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Need help with a ring. Experts like stone, yssie. etc?

S

shuang

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 15, 2010
Messages
8
I was hoping some of the pricescope users could help me out

budget 14-17k
looking for Round brilliant
best cut possible
1.7-2.0ct
wide parameters, G-I, VS-SI2,

I've been looking on James allen and whiteflash and blue nile.
I like JA the best for its pictures

i don't know how to evaluate steepness, proportions (i see 58%'s being ideal), etc.
So why not leave it in the hands of the talent in this forum?

I just want something (like everyone else), that just sparkles like crazy. brilliance/fire , just need something that even I can't pull my eyes off of.

Of her friend's I've seen 5 diamonds and only 1 of them sparkles all day long, in any room, environment.
That is most important to me!

Please help me find something amazing, Thanks!
 
 
haha I'm no expert ;)) will do the best I can here for you though.

First thing I would do is narrow your range of desired specs a bit. Obviously you can get a larger I SI2 or a smaller G VS2, so which is more important? Colour, clarity, or size? Best way to determine your (and her) tolerances & preferences re. colour are to go and look at some well-cut stones in your desired size range in person (if you have a Jared nearby check out their peerless collection). Focus on GIA and AGS graded stones - EGL USA is known to be somewhat loose in colour/clarity and EGL-I even more so, you likely won't see much of HRD here in the US.

Clarity - it is either eyeclean to your specifications or it is not. Decide what eyeclean means to you (clean face-up and through crown viewing angles from 8"? 12"? with 20/20 vision, in most lighting conditions.. clean from the side too? If you want that latter you'll likely have to jump to VS1+ in these sizes..)
If you decide to hunt SI2 stones I would suggest concentrating on the branded stones that vendors have in-house - in-house means they have them in hand and can check them over as you like, vs. virtual stones that they must call in from the virtual listings (gigantic listing of stones that many vendors can access, like BN's non-signature stones are listed in) - and you will have to pay for return shipping should the stone pass inspection and you choose to decline it.

Cut - you can use this tool https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca/ to weed stones (specifications for use say under 2 is worth further investigation, over 2 is not, I personally prefer a cutoff of 2.5, even 3.0 as some lovely proportion combinations do not score under 2 on the HCA.). Remember though - the HCA is binary and blunt: a 0.8 is not better than a 1.2, a 2.0 is not better than a 1.9...

slg found some nice stones in your price range! They all look lovely - would ask for retake of the hearts for the first and third WF options just to confirm.

Different vendors have different return/upgrade/trade-in/buyback policies, definitely something to check out. Many PSers prefer the various PS vendors to BN because BN's stones are mostly virtual (their signature stones carry a H&A premium but they will not provide photographs of the hearts) - and they do not have any upgrade or buyback policies. Some vendors to consider - WF and BGD as slg suggested, www.highperformancediamonds.com (the Infinity line of H&A stones), GOG - www.goodoldgold.com - they have 'traditional H&As', 'modified H&As' with a variety of proportions...


a few more

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/7786/

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1307972.asp
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1344175.asp (AGS ASET is nice, request IS & hearts from JA)
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1334668.asp (AGS ASET is nice, request IS & hearts from JA)

if you want to save a bundle you might inquire if this is eyeclean to your specifications http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2192369.htm
this is a little larger http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2531924.htm

good luck!
 
thanks great start! you are right, I need to narrow it down, but I wanted to see what you thought was your sweet spot.

It seems like definitely H and I
and H&A super ideal cuts. all AGS it seems

Some of those JA ags ideals are out of my price range. I think I am maxed out at 17k

definitely liking the H SI1 white flash.

I guess I would like a G, probably should get a H, and I'm afraid my woman might eventually notice the "I" color? I know in stores I can't tell until they are next to other diamonds.

I do like the gemex and isee reports on the goodoldgold stone.

