Consumers: what diamond do you want?

[pricescope]

Hi folks,



Now could you guys tell us what diamond are you buying? Shape, size, color, clarity, cut. What properties are most or least important for you?

We are talking a lot about the cut but maybe all the people want is the size or a good deal?

We should much appreciate your opinion! Thanks!

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[ChetLaura]

Our diamond purchase is as follows:
Round Brilliant
AGS Triple 0 Certified
Carat Size: 1.705
Color: I
Clarity: SI1
Depth: 61.1
Table: 56
Crown: 34.2 (14.
Pavillion: 40.7 (42.
Fluorescence: Inert
Culet: Pointed
Measurements: 7.68-7.73x4.71 mm
HCA: .7

After researching diamonds for several months, we set our priorities as follows:
Cut
Color
Clarity

We purchased online, but we also did a lot of B&M shopping as well. We did have a local jeweler bring in some ideal GIA stones for us, which we would have purchased from him, but he kept changing the prices on them. In the end, he was not able to compete with the online prices. I would like to say that this jeweler brought in three different color stones for us to compare. Contrary to what we have read here, we were not able (we are not experts) to see the difference in the ideal cut stones once they were placed in a setting, and this is how we opted to go for the I color. I guess that I hope that some day I am not sitting next to Rock Doc in a cafe for him to pick up on my I color stone set in white gold.

Our SI1 is eye clean, and when we had it set the setter asked the clarity of the diamond and when we told him he laughed. I thought that maybe he thought it was worst, but when I questioned him he said that whoever graded the stone must have been having a really bad day because it was the nicest SI1 he had ever seen in his 30 years of setting diamonds. He then asked us if it was one of the millenium diamonds. We are very happy that we took the time to educate ourselves before making this purchase.


We are talking a lot about the cut but maybe all the people want is the size or a good deal?

We really did want to find a larger size, but we set our budget first and went from there. We were absolutely looking for the largest size for the best deal, but we were NOT willing to sacrifice on the cut quality. We would have much rather gone to a smaller size than to sacrifice this now that we are able to see this with our own eyes.

Thanks to all of the experts and educations information here on pricescope!! We really found this site to be invaluable to us during our time of shopping.

I have added a picture of our stone, but I have not yet been able to really capture the beauty of the diamond with our digital. Any tips would be welcome!!

 

[ChetLaura]

The picture did not work the first time, so I am trying it one more time.

Hope it works!

 

[Spartan]

My fiance presented me with a beautiful .59 ct, F color, VS1 clarity Superbcert. He knows that I value cut and quality over size. We are in our mid-20s and are just starting out (read: limited budget ). So, it seemed that of all the "super-ideals", Superbcert was the best option for us.
Although, one day I WILL own an Eight Star...oh yes, I will own an Eight Star .

 

[ChetLaura]

My fiance presented me with a beautiful .59 ct, F color, VS1 clarity Superbcert. He knows that I value cut and quality over size. We are in our mid-20s and are just starting out (read: limited budget ). So, it seemed that of all the "super-ideals", Superbcert was the best option for us.
Although, one day I WILL own an Eight Star...oh yes, I will own an Eight Star

Wow - You did much better than we did when we got married. I should have clarified our purchase was for our 10 year anniversary. My original e-ring was a .5 that probably has about the worst cut possible - we had NO CLUE about diamonds when we got married and like you we had a VERY LIMITED budget. We did not want to start out married life in debt - which I think that you are very smart to be reasonable with this. I guess it was my husband that actually made the uneducated purchase ten years ago because I didn't even know that we were ready to get married - he surprised me. HA HA HA !!

I'll bet that your superbcert is just beautiful!! Do you have pictures?

 

[BEDAZZLED]

Most important to me is color and clarity.

I love icy white and VS stones.

My favorite shape is round b/c of the sparkle.

Anything close to 2.0 carats or larger works for me.

My stone is 1.81 round, F, VS2. To me it is magnificent, especially when it reflects rainbows.

 

[Spartan]

ChetLaura,

Congratulations on your 10 year anniversary! Your ring is gorgeous. I just love they way sapphires look with diamonds - very classy. I'm trying to get some good pics of my little Superbcert but they never turn out very well. As soon as I'm able to take a decent one, I will post it.

 

[ChetLaura]

Spartan

Thanks! We are unable to get good pictures of our ring also. This one turned out semi-nice, but we wish that we could really capture the beauty of the diamond. As for the sapphires, I am now totally in love with sapphires!! We wanted the past, present, future setting, and decided that sapphires would add a nice touch.

