Approaching salesperson

[jknapper]

I've decided I want a diamond that is between D and F color,
lower than SI1 clarity, has to be ags ideal 000, h&a, and laser inscribed. Table must be between 53 and 57%, depth 59 - 60%, angles as close as possible to crown=34.5 and pav=40.7 Obviously what I'm getting at is the TIC cut. As mentioned in previous posts,I unfortunatly fell for the HOF sales pitch. I understand I could get diamonds on the internet that match my criteria, but I do like the store I delt with, and of course have to deal with their return policy, and I think they will be much more helpful if I stick with them. WHat I would like to do is take these specs to them, and say find me a diamond that matches as close to possible, and not HOF. Because I'm sure I could get a much larger diamond for the same money.

Am I crazy?

 

[mrmarius]

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I've decided I want a diamond that is between D and F color,
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... so you want an E?

Seriously, you could get a larger diamond if you would compromise on color and maybe even clarity. My own (personal) opinion is that once you get much above G, you are paying extra $$$ for something that no one will be able to see, especially if the diamond is mounted in platinum. Same logic goes for clarity... at least for me, it didn't make sense to get a VS since my fiancee will never be looking at her diamond through a loupe.

But some folks like to have better things simply because they are better, and that's cool too.

 

[golfer]

My own (personal) opinion is that once you get much above G, you are paying extra $$$ for something that no one will be able to see, especially if the diamond is mounted in platinum.

I realize that this a common mantra on this board, but having seen my E color diamond, I definitely disagree. The appraiser compared it to an F, and quite frankly, you'd have to be blind not to notice the difference. Granted they were loose, but we were looking at the diamonds face up. I'm not suggesting that there isn't value in lower color grades -- but there definitely is a noticeable difference in D vs. F, E vs. G, etc.

 

[mrmarius]

there is defintely a difference when you are looking at the stones on a white card, under the lights in a jewerly store, with the diamonds next to each other. I could easily tell the difference between a E/F, F/G, etc. But you missed the point.

If my fiancee was going to pull her stone out of the mounting and put it on a white card next to other stones to compare the color, or going to put her stone next to other women's engagement rings all the time, it might be worth the extra grand to go up a color or two.

But that is not going to happen. To me, I can't see any yellow looking at my fiancee's stone mounted in the platinum setting... so there is no value, at least to me, in a stone in the "colorless" range, as opposed to the near-colorless stone we ended up with.

 

[jknapper]

I guess my real question is, I want to return the HOF, and tell them, give me a stone of higher quality for the same money (because the money is already budgeted for). I'm guessing I can get at or over .5 carat, for $2500, with pretty high qualities? I'm sure they are going to say, but the HOF is so perfect at which point I am just going to have to tell them to shut up and quit talking about that and just get me something close to these specs.

 

[rsilvers]

I would go down to H color before going below SI1 clarity. I see nothing wrong with an F/SI1 at all. Smart choice, but an E/SI2 seems kinda odd to me.

 

[jtaylr77]

Sounds like this would do.

http://www.goodoldgold.com/0_64ct_f_si1_h&a.htm

 

[Mara]

It's just a personal preference, since we were considering SI1's as well but once I saw a few in person, I really was drawn to the VS1's or very clean VS2's.

The link that was just posted to the .64 one on goodoldgold says its great face up but its when its tilted that you can see the inclusions. I know that diamonds are graded on their face up appearance, but if an inclusion is visible at a tilted angle, shouldn't that qualify as a bad thing? Does no one tilt their hand when wearing it? I wouldn't want someone to catch an inclusion in my ring when I moved my hand. Not that people's eyes are attached to my hand, but STILL.

Depending on the setting for the diamond, I would think that some inclusions in SI1's are actually visible. I caught one in an SI1 we were looking at when I tilted it. I found this somewhat frustrating while looking at SI1's and especially when searching for a diamond online. You really have to trust the report with the map of inclusions, and the person you are buying from. Somehow 'oh the wholesaler says its 100% eye clean' didn't really stop my heart from pounding nervously with that SI1 rating.

Anyway, just my preference after looking at some VS1's, VS2's and SI1's. If you can find an extremely clean SI1...and there are some out there..then go for it. Otherwise, maybe go to a G color and a VS2 clarity. I could not see any difference between an E and a G colored diamond when set. Sure on the white piece of paper, but even holding them in the tweezers side by side as loose diamonds..I saw no color difference. The VS1 clarity made the one we choose look cleaner and whiter actually, which was interesting. Then again maybe I just have hawk-eyes!

Good luck, whatever you choose!

 

[mrmarius]

For what it's worth, this is the stone I got my fiancee (yay! that's the first time I've used this term on this board... she said YES )

1.2 HCA
H&A, AGS000
1.32 ct
H/SI2

The inclusions are clouds... there are no crystals, needles, or "hard" inclusions. She and everyone that has seen the stone comments on how white it looks (it is mounted in platinum). The main cloud is near the girdle... the stone is eye-clean and there are no inclusions near the table. Finding this SI2 enabled me to get a larger stone. I really am thrilled with the stone, and I started out thinking I wanted something like an E/VS.

I was nervous about the H/SI2 thing, but it has worked out wonderfully....