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Rose Gold Engagement Ring Questions

SebOttawa

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Hi, I'm new to the whole ring buying game and was looking for help picking out the perfect diamond for my girlfriend! The setting she wants is the following:
https://www.jamesallen.com/engageme...iamond-engagement-ring-oval-center-item-41432
We originally were going to go with man made but decided to look into land diamond and found this ($2160US):

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.02-carat-k-color-vs1-clarity-sku-7180385

I am willing to go upto $4000US but thought this looked nice for the price.

I have also attached the Online Cert for you to review!

Any info/help would be much Appreciated!

Seb
 

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lovedogs

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I don't see the certificate, but I like that stone. It's definitely tinted, but I think that will work in the setting you chose. Are you 1000% sure your GF wants/is ok with a warm or tinted stone? I love them, but many people do not so it's important to know for sure.

And the price is hidden now bc it's received. What was the asking price? ETA: I'm an idiot and just realized you wrote the price already. oops!
 
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SebOttawa

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I don't see the certificate, but I like that stone. It's definitely tinted, but I think that will work in the setting you chose. Are you 1000% sure your GF wants/is ok with a warm or tinted stone? I love them, but many people do not so it's important to know for sure.

And the price is hidden now bc it's received. What was the asking price? ETA: I'm an idiot and just realized you wrote the price already. oops!
50A47032-FDE0-477A-8E64-FE6B4BDB434B.jpeg
 

SebOttawa

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She’s actually seen the ring and is okay with the warm/tint. Did some research and with gold or rose gold the warm tint should look good.

Thanks for looking into others! SL1 May not have great clarity though correct?

I tried attaching the Cert, let me know if you see it!

Also thanks for all your input
 

the_mother_thing

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@lovedogs I think the center of the diamond looks kind of mushy ... not much definition to the belly facets under the table as it moves.
 

lovedogs

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the_mother_thing

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Maybe oval experts can speak to why I don't love the center of the stone. It looks almost...deep? I can't quite explain it.

I’m no oval expert but the crown looks very steep to me.
654BC7C0-058D-4C67-B907-E606666CAB58.jpeg
 

lovedogs

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I’m no oval expert but the crown looks very steep to me.
654BC7C0-058D-4C67-B907-E606666CAB58.jpeg
I wonder if that's why it almost feels like there's a "cavity" in the middle? Obviously I know there's not one, but it gives me that feel.
 

the_mother_thing

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Venzen007

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The OP stone looks fish-eyed to me. Anyone else?
 

the_mother_thing

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@SebOttawa Even if you opt to not buy the oval I linked above, I wanted to give you this side-by-side view to see the AV Oval (left) compared to the JA oval (right) to point out my feedback above and help you look out for this. Hope this helps to point out the areas I think look ‘mushy’ compared to a nicely cut oval. The difference is that the AV oval will be much brighter and flashy/sparkly than the JA diamond. :wavey:
F678DFBE-35DA-43AF-BDEC-C5CCB7D29E4F.jpeg
 

the_mother_thing

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A couple of other JA options that - at a glance - look better to my eye than the original diamond you linked (hopefully others will chime in);;

Nice spread: https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.01-carat-j-color-vs1-clarity-sku-7312676

High color; ask JA’s gemologist to check/ensure the cloud doesn’t negatively impact the performance: https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/0.90-carat-e-color-si1-clarity-sku-7208354. GIA report: https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=1206263784&s=1563942632785

High color & nice clarity:
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/0.90-carat-d-color-vs2-clarity-sku-7469893. GIA report: https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=2201414998

High color; ask gemologist to check the feather/eye cleanliness: https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/0.91-carat-e-color-si1-clarity-sku-7025627
GIA report: https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=2205205820

And here they are at a glance; but let others chime in on these, as I am not an oval guru ... these just look nice to my eyes in what appears to be your budget.
D9D22439-9E56-459F-A092-F8203C0B1412.jpeg
 

yssie

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The OP stone looks fish-eyed to me. Anyone else?
You could call it that.
At some point it's all just good ol' fashioned mush, and the particulars of varietal of mush cease to matter ::)
 

yssie

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@SebOttawa
One thing to keep in mind as you search: quality of light return is as important as quantity of light return.

