8 years later...

[SLK]

Hi everyone, my boyfriend and I have finally decided to get married after 8 years being together. I am currently looking for an engagement ring with the following specs. The budget will be approximately $20,000.00 to $25,000.00 USD. Since the diamond I am looking for must be eye-clean, white and sparkly, I would like to focus on the cut (most important), size, color, then clarity. It will be set in a classic platinum tiffany style 6-prongs ring. Can anyone help on where I can find such a diamond within my budget? Any help or feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Carat: 3.00 & up
Shape: Round Brilliant
Color: E to I (must appear to be white ¡V not yellowish)
Clarity: VS1 to SI2 (must be eye-clean)
Table: 53 ¡V 62%
Depth: 58 ¡V 63%
Girdle: medium to slightly thick
Pavilion Angle: 39.7 ¡V 42.0
Crown Angle: 31 ¡V 36.5
Culet: pointed to small
Polish: good to excellent
Symmetry: good to excellent
Fluorescence: none to medium
Certificate: AGS, GIA, or EGL

 

[Kaili]

I just did a search by cut for your specs and didn''t find anything within your price range for 3 carats or above, but you might want to do a search of your own and play around with the different specs to see what you can come up with.

You can click here: http://www.pricescope.com/sift.aspx
or go to the navigation bar at the top of this page, click on "prices," and then "search by cut."

Good luck and congrats on the engagement!!

 

[moremoremore]

Congrats! I'm sure you'll find a stone you love!

While that is a significant budget, I think if you are looking a well cut stone will be limited to 3.0 H- I Si1 and si2 ...but that's around the 25k mark . Although there is a average cut 3.0 F Si2 on DCD for 28,000.00 - but again, that's "average" at best...

 

[icekid]

yeah, i agree with the previous. you have a VERY nice budget, but not quite enough for a higher color 3 ct stone. the only thing i can find (assuming you won''t compromise on cut), is a REALLY nice 3 ct J from whiteflash for $25769

http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/diamond_Details.aspx?itemcode=AGS-5539510

looks pretty fabulous though!

 

[SLK]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your feedback. I visited several local jewelers this past weekend and was presented with the following diamond. Please let me know what you think. Any feedback and help is greatly appreciated.


Certificate - EGL
Certificate number: 78699402D
Weight 3.01 ct.
Shape ROUND BRILLIANT
Color H
Clarity SI1
Measurements 9.52 - 9.41 x 5.59 mm
Depth 59.1
Table 58.0
Crown 14.2
Pavilion 42.0
Girdle MEDIUM TO SL. THICK FACETED
Polish VERY GOOD
Symmetry VERY GOOD
Fluorescence NONE
Culet NONE
Cut Grade IDEAL PLUS
Lot
Comments


UGS Appraisal Value $38220.00

 

[MissAva]

A little off topic but you might enjoy the LIW and Brides threads as well! Welcome to PS.

 

[GFORCE100]

Date: 7/19/2005 2:53:45 PM
Author: SLK









Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your feedback. I visited several local jewelers this past weekend and was presented with the following diamond. Please let me know what you think. Any feedback and help is greatly appreciated.

Certificate 78699402D
Weight 3.01 ct.
Shape ROUND BRILLIANT
Color H
Clarity SI1
Measurements 9.52 - 9.41 x 5.59 mm
Depth 59.1
Table 58.0
Crown 14.2
Pavilion 42.0
Girdle MEDIUM TO SL. THICK FACETED
Polish VERY GOOD
Symmetry VERY GOOD
Fluorescence NONE
Culet NONE
Cut Grade IDEAL PLUS
Lot
Comments










UGS Appraisal Value $38220.00

If I was spending this amount of money on a stone the following would cross my mind.

Angles are more precise than percentages. With your data the crown angle comes out at 34.06 (34.1) and the pavilion angle as 40.03 (40.0).

1) Pavilion % is a little shallow and as it's a very important light performance factor of a RB this is something of concern to me.
2) Depth is a little on the shallow side coupled with the table percentage, possibly also a factor to reduce light performance via leakage through the sides.
3) SI1 clarity? GIA says this or who? I'm guessing EGL since you mention UGS, correct? Anyhow given this stone is almost 1cm wide inclusions can be very visible hence I would recommend viewing the diamond yourself from all angles you can think of to indeed confirm how eye clean is this diamond.
4) 9.52 x 9.41mm suggests it's not been cut as precisely as some diamonds leaving a bit more weight round its belly.
5) Who says this is an Ideal plus cut? Ideal by whose standards? Doesn't sound very good when looking at the provided details of this diamond.

So in essence you need to:

1) Go and view the diamond yourself and examine it for clarity, any chips, anything odd looking that would wipe your smile off your face if it was set in a ring etc.
2) See what you think about its light performance, try different light sources. To me it sounds like it's going to produce more white light than color but just how much is something your eyes can tell us. Tools can do this too but all they wiil do is show nice or not so nice numbers. The real light performance test is how the owner likes the diamond and for this your eyes are king hands down.
3) Run some proper sarin tests on it to make sure you have the correct angles/percentages as it might not be as it stands.

