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Shopping for RB and setting - Looking for advice

A

aron7awol

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
51
I'm new to the game but I've done a good amount of research and learned a ton from this forum, and I'm thankful already for that. Now I'm hoping some of you can offer your advice to me...

I know that my gf wants RB and halo setting and my budget is $8-12k She's undecided on yellow gold or platinum right now, but I'm still trying to find her a stone and setting style while she decides. She hasn't looked at a ton of settings, but her favorite so far is Demarco DW6076, which was quoted to me by my local Hannoush store at $4345 for gold and $5874 for platinum. I can't seem to find any information on the quality of Demarco settings. Is Demarco a high quality, reputable manufacturer? Should I instead try to get someone else to copy that style?

As far as stones, I'm set on GIA only thanks to this forum, and after comparing with my eye, I'm comfortable with anything I color or better and anything that's reasonably eye-clean as far as clarity, so maybe SI1 there? Now cut is where I'm unsure. I don't personally care about H&A as long as I can get a stone that really sparkles. I've noticed that GIA and HCA cut rating don't seem to be strongly correlated, so I'm having a hard time knowing which to really go by to get a general idea of a stone's brilliance. Not that I'm actually thinking of doing so, but if one were to purchase a stone solely based on cut rating, which would you look at more? I'd like to go as big as possible while still have a cut that looks really nice. Similar to how I am willing to go with I color and SI1, how low should I go on cut? Is there a drastic difference from Good to Very Good to Excellent to Ideal on the GIA/HCA cut scales? When does the difference start to get less noticeable to the eye?

I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone can give me.
 
For that price, it should be some of the best quality.

Many vendors that are preferred here carry a lot of AGS diamonds, which would limit your choices too much if you only wanted GIA.
 
Thank you for your reply. I suppose there is no good reason for me to go GIA only, and I will widen my range to GIA or AGS. With that consideration, do you have any advice for me, especially about cut? That is what I'm most unclear about.
 
Thanks again, those links are extremely helpful.

Any thoughts on this stone or on B2C in general?
 
Numbers look ok, need Ideal Scope picture. I don't spontaneously suggest them, though, because they don't have pictures.
 
I've been quoted $11k for stone & setting...
1.37 GIA I SI1 GIA Cert PDF
with Demarco DW6076 setting in Platinum ($5875 retail price)
HCA comes out to 2.6, so I realize it's not ideal cut, but I feel like it might be such a great deal that I shouldn't pass it up.

Searching on PS, it appears that similar stones go for around 8k, so is it safe to say I'm getting a really good deal? Any reason any of you definitely wouldn't buy that stone? Ring size is only 3.5 so I think a 1.37 will look great on her.
 
That stone faces up smaller than a well cut 1.37 due to the depth being 63.1. We usually tell people to stay at 62.3 or less. Best to stick with Excellent cut. I like fluorescence in a diamond personally, but there are some who think that it can be more of a problem when the stone has certain inclusions. And that one does have additional twining wisps and clouds that are not shown on the plot. I had Good Old Gold evaluate my current diamond with SBF and since I can trust them, I was able to buy confidently. (My stone was VS1, though.) I think you can do better on a platinum setting than that, though, and put more of your money in the diamond.
 
aron7awol|1357439540|3348508 said:
I've been quoted $11k for stone & setting...
1.37 GIA I SI1 GIA Cert PDF
with Demarco DW6076 setting in Platinum ($5875 retail price)
HCA comes out to 2.6, so I realize it's not ideal cut, but I feel like it might be such a great deal that I shouldn't pass it up.

Searching on PS, it appears that similar stones go for around 8k, so is it safe to say I'm getting a really good deal? Any reason any of you definitely wouldn't buy that stone? Ring size is only 3.5 so I think a 1.37 will look great on her.
Click to expand...

No way! That stone is way too deep!

This one's still a hair deep, but it's stunning. I'd never recommend BC2. They don't have pictures and in some cases you can't even see the report without having to give them all your info and you still may never get it.

