A ideal engagement ring - What do you think?

[fishy]

My budget is around $2900.
Choice 1: Highest 3C quality (less carat of course). 0.42 D IF EX/EX
Choice 2: Bigger diamond with H&A cut. E.g. 0.7 H VS1 GD/VG

This is an engagement ring,

For the first choice, I can make a lovely story and tell her, E.g. diamond is rare and perfect just like you...etc.

For the second choice, the diamond is bigger, and i knew that human eyes cant tell the quality differences (except carat) between two choices without a tool. BTW, is it a good idea to go for I, J or SI1, SI2?

What do you think?

 

[DiamondsRagirlsbestfriend]

Have you had a chance to see these stones in person?

 

[fishy]

not yet, is it very much important?

 

[TLS]

I would not recommend getting the D, IF - that in my opinion is overkill and nobody else will know it is D, IF unless you tell them, but they will notice the size. If it were me I would prefer to compromise a little on color and clarity to get a bigger diamond, but would keep the focus on a great cut. I bought H, SI1 h & A and it faces up totally white and I can''t find any inclusions with my eyes. You get a lot more for your money with an eye clean SI. most people can''t see color in an H face up if the diamond is a RB and well cut... most people couldn''t see the color difference unless you held it next to a much lower color grade. And many people here on pricescope say the same about I color as well. Me personally I would look at G or H and SI1 if it were eye clean, you could also go to vs2 if you were sensitive about clarity, but it will cost you more... This is just my opinion after spending months trying to determine my preference and determining trade offs, but you have to make the final decision about what is important to you.

Also many people swear by I color and in smaller sizes it is less likely to show color, you should go view a few in person to see how you feel about I. There are many people who also swear by a well cut J. I personally have always been able to notice the slight color in the ones I have seen in person, but I have heard that a very cut well one might face up much whiter than you would expect - the ones I saw were in malls, so right away we knew the cut probably wasn''t up to par and the cut definitely helps hide color.

Also, you didn''t mention what shape you were looking at, but Round brilliant shapes hide color better than some of the other fancy shapes.

 

[codex57]

If your budget is small, I''d get as big a stone as possible (carat) with a decent cut. Forget ideal, just get close to ideal so it''s still sparkly and not dead. Look for eye clean in the SI range. Color, depends on the person''s eys (just like the clarity).

While being able to say "this diamond is flawless, just like you" is really romantic and all, she''s liable to get diamond envy awfully quick. Particularly if she runs across someone who has a diamond twice her size for the same price.

If you want to say something romantic about the diamond, just say, "I spent [this amount of time] and looked at countless stones b/c I wanted to find one worthy of you. While nothing I found could compare to you, every time I see this diamond shine it is b/c you are the light in my life." Something to that effect. The diamond should be sparkly to say this so watch the cut.

 

[TLS]

Hey Fishy I also wanted to point out that IF diamonds aren''t really flawless, that just means that at 10x there were no visible flaws. You magnify those at higher amounts and are almost certain to find some flaws...

Most women would appreciate a bigger stone for the money, while still keeping a decent color and eye clean.

 

[Regular Guy]

I found this discussion in the summer helpful; you may also.

 

[IrishEyes]

Hey there! Personally, I would want the bigger stone. Like many have said before, not many people (maybe even your gf) are going to see how "perfect" or ideal the smaller stone is - they will just see the smaller part. It may sound superficial, but its likely. Like Codex said, she''s very likely to get envious of bigger diamonds around her. It happens to the best of us! Hope this helps you

 

[headlight]

For your budget, go for SI1, H color!