Can you help? Confused on buidling a 3 stone ring

[cemrn]

Hi I have been reading and trying to educate myself on this site. First let me say this is an awesome forum with a wealth of information! But in truth I am feeling a little confused (only my own fault). Here is the situation: I am wanting to take my original 1 carat solitaire and make it into a 3 stone ring. This stone will become a side stone. I need to find a matching side stone and purchase a 1.5 ct for the center stone. I am wanting a simple Tiffany style basket setting. We were very uneducated about diamond buying when we bought this stone. But it is my engagement ring and I will always love it. I have contacted Blue Nile and they cannot work with me since I am using my own stone (this is really important to me to use it for sentimental reasons). I filled out a form on diamondengagementrings a week ago for Mark T but have not heard anything from them. I spoke with Liza at Whiteflash and have some info from her, I also have some info from Todd and Uniondiamonds. I also met with a jeweler at Diamond Cutters international here in Houston. OK here's the problem. I feel like they are all telling me something different and it is confusing me.
Is it ok to post their suggestions and prices on building this ring or is that against the rules? Here is some info on my stone that I am using in the new ring:
1.01 carat Si(1) color G
6.07x6.12x4.04mm
depth 66.3, table 63, girdle thin to thick, culet none, polish and symmetry good, flourescence none

One thing they all agreed on is my diamond is deep so in matching I will probably be able to get a less than 1 carat stone somewhere between .90 and 1.00. Please let me know if I can post other info so I can get some opinions from the experts. I really appreciate it!
OOPS typo on "building"

 

[mrssalvo]

you are welcome to post pricing here. Mark T is a good resource. You might try calling him to make sure he got your email. Sometimes those "contact us" links just don''t work right. Most PS vendors are very quick to respond so my guess if it''s been a week is that he didn''t get it. Since you are in Houston, WF is a good place to contact. You might also try Brian Gavin who is located there as well. I''m not sure what they will suggest b/c your original stone is very deep. you will probably notice a difference in performance b/t your stone and a smaller well cut stone that has the same diameter. One thing you might consider is allowing Brian to recut the original stone so it becomes and ideal cut but still preserving it, then you could find matches a lot easier.

welcome to PS

 

[stone-cold11]

Ditto.

 

[Kaleigh]

I know yesterday they were doing work on Mark''s site.. So best to give them a call. Good luck!! I am a huge fan of 3 stone rings!!

 

[cemrn]

Recutting, very interesting idea. Nobody has suggested that. See that is why I am here. Looking forward to opinions
OK here is the info from Uniondiamond:


"I see the certificate. Your diamond is pretty deep. Because of your diamonds depth the millimeter diameter measures closer to a diamond in the 0.90ct range. The table is pretty big too, I usually like to keep the tables under 60% for rounds. I wouldn’t suggest ideal cuts, they most likely won’t be reflecting light the same. Plus most ideal cuts will have table percentages between 54-58%, maybe 59%. The different table sizes will make the diamonds appear slightly different, not matching. The depth for ideal cuts range from 59.5-62.7%. A 1ct ideal cut round will look much bigger than your 1ct. There is good news through all this, if I do find diamonds to match your diamond they won’t be as pricey as the ideal cuts.
Your diamond:

1.01ct Round G/SI1 IGI, 6.07-6.12x4.04mm’s, depth is 66.3, table is 63%.

To match:

AB509032, Round 1.00ct G/SI1 EGL, 6.08-6.19x4.01mm’s, depth is 65.2%, table is 62%. Price is $4099 (wire price).

Center:

AB539643, Round 1.52ct F/SI1 EGL, 7.05-7.11x4.54mm’s, depth is 64.1%, table is 61%. Price is $6129 (wire price).

Here is the info from WF:


Here are some specifics from our conversation.




It looks like this is the setting that you''re looking for:

http://www.whiteflash.com/Engagement-Rings/Styles/3Stone/3-Stone-Diamond-Engagement-Ring_661.htm

For the side stone, here is a diamond that I think will match well.


http://www.whiteflash.com/premium_select_round/Premium-Select-Round-cut-diamond-2145455.htm


.901ct G Si1 round diamond $4298


Pricescope wire transfer price $4169




For the center stone, here are a couple of options.

