Choice between I or J color stones.......

[ccuheartnurse]

Hi Everyone,

My brother asked me to help him look for a diamond. He has a budget of about $3K & probably looking to find something in the .80ish to .90ish range. Remember when I went through this for my sister in laws ring? I was torn about the J color too then. I did go back & read all my threads regarding that too. LOL Back then SI stones werent very well regarded & J color stones were almost rare cause no one bought them on PS. Fast forward 3yrs & SI-''s are great & J is an acceptable color for value. Also, fluor. wasnt very well regarded too then like it is today. When I saw my sister in laws diamond compared to my G, it had a tint of yellow in it, & had no fluor. Yet, time & time again I see J stones on PS that are whiter than hers. My sister in law is not color sensative & loves her stone. My future sister in law is basically the same way. All she knows is the awful stuff at the mall stores. She doesnt know my brother is thinking of this so she has no input.

She does however love my stone, but its more because of the size than anything else.

What are your thoughts on this, an I with no fluor. or a J with mod. fluor.? Do you think that they will face up pretty much the same? Or would those of you that have had the opportunitey to view both types, still choose the higher color? He''s looking at a either the WF Sleek lines or the Vatche 2.2 mm one with the basket (sorry, not sure of the Vatche style #) simple solitaire in platinum. Clarity will depend on color, so if an I, probably Si-2, & if a J, then can probably look at VS-2 to SI-2 (then hopefully can do the larger size). Although my brother is very nervous about a SI-2, he''s trying to keep an open mind. He said too that if he can get some positive feedback re: mod. fluor. then he would go for a J & better clarity.

Have another question, & probably more directed to the vendors & appraisers, How do you know where the color grading falls for a diamond if more towards the higher color , towards the lower color or actually right dead in the middle? I know Jonathan & Bill uses a colorimeter (not sure who else does) but not sure if the other vendors use master stones in their shops or just go by what the grading lab says. Why I''m asking this, is that a stone came in & was supposed to be an I, the vendor suspected mod. fluor. & the stone gets sent to AGS. The stone came back from AGS as a J with strong fluor. (because of the fluor. the stone faced up whiter & thats the reason for my earlier question). How does one know that they are buying a low I or a high J?

Thanks guys,
Judy

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Judy,

I had my potential stone checked at GOG by the colorimeter, and it scored G in color (in all three trials) even though GIA had graded it as H. So that was to my benefit since I was paying the H price! I don''t know of other vendors who double check the color to see if it is high or low, etc.

I, personally, would not go below I SI1 for an engagement diamond, so I''d look for the largest one within my budget with those parameters. But you''ll find people on here with personal limits between D and K!

 

[Mara]

for something like a diamond under one carat, even with a color sensitive person i''d consider a J. at that point to me I and J are probably not going to look THAT much different. the larger the stone, the more body color it holds. i think a J with med blue fluor to maximize the budget would be fabulous. even an I would be great! well-cut stones are not the same as the ones at the maul. one thought is if you are shopping with an online vendor...what about having two stones sent to him, one I and one J just to see them in person. let the eye make the decision. considering a ~$3kish stone is not like considering a $20k stone and if he has a cc that can hold both stones i''d do that just to see them in person, then return one and get the credit.

 

[aljdewey]

CCU...in the size range you''re talking about, you may even be able to do well with a J that doesn''t have fluor.

The smaller the stone, the less evident the color. Kinda like paint on the wall - looks different on a whole wall than it does on a little color square.

I have a .75 J with no fluor, and I don''t see any color face up. It''s set in a halo pendant, though, so I can''t help with how it would look from the side.

My .55 earrings are both J also----one strong blue and the other no fluor....both look the same from the side view in body color.

 

[suzi]

Judy,

I had a jeweler once tell me that as you go further on the color scale, the parameters for each successive color grade become wider. I don't know if that's true or not, but it would seem likely. Using that logic, the parameters for a J color would be bigger than those of an I color stone. Which means some J stones might have a bit more color if they were closer to the K color grade than they would if they were close to the I color grade. Does that make sense? It did to me.

I've seen some J stones that look pretty white, but I've seen others that had obvious color or warmth. So it seems that the color grade of J would have some pretty good variance of hue within the grade. I think if you choose an I color stone, the color variance would be a bit less extreme, just as an H stone would have even less than an I, and a G stone would have even less variance than an H, and so on as you get closer to the colorless grades. The J stones also seem to be that much more affordable than the I's for that very reason. It always seems as if there is a jump in price as you go toward the more colorless end of the scale. I ended up going for an I colored stone when I probably could have had a larger J colored stone with the same relative price and clarity just because most all of the I colored stones I've seen looked white, where some J colored stones did and others didn't. I felt that, for the money, I'd rather go with an I colored stone and minimize the chances of seeing the color in my diamond. Especially since I was going with a fancy shape. I've read that fancies will tend to show more color anway, as opposed to a round brilliant.

All in all, I think J stones are a good value. But I would want to see it in person, in all types of lighting to make sure I was comfortable with the amount of warmth or color it shows. Because it probably will be showing some degree of warmth or color, otherwise it wouldn't have been graded a J in the first place.

 

[robbie3982]

I think a J is an excellent choice. I just received a .93 K SI2 engagement ring from my FI and I love it. It faces up very very white and has only a slight hint of color on the side view and that''s really only in some light. It''s also eye clean. Even though I absolutely love my stone, I would be wary about just picking another with these same specs. I''ve seen some K''s that have much more color and some SI2s that I could definitely see inclusions in.

If your brother is willing to take the time to look for that perfect stone in this range, I think it''s definitely doable and I would highly recommend it. I love my stone and I feel like we really got the best deal we could. Here''s a link to mine: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-e-ring.49676/

 

[suzi]

I would have no problem at all going for a J color, a K color, or even lower with a well cut RB. RB''s that are well cut tend to face up whiter just from the symetry of the cut and the faceting. But when you are talking fancies, I think that color tends to show up a bit more than it does in a RB. I have a RB set in white gold that is a J, and it looks totally white. Even from the side. The stone is also smaller, at .5 carat.

The sparkle of a MQ isn''t comparable to the sparkle of a RB, either. I think the sparkle and the flashes of light you get from an RB sometimes help to mask the color. MQ''s tend to "twinkle" more than sparkle or thow off flashes of light.

 

[fire&ice]

Like SI''s, when you start to go into the I color (especially in larger stones) & J color, all stones are not created equal. The tolerances are greater. But,they represent a great value for you money. RB can mask quite a bit of warmth. Also, remember preference can lean that way.

I think I''m with Mara. Narrow your search down to two stones (I&J) with the aide of the vendor - have them both shipped - then make a decision.

Good luck - fun task at hand.