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-SI1-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1500814.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI1-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1439017.asp gorgeous!

also gorgeous:
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1534369.asp
 
diamondseeker2006|1357440165|3348523 said:
I think you can do better on a platinum setting than that, though, and put more of your money in the diamond.
Click to expand...
Better than $5875, or better than the ~$3k ($11k - $8k estimated diamond price) they are charging me for the setting? My only problem there is she really loves and wants that particular setting so I either have to get it or try to find someone to copy it for less.
 
04diamond<3|1357440545|3348532 said:
No way! That stone is way too deep!

This one's still a hair deep, but it's stunning. I'd never recommend BC2. They don't have pictures and in some cases you can't even see the report without having to give them all your info and you still may never get it.
Click to expand...

Other than the stone facing up small, will the extra depth also ruin the brilliance of the stone?

FYI, the stone that I linked was from the local Hannoush store. I guess my problem is, if I don't buy the stone there they are going to charge me the full $5875 for the setting, but judging by my $11k quote for stone+setting, they are willing to charge me a lot less if I get the stone there.

My options then become:
1. Buy stone online and buy setting for $5875 (in turn I'd be lowering my stone budget to <$6k)
2. Get them to find me a smaller, better cut stone for the same price as this 1.37
 
Yup. Any thing deeper than a 62.0 or a hair over is too much. And yes, that will affect the brilliance of the stone. I wouldn't buy the setting without having the stone because you'll need to make sure the stone will fit. 6k for the setting seems way TOO high! Is she stuck on that setting? Would she be open to either looking at other settings and picking out something similar or getting a temporary solitaire setting and upgrading later for an anniversary or something to get a bigger stone now? I wouldn't spend that much on a setting unless I had money to buy something over 3ct. There are many many gorgeous halo/pave settings from our vendors that I think would be comparable.
 
04diamond<3|1357442397|3348562 said:
Yup. Any thing deeper than a 62.0 or a hair over is too much. And yes, that will affect the brilliance of the stone. I wouldn't buy the setting without having the stone because you'll need to make sure the stone will fit. 6k for the setting seems way TOO high! Is she stuck on that setting? Would she be open to either looking at other settings and picking out something similar or getting a temporary solitaire setting and upgrading later for an anniversary or something to get a bigger stone now? I wouldn't spend that much on a setting unless I had money to buy something over 3ct. There are many many gorgeous halo/pave settings from our vendors that I think would be comparable.
Click to expand...

She's sort of stuck on that setting. It's her favorite of all of the settings she's seen. I could show her some halo/pave settings from the PS vendors and see if she likes them.

She'd be perfectly happy with a smaller stone (say 1.2ish?) so I have no problem dropping the size to get a better cut stone.
 
I found a high end jeweler (Long's) who carries the Demarco setting that my girlfriend wants. They have a much better stone selection.

Here's a stone I'm going to be checking out there in person tomorrow morning. Any red flags, things I should look out for, or any other thoughts looking at the report?
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9972523/2141811540.pdf
 
aron7awol|1359137909|3363512 said:
I found a high end jeweler (Long's) who carries the Demarco setting that my girlfriend wants. They have a much better stone selection.

Here's a stone I'm going to be checking out there in person tomorrow morning. Any red flags, things I should look out for, or any other thoughts looking at the report?
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9972523/2141811540.pdf
Click to expand...

Personally, the table is too big and the crown angle is too small... which is confirmed by the 3.2 HCA score. I'd dump this stone and not even waste time going to see it.

**Edit - also...do you think your G/F is stuck on the ridiculously expensive setting because she saw it in person? Here's one that JustGinger posted that I think is extremely similar and costs thousands less and can be made in platinum:

http://idjewelryonline.com/product_info.php?cPath=42_132&products_id=14701&cType=ER and you get get a stunning stone from Yuki too! He will not give you crap!
 
Thank you for the really fast response. Even with my limited knowledge, I was already thinking the stone looked really shallow up top. They do have another stone, supposedly the favorite of the salesman, that I'm waiting for a copy of the cert on.

My girlfriend did see the Demarco setting in person and fall in love with it, in large part because she doesn't really like the look of settings where the stone is set high up. Personally, I'm thinking a lower setting may be detrimental to the performance of the stone when set since it may not let much light into the pavilion. Whether or not that is true, I will show her the setting you linked, but I have a feeling she will not like it because it is a "high" setting.

