Princess Cut Diamond Comparison - cost vs. well you know

[rleejones]

Hello out there. My name is Russell Jones and I am shopping for that once in a lifetime investement for my loved one. I have come across two diamonds that I am interested in. One is slightly more cost effective for me but of course color and clarity is sacrificed a bit. The other has a bit better color and clarity yet cut is possibly a little off square. Lastly one is through goodoldgold, which I like the information they provide, while the other is through USACertified. Any comments or suggestions

Diamond 1 - USACert

Cert.- GIA
Cut - Princess
Carat - 1.04
Color - F
Clarity - VS2
Depth - 73.8
Table - 64
Girdle - MD
Pol/Sym - Vg/Vg
Notes - ideal
fluor - none
price - $4752

Diamond 2 - Good Old Gold
Cert. - GIA
Cut - Princess
Carat - 1.06
Color - G
Clarity SI2
Depth - 71.9
Table - 69
Girdle - st
Pol/Sym - ex/gd
notes - eye clean - inclusions not visible to eye
fluor. - none
Price - $4238

Any commments or suggestions will be greatly appreciated

 

[Ordnancemarine]

Alright, as a newbie I''ll take a stab at this based on the 6 princess diamonds I''ve purchased over the past few months (Fiance made it clear she didn''t want a big engagement diamond, so I spent the extra money on diamond earrings and a three stone diamond pendant). Based just on depth and table I like diamond 2. Diamond one seems pretty deep for a 64% table. You''re going to want to find out the crown height if you want to make a better guess just based on numbers. With the SI2, are the inclusions just not visible through the table but visible through the side? A coworker of mine announced her engagement yesterday and was showing off her ring. She even took it off to show me, allowing me to quickly notice the low crown height and the fact that I could see "pepper" through the sides of the stone. It''s not my place to comment to her on the diamond and she didn''t know the clarity but I would have picked a clearer stone for an engagement ring. As for price, I think number one is along the right lines but number two seems a little expensive for an SI2 though Good Old Gold seems to have a pretty good reputation around here. It seems like you may need to shop a bit more and decide what you really want and what you''re ready to pay for since there is a big difference between VS2 and SI2. If SI2 doesn''t bother you, don''t even waste your time looking at VS2 since there will be a significant difference between the cost of the stones from the same vendor in the carat range you''re looking at.

 

[rleejones]

Hello Again,

Thanks for the reply.

The crown height on diamond 2 is %11.2

I don''t know the crown height on diamond 1. Good old gold claims that the inclusions are not visible with the naked eye, are hardly visible with a 10X loupe through the table but are visible with the loupe from the side (not the naked eye). If this is true as far as clarity is concerned i don''t care that it is an SI2. Of course I would prefer an VS1 but the price jump may be unnecessary in my case.


I know that I want a princess cut diamond that is 1 carat or more with above at or above a G clarity but cut is the most important to me and this seems to have a darn good cut.

What do you think.

Russell

 

[researcher]

You''re on the right track, but I''ve got to say that I would pass on both of these. They each have a lot going for them (see Ordnancemarine''s comments), but neither one is screaming an amazing stone for a great price. In the 1 ct range you can do much better so hang in there and see what else comes along if you have the time!

 

[belle]

are you trying to stay under $5k ?

 

[Hest88]

What about this one? Only slightly smaller (I doubt anyone would notice), much cheaper for tight budgets, and DCD has a good reputation.
http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=7311726

 

[rleejones]

Thank you for the responses.

I would rather not go over $6000.00 including setting and shipping. Ideally I am looking for the following

In order of importance to me

Cert. GIA
Cut - Class 1A
Dimensions - close to square
Color - D to F
Clarity - VS1 or above - but if inclusions not visible to eye I don''t care
Carat - 1.00 to 1.06
Price - $4500.00 - $5300.00

Is it possible to find this at this price - this has really been the struggle so far. It seems that there is always a trade off of some sort

 

[valeria101]

Date: 12/3/2004 127:13 PM
Author: rleejones
Clarity - VS1 or above - but if inclusions not visible to eye I don''t care
Carat - 1.00 to 1.06

Well... "inclusions not visible" means anything down to SI1, rtaher then VS1 or better.

Hope this helps.

 

[belle]

the setting would be a very important factor in this as well then........it will have to be very simple. what were you looking for in a setting?

 

[alexah]

Hi RLee!

There''s a few diamonds on dirt cheap that you might like? They''ll likely provide idealscope images if you ask, as the below are from their signature series

Prin #1

Prin #2

Prin #3

 

[rleejones]

Do you believe that for #2 and #3 these prices are comparable to what I would find on other sites. Also which of these two would you lean towards if price didn''t matter. I tend to lean towards #2 only because it is more square, however it has the lower crown height.

Russell

 

[alexah]

Date: 12/3/2004 12:50:24 PM
Author: rleejones
Do you believe that for #2 and #3 these prices are comparable to what I would find on other sites. Also which of these two would you lean towards if price didn't matter. I tend to lean towards #2 only because it is more square, however it has the lower crown height.

Russell

I'd ask DCD if they could get you idealscope images for both 2 & 3... Also, you can ask which diamond looks better to them (never hurts to ask the experts)

I lean towards #2 also because I'm not crazy about that dark middle in the pic of #3... tho it might just be a bad photo, it's a turn-off

Edited to add: yes, DCD has competitive pricing. their signature series is a bit pricier than their other virtual diamonds, but it's comforting to know they have the diamond in stock, can look at it and give you an opinion on it & get you i-scope shots w/in hours