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Vancouverite82

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Messages
9
Hello everyone!

This is my first post here! After living with my wonderful girlfriend for a year now I've begun the wondrous and complex journey towards finding her a nice diamond. Having done a lot of research the past few I days I was extremely pleased to find such a great forum for advice! I never knew buying a diamond was such a complex venture, learning about all the variations in the four C's was eye opening to say the least. Jamesallen.com came very highly recommended to me and I've been going over their website religiously.

This is the first diamond that caught my eye, please tell me what you think of it! I hope you all won't mind if I potentially ask for your opinions on several more in the coming days.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/0.90-carat-E-color-VS1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-160152

I looked at many similar diamonds in this four C range, but this one caught my eye. It seems to have a very nice cut in comparison to the others in its class, almost like it has more facets and the symmetry looks fantastic to me. The only flaw I could see in the turn around video is in the top center facet on the right. Would this flaw be the cloud that is mentioned in the GIA report? My other concern about this diamond is the medium blue fluorescence. I read a lot about fluorescence but wasn't able to come to a conclusion about how good or bad it could be in an E colour diamond.

In terms of setting I realize that it is entirely a matter of opinion but I would love any input! My girlfriend is a fan of this setting from Tiffany's.

http://www.tiffany.ca/Engagement/Item.aspx?GroupSKU=GRP10024#f+4/0/0/0/0/0

So I was looking at this one from Jamesallen as it is similar, with pave stones to make it extra sparkly!

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/Engagement-Rings/Three-Stone-Rings/18k-White-Gold-Three-Stone-Pear-and-Pave-Set-Diamond-Engagement-Ring-item-2005

Thanks so much!
 
 
I would agree with Julie on the E stone you posted. It's a 3.2 on the HCA tool. I didn't like the table or depth and the image was kind of scattered looking. (The tool is up under the tools tab and will help you weed out poor performers). The others posted look like some potential and you can use the HCA to weed through the numbers on stones at JA. I'm not sure if you feel you or your GF are so color sensitive as to need an E, or if their is some personal preference there.

Is $6500 your stone budget? If you drop down a little in color to G/H and clarity to VS2 or Si1 you can see you can get a bigger stone for about the same money.

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.027-h-vs2-round-diamond-ags-bl-104061006007 <= Already vetted for light performance.

and

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.090-h-si1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104062571006 <= Already vetted for light performance.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.01-carat-H-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-184503 <= HCA 1.3
 
Thank you all for the replies! I was a bit shocked to find the diamond I chose was so poor, I didn't know about the HCA tool, that was very helpful.

I had a further eye opener when my girlfriend and I went to some of the local stores in our area including a Tiffany's. Looking at a D color diamond and an H side by side in a white gold setting, she and I couldn't tell the difference. So I've gone and revised my search!

My preferred budget is about 6500, obviously anything cheaper would be awesome, and I used the HCA tool and went through all the diamonds on Jamesallen in the G H I range. Thank you for the ones you guys linked, most of them were over my budget tho! I narrowed it down to these. I would love some opinions!

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.00-carat-I-color-VS2-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-129471 - This one has an fantastic HCA rating of 1.1, but I feel like I'm paying a premium for the 1 carat distinction! The price compared to the others is really my only complaint.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/0.90-carat-I-color-VS2-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-168939 - This one rated quite well also at 1.5, but I find the inclusion right in the center somewhat concerning.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/0.90-carat-G-color-VS2-clarity-sku-181282 - This one rated at 1.4, but the cut is Ideal rather than Excellent. Should that be something I be concerned about?

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/0.90-carat-G-color-VS2-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-138426 - This one came in at another 1.1 on the HCA, but there is a rather large feather deep in the center. Would I be able to see that?

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.900-g-vs2-round-diamond-ags-104061350046 - There is no picture for this one, but the HCA rating was 1.5!

I hope I did better this time!
 
You are doing a bit better but I do like Julie's pick. It's much larger than your other picks and mine as well. She knows where it's ok to give in the paramenters, and she found one with EX cut specs, but VG on polish. It's a tricky balance.


However, if you want to get in to the nitty gritty of why the other ones you chose may not be the best idea, let me give you my own reasoning.

Looks at the photos of Julie's and my pick, just for example (It's ok that you aren't intersted in an SI stone, it's just for learning purposes now):

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.17-carat-I-color-VS2-clarity-Very-Good-cut-sku-188509 (6100-ish)

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.01-carat-H-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-184503 (5900)

Do you see how much cleaner the look is between the dark arrows as opposed to this one you were looking at?

