Please Assist in Sourcing RB from BN ($25K Budget, ~2 Carats)

[Lykame]

It’s a lot of fun and you can dream while helping someone else spend his/her money. Lol

Haha isn't that the truest thing? I'm definitely living vicariously! Honestly HPDiamonds gives me palpitations.

I'm based in England so for some reason I can't see the stats for any of the diamonds you have kindly posted. I used USA settings to do my search and really couldn't find anything... Everything (well not quite) had a crown angle of 36 degrees haha.

 

[LoveWins]

Oh my gosh searching for diamonds is so delicious.

For example:

Okay I know Whitewave posted this one too but yes, drool... (although I do note it's on hold?)
1.87 F SI1 - wire price $24,018
https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD10112

1.76 E VS2 - wire price $24,774
https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD10253

HPDiamonds definition of eye-clean is (and all their diamonds meet this criteria):
No characteristics visible to a person with normal 20/20 vision viewing the diamond in the face-up position, at a distance of 25cm (10 inches), under normal overhead lighting.

(ETA prices - oops, those are important huh).

If you decide to go go with HPD note that Wink has got to be the most transparent amazing person ever. He has spent several hours on the phone with me, too many emails to count, not to mention videos and pics combined with patience and truth when looking at diamonds. I'm huge on customer service and authenticity so for me HPD gets an A++++. You will not be disappointed in dealing with (Jamie, Layla, Melissa) I think you will be satisfied using them. If clarity is huge for you I suggest not going lower than a VS2. Good luck, and I can't wait to see what you guys select from BN, or other vendors mentioned above.

 

[CJMT2018]

If you decide to go go with HPD note that Wink has got to be the most transparent amazing person ever. He has spent several hours on the phone with me, too many emails to count, not to mention videos and pics combined with patience and truth when looking at diamonds. I'm huge on customer service and authenticity so for me HPD gets an A++++. You will not be disappointed in dealing with (Jamie, Layla, Melissa) I think you will be satisfied using them. If clarity is huge for you I suggest not going lower than a VS2. Good luck, and I can't wait to see what you guys select from BN, or other vendors mentioned above.

Customer service is huge for me, as well! Thank you for the feedback. I really thing HPD is the vendor to go with. More to follow on this in the next few posts. Nothing has progressed yet, but I am going to try and sell the G color HPD to the boyfriend.

 

[CJMT2018]

A super ideal H won’t be like an “excellent” H. It will be much whiter. This is a 1.83 ACA I (one color step down) from White Flash on my hand:

Gorgeous and great finger coverage! What size is your finger, if you don't mind me asking?

To get a sense of super-ideals and their options, you could visit a Hearts on Fire dealers (leave your wallet at home...we call them wallets on fire). Also, its a significant budget, would a trip to be possible? Both WF and BGD are located close enough to visit both in Texas. Good Old Gold is out on Long Island.

Great idea! I will look up Hearts on Fire dealers in the area, without bringing his wallet. Lol! Given our summer schedule, a trip to Texas may not be possible, so their offer of sending the diamond to us with paid shipping and insurance, is likely the way to go. Being that I am currently HPD's biggest fan, going to LI may not be necessary, but boyfriend does have family out there!

You have to see a super idea G-H-I-J in person before rejecting it. I had a super ideal K CBI to start with and it was white. (It was too small lol).

With all due respect, your BF needs to see them in person. A super ideal is a different animal.

Read here and watch this video. I’m sure whiteflash has similar information on their website.
https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/education/education-color

The link and video were so informative! I continued to click on the links within the article and learned so much about HPD's criteria for their diamonds, and I am completely sold. I haven't had the chance to show my boyfriend the color scale of HPD's diamonds against Soft/AGS color standard yet, though. We have a bunch of projects currently in the works unrelated to our diamond search, so there will certainly be a delay in his review and purchase, but I will certainly keep you all updated!

 

[CJMT2018]

I'm going to work hard to sell him on either of these. I'll send the link from HPD, so he's better informed on their diamonds.

