Bling experts please help 2.0 GIA or 2.5 EGL ???

[Georgianight123]

Hi ladies,

This is one of the most important decisions that I’ve ever made in my life. Bling experts please help. I have never own an diamond in my life, and I hope with your expertise I will have a happily ever after with my soon to be husband ….. and my ring

So, My fiancé soon to be took me to the jeweler last Friday check out some stone. Meanwhile, we also found a couple stones on the Internet and jeweler agreed to price match and will bring it in for us to look at. So on this Tuesday, which is 36 hours from now, I will get to see my potential “ bling for life”. The only problem is that one of the rings is GIA 2.04/ I/ VSs2 or the other one is EGL 2.56 F/ VS1.

I cannot make a decision because the 2.5 looks much larger than the 2.0, but the GIA maybe better clarity than the EGL. I just hope that I will not make a decision that I may regret later.

THANKS LADIES

*** i did post this topic on different forum but did not get any reply, so here i am trying again***

 

[jillianfl]

I would say to you that a EGL "F" is not really going to be an F, according to everything I have read on here and elsewhere... Some people I have read found it to be a 2 shade difference with EGL USA, many say they have encountered 5 shade differences whether it was EGL USA or not (I have read EGL Isreal and Europe were the WORST), EGL is not as good as GIA IMO and many others' here on PS due to quality control/ grading problems like that. If YOU love it and that's what you want and you will be happy with it for the rest of your life then go for it, hard decision I know if you are going for size and one is noticeably bigger than the other. You can always add a halo for a bigger presence

But someone can say the sky is green but it is really blue but someone calling it green doesn't just make it so (EGL saying it's really an F does not make it so just b/c they say so) EGL VS1 is also not likely to be the GIA standard VS1 either and would likely be lower clarity than that according to all of the other experiences I've read. But whatever color they "say" it is doesn't matter if you love it, just know that the labs and their standards and their grading systems are not the same, and if you were to try and resale it ever, it may be an issue of what you think you could/ should get for it vs. a GIA stone.

Here are some old threads you should read through before you buy, pay special attention to DenverAppraiser, RockDiamond, and OldMiner, they are reallyyyy knowledgeable. I have read other threads on it here but I can't find them. These links PS member Gypsy posted to someone who had a similar question (she is incredibly knowledgeable, too, the other 3 are trade, 2 of them are appraisers)

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/egl-certification-are-any-of-them-ok.142863/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/egl-certification-are-any-of-them-ok.142863/[/URL]

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/is-it-really-true-gia-ags-compared-to-egl.159873/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/is-it-really-true-gia-ags-compared-to-egl.159873/[/URL]

I personally would not buy a non GIA stone, but there are people who do and are very happy, it's about what makes you happy, AS LONG AS you understand what you are getting so you don't feel taken advantage of later. Also GIA stones are non treated in any way they don't grade stones that have been treated, if I'm not mistaken I believe EGL will grade stones that could have been fracture filled or treated (someone correct me if I am wrong here?) So that is another issue, but I have read that, so that was another reason I stayed away along with the inconsistent grading...

If it were me I would not get the EGL. People who are super knowledgeable about diamonds in and out and do it for a living/ could do it for a living might know when there is a good EGL buy out there, but I would never feel comfortable buying one, with GIA I know what I am getting, and it IS what it says it is.

IMO, you could start over and always go down in clarity to an eye clean Si1 stone and get more size for you $$ that way. Look at some J's too even!! My first diamond I got a G VS2 and I wish I was on PS back then b/c I would have done it differently, I would have gone down on the color scale and down on the clarity and went for an even better cut and bigger size. But I did get a GIA one then, b/c even before I had read about EGL grading shadiness! BUT what matters is you love it AND you know what you are getting. If you love the EGL and YOU are comfortable with their practices, etc. then go for that one. Good luck let us know what you decide, big decision I know! But really I would at least consider seeing GIA Si1's, that could open up some new ones you haven't seen yet!!

 

[arkieb1]

Actually we did reply to you, so I have no idea where you got the no reply thing from, you just don't want to hear the answer.

EGL International misgrades diamonds - they have a MUCH softer system than GIA. So you are basically getting ripped off when you buy any EGL stone BECAUSE you don't know what you are getting. And YES they can be 5, 6, 7 or more the worst I know of is 9 grades out in colour and several (2 to 5) in clarity.

If you insist on wanting a larger stone a smarter option would be one of two things
1) Buy a lower coloured lower clarity GIA stone because if we are comparing apples to apples the stone is highly likely going to be the SAME as what your EGL stone really is. And most jewellers aren't stupid they know what the real colour and clarity is but they will lie to you if they can make more money on the EGL stone.
or 2) Take it to an Independent appraiser or take an appraiser with you or have the seller agree to send it to an appraiser for you or to GIA and you pay for it. Spending a few hundred dollars on this might save you thousands of $$$$$$. That way you will then know EXACTLY what you are getting.

I'll make the guess that if you shopped around and looked for a GIA graded stone that is a J/K SI1 in the same cut it is going to be comparable in price to the EGL stone and in quality as well. So why not just buy a GIA graded stone that is larger, ie 2.50+ carats with those specs and know from the outset what you are getting. Places like James Allen, Whiteflash, BlueNile, Good Old Gold, and Brian Gavin are suggested retailers for price comparisons and they sell better cut princess cuts as well.

How much is it? What is your max budget? You might be better off staring a thread called find me the best princess cut over 2.30 carats for whatever your budget is and every one will find you a GIA graded stone.

 

[jillianfl]

Hi Georgianight123, I see that the other poster replied that you did have replies before, I went in and read all the other replies on the original thread you posted, they were there and you got a lot of really great info posted on your old thread, but I can see that you are new here (so am I and when I first started posting I didn't notice that the box is always left unchecked where it says "Notify me when reply is posted" on the bottom before you hit submit, maybe that is what happened why you didn't think anyone replied to you when they really did.

I still hit submit so fast that I don't always notice that box is unchecked and then I have to go back and check the box so I do get notified of replies. I wish the automatically checked that box for you and let you decide if you want to uncheck it! So maybe that's why you didn't realize the posts were there because you weren't notified to check back that they were? But it sounds like the consensus is stay away from the EGL, I agree, and I agree with the other poster who said your best bet is to tell us your budget and people can search and let you know what they come up with!

Both of these princesses are 2.5 carat GIA and in the $11,800ish, even less if you wire the money... I have no idea what your budget is, what exactly you're looking for, just throwing a couple 2.5ers to you so you can see what low priced ones you can get by going down in color and to an Si1. If you are doing white gold for a setting, put a K color in unplated white gold it will look even whiter! But a GIA K will be a K.... The EGL F could be the SAME COLOR as these...

http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-5115976-2.50-carat-Princess-diamond-K-color-SI1-clarity.aspx

http://www.brilliance.com/node/2942507

IMO I would take a larger K over a smaller upper letter any day And one of them (I forgot to check the other) actually has medium fluorescence which is a GOOOOD thing to have in stones I/J and lower as it will appear even whiter with the fluorescence... I personally lovvve fluor. won't buy a diamond without it, and medium is perfect amount to make whiter anyway, it will not have the "milky" appearance that a very strong fluor may sometimes have, but it will make it seem even whiter

 

[kenny]

GIA, because you can believe the grades.