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/0.90-carat-G-color-VS2-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-138426

This one is a nearly a 60/60 stone, in addition to having a sort of scattered appearance in the middle. When a stones depth and table are around 60%, they are called 60/60 stones. It was popular in previous decades because they face up larger, tend to be bright (and I assume from the table being over 58 there may be a trade off of less fire for that), but can also suffer from obstruction issues in some cases which might not make them very good candidates for rings.

Same idea here>

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.00-carat-I-color-VS2-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-129471

Also, a 1 is not better than a 1.5 on the HCA score. Anything under 2 is worth investigating. It's just a weed out tool.

You will also get a PS discount when buying from JA (and several other online vendors here), but I think you are going to have to mention it. It used to be posted on their old site but isn't anymore. That ought to give you a few hundred more in your budget than first appearances.
 
Thanks again for the replies! I definitely see what you mean, the arrows in your pick and Julie's are much more defined and dark than the ones I looked at!

I really liked your pick Julie, the size might be a bit much for my girlfriend, her ring size is 3 and a half, I'll have to take her looking again to see how her finger would handle one that big. I'm looking at your original 2 picks again, though after looking at the color differences in real life I'd feel a bit silly buying a D color now!

Bastetcat, with your Si1 pick, how obvious would the flaw on the right be? It looks fantastic otherwise, but I happily admit I'm super paranoid about being able to see it without any magnification.

I'm only looking at the ones you both have shown me now, they're definitely much nicer than what I picked!
 
Vancouverite82|1359244868|3364355 said:
Thanks again for the replies! I definitely see what you mean, the arrows in your pick and Julie's are much more defined and dark than the ones I looked at!

I really liked your pick Julie, the size might be a bit much for my girlfriend, her ring size is 3 and a half, I'll have to take her looking again to see how her finger would handle one that big. I'm looking at your original 2 picks again, though after looking at the color differences in real life I'd feel a bit silly buying a D color now!

Bastetcat, with your Si1 pick, how obvious would the flaw on the right be? It looks fantastic otherwise, but I happily admit I'm super paranoid about being able to see it without any magnification.

I'm only looking at the ones you both have shown me now, they're definitely much nicer than what I picked!
Click to expand...

What I would do at this point is maybe put a couple on hold at JA. It doesn't cost you anything and you've got 24 hours. Both of them honestly seem like good candidates, and you could ask for idealscopes on them and gemologist review. *CAVEAT*- You only get 3 IS images and reviews so choose wisely, but it can't hurt to put them on hold for the day to make some more decisions.

The first decision seems to be size. Check out how she feels about the size of the bigger one. Caution- Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome can set in REALLY fast...what seems "too big" or "just right" can quickly become..."gosh, I wish I had just...." in fairly short order.

The second one is the inclusion in the SI stone and I don't know what to tell you from the new imaging on JA. I can't tell if these super mega size videos are making things worse than they really are or not. I am also not overly clairity sensitive but I am color sensitive. Maybe someone else can say. A gemologist could tell you how eyeclean it is (but you'll have to be specific about what you mean, ie- 8 inches away, straight on and possible from the side as well?), but that means you'll have to commit to asking for the review.
 
I'll put those two on hold for sure. It's either the si1 or the 1.17 carat. :) When I asked my girlfriend if she thought it was too big she looked at me like I was nuts. haha I guess it was a stupid question.

The last question I have for you is the very good cut rating and very good polish rating on the 1.17 carat. I looked at the image and video of it for a really long time and it looked exactly the same as the si1 in terms of cut. Of course I wouldn't know, but should I be worried at all about it not being an excellent cut? After reading through multiple posts about polish it seems the difference between excellent polish and very good polish is negligible so I'm not too worried about that.
 
Vancouverite82|1359253444|3364485 said:
I'll put those two on hold for sure. It's either the si1 or the 1.17 carat. :) When I asked my girlfriend if she thought it was too big she looked at me like I was nuts. haha I guess it was a stupid question.
Click to expand...
Stupid question, but you are a smart man for realizing it. :wink2:

VG vs EX polish is not noticeable

This one gets an EX symmetry grade. By diamond grading/GIA standards, the symmetry is excellent. What lay people think is symmetry, it is actually a little bit off. If it is not noticeable in person, you've got yourself a deal.

You get three Ideal Scopes, pick one more...
Same size as the 1.17 (edit: oops, just saw the black inclusion): http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.12-carat-I-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-190989
Seems like she would like it a little bigger, and you would like it a little cheaper, so this might be a good compromise: http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.02-carat-I-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-179700
And this one, I'm not sure what the big discount is for, it might be closer to an SI2, but it doesn't look like there are any black inclusions: http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.00-carat-H-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-56299
 
JulieN|1359255118|3364537 said:
Vancouverite82|1359253444|3364485 said:
I'll put those two on hold for sure. It's either the si1 or the 1.17 carat. :) When I asked my girlfriend if she thought it was too big she looked at me like I was nuts. haha I guess it was a stupid question.
Click to expand...
Stupid question, but you are a smart man for realizing it. :wink2:

VG vs EX polish is not noticeable

This one gets an EX symmetry grade. By diamond grading/GIA standards, the symmetry is excellent. What lay people think is symmetry, it is actually a little bit off. If it is not noticeable in person, you've got yourself a deal.

