Brilliant ''brilliant''?

[amanda]

Hello everyone, my 1st posting and would be very grateful of some advice from you regular forum users. Have been diamond hunting for past few months and just dicovered internet diamonds (thank goodness!) I have tops $5000 to spend and am looking for 1ct round brilliant, E-G colour, min SI1. My girlfriend is convinced we should be looking at VG/ideal cut with GIA cert only and i have stumbled across this on Blue Nile:

Round brilliant, 1.02ct, GIA cert
Cut:ideal
Colour:G
Clarity:SI1
Depth:61.8%
Table:57%
Symmetry:VG
Polish:VG
Girdle:med to slightly thick
Culet:none
Fluorescence:none
Measurements:6.41x6.47x3.98mm

The price they were quoting was $4677.00, does anyone think there are better things out there? Also, im from sunny UK, does sales tax have to be added on to this price?? can anyone recommend other reputable sites??? can i possibly ask any more questions???

Thanks everyone,
pandemonium

 

[Mara]

What are your priorities in terms of order? You note 1ct E to G and SI1 at least..with an 'ideal' cut. VG VG for GIA does not equal 'ideal' cut for the most part. You should be looking for EX EX stones if you are looking at GIA..and ID ID stones for AGS...which is another highly reputed lab.

My two cents...I don't think much of Blue Nile for the most part because they are kind of like the AOL to a regular ISP in my mind...for the basic masses..those who don't care to know more. But since you are here...maybe you buck the mold

Anyway the price looks very good for a 1c stone. It's hard to tell what sort of cut this stone would be without the crown and pavilion angles..but the dimensions look pretty decent for a 1c stone (should be 6.5mm diameter and 4mm deep for 1c).

See this stone as an example of a well cut stone that is also in your range from a different vendor:
http://www.whiteflash.com/acut/diamond_details.asp?ItemCode=476563

That's a 1.01 G SI2 A Cut Above Hearts and Arrows stone, which will be a few steps above the stone you are looking at on Blue Nile. It's $5100 for Pricescope visitors (though the WF page will say $ different).

I know you said at least SI1 but that AGS plot looks pretty darn clean! Fun thing about AGS certs too is that they give you the crown and pavilion angles that you need to compute to find out if the stone is well cut, GIA does not do this and you will have to request a Sarin report on any GIA stone you are considering in order to get that info. I would request that info on your BN stone and see what it says. You could be happily surprised!

Thinking of maybe going H SI?
http://www.whiteflash.com/acut/diamond_details.asp?ItemCode=365064

There's another one to consider. It's $5400 and again is an ACA SuperIdeal. Much more fun to look at the Hearts and Arrows images than the non-info on Blue Nile's site isn't it?

For fun I went over to SuperbCert's site (another superideal vendor..different brand) and found this stone

http://www.superbcert.com/products/index.cfm?Product_ID=414&Product_Subcategory_ID=2&Product_Category_ID=3&Product_Group_ID=1

.95c D SI1 SuperbCert H&A for $5500

$500 more than you wanted to spend but its D color. Oooh colorless. Some people like that stuff.

Anyway there is alot of stones out there for you to sift through. Get more info on the Blue Nile stone but also shop around and see what else your budget can buy. I would go H color if you got an EXCELLENTLY cut stone, as it will face up whiter than a regular old stone. SI2 if it's eye clean or its got an inclusion near a corner. That will allow you to set it against a prong.

Going H or SI2 will allow you to get that 1ctw if you want it, AND you get *excellently* cut stones. BN has some great stuff...you just have to do your homework...and buy educated--whether its the BN stone or another. The BN pricing is excellent..which leads me to believe that stone may not be the best cut... as BN tends to sometimes be more pricey...so if the stone is cheaper than the excellently cut stones above (and a typical excellently cut stone can go for up to $7k), then that would be a red flag to me. But then again...the crown and pav angles will tell you more.

Have fun!!

 

[optimized]

Mara wrote:

"$500 more than you wanted to spend but its D color. Oooh colorless. Some people like that stuff."

You're darned skippy some of us like that stuff! My sweetie's diamond may not be as "spready" as yours, nor her ring have about a thousand little diamonds running riot around it, but it's colorless as air, and that's pretty cool in my book.

Heathen.


-Tim

(I love you, Mara!!!)

 

[Mara]

----------------
On 6/6/2003 1:10:35 AM optimized wrote:

Heathen.

----------------

Snob. You sure you didn't get your ring at Tiffany's?

We've missed you around here, Timbolino....notice how my posts just keep getting longer and longer? It's a sign of my subconscious crying out for page long musings that if I cannot read...I will create myself.

Spread rocks.

BTW...LA air ain't colorless. I'd call it more of a K color.

 

[trichrome]

pandermonium,


My advice would be to go lower in color and lower in clarity.

Get a good SI1 (without a lot of inclusions, no dark spots under the
table) or a VS2 and an G,H or I color stone.....
and if you really want to save money, try to find a 0.95-0.99 ct
stone....it will cost you way less that the same 1ct stone...
However it will be pretty difficult to find such a stone.
If you follow these advices, you'll be able to find something way
under 5K without a problem.

Trichrome.