AGS, GIA, and small diamonds...

[jmb1978]

Hi All,

Need a little help here.

Last year, I spent lots of time researching diamonds, AGL vs GIA, and how to identify a great performer, and ended up finding an amazing Whiteflash ACA diamond that my wife and I both adore. It's a .83 ct D SI1 and sparkles like nothing I've ever seen.

Now, she's looking for a new set of diamond stud earrings (with round brillant cuts) but her ears are really small. We've already figured that any stones larger than 25 points would look too big. While that's good for the pocketbook, it presents all kinds of trouble for choosing diamonds. I went to the PriceScope search and pulled up everything from 20 to 30 points and AGS 0. It returned zero results. But with GIA 3X, I found about 800. Also, it seems almost none of those 800 are in-house, and almost none of them have more than one or two measurements advertised. Do jewelers just not send smaller stones to AGS for grading?

So I'm stuck in unfamiliar territory. I'm stuck with choosing among GIA 3X diamonds, which as I understand can include diamonds that were not good enough to make the AGS 0 grade, and I'm also stuck with diamonds that don't provide enough information to evaluate via the HCA calculator.

If we're only looking for stones around 25 pts each, is it even worth being as worried about these details? I'm not sure how to tell about any of these diamonds with such a lack of information, or how I can rule out the "poorer" of the GIA 3X that are out there. All we know for sure, is that they should be 23-25 pts each, have the best cut we can find, and she wants D colors. If it matters, they will be placed in white gold martini settings. It feels like no matter what I do, I'll be choosing blindly. There's hundreds in the Diamond Search that fit the bill, but I have no idea how to narrow it down or how to rule out the poorer of the lot.

Any suggestions? At this small size, would it even matter all that much?

Thanks all!

 

[RockyRacoon]

I might suggest looking at Brian Gavin Diamonds here.

They have a slick system to build earrings, and have matched pairs already set. You can find that feature here:
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/earring-builder/diamonds

Just as an example, here are a great pair of matched stones, right in the size range you're looking, AGS0 light performance, in D-color! These come with AGS certs:

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond_pair_comparisions/compared_diamond_details/CAGS-104065873071/CAGS-104066004097/build_earring_workbench

Here are the individual stones:
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.260-d-vs2-round-diamond-ags-c-104066004097
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.262-d-vs2-round-diamond-ags-c-104065873071

 

[jmb1978]

Thanks for the great info! I always forget about BGD because for some reason I never see their diamonds in search results here. Those two diamonds look like they might be just the ticket.

 

[RockyRacoon]

Thanks for the great info! I always forget about BGD because for some reason I never see their diamonds in search results here. Those two diamonds look like they might be just the ticket.

Not a problem at all.

Whiteflash also has a similar system, but I wasn't able to find you a solid pair with the specs you're looking for.

BGD might be a great option, as those stones are in-house and can be set rather quickly.

Best of luck!

 

[SirGuy]

Rocky to the rescue! Great find, man. That is what I would suggest as well. The price is pretty reasonable too.

You're right that it's tricky to find small AGS0 ones floating in open market. Most I've seen that small were already in hand and sent in for a report post-purchase. I think you're knowledgeable to still know that cut matters a lot, even if it's a small stone. At over 4mm the spread is nothing to sneeze at and cut is still a critical thing here.

That matched set by BGD seems pretty slick! It's a solid choice to me.

 

[jmb1978]

Thanks, guys.

WHile we're on the topic, I saw that BGD also has "Advance" diamonds, which apparently are diamonds you can preorder and BGD guarantees the specs. For example, on this diamond here:

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.281-d-si1-round-diamond-bfg-10518

It sounds like they would guarantee this stone to be an AGS 000, D SI1, complete with certificate and pictures. But the price is absurdly cheap when compared to the 26 pointer in-house stone that Rocky linked to above. I understand it may be cheaper due to the required wait time and also due to not having all the specs known beforehand (exact ct weight or angles / measurements, etc.) so in some respects I see that it's a gamble. Any thoughts on whether it's worthwhile to consider / not consider a "pre order"? I don't think I'd do this on a larger stone, but the relatively low price suggests I should at least research this more. If this turns out to be a silly idea, then at least I looked into it and educated myself beforehand. What gotchas should I be aware of?

Thanks again!

 

[RockyRacoon]

Thanks, guys.

WHile we're on the topic, I saw that BGD also has "Advance" diamonds, which apparently are diamonds you can preorder and BGD guarantees the specs. For example, on this diamond here:

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.281-d-si1-round-diamond-bfg-10518

It sounds like they would guarantee this stone to be an AGS 000, D SI1, complete with certificate and pictures. But the price is absurdly cheap when compared to the 26 pointer in-house stone that Rocky linked to above. I understand it may be cheaper due to the required wait time and also due to not having all the specs known beforehand (exact ct weight or angles / measurements, etc.) so in some respects I see that it's a gamble. Any thoughts on whether it's worthwhile to consider / not consider a "pre order"? I don't think I'd do this on a larger stone, but the relatively low price suggests I should at least research this more. If this turns out to be a silly idea, then at least I looked into it and educated myself beforehand. What gotchas should I be aware of?

Thanks again!

Personally, I have not purchased any of these Pre-Order stones.

Although the savings do sound great, I'd be concerned about the inclusions. They say that the stone is guaranteed to be an SI1, but it says nothing about eye-cleanliness.

I would find it unfortunate if I had committed to a stone that had an inclusion I could easily see (which can sometimes be the case with SI1's).

If I was going to look at one of the Pre-Order stones, I would probably consider VS1 + VS2 stones only. I may just be overly cautious, but I would not be a happy camper if I was required to buy a stone that wasn't eye-clean to my standards.