Let's use a chessboard as a (large over)simplication. Black is facets that are turning "on" at a given point in time from a given angle... white is facets that are off at that time at that angle. "On" means returning flashes of light that you see and appreciate. "Off" could mean scintillation (facets that are capable of crisp, bold output) or "mush" (ineffective virtual facets that aren't capable of crisb, bold output).

When the diamond is patterned such that at that point in time, from that angle, "on areas" and "off areas" are evenly distributed across the surface of the stone, the result is balanced and universally pleasing.

11.jpg

When the diamond is patterned such that "on areas" and "off areas" aren't evenly distributed, the result is jarring... even though the quantity of "on" might be exactly the same.

12.jpg


If pleasing patterning is top priority I will ditto @the_mother_thing - AV's ovals are the best there are.

Some additional suggestions:

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/0.93-carat-i-color-vs1-clarity-sku-5630424
This is about as good as generic ovals are ever going to get. Don't know if the haze is stone or video - it's a VS1 so my presumption is it's a photography issue, but verify.

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.01-carat-i-color-vvs1-clarity-sku-6966434
Not too shabby...

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.06-carat-j-color-vvs1-clarity-sku-7303193
Loving the colour of this one, faceting is imprecise but pleasing to my eyes.
 

SebOttawa

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@SebOttawa If I were you, I would opt for this diamond: https://augustvintageinc.net/collections/diamonds/products/0-95ct-j-si1-august-vintage-oval-1252037, let Jonathan know your budget, and see if he can source one of these Stuller settings, which are similar to the one from JA (it’s not all that unique really) ... but this diamond is light years above & beyond the one from JA and would outperform it every day of the week!

632368DC-9EE3-40DC-9CBB-FD8DB0AF3C65.jpeg

5C651121-3832-46B1-884D-00AFEBDC13A4.jpeg

5B8746E4-1EE5-46FA-BA11-9C68EA20E398.jpeg

92D304A5-DA6F-454D-A035-B9C8E016995F.jpeg

How is August Vintage Inc? I looked and can't seem to see if they ship to Canada as thats where I'm located! Beautiful diamond none the less! :)
 

SebOttawa

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You could call it that.
At some point it's all just good ol' fashioned mush, and the particulars of varietal of mush cease to matter ::)

Yes, I am now noticing the mush and can't go back haha
 

SebOttawa

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the_mother_thing

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How is August Vintage Inc? I looked and can't seem to see if they ship to Canada as thats where I'm located! Beautiful diamond none the less! :)

Not sure if you meant ‘who’ or ‘where’ is August Vintage. The owner - Jonathan - is located in the NYC/Long Island area I believe. And I do think he ships to Canada, but you would need to confirm that with him. He owns the patent for (what I believe is) the only ideal cut oval diamond - August Vintage/Elyque Ovals - and therefore he is the exclusive seller of them as well, I believe. Nice guy; comes on here on occasion to participate in discussions/education for consumers, has a LOT of educational videos on YouTube, and very knowledgeable with diamonds of all shapes/cuts. I do believe he’d be able to work with your budget so long as you’re open to being flexible on your requirements as well. His ideal cut ovals don’t come cheap, but they ARE amazing according to those who’ve seen them in person. :wavey:

ETA: FYI, I could ‘tag’ Jonathan to call his attention to this thread; however, in doing so, I’d be essentially inviting him to ‘self promote’ which is NOT allowed on here. But if you want to read some of his posts to get a sense for who he is, his knowledge, etc. just go to Google and search for ‘Pricescope Rhino’.
 

