something, be it clarity, colour or cut. Same with clarity and colour. That is what most people will tell you. But what most online 'gurus' don't tell you is that cut is also in there, and why is it that there can be compromise on clarity, carat and colour but not cut? Or it could be that cut is too difficult to determine for customers and they are just left out completely?



What I offer:
11. Remember I mentioned that I got my diamond through a trader of sorts? I will offer to purchase loose diamonds for anyone who is interested at a discount. I will tell you upfront that I will make a cut out of it, not so much for profit motive, but for the time, effort and risk I am taking to bring the diamond back to Malaysia. Did I mention that I'm getting the diamond from overseas?

12. I only have GIA certified round brilliant cut diamonds for sizes of 0.3c and above, nothing else. The diamonds that I will try to buy for you will have at the very least a decent cut, if not a good cut, which is definitely 1 step above most of the 'normal' diamonds you see in Habib and Wah Chan. The discount that I can offer is about 10%-15% off the price you get in those stores, AFTER negotiations with them. In some uncommon occasion, the discount can be more or less than Wah Chan's price. The reason is that some (uncommon) of the diamonds in Wah Chan is very badly cut that a huge discount is offered to push it out. On the contrary, more discount can be offered due to the fact that if the diamond has a good cut in Habib or Wah Chan, it will sell for more and hence when compared to my price, I can offer more discount.

13. As for the range of diamonds that I am able to obtain, I am limited to:

a) Colour: D to J, with J being more difficult to find
b) Clarity: IF to SI1, with VVS1 to VS2 being the more common ones. SI1 and IF will take more time to find, and chances are I may not be able to find it.

14. In terms of Cut, my 'promise' to you are as follow:

a) No significant light leakage through the diamond. This is the most common feature found in most (90%) diamonds that you see.
b) Hearts and arrows are clearly visible. Minor misalignment if any.
c) HCA score of 4.0 or lower. (read below)
d) Triple Excellent in GIA certificate: Cut, Polish and Symmetry

Note that what I listed above is already better than more than 90% of the diamonds that you see in the Malaysian retail shops. Now, most online advises to be less than 2, but I am willing to go all the way up to 4.0 because I have found diamonds with HCA score of more than 2.0 that are very worth considering, given the price that you will be paying (which could be 20% off ideal cut diamonds). I trust my eyes more than HCA score, and I promise that there will not be significant light leakage.

Also, just try calculating HCA for diamonds in Tomei, Habib, Wah Chan, Poh Kong, etc and you will know the average HCA scores there.

15. I will personally evaluate the diamonds myself to ensure that I give you only diamonds that I will use in my own engagement rings. If there are cases where things are borderline, but the price is good, I will let you know to make your own decision.



Why am I doing this?
16. If you have not already guessed, the main reason I am doing this is because I want to be able to see more diamonds in action, and to evaluate their cut. I get a kick out of being able to evaluate diamond's cut.

17. Then there is the small cut of profit that I am making. I can tell you that the profit I am making out of each diamonds will not be a lot if you factor in the time and transportation cost that I incur. I have a stable job and I make a decent salary. I don't need the additional money to survive, and if I factor in the per hour wage of my job against the time that I spend on finding a good diamonds for you, it may not be really worth the effort.



What is the catch?
18. Now that you know you can get better quality diamonds at a cheaper rate through me, what is the catch? Everything good must have a catch, don't they?

19. The catch here is 2 fold:
a) I can only deliver the diamonds to KL (I am not well informed about how to send diamonds through postal service, and frankly, it is a bit of a hassle) once a month due to my work schedule. If you cannot wait, then I may not be the right person to source the diamond for you.

b) I don't do any additional service for engagement rings and setting. Since you purchased your diamond independently (like I did), you will find that some of the jewelers in KL will charge you more for making the setting because they cannot make profit out of selling you a diamond. But for me, it is worth it as the savings that I got for my diamond more than compensate for the slightly higher cost in making the ring.


Here are some sample prices of what I may be able to offer:
20. Remember, this is only sample prices, the actual diamonds may or may not be available. Prices here are derived off a list that diamond traders use. What you can get for:

RM 4,000:
a) 0.34c D VVS1
b) 0.40c G VS2
c) 0.48 I VVS2

RM 5,000:
a) 0.40c D VS1
b) 0.47c F VS2
c) 0.50c J VVS2 (may be hard to find)

RM 6,000:
a) 0.41c E IF
b) 0.46c D VVS2
c) 0.50c I VVS2
d) 0.50c G SI1 (may be hard to find)

RM 7,000
a) 0.50c G VS2
b) 0.53c H VS2

RM 8,000
a) 0.50c F VS1
b) 0.52c E VS2
c) 0.58c G VS2
d) 0.61c H VS2

RM 9,000
a) 0.50c D VS1
b) 0.56c F VS1
c) 0.62c H VVS2
d) 0.70c J VVS2

RM 10,000
a) 0.54c E VVS2
b) 0.62c F VS1
c) 0.70c I VS2


Bigger diamonds are available as well.


If you are interested, just drop me a PM and I am more than happy to talk about how you can get a discount on your engagement diamond.

Also, feel free to ask questions pertaining to diamonds below, even if you don't intend to buy. I'm also keen to expand my knowledge.

This post has been edited by DoomCognition: Nov 6 2016, 01:57 AM