Help me pick diamonds for studs

[eks6426]

Ok, it seems almost everyone agrees that getting real diamond studs is worth it so I''ve decided to go for it. I am getting married this summer and it seems like a good excuse to treat myself. So, I''m asking for all your EXPERT help in picking diamonds for the studs. I''d like to be around .80 tcw. I''m really color sensitive so I''d like to stick with F or G. Ideal cut...maybe even ACA. Here''s some I''ve been looking at. One is an SI2...will that work for earrings or should I stick with SI1?

http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/Compare_Diamonds.aspx?idnos=661046,801915,805120

Other pair suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!!!!

 

[pqcollectibles]

Chat with WF about the inclusions, but SI2 should be fine for earrings. Many people are wearing I2''s and people just don''t know it.

When I got my Ideal Scope, I went thru looking at all our diamonds. Most were purchased locally during my pre-PScope days. I was just horrified at what I saw in my earrings. One has a relatively large feather smack dab in the middle of the table. Both are speckled with dark colored inclusions. No one ever saw the inclusions. Same thing with my daughters'' earrings. Flecks of dark inclusions that I never knew were there because they didn''t show on the ear. I just trusted my local jeweler to sell me decently quality at a fair price.

I learned 2 more interesting things about our "old" earrings. The whole time I wore mine, 27 pts each stone, one always looked bigger than the other to me when I saw myself in the mirror. I had them measured and the diameters were almost identical so physical size wasn''t the problem. After looking at them thru the IS, I know why one appeared larger than the other. One is decent cut exhibiting arrows and very little light leakage thru the IS. The other leaks like a sieve and the cut it total choas. One pair of my daughters'' earrings, one of the diamonds has always looked dead. Looking thru the IS, that diamond has a hole of white right down thru the middle of it.

Performance is what people will see in your earrings. Going with well cut diamonds is a good choice!

 

[hoorray]

These stones look really nice. A quick browse also brought up another wf pair with a comparable diameter. I have SI2''s and they are just fine. I think they are a great value for earrings. You just have to make sure that the inclusions don''t break the surface or are visable from a reasonable distance. (Since they will be on you ears, no one gets as close to examine them). When I was looking, I focused on matching diameter first, then table size and color.

 

[eks6426]

Will a 4.69 mm diameter diamond look visibly different from a 4.76 diamter diamond for earrings? How much difference in size can there be before they look unmatched?

 

[Dancing Fire]

the ACA SI 1''s.... looks like one of them is the old line and teh other one is the new line?

 

[JohnQuixote]

DF... Good eye.

 

[Mara]

I also like these two:

http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-1180496.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-1180497.htm
.40 & .41 H VS/SI stones for $730 and $805 (without Pscope discount) in WF''s Expert Selection Area

Oh and for earrings, don''t pay for VS if you don''t have to...I would not hesitate to get SI2 earrings if they were eye-clean because again, they are on your head!

If you are stuck on the F SI, a fwe of WF''s .38 F SI''s are nice contenders, pay attn to the diameters, angles and table/depth information if you want a matched set.

 

[eks6426]

Mara,

Thanks for the advice. I did contact Whiteflash about the original diamonds I had listed and I also suggested to see if they could find me a slightly larger size in a G or H color. I''m betting that I am super color sensitive partially because I''ve never seen Ideal Cuts before and the lower color diamonds in the store are really yellow to me.

Would I notice a difference in the 4.69 mm size of the F''s and the 4.79 mm size of the H''s you suggested?

 

[Mara]

I definitely think you will see a difference with .10mm on such small stones.

When we were looking at stones previously, we saw the diff between a 7mm and a 7.15mm and that was 3mm more than what you are considering. They say that the larger the stones to begin with, the less you notice small jumps like .10 or .15mm but with 4.70 to 4.80mm .... I think the overall surface is small enough to definitely notice.

That''s just me.

 

[hoorray]

I agree. .10mm is about where the experts say you will see a visible difference in general, and more so in the smaller sizes. My take is you get one chance to get them as "right" as possible, so I would go as big as possible in your range. (That''s what a sage contributor here told me when I was buying mine, and he was right.) I''m glad I went down in clarity and edged up in size.