Diamond advice for newbie

[hollyns]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking at diamonds for a ring at James Allen and am getting a little overwhelmed with all of the options. Ideally I would like a 1ct pretty, sparkly diamond set in either 14 ct yellow or rose gold with a simple 6 prong solitaire setting. However that seems to be a little out of my preferred budget of around $3500 canadian for the stone. See my table below for options that I have priced. If I filter to k color, SI2 clarity and Good cut, I could get a 0.95 ct stone. If I increase the specs to J color, SI1 clarity, very good cut, I could get a 0.9 ct stone. If I further increase to H color, SI1 clarity and ideal cut, I could get a 0.8 stone with a small budget increase. That is smaller than I would like, but I would like a smaller, beautiful stone than a larger ugly one. My ring size is 4 for perspective.

Could you offer some advice for what I should be looking at for specs in this price range? I know it is subjective, but I'm trying to weigh wanting a large stone with also wanting a pretty/sparkly one, and not wanting to pay extra for a color difference that won't be noticeable when set against yellow or rose gold.

As a second question, what are people's thoughts on yellow gold versus rose gold for diamonds? White gold seems to be the most popular but I really don't like the appearance. I currently wear a purply red spinel set in rose gold on my other hand so a rose gold ring would match that nicely.

Thank you all so much



ct_____H, SI1, IDEAL____J, SI1, VG____K, SI2, G
0.80____ $3772______ $2754_____ $2100
0.85____ $4562_______ $3327_____ $2550
0.90____ $4807_______ $3491_____ $2550
0.95____ $6877_______ $4445______ $3395
1.00____ $6877_______ $4445______ $3695

 

[E B]

So just to clarify, do you mean $3500 USD or $2700 USD ($3500 canadian)? Also, you're mainly talking about a difference in color, and a K isn't uglier than an H, just warmer. Are you okay with a diamond that looks warm in some lighting, or do you want it to look white most/all of the time? Cut should be excellent no matter what and we can steer you that way.

 

[hollyns]

$3500 CAD, so I guess around $2700 US. I don't want the diamond to look noticeably warm. When looking at James Allen diamonds, they classify the cut as Good, Very Good, Ideal and True Hearts, by excellent cut, does this mean the "Ideal" category?

 

[E B]

Looking at just James Allen and taking into account all that you want, this seems to be the best bet in budget IF it's eye-clean and has a good idealscope image (which they may be able to get). It's easy to spot the feather in the video but remember, it's magnified by a lot.

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...k-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-1912269

You can get a nicely cut I or J color in budget too if you want to drop to .80 ct.