Thanks again! Best of luck in your future wedding!

 

[larry]

I got this ring at diamond.com and put a 0.4 carat diamond in it (E, SI1, H&A, AGS000, HCA 0.8 ). It looks absolutely fabulous and my fiancé just loves it. Even though the diamond is only 0.4 carats the size is perfect for her small hands. The diamond actually looks bigger in most lighting conditions because of the sparkle.

 

[ChetLaura]

Your ring is beautiful!

 

[pricescope]

Great input guys, thanks so much

So cut does matter for some folks Because I'm getting an impression that all the fuss about superideal cut and Hearts & Arrows is fading away now...

ChetLaura, there is nothing wrong not to see a difference between ideal diamonds. I wouldn't see a difference between ideal and non ideal and of course I wouldn't pay the premium for what I do not see.

It's all very personal

BEDAZZLED... Big cool rock - I like this approach.

Did anybody really see the difference between Ideal and non-ideal stone?

 

[lawmax]

----------------
On 5/6/2002 7:06:29 AM

Did anybody really see the difference between Ideal and non-ideal stone?



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


I did! As a newbie to diamonds, I rejected a number of them, including one that managed to get an AGS 0 Sarin report and that one was over 2 carats, a D color, and relatively inexpensive. It looked out of round to me and was not very dispersive. The lack of contrast brilliance and internal symmetry made a big difference between the look of that stone and an 8*. The dealers could hardly believe that I would reject their diamonds and seemed quite insulted. My husband was also surprised that I would reject those diamonds, but when he went to do the shopping, he could pick out the 8* from a group of hearts and arrows, ideal and non-ideal cuts. He bought the 8* and I was very happy to pay more for a smaller 8*. That was our buying experience.

 

[pricescope]

Hi Lawmax, I know your story

Let's rephrase the question: how many people will be willing to pay 20-30% extra for the ideal cut or sucrifice the carat size?

According to my limited research, average proportions of round diamonds are still 60/60.

 

[lawmax]

----------------
On 5/6/2002 7:58:03 AM

Hi Lawmax, I know your story

Let's rephrase the question: how many people will be willing to pay 20-30% extra for the ideal cut or sucrifice the carat size?

According to my limited research, average proportions of round diamonds are still 60/60.
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I know that *you* know my story. Obviously, not everyone can or will want to purchase an 8* or a H&A diamond. Much of my point is that I never intended to do so. Everyone has to set his/her own priorities. The fortunate consumers are the ones who have a retailer near them who can show the buyer many options so the buyer can make a truly informed decision.

 

[ChetLaura]

We would definitely pay more or saccrifice the size to buy the ideal cut diamond again. I think that we were not quite as impressed with the superideal and hearts and arrows because from what we had read if you buy a diamond with the same proportions then you can still get the same affect for less money.

I think that the 8* is something that we would love to maybe someday own. We would love to see one in person. That might make us have buyers remorse!! HA HA HA!!

Lawmax - you need to post pictures of your ring.

 

[kiwiguy]

Hi,

I bought my fiancee a 1.008 ct, AGS000, E color, VS2 clarity diamond with HCA 0.8! I initiall had it set in a simple 6 prong platinum head, so she could choose the setting she liked later.

I wanted something over 1 ct (just because), and was initially looking around G color in a H&A (Eightstar was too much), with no visible inclusions under 10x (VS clarity, or a good SI1).

After two months research on the web and much looking I finally bought from a B&M and went for a better color over the branded H&A cut. I did buy an Ideal-Scope which worked brillantly, I could actually tell what was a good diamond! As an example, there was a H&A diamond that looked very white through the IS, and then the HCA gave it a score of 3.8, so I knew it wasn't what I wanted.

The diamond I finally chose was very pink under the IS, and had the Arrows pattern, but I don't think it had the perfect Hearts (but you can't see them anyway once set).

It was the AGS000 rating, then HCA score and color that sold me, backed up by the Ideal Scope. The budget was stretched, but I am really pleased with the diamond, and she loves it! At the end of the day most people will only notice the sparkle from the cut, and maybe the color. The rest of the statistics are probably more for the person buying the diamond!

Choosing is diamond is a somewhat stressful situation, especially with multiple jewelers competing, so be prepared!

All I want now is a home steam cleaner!