Melarsa
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2010
- Messages
- 9
I've been narrowing down my search for a roughly 1/2 carat princess diamond, with the best available cut, symmetry and polish, VVS1-VS1 clarity, D-G color, and as close to a perfectly square l/w ratio as I can get within the very limited budget of $2,000 or less, preferably in the $1,500 range give or take a few hundred if possible. In terms of importance to me, I'm looking for cut first, clarity second, and color last, although I'd like to keep as near to colorless as possible.
I'm not sure if I'm asking for too much for too small of a budget, but I have been able to find a few stones on Blue Nile, White Flash, and Good Old Gold that have piqued my interest and I wanted to ask the more savvy among you to take a look and see if I can do better, or if the diamonds are a good deal for the quality, or if I can step down a bit in cut/clarity/etc. to find a diamond of similar quality with significant savings. While I know the basics, I'm still a little confused on what exactly constitutes a top-notch princess cut in terms of depth percentages and angles and soforth. I've seen charts here and elsewhere, but haven't had the best of luck deciphering them. I'm looking for a stone that, while not large, will be something to be proud of that I will cherish forever. I am not looking to upgrade anytime soon, and would rather a higher quality 1/2 carat stone than a larger, lower-quality stone.
So without further ado, here are a few of the stones that seem to me, in my inexperience, to be a good balance of quality and price:
http://www.bluenile.com/princess-cut-diamond-1-carat-or-less-signature-ideal-cut-g-color-vvs1-clarity_LD01589911
This one seems good on paper, and is right where I'd like to be in terms of budget, but I know Blue Nile doesn't necessarily have this stone in-house and can't provide photos/scans to see exactly how this particular diamond actually looks. They also don't seem to be as forthcoming with information like crown percentages, etc., although I myself am still not quite sure how to judge quality based on those figures. Specs: .51 carat, "Blue Nile Signature Ideal" cut, VVS1 clarity, G color, no flourescence, "Excellent" polish and symmetry, and a 1.00 l/w ratio.
http://www.whiteflash.com/aca_princess/Whiteflash-ACA-Princess-cut-diamond-2198534.htm#
This one seems great as well, and I've read good things about Whiteflash here time and time again. It's a little more expensive, and is backed by actual photos and scans, which I like, although in my inexperience I'm not quite sure if my interpretations of them are correct. From here, everything seems superlative, but I can't be sure. Specs: .522 carat, "Whiteflash ACA Princess" cut, VS1 clarity, E color, negligable flourescence, "Ideal" polish/symmetry, and 1.03 l/w ratio.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/6914/
This one I'm not so sure on, especially due to the flourescence, and what seems to me worse scans than the Whiteflash diamond. Specs: .53 carat, "GOG Signature Princess" cut, VS1 clarity, G color, medium flourescence, "Ideal" polish/symmetry, and 1.00 l/w ratio. Will the flourescence in this diamond make the color appear slightly better? or is it best to just avoid flourescence altogether?
Where I start getting lost is what one vendor's "Signature Ideal," "Ideal" or "Excellent" cut is in comparison to another's, and whether it's all just buzzwords. I've also seen a wide range of "Ideal" percentages in terms of table depth, total depth, crown height, etc. and I'm not sure if I'm being too picky by just searching for stones that fall within that range, especially since fancy-cut diamonds aren't as easy to guage as rounds when it comes to "Idealness" of cut.
Please, somebody take pity on someone who's trying to become an educated consumer and let me know if I'm totally off in my expectations!
Thank you, I really appreciate it.
I'm not sure if I'm asking for too much for too small of a budget, but I have been able to find a few stones on Blue Nile, White Flash, and Good Old Gold that have piqued my interest and I wanted to ask the more savvy among you to take a look and see if I can do better, or if the diamonds are a good deal for the quality, or if I can step down a bit in cut/clarity/etc. to find a diamond of similar quality with significant savings. While I know the basics, I'm still a little confused on what exactly constitutes a top-notch princess cut in terms of depth percentages and angles and soforth. I've seen charts here and elsewhere, but haven't had the best of luck deciphering them. I'm looking for a stone that, while not large, will be something to be proud of that I will cherish forever. I am not looking to upgrade anytime soon, and would rather a higher quality 1/2 carat stone than a larger, lower-quality stone.
So without further ado, here are a few of the stones that seem to me, in my inexperience, to be a good balance of quality and price:
http://www.bluenile.com/princess-cut-diamond-1-carat-or-less-signature-ideal-cut-g-color-vvs1-clarity_LD01589911
This one seems good on paper, and is right where I'd like to be in terms of budget, but I know Blue Nile doesn't necessarily have this stone in-house and can't provide photos/scans to see exactly how this particular diamond actually looks. They also don't seem to be as forthcoming with information like crown percentages, etc., although I myself am still not quite sure how to judge quality based on those figures. Specs: .51 carat, "Blue Nile Signature Ideal" cut, VVS1 clarity, G color, no flourescence, "Excellent" polish and symmetry, and a 1.00 l/w ratio.
http://www.whiteflash.com/aca_princess/Whiteflash-ACA-Princess-cut-diamond-2198534.htm#
This one seems great as well, and I've read good things about Whiteflash here time and time again. It's a little more expensive, and is backed by actual photos and scans, which I like, although in my inexperience I'm not quite sure if my interpretations of them are correct. From here, everything seems superlative, but I can't be sure. Specs: .522 carat, "Whiteflash ACA Princess" cut, VS1 clarity, E color, negligable flourescence, "Ideal" polish/symmetry, and 1.03 l/w ratio.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/6914/
This one I'm not so sure on, especially due to the flourescence, and what seems to me worse scans than the Whiteflash diamond. Specs: .53 carat, "GOG Signature Princess" cut, VS1 clarity, G color, medium flourescence, "Ideal" polish/symmetry, and 1.00 l/w ratio. Will the flourescence in this diamond make the color appear slightly better? or is it best to just avoid flourescence altogether?
Where I start getting lost is what one vendor's "Signature Ideal," "Ideal" or "Excellent" cut is in comparison to another's, and whether it's all just buzzwords. I've also seen a wide range of "Ideal" percentages in terms of table depth, total depth, crown height, etc. and I'm not sure if I'm being too picky by just searching for stones that fall within that range, especially since fancy-cut diamonds aren't as easy to guage as rounds when it comes to "Idealness" of cut.
Please, somebody take pity on someone who's trying to become an educated consumer and let me know if I'm totally off in my expectations!
Thank you, I really appreciate it.
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