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Blue Nile, James Allen or Brian Gavin?

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bill liskowitz

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 9, 2017
Messages
6
Which vendor can I get the best round diamond for the least amount of money from? BN and JA seem much larger than BG. I can't find much information on BG other than online affiliate marketers which receive significant affiliate marketing referral income. I prefer to avoid the marketing.
 
It all depends on what you're looking for. Brian Gavin and Whiteflash are where you'll find super-ideal stones. Blue Nile and James Allen are more middle of the pack inventory aggregators. A lot of people prefer James Allen because of their superior stone viewing technology. Then you've got smaller sellers like IDJ and USA Certed and B2C, who generally offer the lowest margins between the cutters' price and the retail price. Finally, you could even search for a stone with the cutter directly, which is what I did.

EDIT: Slight correction. You can find examples of super-ideal stones at any of these places, but BGD and Whiteflash are two sellers that have made a speciality out of offering super ideal stones.
 
"The best" is subjective. Are you seeking the largest size? What's your budget?
 
bill liskowitz said:
Which vendor can I get the best round diamond for the least amount of money from? BN and JA seem much larger than BG. I can't find much information on BG other than online affiliate marketers which receive significant affiliate marketing referral income. I prefer to avoid the marketing.
Click to expand...

If you are prioritizing a well-performing diamond and face-up size, I'd suggest contacting ID Jewelry and asking to speak with Yekutiel. Phone is best. ID Jewelry is in New York, in the diamond district. Let him know you are looking for the largest eye-clean diamond with Pricescope cut quality, and let him know your budget and your preferred color range. He will sift through what is available, and contact you with options. At that point, if you like, you can run the options by here, and get some feedback from PSers.

If you prefer to do some of the legwork yourself, then, yes, I'd recommend posting your budget here and your color preference, and asking PSers to post some options. Do keep in mind, once people post links, you do need to act swiftly on anything that catches your fancy (put on reserve and/or purchase outright) as others readers can and do buy recommended diamonds.

Do you already have a setting in mind? Often we recommend buying the setting from the same vendor that you buy the diamond from, as it can keep costs down (shipping, insurance, setting fees)...
 
HDer said:
Finally, you could even search for a stone with the cutter directly, which is what I did.
Click to expand...

Brian Gavin is a cutter, correct? But it seems like his diamonds are marked up over BN snd JA. Am I missing something?
 
bill liskowitz said:
Brian Gavin is a cutter, correct? But it seems like his diamonds are marked up over BN snd JA. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

He has his own store and his diamonds are super ideals.

Maybe call Diamonds by Lauren?
 
No matter who you are considering check their upgrade,buy back and return policies as well as other fine print.
Then consider if the differences in policies matter to you.
 
bill liskowitz said:
Brian Gavin is a cutter, correct? But it seems like his diamonds are marked up over BN snd JA. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
BGD is a specialty cutter. There are also mass market cutters in India whose names you've never heard of.
 
Whiteflash and Brian Gavin (and a few others) stock superideal cut diamonds. So if you want the "best", that's where I look. I personally have found that Whiteflash has the best selection of stones and usually the best prices, as well. I have bought from them multiple times.
 
Both look good. Equal performance likely. Of these 2, I prefer #1 as it lacks a crystal on the table, but it may be eye clean in the end. You should ask for an ASET if you want to pursue these.
Diamond #1. Https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD08156012 (.85 F VS2, med-thick, 6.33 mm, $7803)
Diamond #2. https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD06460832 (.92 F SI1, med-thick girdle, 6.22 mm, $6439)

I really like this a bit more than Diamond #1 & 2. AGS0 (stricter rating than GIAXXX). I like the proportions of this one with a 34.7 pav and 56.1% table.

Diamond #3. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-f-color-si1-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-3395608 {6.42 mm, $7360, no flour}
 
Thank you! What is difference between Whiteflash A Cut Above and Brian Gavin Black? Same quality, same pricing?
 
bill liskowitz said:
Thank you! What is difference between Whiteflash A Cut Above and Brian Gavin Black? Same quality, same pricing?
Click to expand...