Do you all think that since I'm so focused on the brill/spark/fire of the diamond,
that I should go with the Whiteflash/GOG stones as opposed to the JA diamonds? Or is the "true hearts" designation and idealscope/hearts enough to decide with?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
how do i compare
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1307972.asp

with
https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2372482.htm

and
should I be reassured that "I" is a safe color to buy?

thanksssss
 
yikes - I was looking at a different post and got the budgets all mixed up ;(


in any case - you can get a beautiful stone from JA - as beautiful a stone as a WF ACA or a GOG signature, but you need to weed through JA's inventory a bit more as their requirements are not as stringent.

GOG and HPD offer more information/reports/scans on their signature lines than most other vendors, but their stones do usually have higher pricepoints to offset this. Choose a stone by the IS and hearts image, have your rep look it over and make sure there is nothing of note - no durability issues (should not be a problem with branded stones but it doesn't hurt to confirm), eyeclean to your specifications.

I would think the average person would look at an I and see a white stone - unless it is compared directly to a higher colour, but your intended may not be an average person - truly, best way to find out what she prefers is to take her window shopping, or you can of course get the G to be safe, if you think she would not like a visibly tinted stone.


I think you would find that that JA and that WF would be indistinguishable in person - both are proportioned similarly and so would perform similarly - there will be nuances but it is not a matter of quality. The JA is obviously a VS2 for the same price as the WF SI1 (request retake of the hearts pic to confirm unevenness is just photography artifact) - but JA and WF do have different policies, WFs are more generous I believe. But, at this point, you are not comparing stone quality - you are comparing prices and vendors.
 
thanks appreciate it!

anyone else with any advice input or favored stones?
 
I recently had to replace my lost/stolen ering and wedding band. My original was "E" and I replaced it with an "I". When I looked at E and I stones side by side did I see a difference? Yes, however, my center stone ("I") is set between two "G" colored trapezoid side stones and I see no difference. I agree that you need to see how sensitive your gf is before you move forward. There is a big difference in price between a G and an I stone (clarity being equal). If you want the sparkliest stone possible, then it seems like cut is what you need to focus on. I'll defer to others on that, as I'm still cutting my teeth, but anxious to see what you end up purchasing!
 
(i'll ask for the scope pics)

what are your thoughts on medium blue fluorescence?
does it reliably help the "I" color stone?

Stone-cold 11's
medium blue http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1279942.asp
vs
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1345919.asp


medium blue http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=BLAGS-104047808003
vs
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-104044686001
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-1040399230059


also for a 4.5 ring size ... is there such thing as too big? i haven't even really looked at 2.2cts vs 2.0?


thanks i love the help, everyone on here is what is good about this world =)
getting close!
 
shuang|1292469660|2798203 said:
(i'll ask for the scope pics)

what are your thoughts on medium blue fluorescence?
does it reliably help the "I" color stone?

Stone-cold 11's
medium blue http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1279942.asp
vs
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1345919.asp


medium blue http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=BLAGS-104047808003
vs
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-104044686001
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-1040399230059


also for a 4.5 ring size ... is there such thing as too big? i haven't even really looked at 2.2cts vs 2.0?


thanks i love the help, everyone on here is what is good about this world =)
getting close!
Click to expand...

between the two JAs cant' tell much without the ISs for both - in the first, doubt what looks like a few leaky facets under the table in the photo would be visible/detract from beauty w/ stereo vision and a moving stone.. best to ask your rep once you get the ISs.

first BGD - request hearts. What do you think about fluor - if it is visible, it's only med so unlikely to have much effect in any lighting - best ask BGD this. Second is nice, third also looks nice but request hearts pic retake, you are paying for a H&A premium so you want to confirm v nice hearts


re. too big - all depends on what she wants, what is normal in your social and work circles, what you can afford... I have a 2.7 and I'm a size4 and I like it, but others would not - there is really no objective answer to this!
 