 

[SLK]

Thank you very much GFORCE100. I really appreciate your feedback and this is exactly what I need before going to the jeweler to view the diamond (in about 2 hours). By the way, it''s an EGL cert and the UGS appraisal value of $38,220.00 was provided on the report http://www.eglusa.com/customerlogin.html . I have not yet discussed the price with the jeweler. I will definitly bring up all the questions you''ve stated earlier. Once again, I really appreciate your feedback. I will buy you lunch if I know where to send it.

 

[GFORCE100]

Your welcome although I hope others join in and throw in their own thoughts. The more comments the better it will serve you. This way you can pick out the essence of the matter and make up your mind from then on in.

Basically I would just add get as much information from the jeweler as possible.

Get your eyes in razor sharp mode because if EGL said this diamond is a H it might very well be an I color diamond, same with clarity, it might in fact be a SI-2 diamond which aren''t usually as eye clean as can be,

Let us know how you got along.

P.S I''ll let you know when I''m hungry

 

[widget]

Hi, SLK: In two hours!! Yikes!!

I personally would be very leery of any diamond of this size and stated color/clarity NOT having either a GIA or AGS cert....I''d wonder why not?...what''s wrong with it?

widget

 

[Kaleigh]

I agree with widget, no cert??? That would be a red flag for me considering it''s size.

 

[widget]

Kaleigh...I just jumped in with my thought. Actually the stone in question does have some kind of cert...SLK didn''t mention which one and I was concerned...

I"m too diamond ignorant to say anything about the specs cited above..

w

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Finally, it''s about time!! Congrats to you!
Blu

 

[phoenixgirl]

I did a search for your specifications. Here''s what I found:

3.02 I SI2 AGS0 for $25340 It gets a 2.8 on the HCA (very good). I don''t know if it would still be an AGS0 now that they''ve updated their standards (anyone know?).

For your budget, you will be hard pressed to get a super ideal in your price range with a GIA or AGS cert. You can do one or more of the following:

-focus on stones with EGL reports, keeping in mind that these are less expensive than stones with GIA or AGS certs for a reason (sometimes can be more lenient, so the pricing compensates) Of course, it also follows that the super ideal stones will probably not be sent to EGL

-lower the carat weight to 2.5 to 3

-consider J colored stones

-hunt for that eye-clean or nominally included SI2 stone (no guarantee that you''ll be able to find that at this size)


3.05 ACA H&A J SI1 for $25769 (Price lowered to reflect PS discount)

2.58 G SI2 H&A for $21206

 

[SLK]

Hi everyone,

First of all. Thank you for all your feedback. Just came back from the jeweler and the diamond is beautiful (as least to me). It is eye clean (to me) and white. During the visit, I compared a 1-1/2 carat, VS1, G color, GIA cert side-by-side with the 3.01 carat diamond under a 10X loupe and didn't see much difference to "my untrained eye". The jeweler is asking for $26,800.00 USD. Do you think the price is reasonable for the diamond? I will post the full cert and the sarin report once I get them from the jeweler tomorrow. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, I will continue to search...

 

[Mara]

the price is reasonable, if it''s pretty to you and sparkles and is eye-clean...i''d get it and get it appraised by an independent professional for that 2nd opinion then make the final decision from there. make sure you have a return window just in case.

personally i like my diamonds with different specs than what you listed, but it''s a preference thing...aka i like smaller tables than 58 and bigger depths than 59. i would not want such a shallow pav angle. nor would i want an EGL cert as my first choice...but if an independent appraiser can check it out and confirm that it is an I SI to his eyes as well, then it is a good buy for the size.

i like that 3c J from WF...YUM. i have had my eye on that for a while now.

 

[belle]

the price is certainly reasonable. though, i would *seriously* consider that aca j si1 that phoenixgirl posted. the angles are great, the idealscope is great and you get a branded h&a with an ags report. all for almost 1k less. ......sweet

 

[valeria101]

If you like it and it is not worth to hunt more (so you get some feeling of what to look for, something that seeing only one diamond does not provide...) this is it.

It so happens that there is a H&A - J SI1 - GIA (LINK) with at 27k around here. But, really, if you looked at something between 2.5 cts and 3 cts there would be allot more options for the money. And, well, the larger the roch the less difference any given amount of weight does (say, .2cts does have some impact on the size of 1 carat, but allot less so starting at 3carats). Anyway...

Here''s another: I SI2 - AGS (LINK) for about 22k. I can''t see much on the clarity plot, but the proportions are there and score rather high (HCA scopr 0.9, if you care for that).

So... there are options. Actually, around the cited 26.27k there are quite a few H-Si2 listed with AGS lab reports, and allotmore with GIA.

