2ct eye-clean "white" GIA round diamond for $20k?

[kay1]

If you're considering I colour, there's a lot more options, for example:

2.22 ct / I / VS2 / HCA 2.4 / $18,428
http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-i-color-vs2-clarity_LD03892049

 

[jimyhoff]

If you're considering I colour, there's a lot more options, for example:

2.22 ct / I / VS2 / HCA 2.4 / $18,428
http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-i-color-vs2-clarity_LD03892049

Oh no. More options. Did you know if you like to bluenile through fatwallet you can get 2% cash back?

Wow that looks like a really clear diamond. Strong Blue though? Is that too much?

 

[msop04]

If you're considering I colour, there's a lot more options, for example:

2.22 ct / I / VS2 / HCA 2.4 / $18,428
http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-i-color-vs2-clarity_LD03892049

Good find, kay1!! As long as the SBF doesn't negatively affect the stone, this is a much better buy!!

 

[jimyhoff]

I just held it. Thanks for your help!

I may take the weekend to go look at some GIA graded diamonds locally and make a final decision on whether I can live with I.

Great! I think that's a wise decision to see for yourself... (understand that you will be viewing the stone from the sides and from the top - face up), not face down.

I just did a side-by-side on my computer and the MF I looks identical in color to this nice VS2 H.
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.06-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-278522

 

[msop04]

If you're considering I colour, there's a lot more options, for example:

2.22 ct / I / VS2 / HCA 2.4 / $18,428
http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-i-color-vs2-clarity_LD03892049

Oh no. More options. Did you know if you like to bluenile through fatwallet you can get 2% cash back?

Wow that looks like a really clear diamond. Strong Blue though? Is that too much?

As long as it doesn't make it hazy/milky, that's the best case scenario for an I color to appear whiter!

 

[msop04]

I just held it. Thanks for your help!

I may take the weekend to go look at some GIA graded diamonds locally and make a final decision on whether I can live with I.

Great! I think that's a wise decision to see for yourself... (understand that you will be viewing the stone from the sides and from the top - face up), not face down.

I just did a side-by-side on my computer and the MF I looks identical in color to this nice VS2 H.
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.06-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-278522

...make sure to still see them in person.

 

[jimyhoff]

If you're considering I colour, there's a lot more options, for example:

2.22 ct / I / VS2 / HCA 2.4 / $18,428
http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-i-color-vs2-clarity_LD03892049

Oh no. More options. Did you know if you like to bluenile through fatwallet you can get 2% cash back?

Wow that looks like a really clear diamond. Strong Blue though? Is that too much?

As long as it doesn't make it hazy/milky, that's the best case scenario for an I color to appear whiter!

How do I know with Blue Nile before I buy it?

 

[kay1]

If you're considering I colour, there's a lot more options, for example:

2.22 ct / I / VS2 / HCA 2.4 / $18,428
http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-i-color-vs2-clarity_LD03892049

Oh no. More options. Did you know if you like to bluenile through fatwallet you can get 2% cash back?

Wow that looks like a really clear diamond. Strong Blue though? Is that too much?

As long as it doesn't make it hazy/milky, that's the best case scenario for an I color to appear whiter!

How do I know with Blue Nile before I buy it?

When you call them ask them about the particular stone. They told me they check for that before adding it to their list and make a note of stones like that. The downside of BN is they don't provide a idealscope etc, but they do have 30 days returns.

I used them on my previous stone with strong fluorescence, and they specifically told me about the whole milky thing without me asking (I was clueless back then!).

 

[pyramid]

Fluorescence will only make a diamond look whiter in sunlight or under a black light. In other lighting
scenarios it will look like any I color. You need to check what your girlfriend can see as in a 2 carat stone
it will be visible and especially from the side. I know I would not go below G, I have a half carat h stone and it
has always bothered me as all h color diamonds do.

 

[pyramid]

The larger the stone the more color shows as it is more saturated.

 

[kay1]

Take a look at this video though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzBGhkF5C4o

Make sure to watch it right to the end. When they tilt the stones near the beginning you think woah I can see the yellow, but then note towards the end they show an E next to a J. See the 'yellow' in the E suddenly?