Medium fluor is not really that visible and fluor is not activated in most lighting conditions, only under lights with UV so do not depend on it to mitigate any tint in the stone.
 
So two of them were TERRIBLE. however the best one looked like this

how can I tell that this is good? no hearts and arrows images from JA
it seems like it is a decent idealscope?
can someone help me analyze it?

1345919id.jpg
 
IS looks good! Would expect a bright stone, lots of splintery flash.

Is it eyeclean to your specifications?
 
actually it turns out that its not quite the right color, size, and this is what they write. i think it can be pronged but there are two of them. actually looks closer to the SI2s than 1s? but the size is the issue

"Diamond 3 is the best of your three options. This diamond has a feather in the upper girdle/bezel facet that can be picked up on with the unaided eye; however, it blends and can be partially pronged to further distract from its presence. Most importantly; this diamond has the best light performance and is therefore brighter than your other selections."


i am actually looking at a different set of 3 diamonds and will get the idealscopes back next monday or tuesday they said.


Question. with an idealscope this nice, what would it look like under the HEARTS image?? i read that items with nice hearts can have a poor idealscope due to light leakage right? but still good symmetry and optics? And the opposite can be true where the idealscope is nice but it may have very poor hearts? True/false? and the real question SHOULD I CARE?

If next week i get an idealscope back on one of these new 3 that looks this nice, and it has HCA of <2.5 , eye clean, excellent or ideal cut .... then should i care if it makes hearts or just buy it knowing that it will have great performance in real life?

THANKS FOR THE HELP !!! I'm getting close. i can't wait to share with you what comes back on monday, i think one of the 3 will look nice
 
shuang|1292997588|2803502 said:
Question. with an idealscope this nice, what would it look like under the HEARTS image?? Does it matter? Hearts are not as relevant to light performance (though some argue otherwise if you get really technical) but perfect hearts are only needed if it is being sold as a heart and arrows stone, which this is not i read that items with nice hearts can have a poor idealscope due to light leakage right? This is true, though I don't think it is all that common, If the cutter took the time to make perfect hearts (symmetry of facets) he usually took the time to cut ideal proportions for light return too but still good symmetry and optics? And the opposite can be true where the idealscope is nice but it may have very poor hearts? True/false? and the real question SHOULD I CARE? So yes, technically, the angles that affect light return are distinct from symmetry of the cut. In practice, most diamonds that are branded H&A cuts also have great IS images, but many that have great IS images can have wonky hearts. The answer to your real question is: You should only care if you care ;)) It does not matter for practical purposes whether your hearts are perfect or not

If next week i get an idealscope back on one of these new 3 that looks this nice, and it has HCA of <2.5 , eye clean, excellent or ideal cut .... then should i care if it makes hearts or just buy it knowing that it will have great performance in real life? You should only care about hearts if you want an H&A. You do not need an H&A diamond to have a great sparkly stone.

THANKS FOR THE HELP !!! I'm getting close. i can't wait to share with you what comes back on monday, i think one of the 3 will look nice
Click to expand...
 
thanks that was a very informative response.

okay its come down to that time,
i'm gonna be selecting between a few on the websites.

i don't know how to "private message" people on this forum? it seems like it is not allowed?
**edited by moderator. please read our forum policies regarding posting personal information**

email me and let me know so i can send you some links to help me choose!
Best wishes these holidays
Steve
 
no PMs on PS.

just post the numbers and the relevant pictures, don't specify vendor/colour/clarity if you want to keep it anonymous.
 
Thanks Yssie

so I decided I'm going to go with BGD

1.748 I/SI1
1. http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-104045953004

thanks for the bgd recs
These are the other stones in the running

2. 13,995 I/VS2 1.718
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-104047809008

3. 14,615 H/S1 1.707
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-104047809006

4. 14,648 I/vS2 1.784
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-1040397620033


any reason to head upwards towards selections 2/3/4 ??
thoughts?
 
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