Advice needed - down to a few stones

[cu-bigred]

Fellow PS-ers

I have long been a lurker and the time has come for me to make my purchase - I am in NYC and although I have visitied all of the B&Ms on 5th Ave, I still do not see the price/value of 50%+ for the name... That being said, I have been to many of the sites referred here and it appears that the consensus choice for frequency, quality, and satisfaction is WF - after some research, I believe I am down to a handful of stones from that site and wanted to leverage your collective experience - my parameters for selection were as follows:

Cut - Hearts and arrows
Clarity - VVS2 through VS2 - can be no notable inclusions over table per AGS report
Color - F or G
Carat - 1 to 1.25
Budget - +/- $9k

Based on those paramaters I was down to the following stones in order of preference:

#1 = = = = = = = = = = = =

Item Code: AGS-7011704
Price: $9,173.00
Report: AGS
Shape: A Cut Above H&A
Carat: 1.124
Color: G
Clarity: VS1
Depth: 61.1
Table: 54.6
Crown Angle: 34.8
Crown %: 15.9
Pavilion Angle: 40.8
Pavilion %: 43
Girdle: Thin to Medium Faceted
Polish: Ideal
Symmetry: Ideal
Culet: Pointed
Fluorescence: Negligible
Measurements: 6.74-6.77X4.12

#2 = = = = = = = = = = =

Item Code: AGS-6117901
Price: $9,171.00
Report: AGS
Shape: A Cut Above H&A
Carat: 1.038
Color: F
Clarity: VS1
Depth: 60.3
Table: 57
Crown Angle: 34.8
Crown %: 15
Pavilion Angle: 40.9
Pavilion %: 43.1
Girdle: Thin to Medium Faceted
Polish: Ideal
Symmetry: Ideal
Culet: Pointed
Fluorescence: Negligible
Measurements: 6.57-6.59X3.97

#3 = = = = = = = = = = = =

Item Code: AGS-6809509
Price: $8,346.00
Report: AGS
Shape: A Cut Above H&A
Carat: 1.200
Color: H
Clarity: VS1
Depth: 61.2
Table: 54.3
Crown Angle: 34.6
Crown %: 15.8
Pavilion Angle: 40.8
Pavilion %: 43
Girdle: Thin to Medium Faceted
Polish: Ideal
Symmetry: Ideal
Culet: Pointed
Fluorescence: Negligible
Measurements: 6.87-6.89X4.21

#4 = = = = = = == ==

Item Code: AGS-6809502
Price: $9,386.00
Report: AGS
Shape: A Cut Above H&A
Carat: 1.152
Color: F
Clarity: VS2
Depth: 60.9
Table: 54.9
Crown Angle: 34.8
Crown %: 15.7
Pavilion Angle: 40.8
Pavilion %: 43
Girdle: Thin to Medium
Polish: Ideal
Symmetry: Ideal
Culet: Pointed
Fluorescence: Negligible
Measurements: 6.79-6.81X4.14

= = = = = =

I would love to get input both on stones and my approach to the process - I plan to propose next weekend and would need a stone in-hand by thurs so unfortunately time has limited some search options - ie. going to GOG etc.

thanks to all in advance!

 

[Sundial]

Welcome to pricescope! It certainly looks like you have done your homework. Those all appear to be nice diamonds from the information you''ve posted. I have not had personal experience with Whiteflash, but many here have and have reported favorable experiences. I notice that you included an H although it doesn''t meet your stated criteria. That would be my choice so far based on the fact that it is a little bigger and cheaper than the others. If it were me I would consider looking at some SI clarity stones that might be eye clean, but you certainly have a nice group to choose from already.

 

[cu-bigred]

Thank you sundial - i have done some homework but still very much a novice!

the H color stone was my wild card - i was thinking that the visual impact of a larger stone would off-set any difference in color between a G and H

the to-be''s folks are very knowledgable about jewelry, so i leaned toward a vs1 or better to play it safe from the quality perspective

I think i am going to eliminate stone #2 - after the original post it came up as an outlier on the cut advisor

Just a few more questions:

how important do inclusions over the table vs not matter? - i guess i was under the impression that inclusions under the table are more likely to affect light vs. those on the side which can be hidden by prongs?

 

[Sundial]

I would ask Whiteflash about the inclusions on any particular stone that you are considering.