Amazing what ambient light will do Just be careful when you see extreme pictures or a single extreme video, they can show false positives. I'm not saying J diamonds are not yellow, I'm just saying they're not as yellow as some pictures make them appear.

 

[pyramid]

Remember that all diamonds do not go towards yellow, some are grey, green or brown. Grading is always done
face down, when they look whiter face up that is the cut helping but the diamond is still the same color fry om the
side view. That is why halos are popular too as they can hide the side view of the stone.

Also it was mentioned earlier about comparing a m stone with an h and it looked the same on screen, diamond color
should never be compared on screen as different photos will look different due to camera settings, light and computer
monitors, probably other things too that I don't know about like temperature etc.

If you are just interested in how a diamond looks face up, then you are not interested in the rarity of the diamond's four c's,
would another stone be of interest? A diamond that is a D Flawless ideal cut is more expensive because it has a rarer combination a say L SI2 or L I1 even with ideal cut is more available and at a much lower price. I would rather have a really good quality sapphire or ruby rather than a lower colored and clarity stone. Things have changed but years ago on pricescope if you look at the old
Show me the ring posts, most people bought 1 carat F VS type stones or even smaller rather than go to J unless they wanted size as
the most important C.

 

[msop04]

OP, another thing to think about... more than a few vendors/PS members have mentioned that when several different colored diamonds (D-J) are placed in no particular order for viewing, some people will choose the G-H-I colors over the D-E-F colors -- they didn't know which was which, they just preferred the lower colors. Some like them, some don't... Unless she has a problem with the color, I don't see a need to disclose it unless she asks of course (at which point you could ask her about the color prior to answering -- after all, she may just wanna post the specs on PS!!).

Not that you should be "shady" or keep things from your FF, it's just that most people think I/J is dingy yellow (usually because they've seen crap diamonds at mall stores with soft grading, and were most likely looking at L/M color stones being sold as I/J), but when they see those colors IRL in a great cut, they automatically assume a higher color. Not all people... most people. By the same logic, if a stone is VVS1, but the person thinks it's an SI, they will look for inclusions and find an "imaginary" psychologically placed inclusion. Conversely, a person who has an SI (eye clean) is told the stone is VVS1... I doubt they'll ever find an inclusion because they're not looking for them. Again, not all people... I have a J, but most people assume it's an H or better. I've never had anyone (strangers, friends, family) say anything about it being "yellow" or "not as white" -- only how sparkly and white it looks. LOL ...you see where I'm going with this, I hope.

 

[kay1]

msop4: do you have a nice big picture of your ER you could post?

(I'm talking to you in so many threads i'm lost lol)

 

[msop04]

Remember that all diamonds do not go towards yellow, some are grey, green or brown. Grading is always done
face down, when they look whiter face up that is the cut helping but the diamond is still the same color fry om the
side view. That is why halos are popular too as they can hide the side view of the stone.
Also it was mentioned earlier about comparing a m stone with an h and it looked the same on screen, diamond color
should never be compared on screen as different photos will look different due to camera settings, light and computer
monitors, probably other things too that I don't know about like temperature etc.

If you are just interested in how a diamond looks face up, then you are not interested in the rarity of the diamond's four c's,
would another stone be of interest? A diamond that is a D Flawless ideal cut is more expensive because it has a rarer combination a say L SI2 or L I1 even with ideal cut is more available and at a much lower price. I would rather have a really good quality sapphire or ruby rather than a lower colored and clarity stone. Things have changed but years ago on pricescope if you look at the old
Show me the ring posts, most people bought 1 carat F VS type stones or even smaller rather than go to J unless they wanted size as
the most important C.

Although this is true regarding color, I wouldn't go so far as to say that's why halos are so popular. They're popular for a lot of reasons. Many people with D-F stones have a halo, just as there are those with 4+ ct stones that will halo those bad boys... I'm just saying that the choice of a halo setting isn't always "to make a diamond look larger" or "to mask a lower color."