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/Whiteflash-ACA-cut-diamond-2231255.htm

1.502ct G Si1 ACA hearts & arrows round diamond $12,462


Pricescope wire transfer price $11,838


*We have another 1.5ct G Si1 ACA diamond in-house, but it''s just a bit more in terms of price.*




Although I like the diamond above better, here is another option for your center diamond:


http://www.whiteflash.com/premium_select_round/Premium-Select-Round-cut-diamond-2192313.htm#


1.516ct G VS2 round diamond $13,344


Pricescope wire transfer price $12,943

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 1/28/2010 4:45:02 PM
Author: cemrn
Recutting, very interesting idea. Nobody has suggested that. See that is why I am here. Looking forward to opinions

honestly, if I were in your shoes, this is what I would do. Brian is a cutter, you can search him here on PS. He could easily recut your stone to an ideal and then do a matching side, get your center and make your setting. they do amazing settings there, so you could get the whole ring in one place I would really suggest giving them a call or email (lesley is super quick to reply to emails) and see what they can do. here's their webiste:
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/


I do not have experience with Union Diamond but I wouldn't settle for buying 2 more less than ideal diamonds just so they can match you original.
Whiteflash does great work too and their diamond prices are very fair so if you would choose to use them they would do a great job as well. I'm not sure who is doing the cutting at WF anymore or if there even is someone there that does it so you might look into that. But Brian would be my first choice.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 1/28/2010 4:52:56 PM
Author: mrssalvo

Date: 1/28/2010 4:45:02 PM
Author: cemrn
Recutting, very interesting idea. Nobody has suggested that. See that is why I am here. Looking forward to opinions

honestly, if I were in your shoes, this is what I would do. Brian is a cutter, you can search him here on PS. He could easily recut your stone to an ideal and then do a matching side, get your center and make your setting. they do amazing settings there, so you could get the whole ring in one place I would really suggest giving them a call or email (lesley is super quick to reply to emails) and see what they can do. here''s their webiste:
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/

This is what I would do.

Alternatively, I would set the diamond into a pendant and start fresh. I am sure your diamond has a lot of meaning to you and you love it, but the cut is not great and I would really hate to see you spend upwards of 10k to get the other diamonds and be required to get poorer cuts to match the existing diamond. It just seems like too much money to spend not to get the best you can for the money, kwim?

 

[cemrn]

I spoke with Lesley at BGD last week about recutting and sent her my cert. Brian is due back in the country tomorrow so I am anxious to hear whether he thinks he can recut this and build a 3 stone for me. I''ll keep you posted.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 2/2/2010 10:48:21 AM
Author: cemrn
I spoke with Lesley at BGD last week about recutting and sent her my cert. Brian is due back in the country tomorrow so I am anxious to hear whether he thinks he can recut this and build a 3 stone for me. I''ll keep you posted.

Great to hear!

 

[FancyDiamond]

Date: 1/28/2010 6:03:35 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 1/28/2010 4:52:56 PM
Author: mrssalvo

Date: 1/28/2010 4:45:02 PM
Author: cemrn
Recutting, very interesting idea. Nobody has suggested that. See that is why I am here. Looking forward to opinions

honestly, if I were in your shoes, this is what I would do. Brian is a cutter, you can search him here on PS. He could easily recut your stone to an ideal and then do a matching side, get your center and make your setting. they do amazing settings there, so you could get the whole ring in one place I would really suggest giving them a call or email (lesley is super quick to reply to emails) and see what they can do. here''s their webiste:
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/

This is what I would do.

Alternatively, I would set the diamond into a pendant and start fresh. I am sure your diamond has a lot of meaning to you and you love it, but the cut is not great and I would really hate to see you spend upwards of 10k to get the other diamonds and be required to get poorer cuts to match the existing diamond. It just seems like too much money to spend not to get the best you can for the money, kwim?

Ditto dd''s suggestion of starting fresh with new and the best diamonds and setting the old and less-than-ideal cut diamond in a pendant. Why? There is no guarantee that the recut diamond will be top cut. Undoubtedly, there will be "some" improvement. Yet, will the improvement be sufficient such that it is worth the expense, reduction in carat size, risk, and trouble? Most importanly, you may not want the RESTRICTION of having to find a non-top-cut diamond just to match your less-than-ideal, recut diamond. Remember, your 3-stone ring will cost a lot of money, and you may not want to mess with the wrong combination and end up with a less-than-ideal, 3-stone-ring.

 

[cemrn]

OK I am confused again. Why would I put it into a pendant if it is not a good cut? Isn''t a poor cut a poor cut? Wouldn''t it be better to recut? Can someone explain if I am missing something (which I very well could be).
Thanks

 

[tyty333]

Date: 2/4/2010 4:09:56 PM
Author: cemrn
OK I am confused again. Why would I put it into a pendant if it is not a good cut? Isn't a poor cut a poor cut? Wouldn't it be better to recut? Can someone explain if I am missing something (which I very well could be).
Thanks

I think they/we are suggesting if Brian cant do a recut on your stone or if the recut will only result in a better stone
but not a well cut stone then you should consider putting it in a pendant. People dont look at pendants as close
up as they do your e-rings. A lot of people have taken their not so well cut e-rings and turned them into pendants
when they upgrade with a new e-ring. Just a way to keep your old sentimental stone close to your heart and keep
you from having to plan a whole new ring around a not so well cut stone. If money is an issue with having to buy
3 new stones, I would go down in size. It would be well worth it to have 3 really nice stones.

But...maybe Brian can do the recut and you can go from there. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.