This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store. Help

[bizmord]

Hi all,

I decided not to buy a ring with my girl by my side. I feel like she should not see it before the time AND, I kinda know what she likes.

So ... here is where the frustrating part begins.

I do not care about resale value, I do not consider engagement ring as an investment. To me that sounds like a lot of baloney. All I care about the size of the diamond and how it sparkles to the eye. No one will look at it under 10X glass. The most that could happen is her new ring being compared side by side to a friend's or something.

I am curious ... for a budget of $4,500 for just a diamond. Can't I just go with an EGL rated diamond? So what that it may have a bit more inclusions than GIA? Will anyone actually notice it?

Here is what I found:
http://www.solomonbrothers.com/Dialog.aspx?ImageUrl=http://certs.rapnet.com/userfolders/32764/Certs/7701647436.jpg
Round, EGL, 1.01ct, Color F, VS1, Cut is Excellent, Polish/symmetry = Excellent. Fluorescence = none.
$4,200

When I want to local Jeweler ... he offered .... Round, GIA, 0.96ct, Color F, VS2, Excellent for Polish, cut, symmetry. $5,700

If I put these 2 rings side by side .... will I really see a better quality diamond in GIA???

thank you.

 

[bgray]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

Hi all,

I decided not to buy a ring with my girl by my side. I feel like she should not see it before the time AND, I kinda know what she likes.

So ... here is where the frustrating part begins.

I do not care about resale value, I do not consider engagement ring as an investment. To me that sounds like a lot of baloney. All I care about the size of the diamond and how it sparkles to the eye. No one will look at it under 10X glass. The most that could happen is her new ring being compared side by side to a friend's or something.

I am curious ... for a budget of $4,500 for just a diamond. Can't I just go with an EGL rated diamond? So what that it may have a bit more inclusions than GIA? Will anyone actually notice it?

Here is what I found:
http://www.solomonbrothers.com/Dialog.aspx?ImageUrl=http://certs.rapnet.com/userfolders/32764/Certs/7701647436.jpg
Round, EGL, 1.01ct, Color F, VS1, Cut is Excellent, Polish/symmetry = Excellent. Fluorescence = none.
$4,200

When I want to local Jeweler ... he offered .... Round, GIA, 0.96ct, Color F, VS2, Excellent for Polish, cut, symmetry. $5,700

If I put these 2 rings side by side .... will I really see a better quality diamond in GIA???

thank you.

to be honest your approach is somewhat offputting: you may want to be somewhat sure you know what she likes. rings and jewelry are very individual. further: GIA is far superior a grading lab than EGL. plus you are focusing on the wrong parameters-study cut quality not inclusions per se. you cannot compare EGl to GIA because GIA stones are going to cost more......you can get a good EGL stone but you have to be an educated shopper

 

[jeweln]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

contact ID jewelry and give them your budget ,they found many beautiful diamonds for a lot of PSers including myself at a competitive price.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

You save no money by buying EGL. Just go to lower color and clarity in a GIA Excellent stone. You can probably get by with I color and SI1 clarity. Your budget will get you into the .90 range.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-...|PriceTo:999000|Sort:Carat asc, DefaultOrder|

Some of those are a little deep. Try to stick with depths of 62.3 or less.

 

[bizmord]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

You save no money by buying EGL. Just go to lower color and clarity in a GIA Excellent stone. You can probably get by with I color and SI1 clarity. Your budget will get you into the .90 range.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-...|PriceTo:999000|Sort:Carat asc, DefaultOrder|

Some of those are a little deep. Try to stick with depths of 62.3 or less.

I thought color was one of the most important things. I can actually do F and pay just $400-500 more .... so it would run me around $4800.

 

[Dizz17]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

contact ID jewelry and give them your budget ,they found many beautiful diamonds for a lot of PSers including myself at a competitive price.

Yekutiel at ID Jewelry will do it all for you! They are awesome.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

You save no money by buying EGL. Just go to lower color and clarity in a GIA Excellent stone. You can probably get by with I color and SI1 clarity. Your budget will get you into the .90 range.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-...|PriceTo:999000|Sort:Carat asc, DefaultOrder|

Some of those are a little deep. Try to stick with depths of 62.3 or less.

I thought color was one of the most important things. I can actually do F and pay just $400-500 more .... so it would run me around $4800.

You can get into the .90 G SI1 range. G is plenty white enough in GIA graded stones.

 

[maccers]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

You save no money by buying EGL. Just go to lower color and clarity in a GIA Excellent stone. You can probably get by with I color and SI1 clarity. Your budget will get you into the .90 range.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-...|PriceTo:999000|Sort:Carat asc, DefaultOrder|

Some of those are a little deep. Try to stick with depths of 62.3 or less.

I thought color was one of the most important things. I can actually do F and pay just $400-500 more .... so it would run me around $4800.

Cut is the most important. If you have a mediocre cut, F stone and an ideal cut, H/I stone - the H/I stone will most likely outperform the F. Cut is a major determinant of sparkle, fire and brilliance. An ideal cut stone will look bigger and brighter because the light is refracting in a way an optimal way.

Do you have an idea of what your gf would like? Does she want a round stone? Does she have a certain carat size in mind?

 

[JulieN]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

62.3% depth with 59% combo most likely leaks. The "Light Performance" picture seems to show it. Small for its weight (like .95) when with a 59% ideally you want spready for the weight. Also doesn't look like EGL USA.

I bet a .9 H SI1 is in budget.