• https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD7430
• https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD8606

 

[ohsomethingshiny]

Gorgeous and great finger coverage! What size is your finger, if you don't mind me asking?

My ring finger is a 5-1/4.

 

[whitewave]

It

I'm going to work hard to sell him on either of these. I'll send the link from HPD, so he's better informed on their diamonds.

• https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD7430
• https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD8606

Ask Wink or Melissa to make and send you a video! I’m sure they will be more than happy to do it— they have always sent me a video for diamonds I am interested in.

 

[latte_espresso]

Hi! Welcome to PS.

I came in here with a similar budget and eventually went with High Performance Diamond and got a H, Si1. When I first began my research, I was convinced that I need to be at Vs1 or above, however after looking through a number of diamonds, I realized that you can have "eye clean" Si1 or Si2 clarity diamonds. It all depends on the vendor, and it's best that you look at the diamond yourself to be the judge. In my opinion, it's great that you're going through this process because you'll be the ultimate wearer, and you can be decider on whether or not you can live with this ring forever.

You'll probably hear similar stories about other vendors, but wanted to reassure you that Wink and his team from HPD are extremely responsive and quick. They sent a few diamonds over to New York for me to view without adding pressure to buy (which is greatly appreciated given that this is a sizeable purchase)

I wish you the best of luck, and I'm glad you were able to get out of the Blue Nile fixation.

 

[CJMT2018]

Here is the stone we really liked when we were in Mervis last week. HCA score is 1.7! We did love it until we saw whiter diamonds and knew we wanted to go a little higher in color.

G/SI2/2.18
$22,585.56
https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=7288436418&s=1530843705363

Here is another stone we liked, but was too small. HCA score is 3.1. Higher in color and quality, but strong blue. If I am assessing correctly, with that HCA score and the strong blue, the significant increase in price between the 2 diamonds seems a little silly.

D/VS2/1.60
$24,360
https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=6137419673

 

[CJMT2018]

Hi! Welcome to PS.

I came in here with a similar budget and eventually went with High Performance Diamond and got a H, Si1. When I first began my research, I was convinced that I need to be at Vs1 or above, however after looking through a number of diamonds, I realized that you can have "eye clean" Si1 or Si2 clarity diamonds. It all depends on the vendor, and it's best that you look at the diamond yourself to be the judge. In my opinion, it's great that you're going through this process because you'll be the ultimate wearer, and you can be decider on whether or not you can live with this ring forever.

You'll probably hear similar stories about other vendors, but wanted to reassure you that Wink and his team from HPD are extremely responsive and quick. They sent a few diamonds over to New York for me to view without adding pressure to buy (which is greatly appreciated given that this is a sizeable purchase)

I wish you the best of luck, and I'm glad you were able to get out of the Blue Nile fixation.

Thank you! Do you have a thread with the diamond?? My boyfriend was trying to ruffle my feathers asking me to compare BN to HPD. I wasn't having it!

 

[Lykame]

Here is the stone we really liked when we were in Mervis last week. HCA score is 1.7! We did love it until we saw whiter diamonds and knew we wanted to go a little higher in color.

G/SI2/2.18
$22,585.56
https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=7288436418&s=1530843705363

Here is another stone we liked, but was too small. HCA score is 3.1. Higher in color and quality, but strong blue. If I am assessing correctly, with that HCA score and the strong blue, the significant increase in price between the 2 diamonds seems a little silly.

D/VS2/1.60
$24,360
https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=6137419673

For the first stone you liked, bear in mind that the first inclusion listed in the stone is twinning wisps, making it the main clarity issue, and it's possible it may affect stone light performance. Would you be able to obtain ASET and Idealscope images? I can't see the inclusion plot.

Also it would be the type of stone where you would need either a really reliable expert to say it was fine - for example if it was an HPD stone and Wink said it was fine, it sounds like from what has been said about him and the company here, it would indeed be fine! Or you would need a very knowledgeable independent appraiser to say it was fine.

