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Question about diamond color grades

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Babylon1023

Rough_Rock
Joined
May 28, 2002
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I've heard many people say that I should get an H or G rated diamond as a minimum for a good one carat round solitaire, but those things cost one to two thousand more than an I grade diamond! Can you even notice any tint to an I grade when mounted in a yellow gold ring? I'd spend the money if I knew it was worth it but somebody told me you'd have to be a gemologist to tell the difference between an I and an H. Any advice here?
 
From what I have heard as long as you are going with a completely yellow gold setting you should be fine with an I colored diamond. Here is an excerpt from the tutorial offered on pricescope.

Engagement rings - the choice of color

Your basic choice is white or yellow. Yellow gold is the traditional choice and this should be 18K. If you choose white then platinum is best, or if your budget is tight go for white gold. It is common the settings on yellow gold rings to be made in Platinum (or white gold).

Because platinum is very white, it shows off colorless diamonds beautifully. But diamonds of ‘I,J and K’ color or lower should be set in yellow gold, because the contrast with a white setting will make your diamond look a little yellowish.
 
Let me put it this way, here are the comparisons I'm up against. What would you guys pick, if all cuts are ideal?

G SI1 .90-.95 carat
I VS2 1.0-1.1 carat


That's the other thing, I'm stuck on clarity. I've heard some people say that SI1 is free of naked eye blemishes, and some people say I need a VS2 for that. I don't care what the thing looks like under a microscope, I just want it to look perfect to the naked eye. I want this thing to be beautiful, but I don't want to buy into qualities that only a gemologist can appreciate. Does a G grade really look any different than an I grade when mounted on a yellow gold ring? Likewise can you really see anything without a loupe on an SI1, or would a VS2 be a safer guarantee. The ring will be a six prong so side color/inclusions will be hard to notice.
 
Babylon1023, good SI1 should be ok especially when viewed from table side.

You probably will see a difference between loose G and I when comparing them side by side. In yellow gold setting both probably will look the same.

You might want to look at I-color diamond separately (best of all dropped in your setting) and see whether the color bothers you.

I-color is still considered near colorless. Many people are buying J and K. There is nothing wrong with that - just a matter of taste.

You can also try to do some extra work finding nice looking diamond outside AGS-ideal range. It can save you up to 20% of your money.
 
I don't necessarily mean AGS Ideal, but in the "Ideal" category most jewelers have set out. At Bluenile.com the Ideal class refers to diamonds with a total depth of 60.1-62.8% and a table of 53-57% with at least good polish and symmetry. Is that what I should be looking for? All I want is a completely eye clean diamond that looks as white, sparkly, shiny, and firey as is noticable by the average naked human eye. I want her to say "This is the shiniest, prettiest, and cleanest diamond I've ever seen!", not to mention YES!!! :)) I want it to look like the best, but its looks under a microscope can be damned as far as I'm concerned. I'm willing to pay money for something I can notice, but don't want to dump thousands into microscope grade qualites.

That being said, what should I look for in a one carat round to be set in six prong yellow gold? What are the minimums (or maximums for that matter) that I should look for here as far as color, clarity, and cut (polish/sym, table/depth %'s, etc.) are concerned? Which is the least important here (ex: Can you tell the difference between Good polish/symmetry and Ideal/Excellent, or should I shoot for at least Very Good in both)? What's worth spending extra money on besides cut? I'm dying here because none of my local jewelers carry any kind of variety of fine grade diamonds (mostly boring standard cut diamonds with SI2/I clarity), so I can't see them for myself! Any and all advice is GREATLY apprecieated here because I'm going nuts trying to find out what to look for in my $4500-$5500 budget. Please help!!!
 
Babylon1023, if you care about the cut you came to the right place. We are all "Cut Nuts" here :)



And especially these pages:





[/u][/u][/u][/u][/u]
 
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That being said, what should I look for in a one carat round to be set in six prong yellow gold? What are the minimums (or maximums for that matter) that I should look for here as far as color, clarity, and cut (polish/sym, table/depth %'s, etc.) are concerned?
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Which is the least important here (ex: Can you tell the difference between Good polish/symmetry and Ideal/Excellent, or should I shoot for at least Very Good in both)?
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Good polish should be enough. No expert can tell the difference between good and excellent polish with unaided eye.

