Help with 2 ct oval!

[Ranger99]

Hi,

Thanks so much for your help in advance! Pricescope has been such an amazing site for helping me get up the learning curve on diamonds.

I'm looking for a 2.0-2.4 ct oval for my engagement ring and need some help finding some good online candidates to request ASETs on. I've been looking at the ovals online at James Allen, but don't trust my eyes and lack of experience to pick good stones. I'm looking for a high performance cut that is completely eye clean and at least a G in color. I've read that ovals tend to show some color in the ends.

Thanks!!

 

[Niel]

Hey!
Sounds like a fun project. I'll be happy to look, but did you have a price in mind?

 

[treasurehunter]

a good thing to point out when buying ovals is that the outline or shape is often compromised when cutting

 

[Ranger99]

Hey!
Sounds like a fun project. I'll be happy to look, but did you have a price in mind?

Great - thanks! I'm trying to stay under 30k.

 

[Ranger99]

I've spent hours and hours trying to figure out if any of the ovals online could potentially be a high performance cut with no/minimal bowtie. I've never bought a diamond before and despite my research, am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Please help! Should I request ASETs on these? Do they have a lot of potential?

2.08ct G VS2: http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.08-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-276434

2.00ct F VVS2: http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.00-carat-f-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-258930

2.00ct D VS2: http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.00-carat-d-color-vs2-clarity-sku-258236

Thanks so much!!

 

[04diamond<3]

Wow - those all have pretty bad bow ties!!! I'd get rid of them fast! You do not want that much black in the center of the stone (the thick black lines). I recommend:

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.01-carat-g-color-si1-clarity-sku-271617

But I'll keep looking too.

And yes, definitely request ASET images on the one's your seriously interested in (not any of the ones you picked as even without the ASET, it's easy to see those would be disappointin).

 

[04diamond<3]

so these are better:

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.02-carat-f-color-vs1-clarity-sku-327264

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.81-carat-f-color-vs2-clarity-sku-299442

 

[Ranger99]

Thanks for the recommendations!!! Are there any other ovals that look nice? Unfortunately the 1.8ct will be a bit too small (measurement-wise).
My picks were pretty terrible. I mistakenly thought that the black lines were just a reflection of the camera equipment. You guys totally saved me from disappointment!

 

[lambskin]

I really like the sparkle of the 1.81 James Allen stone. I know it is smaller and not the 2 carat mark but the flashes were just amazing and you would not be paying the 2 carat premium.

 

[Gypsy]

Ok. That's easy. Buy this: http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/11706/ Gorgeous oval. ASET is posted and it shows very strong performance. Just make sure it is eyeclean.

Or this: http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/10445/ AMAZING performance on that ASET.

GOG will make a video of the two stones for you to compare. And since they have a large number of 2 carat ovals in budget for you, you can ask them if they recommend any of the others they have and ask them to throw that one in the video as well.


That's the best way to chose. You have pictures and ASETs already posted. And GOG can make you a video. They have a great eye for ovals, so you are sure to get a great stone through them.

 

[Gypsy]

Some basic knowledge for you:

You buy ovals by spread not carat weight. So the GOG G stone I posted for you is: Width: 7.26mm Length:10.11mm. And the D stone I posted is: Width:10.16mm Length: 7.13mm. That's what you compare. Not carat wieight. Any spread difference greater than .2 is eyevisible anything less, really isn't. So the D stone is only SLIGHTLY smaller than the G stone. Despite the 20 point weight difference. It's such a small amount of difference, they are pretty much the same size, regardless of their weight. See what I mean?

The entire purpose of faceting a diamond is to reflect light.
How well or how poorly a diamond does this determines how beautiful it is.
How well a diamond performs is determined by the angles and cutting. This is why we say cut is king. With fancies though (anything other than a round brilliant), that is a little complicated. But no other factor: not color, not clarity has as much of an impact on the appearance of a diamond as its cut. But with ovals if you want to stay about G, that's certainly possible. Still if there is a gorgeous stone at H it might be worth a look.

There really is no other way to determine if you have a good oval cut is to see images of the stones, and then you need is a way to check actual light performance of your actual stone.

That's what an ASET image does. http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=education-performance Please read.
And ASET shows you how and wear your diamond is reflecting light, how well it is going at it, and where you are losing light return That is why you won't see us recommending vendors like Blue Nile, as they do not provide images or ASET images for their diamonds. James Allen and Good Old Gold do this. So do Brian Gavin, B2C and Whiteflash and High Performance Diamonds. ERD does too, for stones they source for you.


Keep in mind that ovals are especially hard to shop for because so many have bowties. So finding a bright, well cut bowtie is a herculean task at times if the stock at vendors is poor.

If you don't know what a bowtie is let us know.

 

[Gypsy]

I don't love any of the stones already posted from JA. Of the ones already recommended, this is the only one I would pursue:
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.02-carat-f-color-vs1-clarity-sku-327264


Other stones at JA that I think have potential.
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.01-carat-f-color-si1-clarity-sku-215632 If eyeclean
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.01-carat-f-color-vs1-clarity-sku-302720
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.01-carat-d-color-si1-clarity-sku-269363 If eyeclean.


You only get 3 ASETs per purchase from JA so pick carefully. Whichever ones you pick, put on hold. It will take 3 business days to get the ASETs.

In the meantime, follow up with GOG on the other stones I posted for you.

 

[Ranger99]

Gypsy, thank you so much for your recommendations and thorough explanations! Seriously, can't thank you enough!
I called GOG and they're going to bring the stones in.

 

[Gypsy]