Advise on diamond and purchasing from jamesallen.com

[claus10]

Hello!

I'm just about to buy a diamond online (for an engagement ring) and am feeling quite nervous about it.

The vendor is jamesallen.com
I've been looking for reviews and how people from the UK have got on with them, but there isn't much out there outside of blogs (purchase guides) and horror stories lol.

Are any of you from the UK and have you recently had a positive experience with them?

The diamond I am considering is:
Oval
0.82 carat
E colour
VVS1 clarity
Dimensions 8.02*5.13*3.04mm
Depth 59.2%
Table 61%
Medium faceted

Are the proportions of this diamond good and will it sparkle nicely in most conditions?

Thanks for any advice and feedback!

Claus10

 

[Kaycee2018]

Table larger then depth = sign of trouble. Post the full report and I’m sure the experts will chime in.

 

[claus10]

 

[Kaycee2018]

Sorry...didn’t see that it was an oval. I have less than zero experience with ovals so I’ll step aside...

 

[claus10]

Thanks for your response - Ive added the certificate.

What is the reason having a larger table is unwise? I have no knowledge about this!

 

[claus10]

No problem, appreciate you getting in touch!

 

[lovedogs]

Cant judge ovals with numbers alone, need to see video to know how it performs

 

[Diamond Girl 21]

I'm not sure if this will be helpful since you're in the UK, but I would recommend looking at Distinctive Gems (previously August Vintage). Jonathan, the owner, is a great guy, super knowledgeable, and has stunning ovals. Good luck!

 

[MRBXXXFVVS1]

I'm not in the UK and can't comment on the diamond specs, but I've ordered and received several things from James Allen and had a GREAT experience each and every time. They have a huge selection of diamonds with great photos, so you just have to know what you're looking for, and get the GIA report vs. other vendors that have more of a curated assortment. Best of luck!

 

[elizat]

Can you post the link to the stone? Video and images are key for ovals.

The VVS clarity is a bit overkill, unless that's personally important to you. I think you could do a nice clean Sl1- or even 2, but those can be tougher to find.

 

[claus10]

This is a link for the diamond:

0.82 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 0.82 carat E color vvs1 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

 

[claus10]

Thanks for all your comments, I've posted a link to the stone.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Personally I like the L/W ratio and proportions of this stone. I think it will suit my partner well as she has long, slim fingers.

Vvs is important for me personally. But I do appreciate the rationale and logic about it being overkill.

 

[heretofindoutmore]

not an expert but probably can share with you what I have found on PS
the basic guidelines of Oval Cut diamond:-



Based on these guidelines, it does have fairly good proportions and length to width ratio

 

[claus10]

Thanks for your post!

I used a similar guide table when searching for the stone. But not as in-depth! I was fairly strict with the percentages for the depth and table. Didn't know about the other criteria!

Something drew me to this one more than 50++ others I had looked at over the last few weeks.

 

[heretofindoutmore]

No problem! Just sharing what I could help but still learning not a pro!
Goodluck!

 

[lovedogs]

Thanks for your post!

I used a similar guide table when searching for the stone. But not as in-depth! I was fairly strict with the percentages for the depth and table. Didn't know about the other criteria!

Something drew me to this one more than 50++ others I had looked at over the last few weeks.

I am of the opinion that you cannnot choose fancy cuts by numbers alone. They aren't like rounds. Looking at video/pics is critical.

 

[claus10]

I am of the opinion that you cannnot choose fancy cuts by numbers alone. They aren't like rounds. Looking at video/pics is critical.

Thanks for your post!

I looked at many diamonds online and some in person before settling on this one. I posted the the link to the video and images of the stone above - if you are able to please have a look and provide me some feedback on the stone I'm considering. I looked for the l/w ratio, the parameters on the tables and looked at the images+videos of the stones to see if there was a 'bow tie' effect.

There are probably a lot of other factors I should have considered that I wasn't aware of!

If the link isn't working please let me know and I'll repost it!

Thanks

 

[AV_]

I appreciate the long shape & the stone looks quite brilliant in the video - to say the least!

 

[lovedogs]

Thanks for your post!

I looked at many diamonds online and some in person before settling on this one. I posted the the link to the video and images of the stone above - if you are able to please have a look and provide me some feedback on the stone I'm considering. I looked for the l/w ratio, the parameters on the tables and looked at the images+videos of the stones to see if there was a 'bow tie' effect.

There are probably a lot of other factors I should have considered that I wasn't aware of!

If the link isn't working please let me know and I'll repost it!

Thanks

oops, sorry! Totally missed the link. I think it looks bright and lively, which is great. I think there will be a bowtie, but likely quite small and won't have that "black out" look that usually bothers people.

 

[claus10]

Thanks for all of your feedback so far! I'm reassured that it's a good quality diamond! Although, I do wonder how accurate the videos and images are as it would be so easy for them to mislead people. I guess time will tell.

I found a suggestion on this forum/website to search for the same stone on rarecarat - and I'm so glad that I did. I found it cheaper elsewhere and jamesallen matched the price. This was actually really straightforward.