Yes, basically, along with High Performance Diamonds, who carry Crafted by Infinity brand.

Super ideal diamonds are high performers and have a tight set of cutting parameters. If you don't like shopping and want to know your diamond is higj quality, go to one of them. It is a lot faster and you know you are getting top quality.

You can be done in 20 minutes. Search over.
 
OP
Sorry to burst your bubble but their are no deals on diamonds.
You get what you pay for.
Good luck.
 
Brian Gavin Design Select and WF use slightly different math to work out the best angles, but both stones are super-ideal. WF has a more generous trade-in/trade-up policy that BGD. There are loyal followers of both here, as well as HPD whom I like for super-ideals.
 
This is my understanding having gone through a rigorous, borderline obsessive process myself. Happy to be corrected here but from what I can tell there are two elements of Super Ideals and their vendors - I'll refer to them as 1) The Ideal percentages/angles and 2) Precision and each vendor specialises in different ways.

1) Ideal Percentages/Angles relates to the average angle of the crown and pavilion, depth, table, upper and lower girdle facets etc.
2) Precision relates to how even these are all cut as the measurements are AVERAGES. The higher the precision the more they can be described as True Hearts and Arrows - which is subjective. This is to do with how even the hearts are, gaps in between them. In order:

- Brian Gavin Diamonds & Crafted by infinity (HPD) have the strictest guides for both 1 & 2 but you do end up paying for it. I have BGD Studs. Both vendors source and cut their own diamonds from rough to finish. Both have pretty good upgrade policies but BGD is stricter... You really get what you pay for though.

- Victor Canera Ideal Hearts offers similar diamonds in terms of 1 +2 , has a smaller inventory. But strictness is not as high as BGD or CBI I'm told. I actually bought my E-Ring from him as the stone he had was the best cut, price in the clarity, color and size I needed at the time. VC also uses only one cutter. Also have a decent upgrade policy. VC also does amazing settings.

- Whiteflash A Cut Above has 1 nailed down but you can look at their diamonds - some of them are perfect and others are not. They perform very well given 1 is met and pricing & (possibly the best) upgrade policy make them attractive. They don't have in-house cutters I think but I'm less sure of this.

- James Allen True Hearts are not dissimilar to Whiteflash ACA but I would say have looser standards than WF ACA.

- Blue Nile Signature cuts might be even looser than JA True Hearts.

That's not to say that stones from BN Signature will not out perform one from BGD/CBI or from any of these vendors - this is a total generalisation - on average - what I've seen from their inventory, read here and researched.

Hope that is useful!
 
Hey OP
Buy CZ, that is your best deal and you can have it delivered FedEx
 
I was just kidding....
 
Not sure if you are strictly talking about loose diamonds or also settings but I'll chime in on settings... Personally, I like JA. With that said, I'm new here and not your experienced PSer. However, I've had my engagement ring for 3 years and never had any issues with it whatsoever. I get compliments on it all the time. Some of my friends that have pave settings (similar to mine) have to get stones replaced annually. I've never had that issue and I feel like JA uses higher quality stones in their settings than most local and chain jewelers (I don't know anyone else IRL that has bought theirs online, though). JA typically uses F-H and VS1-VS2 for the pave/setting stones. For example, I went to a local place (Shane co-- actually they might be a chain but I've never heard of them until I moved to St. Louis) to try on bands to see what I like paired with my ering (I would never buy from there bc most of their diamonds aren't certified) but they use H-I and SI1-I1 for their setting stones. For reference, I was looking at 2ctw eternity band. I'll pass. It really makes a difference if you're looking for "bling" and sparkle. I have no experience with Whiteflash (although I LOVE the diamonds I've seen on here from there) or Brian Gavin. I'm also a tech person so JA is far superior to the others in that department and I can appreciate that. Some don't like their videos and pics because they are on white, IMO that's the way they all should be so you can see the contrast in a diamond's color compared to white. I wish whiteflash had a better website/images/video because I do love the real diamonds I've seen from there. I hated Blue Nile because they mostly use stock photos. If you're buying online, you need to be able to see the diamond from every angle. Just my 2 cents.
 
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