Help Me Decide Please :-)

[gunrock]

Hello All,

I found this board; pretty neat, I''ve learned a lot of things on here...But, now I''m stuck and I am driving myself crazy with obsession. I got a list of diamonds, but I don''t know what one is the "best" one. I need to decide which one that would be; something eye clean and good light return to make it look bigger and fancy. Or least help narrowing the list to a few so I can discuss those with the on-line jeweler. Most are "ideal" cuts, all GIA certified.

With my order of importance and the below criteria along with a $500 budget (for the diamond), I came up with a list of diamonds.
cut (ideal, round excellent light return for a better looking "flashy" diamond)
caret (size & "appearance")
clarity (is as low as si2 acceptable? is anything higher than si1 going to make a difference on the naked eye appearance)
color (no higher than a j)

Floresence isn''t a problem for me, a bonus probably since I am looking at H-I-J color diamonds.

Are round cut diamonds in the .33 to .4 caret range with dimensions from 4.4mm to 4.7mm going to look close to the same size?

Here is the list, I was thinking of 6355409 6355426 5662936 6356104 6996327 as possibilites. Prices range from $343 to $459 and sorted from lowest to highest. I realize this isn''t a science, and a lot of opinion based off the limited specs and not seeing it, but I appreciate the help.

Actually, formatting is hard here, so I attached it as a PDF.

Thanks all!

gunrock

 

[Daniel B]

Date: 11/9/2005 2:31:12 AM
Author:gunrock
Hello All,

I found this board; pretty neat, I've learned a lot of things on here...But, now I'm stuck and I am driving myself crazy with obsession. I got a list of diamonds, but I don't know what one is the 'best' one. I need to decide which one that would be; something eye clean and good light return to make it look bigger and fancy. Or least help narrowing the list to a few so I can discuss those with the on-line jeweler. Most are 'ideal' cuts, all GIA certified.

With my order of importance and the below criteria along with a $500 budget (for the diamond), I came up with a list of diamonds.
cut (ideal, round excellent light return for a better looking 'flashy' diamond)
caret (size & 'appearance')
1.) clarity (is as low as si2 acceptable? is anything higher than si1 going to make a difference on the naked eye appearance)

2.)color (no higher than a j)

Floresence isn't a problem for me, a bonus probably since I am looking at H-I-J color diamonds.

3.)Are round cut diamonds in the .33 to .4 caret range with dimensions from 4.4mm to 4.7mm going to look close to the same size?

Here is the list, I was thinking of 6355409 6355426 5662936 6356104 6996327 as possibilites. Prices range from $343 to $459 and sorted from lowest to highest. I realize this isn't a science, and a lot of opinion based off the limited specs and not seeing it, but I appreciate the help.

Actually, formatting is hard here, so I attached it as a PDF.

Thanks all!

gunrock

1.) SI2's you can pretty much see with the naked eye. Anything higher (VS1-2 and higher) obviously, would be a little better than SI stones. Usually you shouldnt be able to spot tthe inclusions in VS and above stones without a loupe.

2.) J is the lowest grade I would buy (Just My Opinion). Some people love J's, and it will face up very white.

3.) Yes, very much so. You shouldnt be abke to spot the dif. Look for .20-.25 increases to see visual diffs

 

[valeria101]

Below half a carat, color wouldn't show as much: J-K does not mean the same fro 5 cts as for 0.5... color shows allot more on larger stones. I think you would be safe with 'K' too, if you find one. You could find eye clean Si2 as well, and the 'flash' as you say comes from cut, and there isn't much about that on your PDF. You may be able to tell that in person with a bit of experience, but from those lists, there is much left to the imagination.


How bad is this: 5.5mm, I-Si1 H&A $520 LINK

and another: 5.5mm, H-Si1 not labeled H&A but with AGS0 proportions nevertheless $510 LINK

These happen to be listed by the same seller, so if the idea sounds right, you could ask them which looks better for clarity etc. The clarity plots look pretty similar - both stones have a couple of minute crystals somewhere under the table. If they are tinted or how deep under the surface is not mentioned on plots, and this is what determines if they are visible or not. Chances are it is not the case, but it is nice to be able to ask beforehand, IMO.

If I had found one with a lower color grade I would have mentioned, but there isn't any with details about cut.

Best of luck!

 

[Daniel B]

Date: 11/9/2005 2:55:37 AM
Author: valeria101

Below half a carat, color wouldn''t show as much:

Very true, thanks for pointing that out to em Val--

 

[Kim N]

I wanted to agree with Ana that you can definitely find eye-clean SI1 and SI2 stones. If they''re eye-clean, you won''t be able to see any difference between those or VS1/2 stones with the naked eye, and the price difference may be significant.

 

[gunrock]

Okay everyone, thanks for the input...
so here is what I have learned

If i am looking at weights .3-.4 I am not going to see a significant size difference, so I am better off going with a smaller caret, higher quality
.
If I am want a real nice diamond (awesome light return and sparkly) I need to look for the aga, h&a diamonds

Be sure to ask if the si* stones have any visual inclusions

color won''t show much below .5 carat

If I do pick one of my stones, I got some questions to ask the dealer, and....

So from my list to the "cut above" diamonds Val picked for me, if I were to look at one of my picks and the "cut above" would I see a significant difference (the OOH factor, like wow,thats a nice diamond)?

And finally, I''ll probably go with one of the diamonds Val picked out to save me time and get this done already! hehhe

Oh oops..just wondering (besides gold content) is their a difference between 14K and 18K gold? is 18K too soft? I noticed most places go with 14K but figured that was to bring the cost of their product down.

THanks again everyone. I thought this would be a cut and dry question, I guess not. I tried the "mall" jewelers for price comparisons, but they have limited stock and limited statistics on their certified diamonds....