1.What are
diamonds and why are they so expensive?
A. Diamonds are crystallized carbon—naturally
occurring but very rare in high quality and very difficult and expensive
to mine.
2.Why do you put cut as the first
priority for diamond quality?
A. Because no customer has every asked me for a
dull, lifeless diamond; they always want the fire, brilliance and
scintillation that only occurs in better-cut diamonds. Clarity only
greatly affects fire in very low-grade stones (I2 or I3). Furthermore,
some customers prefer slightly tinted colors like J-K over D-E-F
colorless stones—and more power to them. The important thing
is just to buy your favorite.
3. What makes a diamond yellow
instead of white or colorless?
A. The presence of the element nitrogen causes
a diamond to show yellow.
4. What is a fracture filled diamond
and why don’t you try to sell these bargains like some other
stores do?
A. The name says it all: these stones have very
serious flaws open to the surface (or opened to the surface with a laser drilled hole)
that are filled to hide the flaw's magnitude. Regarding their apparent
value, keep in mind most of these stones would not be considered
a saleable quality for fine jewelry before the treatment. The investment
in filling these stones--about $100.00 per carat--lets dealers sell
them for two to three times that amount after treatment. Now are
they pretty? Yes, but your bargain might just be a joke. Remember what
your dad taught: you get what you pay for.
5. What is laser drilling and why aren’t you
against selling these stones?
A. Laser drilling is important to understand. The
drill hole is permanent, tiny and usually visible under 10x; however,
if the drill hole worries you, so would the carbon inclusion. It
has whitened so you wouldn’t be buying that particular stone
anyway.
6. Why aren’t you selling diamonds and other
precious stones over the Internet?
A. Diamonds—and stones in general—need
to be shown and explained in person. Paperwork is not enough. A
salesperson needs to work personally with you, teach you what to
look for, and help you learn what you like. Diamonds should be studied
under different types of light and under 10x magnification. Why
do you think diamond dealers buy stones in person? The savings on
travel is not worth the mistakes we would make by buying from a
fax or Internet picture. Plus, many diamonds have good-looking laboratory
reports but don’t look that good in person. I call these Internet
diamonds.
7. What is the best shape of a
diamond and should I only buy this shape?
This is a personal opinion and only you can answer
this one. Best should be your choice for what you think you will
enjoy the most and what you find most beautiful thank goodness we
are all individuals and have minds of our own with the right to
choose for ourselves as only the great US of A can offer.
8. Why are most of your diamonds
loose? I can’t personally picture how they would look in my
favorite mounting.
A. We want our customers to have the same shopping
advantages we have when buying at the cutting centers. It is much
harder to determine the different quality factors when a diamond
is mounted. Color is the very most problematic characteristic to
grade when a stone is mounted—the diamond usually look several
grades better than it really is. Look at the stone you are buying
loose then have it dropped in some settings you like. This will
make sure there are no flaws hidden by prongs or color you don’t
see.
9. The mall store offered a lifetime
warranty on diamond solitaries and my friend said no store like
yours could match this. Why is that?
Actually, we do offer a lifetime warranty for stone
characteristics and mounting quality and materials. Plus we have
been here offering this for 35 years while many of these stores
have come and gone in the years we have been here servicing our
customers.
10. Do you charge to clean or
check the condition of my diamond ring if it came from Grissom’s?
No, but even for those of you that bought you ring
elsewhere, this service is free of charge.
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