Just as you may prefer a 1 ct D, IF... some would rather have a 2+ct H/J SI that is eyeclean. Personally, I don't like to pay for qualities that I can't see or appreciate.

 

[msop04]

msop4: do you have a nice big picture of your ER you could post?

(I'm talking to you in so many threads i'm lost lol)

Sure, kay1... just let me get home from work and I'd be happy to do so.

 

[heididdl]

Fluorescence will only make a diamond look whiter in sunlight or under a black light. In other lighting
scenarios it will look like any I color. You need to check what your girlfriend can see as in a 2 carat stone
it will be visible and especially from the side. I know I would not go below G, I have a half carat h stone and it
has always bothered me as all h color diamonds do.

Pyramis i am sorry to disagree my EC is 3.66 and is H color with blue floresence and it always looks more like G than an H ......so I guess each stone has its own characterisics regarding floresence.

 

[msop04]

Here ya go, kay1... I'll try to post several different lighting situations.

 

[kay1]

Wow that's huge What size finger are you? Also do you know what colour the smaller diamonds are?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Slightly over your budget (these are wire prices, you save a few % over CC):

2.02 / H / VS2 / HCA 2.7 / $21,132
http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-search?pt=setform&track=DiamondSearchRD#diamonds_pid=LD04195825

2.14 / H / VS2 / HCA 2.3 / $20815 (one i was considering)
http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-search?pt=setform&track=DiamondSearchRD#diamonds_pid=LD04113608

Note: something has to give! The HCA is close to 2 so they are worth looking at. Also look at the reports and confirm about the inclusions. They are VS2 so _should_ be eye clean.

Is Blue Nile offering idealscope images now? Because I would not recommend buying blind ever, but if someone does, the HCA score needs to be under 2.0 to have the best chance of the stone being good.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

jimyhoff, did you ask for the idealscope images for the James Allen stones? Please post them if you get them. If you want to go with H color, those will be your best bet. As you could see on the JA site, some diamonds were acceptable and others were not at all, so I would not advise buying from Blue Nile with the exception of their Signature stones that have a little more information.

 

[kay1]

Is Blue Nile offering idealscope images now? Because I would not recommend buying blind ever, but if someone does, the HCA score needs to be under 2.0 to have the best chance of the stone being good.

No they dont That's why I said somewhere (or maybe it was in another thread) it may be worth getting the stone to look at, but add shipping back and forth as a consideration.

As for the HCA, ALOT of diamonds with high scores can be amazing. Alot of AGS0 stones are not below 2. This is an old argument so let's not go into that but agreed that if you had a choice remotely you'd disregard stones higher than a certain number (say 2).

However, after talking to lots of experts they've all told me that close to 2 is worth a look. It's not the HCA that's necessarily flawed it's that the crown and pavilion angles are averaged and also taken from one side of the diamond only. So something that has close to 2 could easily actually have an amazing 'real' HCA score. Unless you have a laser measurement from a sarin machine the HCA score is _very_ rough. Incidentally if you do have measurements of all the angles you can actually generate a computer model of the ideal scope and the HCA score is less relevant.

From what I understand the above is exactly why _some_ stones with high HCA look amazing. The opposing crown and pavilion angles may work perfectly together, but in the report you are probably looking at an average of all angles or more likely cronw and pavilion measured from one side only.

 

[pyramid]

Fluorescence will only make a diamond look whiter in sunlight or under a black light. In other lighting
scenarios it will look like any I color. You need to check what your girlfriend can see as in a 2 carat stone
it will be visible and especially from the side. I know I would not go below G, I have a half carat h stone and it
has always bothered me as all h color diamonds do.

Pyramis i am sorry to disagree my EC is 3.66 and is H color with blue floresence and it always looks more like G than an H ......so I guess each stone has its own characterisics regarding floresence.

Maybe your diamond is a high H, you can have five color measurements within a color I was told. Fluorecense should
make a diamond more blue-white but only like two of your pictures do, the flourescense only reacts and shows in infrared lights . (black light or sunlight). You can see it disappear when you take a diamond away from a black light.
There is not enough of this in daylight to show and none in incandescent lighting.

