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Looking for advice, first pair of diamond studs

T

TheyCall

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
84
Hi All!
Long time lurker, occasional poster from back in the day when HCA was unlimited and complimentary to members. ha!
Anyways ...
I'm looking to buy my first pair of YG martini diamond studs for myself. Looking for advice. My budget is flexible, but I'm hoping to stay under $1500 incl. the setting ($175 BGD, 250 JA) and locking backs ($150 la poussettee, JA). I want little sparkle-bombs and I am not focused on size-maximizing.
I found the following pairs - what do y'all think? The JA rep recommended the 0.7CTW over the 0.8CTW. I'm open to other pairs as well, and other jewelers. I also found a set on BGD, I've linked those too.
BGD would stretch my budget by a few hundred dollars, but if (EVEN AT THESE SIZES) y'all think AGS000 is the definitely better buy, I would like to know. I'm lost at that issue, is it noticeable in these sizes? Are the JA ones a great buy, too?
 
I would eliminate the 2nd pair from your list due to their depth. Also, if you do a search for diamonds here on Pricescope you will be able to choose from stones that have an excellent HCA score, especially important for the JA stones. If you're buying CBI, ACA or BGD branded stones you don't need to worry. Here's what I came up with searching in your spec range-I or J color, VS2 or higher, .35 and up with EX for HCA score.

Diamond Search Results | Real-time Information on 1,000,000+ Diamonds | PriceScope

PriceScope's Diamond Search is the best place to find the best diamond prices. Search and compare over a million natural, lab and fancy color diamonds.
www.pricescope.com www.pricescope.com
 
Thank you @mwilliamanderson!!
I used my 3 free HCA (and paid for 1) on the JA stones and they were all under 2. I think the 0.35/0.7ctw set were both around 1 or 0.9 but I only screenshot the 0.9 HCA one. #ugh.
I'll go explore the list/search you provided. Thank you for helping!
 
HaloLove said:
Thank you @mwilliamanderson!!
I used my 3 free HCA (and paid for 1) on the JA stones and they were all under 2. I think the 0.35/0.7ctw set were both around 1 or 0.9 but I only screenshot the 0.9 HCA one. #ugh.
I'll go explore the list/search you provided. Thank you for helping!
Click to expand...

Earrings are something you are likely going to want to upgrade down the road so keep that in mind when choosing where to buy. Some companies require you to spend twice as much to upgrade, some allow you to only spend $1 more.

Here is the link to a recently written article on Proportions that you might want to read before making your purchase as well.

www.pricescope.com

Diamond Proportions

The physics of light-behavior within a diamond are reliably consistent, which means proportions measurements can be useful.
www.pricescope.com
 
HaloLove said:
Hi All!
Long time lurker, occasional poster from back in the day when HCA was unlimited and complimentary to members. ha!
Anyways ...
I'm looking to buy my first pair of YG martini diamond studs for myself. Looking for advice. My budget is flexible, but I'm hoping to stay under $1500 incl. the setting ($175 BGD, 250 JA) and locking backs ($150 la poussettee, JA). I want little sparkle-bombs and I am not focused on size-maximizing.
I found the following pairs - what do y'all think? The JA rep recommended the 0.7CTW over the 0.8CTW. I'm open to other pairs as well, and other jewelers. I also found a set on BGD, I've linked those too.
BGD would stretch my budget by a few hundred dollars, but if (EVEN AT THESE SIZES) y'all think AGS000 is the definitely better buy, I would like to know. I'm lost at that issue, is it noticeable in these sizes? Are the JA ones a great buy, too?
Click to expand...

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that BGD has fantastic sales during the holidays. I know waiting sounds terrible, but I was in the same boat last year. They had a 10% percent off the diamonds for earrings or a necklace and a free setting. It goes down to 7 % if you don’t do bank transfer, but it’s still a nice discount. I ended up getting a black by Brian Gavin Diamond necklace. I hate waiting, so I’m not trying to talk you out of it, just thought I’d let you know :)
 
jewels4life said:
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that BGD has fantastic sales during the holidays. I know waiting sounds terrible, but I was in the same boat last year. They had a 10% percent off the diamonds for earrings or a necklace and a free setting. It goes down to 7 % if you don’t do bank transfer, but it’s still a nice discount.
Click to expand...

Oh geez. I forgot about that; I get their emails every year. Knowing how high-quality BGD diamonds are … if I wait till my birthday or Christmas, it would take a lot of the stress out of it. And wow! I don’t remember seeing the sale that included a free setting and a percentage off, that’s a great deal.
But oh man, the wait!
 