Also beware the dangers of having developed all this Pricescope knowledge! Once you know this kind of stuff it can make you at risk of really thinking like you've settled for something that wasn't as beautiful as your budget could have obtained! Please at least organise to see at least one superideal cut diamond in person, preferably a stone in the slightly lower colour range so that you can make some choices that work for you.

Also I think it's safe to say you can exclude the D from your choice, you'll get bigger for your money by going lower in colour, even if that ends up being F. Also again someone would have to carefully check it for the affect the fluorescence had on the stone, and not only that but depending on the upgrade policy of where you buy, stones with strong blue fluorescence can be very hard to move on if you ever decide to do that. Personally I don't believe that should be the case but unfortunately it is an issue. For this budget please use a vendor with a great upgrade policy!

 

[CJMT2018]

For the first stone you liked, bear in mind that the first inclusion listed in the stone is twinning wisps, making it the main clarity issue, and it's possible it may affect stone light performance. Would you be able to obtain ASET and Idealscope images? I can't see the inclusion plot.

Also it would be the type of stone where you would need either a really reliable expert to say it was fine - for example if it was an HPD stone and Wink said it was fine, it sounds like from what has been said about him and the company here, it would indeed be fine! Or you would need a very knowledgeable independent appraiser to say it was fine.

Also beware the dangers of having developed all this Pricescope knowledge! Once you know this kind of stuff it can make you at risk of really thinking like you've settled for something that wasn't as beautiful as your budget could have obtained! Please at least organise to see at least one superideal cut diamond in person, preferably a stone in the slightly lower colour range so that you can make some choices that work for you.

Also I think it's safe to say you can exclude the D from your choice, you'll get bigger for your money by going lower in colour, even if that ends up being F. Also again someone would have to carefully check it for the affect the fluorescence had on the stone, and not only that but depending on the upgrade policy of where you buy, stones with strong blue fluorescence can be very hard to move on if you ever decide to do that. Personally I don't believe that should be the case but unfortunately it is an issue. For this budget please use a vendor with a great upgrade policy!

I saw those wispies from the bottom and some clear inclusions from the top when looking closely, and I wasn't happy with that. She told me it wouldn't bother her, as I am assuming, she wanted to persuade me to accept a diamond lower in clarity than I am comfortable with.

I have decided, though, that Mervis is not for us. I have told my boyfriend HPD/CBI IS the vendor. I provided him with the 2 stones whitewave found, but sadly, the 2.15 is on hold!!!

Boyfriend even said yes to an I colored diamond from HPD!!!! I saw a 2.32 last night. I wanted to ask your guys' opinion, but the AGS report with all the little inclusions did scare me a bit.

I also told boyfriend that because he has the links to both diamonds, to take it from here. I was insistent that he have at least 1 diamond sent to the house to take a look at in person. *fingers crossed* I also told him to get in touch with Wink, and if he feels more comfortable going smaller in weight to go higher in other categories, he can take that liberty. I am sure Wink and/or whomever he is in contact with will educate him well. I shared with him the strict grading requirements for CBI diamonds, how they face up whiter, and that cut is king! Hehe, let's see how he does... He asked me if I wanted to go to Europe in a few weeks! I know he wants to propose whilst on vacation!

 

[whitewave]

I’m actually looking at a K color diamond again at HPD lol. I love my asscher to bits, but I keep thinking I want a 2+ HPD also. There is a K SI somewhere there I keep going back to. I say that only because all of my current diamonds are D-G. I keep remembering how white the k from hpd was.

However, for you I am not suggesting a K since going to the lower more buttery colors is what I call an advance topic. To me, D-G is like morning sunshine and h-K is like evening sun. Same white, different hue.

I did buy my daughter a small I from blue Nile and now that it is set, I can’t tell the i from the E’s I used to have. So I think an I, especially from HPD,is a definite possibility.

So remember, anunset diamond might show more color than a set diamond.