 

[msop04]

Wow that's huge What size finger are you? Also do you know what colour the smaller diamonds are?

I'm a size 5-5.25 (depending on the type of band and thickness), but my ering is a size 5.5 because the shank is 3-4mm, I'm left-handed so that side is larger, and I knew I wanted to wear stackers sometimes (wring 5.25 and sapphire eternity 5). Whew! That was probably unnecessarily long, but that's just how I roll...

The pave stones in my ering are G-H... I was very concerned about the colors contrasting and wanted to special order I-J melee at first to "match my stone", but the truth is that it really doesn't matter as much in such tiny stones. They will always appear whiter/brighter than a center stone due to smaller facets (even when paired with D-F center stones). My ring is by Christopher Designs, and my SA said that they always use G/H pave stones unless otherwise requested (I'm assuming they do so because it keeps costs down and they look really white anyway). I am very pleased with how they look together though. The diamonds in my bands are F-H, depending... and they blend right in.

I have only been able to see a slight contrast at certain angles -- the same angles that I can see more tint in my stone (makes sense for a contrast). Honestly, I'd say I'm super happy with my J about 95% of the time -- the other 5% I'm happy and content with it, but on PS and fantasizing (read: obsessing) about getting a 10+mm H or I stone... but that's another thread. HA!

There are several PS members that have lower colored stones in the K/L/M range that have H+ melee and you can see a contrast sometimes, but it's not that big of a deal and most of them love it because of the contrast! I can't remember who it is, but one member has a VC Emilya with a K stone and it's gorgeous!

 

[Sparklelu]

Re: 2ct eye-clean "white" GIA round diamond for $20k?

Fluorescence will only make a diamond look whiter in sunlight or under a black light. In other lighting
scenarios it will look like any I color. You need to check what your girlfriend can see as in a 2 carat stone
it will be visible and especially from the side. I know I would not go below G, I have a half carat h stone and it
has always bothered me as all h color diamonds do.

I have 2 H , no flour stones and they are not yellow in any light at any angle.
One is 1.75 ct and one is 1.5ct

 

[pyramid]

Re: 2ct eye-clean

Fluorescence will only make a diamond look whiter in sunlight or under a black light. In other lighting
scenarios it will look like any I color. You need to check what your girlfriend can see as in a 2 carat stone
it will be visible and especially from the side. I know I would not go below G, I have a half carat h stone and it
has always bothered me as all h color diamonds do.

I have 2 H , no flour stones and they are not yellow in any light at any angle.
One is 1.75 ct and one is 1.5ct

My half carat H is not yellow but next to my G's it looks darker, not the same, maybe its hue is grey rather than the others
of yellow, brown and green. Most diamonds going down the scale I think veer to the yellow shades that is why you always here people saying yellow but there are other colors which make a diamond go down the color scale than yellow. I sometimes wonder when people say their J is white,from the side, if they don't know about the other hues a diamond possesses other than just yellow.
When I look at them I always notice a J is not as clear pure white as an F or maybe G. I remember looking at a J in a jeweller and
he described them as being more dry than a G and used the word sandy as well.

 

[jimyhoff]

I'll add another with fluro/HCA 1.5/MBF -- this is my fave so far!
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-dia...-i-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-248746

Well I was in NYC yesterday and bought this diamond. James Allen wouldn't let me come see it so I cancelled the hold and found another dealer that had the stone within a few hours for me to see (and buy). Even beat James Allen by $500. That diamond market is one crazy place.

It should be delivered tomorrow. Thanks for all the help in finding the right diamond. I'm very happy with this one.

 

[msop04]

I'll add another with fluro/HCA 1.5/MBF -- this is my fave so far!
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-dia...-i-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-248746

Well I was in NYC yesterday and bought this diamond. James Allen wouldn't let me come see it so I cancelled the hold and found another dealer that had the stone within a few hours for me to see (and buy). Even beat James Allen by $500. That diamond market is one crazy place.

It should be delivered tomorrow. Thanks for all the help in finding the right diamond. I'm very happy with this one.

That's great, jimyhoff!!! I'm so excited for you and even more glad you're happy!! Can't wait to see it!!!