You get three Ideal Scopes, pick one more...
Same size as the 1.17 (edit: oops, just saw the black inclusion): http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.12-carat-I-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-190989
Seems like she would like it a little bigger, and you would like it a little cheaper, so this might be a good compromise: http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.02-carat-I-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-179700
And this one, I'm not sure what the big discount is for, it might be closer to an SI2, but it doesn't look like there are any black inclusions: http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.00-carat-H-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-56299
Click to expand...

I'd choose the 2nd one as your final option. The third one looks like its IGI. I don't know why those pop up so much more often now than they used to in the old site.
 
Hey I am back! I received the idealscope images from Jamesallen today, and I would love some opinions. :)

This was the one most highly recommended by the gemologist!

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/0.91-carat-H-color-VS1-clarity-Ideal-cut-sku-133866

http://imgur.com/cYMtENM - This is the ideal scope image for it. If you haven't heard of imgur.com before fear not, it is a legitimate image host!

"The diamond that our gemologist loves the most is diamond 133866 (0.91crt H VS1). This diamond is exceptionally bright and offers great fire, brilliance, and scintillation. It has a true "H" color that appears white and faces completely eye clean. It has a beautiful cut and possesses the most lively performance of the group."


This was the gemologist's second pick. It is about 700 dollars more than the 0.91 carat diamond, and my girlfriend certainly likes the fact it is over 1 carat. However I think the ideal scope image isn't quite as nice as the 0.91. Do you guys think there would be a huge difference?

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.05-carat-I-color-VVS2-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-45028

http://imgur.com/zDEUkM4 - Ideal scope image

"Diamond 45028 (1.05crt I VVS2) has great light performance also and ranks as your second brightest option. It's well cut, eye clean, and has a slightly whiter "I" color. "


And finally the mighty 1.17 Carat! I didn't really like the ideal scope for this one...

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/Round-cut/1.17-carat-I-color-VS2-clarity-Very-Good-cut-sku-188509

http://imgur.com/QitzzmY - Ideal Scope image

"188509 (1.17crt I VS2), as the idealscope image shows, has a few areas under the table that have a little light leakage. It's eye clean and has a true "I" color as well. "
 
Hmm, I expected some, but not that much leakage. Since the gemologist dinged the 1.17, I would get the 1.05 I for the size.
 
1.05 for sure.
 
Hello everyone! I picked up my ring on Saturday and thought I should post some pictures! Overall I was very happy with it, but under a spotlight and when I shone my LED flashlight at the ring I could make out some tiny white specks inside the center stone. There are quite a few more in there than I was expecting, and can be seen clearly in the high resolution picture James Allen sent me. Are so many small specks normal in a vvs2? If I'm just nitpicking at this point please let me know! Under normal light no matter how closely I look at it I can't see them. Only under intense spotlighting or when I took some macro shots with my camera they are visible.

http://imgur.com/mML69Yl

http://imgur.com/sWGUqWA Picture with no flash.

http://imgur.com/AzXkZiP Picture with flash.
 
Here is an enlarged version of the picture. I'm surprised there are so many specks in a vvs2, and again I wouldn't be bothered by it if they weren't visible to my naked eye under spotlighting. Any thoughts are appreciated!

ja104231-cropped.jpg
 
Hi Vancouverite82,

Since you purchased the diamond from us I'm a little limited in my response, but I think what you're seeing is just dust/pollen that has settled on the surface of the diamond. My opinion is based on lots of photographs I've seen that have the exact same 'specks'.

If you're concerned, however, an independent appraisal is never a bad idea.

Hope this helps.
 
Hi Vancouverite82,

Have you cleaned your diamond since having fun with it? Diamonds are absolute gunk magnets and pick up dust, oil, dandruff, and grime like you wouldn't believe (Carbon seems to be much stickier than glass/quartz).

Try some windex and a little love with a soft toothbrush, hot water rinse and drying with a lint free cloth or hairdryer. You might be pleasantly surprised.

I picked up a mini sparkle ultrasonic from Lacey West (#102 - 480 Smithe Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6B 5E4)
http://www.lacywest.com/28ultras.htm and have a montly spa day with my pretties. :bigsmile:
 
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