While the Demarco setting retail price is $5875, I don't think I would end up paying nearly that much for it. I have been quoted $11k for the setting in platinum and either the 1.37 GIA stone I linked above, or the 1.24 that you just looked at. It seems like those stones are worth between $6500-7500 based on similar PS searches, so it looks like I'm essentially paying somewhere between $3500-4500 for the setting. Is that price still really high?

Hopefully they send me this other cert soon so I can post it for you to take a look. Thanks again for the advice, I really appreciate it.
 
Here's the cert for the 1.23:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9972523/6131673152.pdf

Thin crown similar to the 1.24 yet scores 2.1 on HCA and is right on the border of the white AGS 0 candidate outline, FWIW. The inclusions look to be dead center.

Any thoughts on this stone? I will also look at this one tomorrow when I go to the shop.
 
Personally I wouldn't. This is a 60/60 stone (60% table, 60% depth). A lot of commercial stones are cut to these proportions because it maximizes yield from the rough, but the vast majority do not perform as well as ideal cut stones.

Can you get an idealscope image from your vendor? There's a chance it's ok, but personally I'd want more information.

Generally, you're looking for depth between 60 and 62 (max!) and tables under 56% with some of us fire whores leaning even lower than that toward 54% tables.

Can you keep looking, or do you have a deadline?
 
If you're dead set on the Demarco setting, and you want to try to optimize your stone, then confirm the absolute best price you can get for just the setting itself from the jeweler. Take the uncertainty out of this situation. Most jewelers will will work with you to use your stone in their setting. They can probably cut you a deal if you purchase both with them, but if you're not satisfied with the stone, then you'd just be settling.

Once you have that absolute best Demarco setting price, then use your confirmed stone budget to optimize your stone here on PS.

Good Luck!
 
Oh gosh, I'd have to say no to a 32.5 crown angle! 34-35 is what most ideal cut stones have.

It really is no big deal to have someone else make that setting. Engagement Rings Direct does custom and they will beat their price and then you won't be tied to overpaying for a less than great diamond!

They have done many, many pave halo rings. The pics on their site look like CAD images, but they are certainly delicate and beautiful in person.

http://www.engagementringsdirect.com/harry-winston-inspired-pcid-15.html
 
So I went to check out the stones in person today and I have to say, I left more confused than ever. I looked at a bunch of stones and that 1.23 was definitely my favorite, going only by my eye. I even compared it directly to an AGS 000 which was out of my price range (56% table and 60% depth) and I thought it didn't even hold a candle to the 1.23. Does that mean that this 1.23 is just much nicer in person than it looks from the cert, that the AGS 000 was just a really bad AGS 000, or that I have no idea what I'm doing?

Either way, I've asked them to get me a handful of stones with depth 60-62 and table 54-56 so I can look at a bunch of them.

As far as getting the setting alone from one of my local jewelers and then getting the stone from one of the PS vendors, I'd love to do that except the price of the setting is strictly enforced by the manufacturer, so the only way I can get a good deal on it is to purchase the stone from the same place.

As far as having the setting made custom by someone else, I considered that but thought the setting was so unique that they wouldn't be able to duplicate it, at least not without having it in front of them. Are they possibly good enough to duplicate it right from the photos? I didn't think so after seeing it in person, it looks much different than it does in the photos online.
 
It just means some people are too harsh on stones they are not even seeing in person. :lol:
 
I'm just a newbie at this, but here's what I did.

I ordered my 1.01 H SI 1, Triple x, from JA, and was very, very pleased! Got it for 5K back in Oct.. Then I found my 18kwg setting (Henri Daussi), halo with pave, at Since1910.com.

I sent my diamond to Brad at Since1910.com (aka HL Gross & Bro. in NY), and he walked me through every step of the way! He was great to work with! Answered every question, checked on the setting several times for me, and was very reassuring with any doubts I might have had! My ring came out to 7200 for a 1.56ct e-ring, and with the matching wb, almost 2c's. I'm giving my .02 just because my Henri Daussi looks much like your setting! Good luck in whatever you do!!

This chik is happy, happy, happy with hers! :D
 
The picture is up on Brian Gavin's site, and it looks fantastic! Just waiting on the scopes and Sarin now.
 
All BGD Sig/Blue are amazing.
 
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