synth19

Diamond Experts-

Okay guys, looking for some help with engagement rings, well actually just diamonds. I originally was looking for a 1.5 ct princess cut center stone, but now gf doesn’t like how it looks on her..and wants something smaller, around 1ct… She has very small fingers and thinks 1.5 or more looks gaudy on her... never thought I’d hear a girl say that! lol I got a call from my jeweler and she gave me some specs. I think I’m pretty versed in the C’s, but I’m still puzzled by the definitions of the cut “excellent/Very Good/Good/etc”


I’ll have to check these out in person, but so far I have these….what do you guys think (I just want the best quality):

1.04ct F/VS2 (Excellent Cut)
1.07ct G/VS2 (Good Cut)
1.0ct G/VS2 (Good Cut)
1.08ct H/VS2 (Good Cut)

Best clarity she found was VS2/VS1, should I ask her to look for something in the VVS range or higher, does it make a difference?

1SICKLEX

The 4 Cs but you said you read that. WHere R U buying from? Does she knows what kind of cut does she want? Clarity is big. Go to a cheap jewelry store in the mall and you will see how bad shit can get. This will give you a better idea of clarity and a quality diamond.
You will pay for color if she wants some.

synth19

^ Independent jeweler, wholesale diamond dealer..all diamonds will be GIA and or HED certified.

Chinisimo

dude, i think this ring will rock her world!


hell yeah!

1SICKLEX

Good stuff. Then to the naked eye, no one will be able to tell a think with that kind of clarity. What will matter is the cut she want? Princessm cut for example keep in mind cosmetic diamonds like gold were at one time meaningful because they were rare, but now DeBeers, apart from being an evil organization, can crank out all the diamonds the world wants and only limits supply to keep prices high. Cosmetic diamonds are a GIANT rip-off.
Also, if you have an alternative stone to the diamond, I'd go for the alternative. DeBeers is one very crooked operation. "3 months salary" is their guideline and it's all marketing BS. Prices are stabilized by these big conglamorates. If you do buy, DO NOT EVER GO TO THE MALLS OR RETAIL OUTLETS - THEY'RE CROOKS. Instead, a small office dealing with diamonds is your best bet. Don't fall for the marketing BS either when they show you the "rapport sheet" - it's the RETAIL price they're showing you, not the real price (almost half) of what the dealer is paying to get the stone. There's alot of marketing twisting going around, especially with the good old diamond.

I'd suggest you take a look at the National Geographic book - look for a cover with diamonds on top of a strawberry I think January 2002 (go to a library) . . Very enlightening on the diamond sales and money is funneled to the "bad guys". People literally working with missing limbs, etc. RESEARCH before jumping in. DeBeers wrote a rebuttal in a later issue, but National Geographic has the facts right. DeBeers is afraid of losing sales - and they are after the article appeared.

1SICKLEX

So what cut does she want?

synth19

she wants round cut.

1SICKLEX

Your fine then. You don't need to pay for the extra clarity. If it was a emerald cut, watch out! Also the setting will play a part in the color of the stone that you can get away with. I bought a platinum setting with baggettes and I had to go with an E color b/c anything less made the stone look yellow in contrast with the band. Good luck dude.

dallison

i went with D in color and SI2, but the stone was eye clean. so if you looked at it from the top you saw a perfect diamond. from the side you could see a line down near the bottom , i think its called a twinning wisp,
like i said from the topit looked perfect, and theres no one really that would sit there and say let me see the sides.

from now on i will buy only D or E in color, and clarity just depends on the flaw and location

Scrib

pricescope.com has a TON of shit on their site, including prices, etc.

However, you might want to PM me. I may be even to help you better.


My wife's ring got recently stolen when we moved, so I had to file an insurance claim. SUCKED a big fat ass. However, in the end it all worked out as she got a much larger stone.

Don't go less than VS2, with a minimum of G color. You're gonna pay bigtime for the D-F color however, so G is not a bad substitute. Anything over 1ct will carry a carat premium, so watch out for that.

If you find stones, pricescope has a tool on there to tell you if the stone is worth the premium you'll be paying. Get all the info you can, table, depth, pavilion, culet, facet, etc...

I did a shitpot of research before I bought, even though it was my second time. So I'm pretty familar looking at the numbers, price, etc. what's good and what's not. PM me if you'd like.

dallison

that pricescope is nice, just like pricegrabber cept for jewelry

charlesgage

Scrib, if i remember right knows his stuff. But seriously the cut is what i found mattered to me the most, because that is what determines brilliance and fire (shinyness). You can also try bluenile.com and whiteflash.com I had a thread similar to this and someone pointed out to look at a .92 because there is a premium on a Carat. I bought the .72 and it is only a mm different than a .92, but seriously get an ideal cut, none of this very good / excellent crap.

Scrib

bluenile is high compared to other online shops.

dallison

whiteflash.com has nice rocks and prices

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

This man speaks the truth. My wife has a 1.54 princess/emerald cut (the table is larger then a standard princess cut [comparible to a 1.75 stone], so it's kind of a combo of both cuts). Clarity is important, but you can save some serious cash by going with a VS1 or VS2 instead of something higher. The color will be one of the most important factors on the appearance of the diamond. My wife's main stone is a VS2 (although it was apraised as a VS1) clarity and an E color. To the eye, and even under a 10x loop, we couldn't tell the difference between a VVS1 and a VS2 (both stones were E color), so we save a ton by going with the VS2/E.

synth19

Thanks guys, I'll have to see all these stones next to each other and see what the best is...

Scrib and others- what measurements to I need to look out for in a round cut? I saw this on the link you provided, I assume this is an "ideal" cut:

Table Diameter: 52.4 - 57.5%
Crown Angle: 33.7 - 35.8°
Pavilion Angle: 40.16 - 41.25°
Girdle Thickness: Thin, Medium, Slightly Thick
Culet Size: None, Pointed, Very Small, Small, or Medium

What is a "good" cut? For a round stone, is there much of a difference from good to excellent?

synth19

^ oh, and what is depth?

synth19

What do you guys think of the quote:

HRD certified with side stones/white gold (she doesnt want platnium or regular gold), center stone specs: 1.04ct F/VS2 (Excellent Cut)

$7,500 (no tax)

Now what I need to do is figure out exactly what they define as "excellent cut"

edit: went to HRD's site.. they dont even have "excellent" as a criteria, "very good" is the best in terms of their cut criteria: http://www.hrd.be/files/productservices/cut.pdf

fishy?

1SICKLEX

Good move.

michimonster

Independant jewler/wholesaler is the way to go. Even if you dont like any settings they have, buy a diamond from them and take it somewhere else to be set. I recently got 1/2 carat diamond earrings. I was thinking 1/2 is nothing, but they are fairly large. If she has small hands I would say go with the smaller stone and then maybe get two side stones Good luck.

synth19

what do you guys think of this price?

dallison

how big are the side stones?

Scrib

That's a lot of beans for just over a carat. Unless there's a lot fo stuff on the sides...

What are the specs of the center stone?

Check my PM.

Scrib

Synth.. Clean out your PM f0000000.