Symmetry better than "good" is a plus but only after you found a diamond with ideal combination of crown and pavilion angles.[/u]
 
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I'm going nuts trying to find out what to look for in my $4500-$5500 budget. Please help!!!
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for 1.0-1.05 carat, G-H color, VS2-SI1 clarity and AGS0.

You'll see that $5,500 will buy you AGS-ideal stone maybe even with Hearts and Arrows.

to check whether the proportions are ok.

If you'll have a questions about particular vendors listed here, don't hesitate to ask openly on this forum or do a search for the previous consumers' feedback.

At the end, don't forget to share your experience with us.

:)[/u][/u]
 
You might want to try an I color diamond with some florecence if you are worried about color. Blue fluorescence can be an advantage, particularly in lower (below I) colored diamonds, because blue is the complimentary color to yellow. Adding blue compensates for yellow and makes the diamond appear whiter in any light that has an ultra violet component (e.g. daylight and halogen lighting). I found the following SuperbCert diamond below your price and in your size range using "Search by Cut quality", the only thing I would recommend is to see where the inclusions are to make sure they could not be seen by the naked eye.

1.03
I
SI2
0 (H&A)
SuperbCert
1-EX
ex-ex-ex-vg
60.9
55
34.5°
43.1%
GIA
1.3
pt
ex
ex
mb
$4088

The link to it is:

https://www.pricescope.com/origin.asp?id=225&sh=88&prc=4088
 
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You might want to try an I color diamond with some florecence if you are worried about color. Blue fluorescence can be an advantage, particularly in lower (below I) colored diamonds, because blue is the complimentary color to yellow. Adding blue compensates for yellow and makes the diamond appear whiter in any light that has an ultra violet component (e.g. daylight and halogen lighting).
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Great idea Larry :appl:
 
You might want to look at goodoldgold.com. This site is very informative, and shows pictures of the actual diamonds.

Here is one that is in your price range that I found when doing a quick search:

goodoldgold.com/1_026ct_g_si2_ags0.htm Price $5100

He also has a superbcert J color diamond in your price range. We recently purchased a 1.7 I color diamond, and we could not see the difference face up in the setting. My new I color ideal cut makes my non-ideal cut G color diamond look very yellow. We did set our I color in white gold - which as you will read here you should not do, but when comparing G to I color diamonds in settings (ideal cut) we could not see the difference. This is just what we found in our research and purchasing experience.

Let us know what you buy!

:))
 
I also got an I color diamond that had an excellent cut. The appraiser just kept saying that the diamond was brighter/whiter than he expected when comparing to his other stones. From the face up it's hard to tell and from the side you need a whiter stone to tell. I definitely can't tell when I compare it with my friend's.

If you need to see if with your eyes, just go to a reputable jewelry store and ask them to pull out two hearts & arrows, one of them an I color so you can do your own comparison.
 
I was recently at the mall browsing through rocks (not that I'd ever buy one from there but it was nice to actually SEE them for a change), and I thought I could see some yellow in an I stone, mostly from the side view. Topside it was pretty tough. Then again, the I rating was given by the IGI, and I'm not sure if their labs are trustworthy (ALL the stores use IGI for some reason, probably cheaper).
 
IGI may not be as strict as GIA. They have another advantage for dealers- they are quicker and less costly than GIA.
 
So I take it H is the agreed comfortable minimum for gold mounted whiteness? I'll go to a G or F if I have to or if I'll notice a difference (worth the xtra hundreds of $$$ of course).
 
My new I color ideal cut makes my non-ideal cut(mall diamond) G color diamond look very yellow. We did set our I color in white gold - which as you will read here you should not do, but when comparing G to I color diamonds in settings (ideal cut) we could not see the difference. This is just what we found in our research and purchasing experience.

