Advice please! Trying to decide between 2 lab diamonds for my fiancé

[Secret_Guide4751]

Hello - I'm new to the diamond world and am trying to make a smart and informed decision when buying for my fiancé. It's such an important purchase so I would like any and all advice on the following that she has sent me. She likes an emerald cut the best generally but also fancies the princess cut; both no smaller than 2.5 carats. I want to make her happy but also want it to be beautiful in person! Is one of these a better choice than the other? Or possibly, should both be avoided? All help and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DejaWiz]

Are there any links to pictures/videos for these diamonds on the sellers website?

Since these are both CVD growth method, there are some things that need to be checked such as striations causing inhibited transparency/haziness, birefringence/double refraction, and color tinting.

If either of these turn out to be duds, do you have a budget that we can make some recommendations within from a variety of the PS vetted vendor network?

 

[Secret_Guide4751]

Are there any links to pictures/videos for these diamonds on the sellers website?

Since these are both CVD growth method, there are some things that need to be checked such as striations causing inhibited transparency/haziness, birefringence/double refraction, and color tinting.

If either of these turn out to be duds, do you have a budget that we can make some recommendations within from a variety of the PS vetted vendor network?

Yes, here are the links:

14K 4.18 CT Diamond Solitaire Ring with IGI Report | EBTH

Bid on 14K 4.18 CT Diamond Solitaire Ring with IGI Report online at Everything But The House. Bidding on most items starts at $1.

www.ebth.com

14K 3.51 CT Diamond Solitaire Ring with IGI Report | EBTH

Bid on 14K 3.51 CT Diamond Solitaire Ring with IGI Report online at Everything But The House. Bidding on most items starts at $1.

www.ebth.com

It seems to be from an auction type site so I'm unsure if I can request additional information. If these turn out to be duds, the search will continue for $10k or less. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

 

[DejaWiz]

Both look quite nice.
The 4.51 EC appears to have a very slight twinge of brown, while the 3.51 PC appears to lean slightly towards graysih...which are normal color tints to expect for CVD diamonds with PGT in the near-colorless grades.
The challenge is going to be the EC, since they are extremely hard to judge from the web without good videos in order to see the facet action, although this one appears to have some nice brilliance in the pictures provided. Perhaps others that are more in-tune to ECs will chime in and provide their assessment.

 

[Secret_Guide4751]

Both look quite nice.
The 4.51 EC appears to have a very slight twinge of brown, while the 3.51 PC appears to lean slightly towards graysih...which are normal color tints to expect for CVD diamonds with PGT in the near-colorless grades.
The challenge is going to be the EC, since they are extremely hard to judge from the web without good videos in order to see the facet action, although this one appears to have some nice brilliance in the pictures provided. Perhaps others that are more in-tune to ECs will chime in and provide their assessment.

Thank you for your time and the feedback. I am concerned about being able to judge facet action and light leakage from just photos as well especially as a first-timer.

Regarding the EC, I was also concerned to see the depth being slightly more than the typical recommendations. Do you know how impactful that will be - it's about 1.3% deeper than recommended? Also in the first photo zoomed, there seems to be speckles and I'm unable to tell if it's dust/needs a cleaning or inclusions that would be visible to the naked eye. Any guidance on either of those topics would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[DejaWiz]

Thank you for your time and the feedback. I am concerned about being able to judge facet action and light leakage from just photos as well especially as a first-timer.

Regarding the EC, I was also concerned to see the depth being slightly more than the typical recommendations. Do you know how impactful that will be - it's about 1.3% deeper than recommended? Also in the first photo zoomed, there seems to be speckles and I'm unable to tell if it's dust/needs a cleaning or inclusions that would be visible to the naked eye. Any guidance on either of those topics would also be greatly appreciated.

You're very welcome.
Don't worry too much about depth - very small variances in depth is likely to have much less impact on a step cut than the precision and angles of the individual facets. Perhaps Karl_K would be willing to make a general comment regarding step cut parameters and the effects that small changes to various proportions (such as depth) would pose.
As far as the speckles, it seems to need a good cleaning, as I can see what appears to be a clothing fiber hanging out of one of the prongs and some smudging along the shank of the setting.
Being a VVS2, any inclusions would be so small that they would require higher levels of magnification to see...and that's after putting in the effort to even find them.

 

[lovedogs]

I think you really need videos to decide on these fancy shapes.

 

[EClove]

I don't love the EC - though it's hard to tell without video. The center of it looks to be dead - like it's always going to have light leakage through it. See how you can see the setting straight through the center? In my experience you shouldn't be able to see that. Are you open to other suggestions under 10K and over 2.5 that are not from auction sites?

 

[Secret_Guide4751]

I don't love the EC - though it's hard to tell without video. The center of it looks to be dead - like it's always going to have light leakage through it. See how you can see the setting straight through the center? In my experience you shouldn't be able to see that. Are you open to other suggestions under 10K and over 2.5 that are not from auction sites?

Yes, absolutely open to other suggestions! We are actively looking together and she found these two options and sent them to me, which is why I came looking for great feedback.

 

[EClove]

Yes, absolutely open to other suggestions! We are actively looking together and she found these two options and sent them to me, which is why I came looking for great feedback.

Awesome! There are a lot of great vendors out there - James Allen is a favorite for lab diamonds but I don't see a lot of emerald inventory that meets your criteria.

I purchased my EC and setting from Frank Darling and had a great experience, but their return police is not as generous as James Allen as some others (I think you have 30 days but only one chance to return - second time it's yours) but they'll provide asets and you can customize any of their settings for free. Anyway, all that to say I used their site to search for a couple. Again, hard to tell without seeing them in person but I think these may have some potential:

If Carat is your top priority, this one is a good options and has a larger face up size than the 3.51 you posted: https://frankdarling.com/diamonds/diamond-LGO8259612JA/

This one has great color and still faces up larger than the one you shared even though it's .5 carats "smaller" https://frankdarling.com/diamonds/diamond-LGA5365018JA/

And I personally LOVE the look of this one - it faces up just a little smaller than the one you posted, but I love how long it is (hard to find in emeralds sometimes) https://frankdarling.com/diamonds/diamond-LG1171710FX/

 

[tyty333]

You need to post your budget @Secret_Guide4751 and minimum requirements (color/clarity).

I agree with @EClove ...that emerald cut looks leaky in the middle (like you can see through it).

 

[DejaWiz]

You need to post your budget @Secret_Guide4751 and minimum requirements (color/clarity).

I agree with @EClove ...that emerald cut looks leaky in the middle (like you can see through it).

SG4751's budget is $10K.
I do not believe the min req for color and clarity were mentioned yet.