Hi all,
I have attempted to learn as much as I can about diamonds prior to purchasing an engagement ring, and at this point I think I've learned just about all I can from the materials available freely online. Having found what is (in my extremely ill-informed opinion) the ideal diamond for my preferences and finances, I was hoping to get some more expert commentary on it so that I can find out all the wrong ways I'm thinking about this.
Without further ado, the stone I'm looking at is this one (see the GIA and GCAL certs):
http://www.bluenile.com/princess-cut-diamond-1-carat-signature-ideal-cut-f-color-vs1-clarity_LD02246781?eid=1620
I'm using Blue Nile because their website is excellent when it comes to searching for a very specific set of criteria.
I am locked in by the special lady's preferences to a princess cut and a platinum band, and I am locked in by my own finances to the 1 carat price zone. I am able to afford just about any diamond in that size range, i.e. $5 to $10k. Since I can afford it, my thought process was to require Blue Nile's "signature ideal" cut right off the bat, as this is the most important of the four C's. I'm not going to spend thousands of dollars for a diamond with no fire or sparkle. As far as color, I was willing to go with anything G or better, although I recognize that E and D are, for a person like me or the special gal, indistinguishable from F. This diamond happens to be an F. I also limited myself to VS1 or higher, again simply because I can afford it and this seems to be other people's cut offs. I could probably relax this criterion and not notice much difference. My eyes are not microscopes, after all. Finally, I required that the girdle not be too thick (no worse than "slightly thick").
When I apply this filter to Blue Nile's inventory, I get a few dozen diamonds starting at around $7k and reaching as high as $9k. Girdle is not technically searchable, so many of these can also be eliminated. What I then did was I hand-picked about a half dozen, looked at the GCAL certifications, and found the one with the best optical brightness map. The link above shows that diamond. As an example of another diamond that meets my criteria but whose optical brightness appears inferior, see this:
http://www.bluenile.com/princess-cut-diamond-1-carat-signature-ideal-cut-f-color-vvs1-clarity_LD02919974?eid=1620
This diamond is actually a VVS1, but notice how much more blue there is in the optical brightness map. My main question, aside from general comments about the stone I selected and my thought process in arriving at it, is how much stock should be put in the GCAL optical brightness map as a kind of "tie-breaker" between diamonds that look good by the numbers. Is there a different criterion I should use instead? If you think the rock I picked is lousy, please, please do share with me why you think so. I would tremendously appreciate any and all responses as I prepare to spend an entire year's savings!
I have attempted to learn as much as I can about diamonds prior to purchasing an engagement ring, and at this point I think I've learned just about all I can from the materials available freely online. Having found what is (in my extremely ill-informed opinion) the ideal diamond for my preferences and finances, I was hoping to get some more expert commentary on it so that I can find out all the wrong ways I'm thinking about this.
Without further ado, the stone I'm looking at is this one (see the GIA and GCAL certs):
http://www.bluenile.com/princess-cut-diamond-1-carat-signature-ideal-cut-f-color-vs1-clarity_LD02246781?eid=1620
I'm using Blue Nile because their website is excellent when it comes to searching for a very specific set of criteria.
I am locked in by the special lady's preferences to a princess cut and a platinum band, and I am locked in by my own finances to the 1 carat price zone. I am able to afford just about any diamond in that size range, i.e. $5 to $10k. Since I can afford it, my thought process was to require Blue Nile's "signature ideal" cut right off the bat, as this is the most important of the four C's. I'm not going to spend thousands of dollars for a diamond with no fire or sparkle. As far as color, I was willing to go with anything G or better, although I recognize that E and D are, for a person like me or the special gal, indistinguishable from F. This diamond happens to be an F. I also limited myself to VS1 or higher, again simply because I can afford it and this seems to be other people's cut offs. I could probably relax this criterion and not notice much difference. My eyes are not microscopes, after all. Finally, I required that the girdle not be too thick (no worse than "slightly thick").
When I apply this filter to Blue Nile's inventory, I get a few dozen diamonds starting at around $7k and reaching as high as $9k. Girdle is not technically searchable, so many of these can also be eliminated. What I then did was I hand-picked about a half dozen, looked at the GCAL certifications, and found the one with the best optical brightness map. The link above shows that diamond. As an example of another diamond that meets my criteria but whose optical brightness appears inferior, see this:
http://www.bluenile.com/princess-cut-diamond-1-carat-signature-ideal-cut-f-color-vvs1-clarity_LD02919974?eid=1620
This diamond is actually a VVS1, but notice how much more blue there is in the optical brightness map. My main question, aside from general comments about the stone I selected and my thought process in arriving at it, is how much stock should be put in the GCAL optical brightness map as a kind of "tie-breaker" between diamonds that look good by the numbers. Is there a different criterion I should use instead? If you think the rock I picked is lousy, please, please do share with me why you think so. I would tremendously appreciate any and all responses as I prepare to spend an entire year's savings!