HaloLove said:
Oh geez. I forgot about that; I get their emails every year. Knowing how high-quality BGD diamonds are … if I wait till my birthday or Christmas, it would take a lot of the stress out of it. And wow! I don’t remember seeing the sale that included a free setting and a percentage off, that’s a great deal.
But oh man, the wait!
Click to expand...

Girl I know! It’s torture ! They had so many sales, I can’t even remember them all. I’m signed up for texts too . I think it’s a 20 days of Xmas sales or something. I’m currently asking Santa ( wink wink) to get me a pair this Xmas. Fingers crossed I have endless amounts of patience, except when it comes to getting jewelry. 1 day feels like a month
 
I just helped my cousin buy a pair of studs from Whiteflash with almost the exact same stats as you are looking for. She ended up getting.37 J VS1/VVS2 diamonds. They are just lovely and look white. I know she will want to upgrade eventually so it's good she went with Whiteflash:)
 
lulu_ma said:
I just helped my cousin buy a pair of studs from Whiteflash with almost the exact same stats as you are looking for. She ended up getting.37 J VS1/VVS2 diamonds. They are just lovely and look white. I know she will want to upgrade eventually so it's good she went with Whiteflash:)
Click to expand...

Their upgrade policy is pretty amazing.
 
Ok girl, I don’t want to steer you wrong, so I just checked my actual account to see exactly what it was. So, it was 175 towards a setting and 10 percent of the diamond. I only got 7 because I didn’t do the wire transfer thing. You could use both deals at once and it was Black Friday sale , not Xmas. So it’s a month sooner!
 
I would definitely go for the BGD. Their stones are GORGEOUS.
I do not care for either of the other stones… first set too large table to depth for my liking, second pair the tables don’t match.
 
I had a pair of studs from BGD that were 0.625 tcw and they were definitely sparkle-bombs even at that small size! Like other super-ideal cut stones, their light return is edge-to-edge so they can appear larger (especially when seen from a distance as earrings usually are). BGD CS was very responsive and accomodating, and their benchwork is precise and high-quality. The settings I had were handmade milgrain bezels, and I was quite impressed with the craftsmanship (enough to gift my mom a similarly bezeled Barbara pendant). I admire how thin and elegant they make their bezels, and the milgrain is detailed and consistent.

That being said, the BGD upgrade policy is more restrictive than others (e.g. Whiteflash), so if you think you would consider upgrading later, you might want to keep that in mind. Personally, for this reason, I chose Whiteflash for the studs I‘m planning on upgrading over time. Since you describe these as your “first pair of diamond studs”, are you thinking you might want a different pair down the road?
 
Last edited:
MiniMinerva said:
Since you describe these as your “first pair of diamond studs”, are you thinking you might want a different pair down the road?
Click to expand...
Excellent question. I don’t really anticipate upgrading them, but it’s also not out of the question. I included the wording first pair of diamond studs because I wanted to describe how new I am at choosing a matched pair and that I’ve never chosen a diamond for a stud earring before.
I’ll look into the upgrade policy at BGD. Thank you for bringing that up.

Oh! And thank you for sharing your experience with the diamond studs from a distance!
 
headlight said:
I would definitely go for the BGD. Their stones are GORGEOUS.
I do not care for either of the other stones… first set too large table to depth for my liking, second pair the tables don’t match.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the input! I’m certainly leaning that way.
 
HaloLove said:
Excellent question. I don’t really anticipate upgrading them, but it’s also not out of the question. I included the wording first pair of diamond studs because I wanted to describe how new I am at choosing a matched pair and that I’ve never chosen a diamond for a stud earring before.
I’ll look into the upgrade policy at BGD. Thank you for bringing that up.

Oh! And thank you for sharing your experience with the diamond studs from a distance!
Click to expand...

Makes sense! The upgrade policy at BGD is still very good. The official requirement is an upgrade in 2 out of the 3 C’s (carat/color/clarity). In addition, BGD says they are “very flexible” about upgrades even though they will not commit to anything less stringent than their stated policy.
 
I went with Whiteflash, so happy I did. They were amazing, just like with my wedding band.
Check out my 0.6CTW J VS1 ACA (0.3 each) yellow gold “martini” studs with petite claw prongs!
Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it.
36BB569C-9576-438A-930C-F593DC891982.jpeg1A14C095-47C9-4F83-A2AD-91E17789C0D8.jpeg
 
Congrats they look stunning on you!
 
They look lovely on you and larger than their carat weight! You were blessed with tiny earlobes!
 
They are just beautiful on you! Enjoy the sparkle!
 
Gorgeous on you!
 
Really pretty and look perfect on you
 
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