 

[Fly Girl]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

You save no money by buying EGL. Just go to lower color and clarity in a GIA Excellent stone. You can probably get by with I color and SI1 clarity. Your budget will get you into the .90 range.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-...|PriceTo:999000|Sort:Carat asc, DefaultOrder|

Some of those are a little deep. Try to stick with depths of 62.3 or less.

I thought color was one of the most important things. I can actually do F and pay just $400-500 more .... so it would run me around $4800.

The issue is that you cannot assume that the color rating scale from EGL and GIA are the same. An EGL F shows more color than a GIA F. As diamondseeker2006 indicates, a GIA G is probably more colorless than an EGL F. A GIA graded diamond will give you the color you are paying for. EGL is a false savings, because you don't get the colorless diamond that you think you are. If you want an F color, get a GIA F. Then it really will be colorless.

 

[Sparklelu]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

Hi all,

I decided not to buy a ring with my girl by my side. I feel like she should not see it before the time AND, I kinda know what she likes.

So ... here is where the frustrating part begins.

I do not care about resale value, I do not consider engagement ring as an investment. To me that sounds like a lot of baloney. All I care about the size of the diamond and how it sparkles to the eye. No one will look at it under 10X glass. The most that could happen is her new ring being compared side by side to a friend's or something.

I am curious ... for a budget of $4,500 for just a diamond. Can't I just go with an EGL rated diamond? So what that it may have a bit more inclusions than GIA? Will anyone actually notice it?

Here is what I found:
http://www.solomonbrothers.com/Dialog.aspx?ImageUrl=http://certs.rapnet.com/userfolders/32764/Certs/7701647436.jpg
Round, EGL, 1.01ct, Color F, VS1, Cut is Excellent, Polish/symmetry = Excellent. Fluorescence = none.
$4,200

When I want to local Jeweler ... he offered .... Round, GIA, 0.96ct, Color F, VS2, Excellent for Polish, cut, symmetry. $5,700

If I put these 2 rings side by side .... will I really see a better quality diamond in GIA???

thank you.

Ok here is my thought, you say you kinda know what she likes AND its not an investment, so upgrading would be out of the question. So you are going to buy her something she may or may not like and expect her to wear it forever and just like it?
If thats the case I think you should be looking at GIA graded stones, OR an EGL stone you have looked at with all the tools available. Possibly side by side with a GIA stone. Let your eye make the choice then.
I'm no advocate of spending 10"s of thousands of dollars on a stone, especially an engagement ring when you are just starting out, but if you are talking about something she will wear for 365 days a year for the next how many years, don't you think you should get the best you can for the budget you have? A $4500. stone works out to $12.32 a day for the first year and you aren't even married at that point. Divide that by 25 years of marraige(hopefully longer ) it is only .49 per day!! Stay married longer and it gets cheaper.

Cut is king, a well cut stone looks bigger, sparkles more and if it does have inclusions that are some what visible the may very well be hidden by the sparkle.

BTW...GIA does not mean it will have more/less inclusions EGL does not either. About inclusions you ask , Will anyone notice? you ask, yes and no. Depends on where they are. Depends on how good her eyesite is, depends on the prong placement. Depends on what kind they are.

You really need to look at the plot and look at the stone . My diamond has an inclusion just at one of the prongs, most of the time the sparkle hides it, but sometimes I hold my hand in a certain way and there it is. My sister looked at my ring for 10 minutes at 6 inches and could not find it. Ypu seem to be looking a t high clarity stones, perhaps drop down to SI1? and ypu can go to H color and be colorless IMO.

 

[kenny]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

EGL stones are not cheaper.
EGL just lies about color and clarity grades so EGL diamonds seem cheaper to uninformed customers.
Grades from AGS and GIA are not harsher; they are just more accurate and believable.
IOW, a diamond that EGL graded F VS1 might get grades of H SI2 from GIA, or worse.

EGL is also inconsistent.
There are examples of a particular diamond getting the same grades from both labs and other examples of EGL assigning grades that were 5 grades better.

I think the worst example I recall reading about here on PS was posted by John Pollard.
IIRC the discrepancy was either 5 or 8 grades.

Customers love EGL because they think they are getting a deal, at least till they stumble onto the truth about EGL.
Sellers love EGL because they make more money.

It is astonishing EGL and other inferior labs get away with this, but they do.

 

[John P]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

62.3% depth with 59% combo most likely leaks. The "Light Performance" picture seems to show it. Small for its weight (like .95) when with a 59% ideally you want spready for the weight. Also doesn't look like EGL USA.

EGL Hong Kong. And Julie was spot-on; some leakage present.

The given measurements imply the following average primary angles (rather than height/depth %)

Table: 59%
Depth: 62.7%
Crown Angle: 36.2 degrees
Pavilion Angle: 40.7 degrees

The table and angles would usually receive VG in proportions from GIA, but the girdle runs to 2.7% (the reason it's a 1 carat diamond with a 6.35 average diameter) which would result in a cut grade of Good at the lab. It will face up the same size as a well-cut 0.93 ct diamond.

I think the worst example I recall reading about here on PS was posted by John Pollard. IIRC the discrepancy was either 5 or 8 grades.

The majority don't have a discrepancy that wide, but it's impossible to know from one diamond to the next. The foreign EGL labs are commonly seen as softer than EGL USA.

 

[Karl_K]

Re: This is Painfull ... Not Bringing my girl to the store.

I think the worst example I recall reading about here on PS was posted by John Pollard.
IIRC the discrepancy was either 5 or 8 grades.

It was Jon @ gog and it was 8 grades off EGL international, think it was egl Israel.

The biggest thing is there is no way to know how far it is off on any given stone.