:))
 
If you are looking for the least expensive diamond that will look great I think you would be happy with a good cut (HCA less than 2), I color, GIA or AGS graded, SI1 diamond set in yellow gold.
 
if you don't care what a diamond looks like under a microscope, go with an eye clean SI. they're such a better value. you could go up a grade in color...lots of SIs are eye clean. but still, if you put a fabulously cut I color diamond in yellow gold, it's going to look incredible. An I diamond that performs well is going to look whiter than an average cut G diamond when set, and will look bigger. Cut should come first. Then since you don't mind about microscope inclusions, color should be your next priority, then clarity.

this might be perfect for you...
1.026 G SI2 (eyeclean) $5100. you'll get both the color and size you're looking for, and stay in your price range.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_026ct_g_si2_ags0.htm
The diamond is hearts and arrows (but not being sold as one), gets 3 VHs on the brilliancescope, and scores ex-ex-ex-vg on the HCA.

here are some others worth looking at...

1.03 I SI2 0 (H&A)SuperbCert 1-EXex-ex-ex-vg 60.9 55 34.5° 43.1% GIA 1.3 pt ex ex mb $4088
1.037 I SI1 0 (H&A)A Cut Above 1.1-EXex-ex-ex-vg 61.7 54 34.8° 43% AGS 0.8to1.2 pt id id no $4555*
1.15 I SI2 0 (H&A)SuperbCert 0.8-EXex-ex-ex-vg 60.8 55 34.3° 43% GIA 1.2 pt ex ex no $4564
1.04 I VS2 0 (H&A) 0.4-EXex-ex-ex-vg 61.4 55 35° 42.5% GIA n-m-f no ex ex no $4690
1.04 H SI2 0 (H&A) 0.4-EXex-ex-ex-ex 60.3 55 33.7° 42.9% GIA n-m-f no ex ex no $4740
1 I VS1 0 0.4-EXex-ex-ex-vg 61.4 55 34.8° 42.5% GIA n-m no ex ex no $4815
1.015 I VS2 0 (H&A)A Cut Above 0.5-EXex-ex-ex-ex 60.2 56 34.5° 42.8% AGS 0.8to1.4 pt id id ft $4938*
1.12 G SI2 0 (H&A)SuperbCert 1-EXex-ex-ex-vg 61.2 55 34.3° 43.1% GIA 1.3 pt ex ex no $5279
1.18 I VS2 0 (H&A) 1.1-EXex-ex-ex-vg 61.4 55 34.8° 43.1% GIA n-m-f no ex ex no $5370
1.26 I SI1 0 (H&A) 0.5-EXex-ex-ex-ex 60.4 57 34° 42.9% GIA med no ex ex no $5440
1.057 I VS1 0 (H&A)A Cut Above 0.7-EXex-ex-ex-vg 60.7 56 33.7° 43.1% AGS
0.9to1.2 pt id id no $5553*

The superbcerts you can get from Jonathan at goodoldgold. Here are some other stones that might work that will probably be in your price range.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_107ct_h_si1_h&a.htm
http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_06ct_i_si2.htm
http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_024ct_i_si1_h&a.htm
http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_014ct_i_si1_h&a.htm
The A Cut Aboves you can get from Lesley at whiteflash, and the other ones listed you can get from Robin/Todd at niceice.com. The three people I just mentioned will tell you straight up if the SI is eyeclean or not.
 
My ering is I color, VVS2, and good polish. It is on a yellow gold band, with platinum setting. It is beautiful and sparkles like there is no tomorrow! I think you would be happy with an I color, especially in a yellow gold setting. Good luck!!!! KB

:))
 
Wow! Thanks for the replies! Methinks that either I was fooled by the crappy IGI rating on a yellow diamonds or the cut was just plain crap (probably both). I HATE the mall! IGI sux! I mean topside it looked fine, but looking at it from the side you could see yellow in it compared to the F stone they had. I mean it was quite noticable. I think the IGI was a little too generous there, you think?
 
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