Buying EGL diamond or GIA through Blue Nile?

[Brocks1803]

Hello. I went to look at a diamond today. It was graded through EGL with the following specs: Round Diamond Carat=.9, Color E, Clarity SI1, Cut Excellent. They wanted $4,000. It looked really nice, but when I pulled it in close, about 6 inches away, I could see a large inclusion in the diamond with my naked eye. I'm trying to decide if I should purchase it or go through Blue Nile. BN has same carat with VS2 clarity but I color for the same price.

I attached a photo of the diamond sitting on a setting that I looked at.

Should I just get one through BN and hope its better, if not return it? Is the return policy there really good? Is the EGL diamond worth $4k even though it has an inclusion I can see.

 

[denverappraiser]

A large eye visible inclusion usually means either I1 or I2 on the GIA grading scale.

 

[delight]

The thing about EGL grading reports is that you won't know exactly what you are getting. I would skip it.

The GIA option is a way better choice than the EGL diamond in my opinion. That said, there are tons of other vendors that offer better value adds than what Bluenile can provide.

 

[delight]

The thing about EGL grading reports is that you won't know exactly what you are getting. I would skip it.

The GIA option is a way better choice than the EGL diamond in my opinion. That said, there are tons of other vendors that offer better value adds than what Bluenile can provide.

 

[thediamondshopper]

+1 with what has been mentioned thus far, it is too big a gamble to go with EGL sight unseen. But if you do decide to go with an EGL stone, make sure there is a good return policy and take it to an independent appraiser.

 

[Brocks1803]

I though SI1 wouldn't have visible inclusions but on James Allen website they all do. Like this one:
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.90-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-206306

I can clearly see tons of inclusions and marks in the diamond. I'm just learning about diamonds but am horribly confused now about seeing inclusions. I though SI1 the naked eye couldn't see them.

 

[hawk25]

Those pictures are highly magnified, a 0.9ct stone is around the size of the eraser on a pencil.

Many SI1 stones are eye clean (the amount depends on your definition of eye clean), but you can easily find ones that aren't. For SI clarity stones, Its important to ask the vendor's gemologist to tell you at what distance inclusions are visible, if at any distance.