After that I went to make the payment and I learned that I couldn't make the purchase straight away as they had to check the stone was still available (a lot of the diamonds they sell are not in their own inventory). I was advised this process takes 24-48 hours (not sure if weekends are included in this timeframe). I found it a bit strange that they do not know what of their inventory is available for purchase and was surprised that this process hadn't started when I reserved the diamond!

I'm hoping to hear from them soon. I don't think it would be wise to get too excited that this is a completed transaction yet!

Without getting too ahead of myself, once (if) the diamond arrives how do I check the laser inscripted GIA report number and match it to the paper report? Would any jewellers loupe be able to do this or is any specialist equipment needed?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[lovedogs]

Thanks for all of your feedback so far! I'm reassured that it's a good quality diamond! Although, I do wonder how accurate the videos and images are as it would be so easy for them to mislead people. I guess time will tell.

I found a suggestion on this forum/website to search for the same stone on rarecarat - and I'm so glad that I did. I found it cheaper elsewhere and jamesallen matched the price. This was actually really straightforward.

After that I went to make the payment and I learned that I couldn't make the purchase straight away as they had to check the stone was still available (a lot of the diamonds they sell are not in their own inventory). I was advised this process takes 24-48 hours (not sure if weekends are included in this timeframe). I found it a bit strange that they do not know what of their inventory is available for purchase and was surprised that this process hadn't started when I reserved the diamond!

I'm hoping to hear from them soon. I don't think it would be wise to get too excited that this is a completed transaction yet!

Without getting too ahead of myself, once (if) the diamond arrives how do I check the laser inscripted GIA report number and match it to the paper report? Would any jewellers loupe be able to do this or is any specialist equipment needed?

Thanks again everyone!

They won't mislead people...it would be a terrible buisiness strategy and would lose them money in the end. They are a "drop shipper', which means they don't actually own their inventory. Multiple places list the same stone for sale (which is why you were able to find someone else selling for less). So JA needs to check that the stone didn't already sell on one of those other websites. They don't usually do that until someone pays, unfortunately.

You can check yourself using a loupe from amazon or similar. I believe a 25x should be fine. Sometimes the inscription is hard to find, so don't panic if you can't find it right away.

 

[claus10]

They won't mislead people...it would be a terrible buisiness strategy and would lose them money in the end. They are a "drop shipper', which means they don't actually own their inventory. Multiple places list the same stone for sale (which is why you were able to find someone else selling for less). So JA needs to check that the stone didn't already sell on one of those other websites. They don't usually do that until someone pays, unfortunately.

You can check yourself using a loupe from amazon or similar. I believe a 25x should be fine. Sometimes the inscription is hard to find, so don't panic if you can't find it right away.

Thanks for clarifying! I think if the images and video are accurate we will be really happy with the diamond. Fingers crossed it is still available - I wonder if this is why everyone was saying good luck in previous messages. Prior to this I thought the process is like buying anything else!

Ok sure will find a 25 x magnification loop if the diamond is confirmed!

Thanks!

 

[AV_]

I wonder if this is why everyone was saying good luck in previous messages.

No. What you are seeing is the engrained nature of virtual inventories. It is not clear if any novel disruption might be relevant as for just about anything else.

I did look, but could not find another oval as brilliant & spready; a couple of stones look at least as bright - perhaps better in this respect, but they are smaller - www , www , www.

 

[claus10]

No. What you are seeing is the engrained nature of virtual inventories. It is not clear if any novel disruption might be relevant as for just about anything else.

I did look, but could not find another oval as brilliant & spready; a couple of stones look at least as bright - perhaps better in this respect, but they are smaller - www , www , www.

Thanks for your message! I actually had looked at 2 of the stones (the last one was quite far off my budget!) which you linked before picking the one from jamesallen.

Now you mention novel disruption - I was told a couple of days ago that payment would take upto 48 hours to process for the diamond (due to verifying it's availability). However, today I was told the New York offices are all closed due to the pandemic so no payments are currently being processed. As far as I am aware there have been no changes to restrictions and guidelines regarding covid in the last 48 hours so I have no idea why this information was not disclosed a couple of days ago.

I'm guess I'm just going to have to be patient and see how it goes.

 

[heretofindoutmore]

I am of the opinion that you cannnot choose fancy cuts by numbers alone. They aren't like rounds. Looking at video/pics is critical.

yeap! agree that the numbers on the table is more of like a basic guideline.
for fancy shapes diamond, is more of the visual look of the diamond!

 

[claus10]

yeap! agree that the numbers on the table is more of like a basic guideline.
for fancy shapes diamond, is more of the visual look of the diamond!

I agree with this as well. So many diamonds made the cut based on the parameters listed in the table but of those I only really liked a few of them for various reasons. It's been interesting over learning about diamonds over the last few weeks whilst researching this purchase. Thanks for all your advice and feedback!

 

[claus10]

Hello!

I received the stone a couple of days ago and it is really stunning! The experience with jamesallen was overall good.

Is anyone aware of any basic software to play around with which would help to design a setting for the ring? Now that I've seen the stone in person I'm not convinced with my original plan of a basket setting with a reverse tapered shank!

Thanks for all the help and advice!
Claus10