SebOttawa

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Not sure if you meant ‘who’ or ‘where’ is August Vintage. The owner - Jonathan - is located in the NYC/Long Island area I believe. And I do think he ships to Canada, but you would need to confirm that with him. He owns the patent for (what I believe is) the only ideal cut oval diamond - August Vintage/Elyque Ovals - and therefore he is the exclusive seller of them as well, I believe. Nice guy; comes on here on occasion to participate in discussions/education for consumers, has a LOT of educational videos on YouTube, and very knowledgeable with diamonds of all shapes/cuts. I do believe he’d be able to work with your budget so long as you’re open to being flexible on your requirements as well. His ideal cut ovals don’t come cheap, but they ARE amazing according to those who’ve seen them in person. :wavey:

ETA: FYI, I could ‘tag’ Jonathan to call his attention to this thread; however, in doing so, I’d be essentially inviting him to ‘self promote’ which is NOT allowed on here. But if you want to read some of his posts to get a sense for who he is, his knowledge, etc. just go to Google and search for ‘Pricescope Rhino’.

No, I meant how, as I was curious on the quality, but you speak highly so you answered that. I'll look into him! Thank you so much :)
 

the_mother_thing

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The second one shows ‘not available’ so not sure if you bought it already or someone else did. Either way, I’d just caution considering diamonds with an IGI lab report vs. a GIA or AGS report. PSers generally recommend sticking with GIA and/or AGS because they have more strict standards for consistent grading. Labs such as IGI and a couple others are less reliable/consistent; therefore, it’s less likely you’re getting a stone that truly has the specs the report states.

On the first diamond you posted, I’m not sure if it will have a huge bow tie in the middle or if the color (which normally doesn’t bother me in the least) will be so distinct from the facets in the middle section that it’d be ‘undesireable’ in person. Perhaps others can/will comment on that.

I will note that it appears based on the diamonds you are posting that you are trying to stay at/above the one carat mark. Just a suggestion, focus less on the carat weight and more on the diamond’s dimensions. Two diamonds can be the exact same carat weight, yet have very different dimensions based on how well they are cut. Some might have extremely thick girdles which ‘hides’ a lot of the carat weight so you won’t really see it when viewing the diamond face-up. Others may be cut too shallow and thus will not have very good optics/performance. That’s one of the reasons I pointed you to the August Vintage oval upthread. It may be just under a carat, but 1) you’re not paying the premium for hitting that ‘magic’ carat mark; and 2) it takes the guess work out of the equation for you, in that - with an AGS Ideal cut grade - you know that diamond will knock the socks off of anyone who looks at it. And it faced up pretty darn close to the one you originally picked. For reference, it takes about a .2mm difference in size for the eye to start to notice a difference in size.
 

the_mother_thing

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No, I meant how, as I was curious on the quality, but you speak highly so you answered that. I'll look into him! Thank you so much :)

In the interest of transparency, yes, I recommended the AV oval, but I have not personally transacted business with Jonathan except to approach him awhile back about a stone he had that was of interest to me. I went a different direction with that project, so it wasn’t anything negative about him/his inventory. But I feel comfortable recommending his ovals based on his reputation on here, from other PSers who have seen them, and because the well-respected lab/report states that diamond is darn near ‘perfection’ in terms of cut/performance/light return.

Regardless of what vendor you consider, it is always encouraged that you research the seller (feel free to ask on here if you want), do a google search for ‘Pricescope + vendor name’, and even read through other buyers’ testimonials for suggestions via this section of the forum: https://www.pricescope.com/community/forums/pricescope-testimonials.57/

You want to know about things other than the diamond, such as return policy, trade-up options (if of interest), etc. so you are informed up front about what you’re buying and from whom.
 

AmethystHope

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How is August Vintage Inc? I looked and can't seem to see if they ship to Canada as thats where I'm located! Beautiful diamond none the less! :)
Hi @SebOttawa, I’m in Alberta and the two purchases I’ve made with AV were a breeze. Jon and Vicki (AV) were great to work and I love both rings.
 
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