Another fella getting engaged needs diamond help

[Plungetaker]

Hello there diamond folks. I'm planning on getting engaged in approximately 6-8 weeks and am looking for help on finding a diamond. I have been scanning these forums and have learned quite a bit just by reading them. I'm hoping that some of you might help me out by pointing out a good deal on a cushion cut diamond (that's what she likes). My budget is around 3K, although I could probably stretch it to about 3500. This amount is just for the stone. I would like the stone to be around 1 carat (a little less is fine, a little more is better). I would think that an H or better in color would be fine and an eye clean SI1 would be the minimum acceptable. Can anyone point out anything else I should be looking for? Any particular stones and online vendors you might suggest would be happily accepted and looked into. My uneducated diamond brain has a difficult time sorting through the myriad of choices!!!
I cannot thank you enough in advance for any help you all can provide me. I never expected there to be so many parameters involved in a diamond purchase and I am glad I looked here prior to heading out to buy one at a B&M store.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I''d recommend either Mark at Engagement Rings Direct or Jonathan at Good Old Gold. Either should be able to help you choose a beautiful stone. Not sure that you can get a 1 ct. H stone for $3500, though. Cushions really have to be chosen with the eyes, unlike rounds, which can be chosen by the numbers when needed.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 10/10/2007 8:30:42 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
I''d recommend either Mark at Engagement Rings Direct or Jonathan at Good Old Gold. Either should be able to help you choose a beautiful stone. Not sure that you can get a 1 ct. H stone for $3500, though. Cushions really have to be chosen with the eyes, unlike rounds, which can be chosen by the numbers when needed.

Ditto!!

 

[Plungetaker]

Thanks for the information diamondseeker. There seem to be quite a few approx. 1 CT (slightly more and less) listed on web sites in my price range. The search function on pricescope gives a whole lot of them. It''s the latter part of your statement which makes me nervous as choosing one with my eyes is difficult. As a diamond layman, I feel a bit nervous picking one out. Thanks again.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

That''s why you can''t choose one from a virtual inventory. Someone like Jon or Mark can call a couple in for you and tell you whether they are worth considering. You need to call one of them to help you. Looking at virtual inventories of cushion stones is really almost pointless. Once they find a couple of suitable stones, they can photograph them and let you choose from a picture.

 

[Plungetaker]

Thanks! I''ll start calling them tomorrow. I really appreciate the references.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

You''re very welcome! You really only need to work with one of them, because I am sure either can help you get a great stone. I have bought a diamond from Jonathan and know personally what a fine person he is as well as having a passion for fine diamonds! Yet there are others on this board who''d say the same about Mark! So I''ll leave that to you to decide!

 

[Linda74]

We were just with Mark today, looking at round brilliants. He spent so much time with us and was really wonderful. He is really patient and found us a stone we loved in the budget. And, emailed us later to tell us he had overcharged accidentally by $75. How often does that happen? He is a real stand up guy.

 

[WorkingHardforSmallRewards]

Date: 10/10/2007 10:11:00 PM
Author: Linda74
We were just with Mark today, looking at round brilliants. He spent so much time with us and was really wonderful. He is really patient and found us a stone we loved in the budget. And, emailed us later to tell us he had overcharged accidentally by $75. How often does that happen? He is a real stand up guy.

I will tell you, I paid for and receive confirmation on a ticket to Japan this summer with a travel agency. No less than 5 hours later she called me up and told me that American Airlines announced a lower fair, so she had gone ahead and canceled my ticket, got me the exact same seats I had reserved, gave me a new confirmation number, and refunded me back 150 bucks. Got to love it when you find great businesses like these...

 

[Belle Brilliant]

Hi Plungetaker,

Congratulations, and well done on deciding on a cushion, I love the cut, altough they can be a lot trickier to buy than rounds as they can vary so widely.

I completely agree with diamond seeker, Mark and Jon really seem to know their stuff.

Recently I spend over an hour and a half with Mark looking at cushions. I thought I already knew a lot about cushions, but he taught me so much!

What you really need to decide though (and maybe Mark can help you do this) is the type of cushion you are looking for. Various price scopers have posted cushion tutorials and Good old Gold''s website has one. http://www.goodoldgold.com/ShapeTutorials/CushionTutorial/

The two types of cushion seem to be 1. Cushion Brilliant, and 2. Modified cushion brilliant. These two stones will have a completely different appearance to each other.

The cushion brilliant (which is by far my favourite, and also Mark T''s!) will have defined facets and brilliance throughout the stone, more like a round brilliant.

The modified cushion is cut to draw the brilliance to the centre of the stone. It has more of a radiant look, with lots of small sparkles and a ''crushed ice'' look with fewer ''broad chunky flashes''.

You really need to see the two to appreciate the difference. One word of warning though, apparently 90% of the cushion market is the modified cushion, as cutting stones in this way yields a bigger stone (and therefore more return for the stone cutter).

Moremoremore and Fatafelice and others have posted some useful comparisons (hope you don''t mind me copying it here)

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/cushion-cut-pictures.44268/

Cushion briliants come in 2 different types, 4 star facet patterns, and 8 star facet patterns (see Fatafelice''s diagram in the post above). I''ve seen both, and generally I tend to prefer the 8 star as you can sometimes see a cross effect with a 4 star, but it entirely depends on the actual stone.

The cushion can vary hugely in proportions too, from square (with a length to width ration of 1:1) to rectangular. Beware of having a cushion that is too long, as it starts to look like an oval and can sometimes demonstrate a ''bow tie'' effect, which is two dark triangles inside the stone. Mark T has said in an interview that he considers the optimum range to be between 1:1.0 5 and 1:1.12.

Phew, hope this hasn''t overwhelmed you, but if nothing else it should impress upon you that you shouldn''t buy a cushion without seeing it in person first (or at least getting an expert like Jon or Mark to be your eyes).

Good luck with your search!

 

[Lorelei]

Very nice post Belle!

 

[Belle Brilliant]

Thanks! I''ve learnt so much on here and during my search that I hope to give some help back to others on this site. Also my fiancee is completely bored of me droning on about the various nuances of different cushion cuts, so thought i would get it all out on here!!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 10/11/2007 5:58:43 AM
Author: Belle Brilliant
Thanks! I've learnt so much on here and during my search that I hope to give some help back to others on this site. Also my fiancee is completely bored of me droning on about the various nuances of different cushion cuts, so thought i would get it all out on here!!

lol!

You have learned well! And I ditto Lorelei, great post.

 

[Plungetaker]

Thanks once again for all of the information (especially you Belle...Wow!!!!). The information you folks have passed on really has helped immensely. I''ve had a problem getting my computer to interact with the Engagement Rings Direct web site search engine so I''ll take a look at it when I get to my office today.
I really appreciate the guidance which each of you has provided.