Hope some of this helps instead of just being confusing. All I am saying is that there are options, if you ever wanted them. Pricescope may not be the ultimate source of diamonds, but the knowledge is rather useful. Obtaining some choice seems to be the harest part of diamond shopping

 

[valeria101]

Date: 7/19/2005 8:02:40 PM
Author: SLK

During the visit, I compared a 1-1/2 carat, VS1, G color, GIA cert side-by-side with the 3.01 carat diamond under a 10X loupe and didn''t see much difference to ''my untrained eye''.

Cool! On white background, some defference should have stood out (especially from the sides or bottom up). That''s when diamonds look their worse showing any tint and flaws... In a setting is never that bad.

Now, EGL''s H Si1 might be as good as GIA''s if that was EGL-USA grading. Othewise, maybe not. And it is the grades that make prices rather than looks (unfortunately so).

The price seems in line with the quotes for AGS certed H-Si2 and GIA''s around here. But this is internet neverland - local shops charge more for being there and showing you gems.

Of course, without that show you could have ignored H-SI1 EGL altogether just for the sake of how the grades ''sound'' rather than look. So, yes, sure there is some value in having the merchandise at hand. But now you know...

How about the setting ? Does ''classic Tiffany six prong'' mean this:

or this:

I am asking because the first is often called ''Tiffany setting'' while it doesn''t look ike the namesake at all, and the second one does have the looks but is not as widely available.

 

[SLK]

Again, thank you very much for all your feedback. I think my blood pressure has increased at least 15% during the diamond search and realized that it's much easier to buy a sports car (in the dealership and out with a car within 3 hours). While I would love to consider all the diamonds (3.02 I SI2 AGO for $25,340.00, 3.05 ACA H&A J SI1 for $25769.00, 3.052 AGS J SI1 for $27,125.00, and the 3.06 I SI2 for $21.935.06). But being an average consumer (or maybe just me), I like to view the diamond in person before making a significant purchase. Therefore, I am wondering if this would work... I have found an independent appraiser name Theresa L Newman Brossmer in PS who's business is located right down the hill from where I live (La Verne, CA). I can view the diamond while the diamond is being appraised (of course have the vendor(s) to send to diamond(s) to the independent appraiser. What do you think?

By the way, Valeria101, I like the second setting better. Where do you think I can find it?

 

[valeria101]

Date: 7/19/2005 9:31:37 PM
Author: SLK

I can view the diamond while the diamond is being appraised (of course have the vendor(s) to send to diamond(s) to the independent appraiser. What do you think?

Great, why not

By the way, Valeria101, I like the second setting better. Where do you think I can find it?

well, I just know some places online and none near you. Stores like Suprbcert, Whiteflash, Niceice... I can''t know if your jeweler doesn''t have one like that. You might want to show them and ask.

 

[rosy]

I understand your qualms about buying in person & I was one of those persons so I bought a ring at a B&M & while it''s a very nice ring, I think a true H & A''s would be better. I''m a bit of a perfectionist, especially when plunking down so much money. I am definitely getting a Whiteflash ACA when I''m ready for my next upgrade. Which will be to the size you''re looking for, 3 carats, but many, many, many years from now, like in ten years. I''ll be starting from scratch & plan to give my current ring to my daughter or sell it. Plus, with the ACA the color will be masked by the H & A''s superideal cut, something else you might want to consider. Just my .02. Good luck!

 

[SLK]

Hi everyone,

I have decided to take everyone's advise on http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/diamond_Details.aspx?itemcode=AGS-5539510 listed on PS for $25,769.00 . I have emailed to whiteflash and requested additionally information on the stone such as if the stone is eye-clean and white (not too warm or yellowish), where the inclusions are, if they are visible or not, and the nature of the inclusions, etc... Additionally, I will have it send to a local independent appraiser where I can observe the stone while it's being appraised. The only concern I have it's that it is a J color (but it may appear to be whiter since it's medium blue fluorescence) and that additional clouds are not shown on the AGS cert. Is there any other thing(s) I will need to be concern with? Please let me know what you think if this IS the ONE or should I continue to search... Thank you and any feedback is greatly appreciated.

P.S. - Can anyone recommend anyone whom I should deal with in WF? (Perhaps from your experience)

 

[belle]

that is a great looking diamond! the angles are cherry and the idealscope looks wonderful! i did not notice the med. blue fluor. the first time i saw it! yum!

you could keep searching....but i think you have found a winner!

(you might want to put it on hold

)

 

[Mara]

That would definitely be my dream upgrade...well maybe if it was 3.35c.

Med Blue fluor with a J is priceless. I LOVE that stone.

Definitely put it on hold. It could be snapped up tomorrow, sometimes people calling out stones on PS has that effect on those who are considering it secretly.

 

[Kaleigh]

That''s an awesome stone, snatch it up!!!!! Love the medium blue, it''s a winner!!!!!!!

 

[SLK]

Sorry for asking. But how do I put it on hold?

 

[Mara]

You call WF and ask them to put it on hold.

 

[Kaleigh]

Don''t email them, call them!!!!!

 

[SLK]

Thank you! I have just called WF and left a message to place it on hold (they are closed). Hope this would work.