Diamond Pendant Help

[NewEnglandLady]

I''ve decided to get my mother a diamond pendant for her birthday. The only diamonds she currently owns are a pair of very small diamond studs from a maul store which are poorly cut and moderately included. She''s not the type of person to spend any money on herself (especially not on jewelry), but I think her little diamond studs make her happy. I think a lovely, well-cut diamond pendant would be perfect for her.

Obviously she is not picky about jewelry--she''s neither color nor clarity sensitive, so I''m happy to go down to H or lower color and SI clarity. I think a round brilliant in a bezel setting would be best since the diamond will be .5 carats or smaller and I want to make it look as spready as possible.

That being said, do you think the whiteflash ready set to go pendants are my best bet? I would like to keep this gift under $1,000 and the .4 carat pendant is definitely in that budget. I know that they are not upgradeable, but I don''t think my mom would be interested in upgrading.

I found a couple of options I liked in the .45 - .49 range at Blue Nile, but the clarity is SI2 and obvioulsly I can''t call them up and ask them if they are eye clean. I have considered having a few stones shipped to my house so I could loupe them myself and see which ones I like, but it seems like it''s hardly worth it when I know I can get a fantastic stone in the ready set to go pendant. Still, getting closer to a half carat for under $1,000 is appealing...

Does anybody have any opinions or suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Ellen]

What a nice gift.

I think the RSTG would be perfect!

 

[Deelight]

I think that sounds like a lovely idea

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Okay, I think I''m going to go ahead and get the RSTG pendant, I just wanted to make sure there weren''t any other options I should have considered. As usual, ladies, thank you so much for the help!!

 

[Ellen]

No, since upgrading is not in the future, I think you will get the best cut and price for your money here.

 

[Skippy123]

Ah, you mom is going to love it; what a lovely gift!!!

 

[arjunajane]

N.E.L, I would love to hear what you end up getting and for what price - I was recently trying to decide the same issue myself (for abit in the future), of where its best to purchase a reasonable priced pendant.
A quick question, if the RSTG pendant isn''t upgradable - if you choose your own ACA and have it set in the pendant of your choice, is it upgradable then?
thanku!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I believe that if you buy the diamond separately, it is upgradeable. The trade off is that it is more expensive to do that.

ETA: the pendant I am getting is the .4 in white gold for $890. The diamond will be H in color and SI in clarity, which is good for me (or my mom, I should say)!

ETA (again): On BN, the diamonds I was looking at were .45 - .49, H-I in color, SI1 - SI2 in clarity and around $1,000 in price. The bn downside is that the setting is more expensive ($275 vs. WF's $200) and while the diamonds tend to be priced lower, they aren't ACA diamonds and probably won't perform as well. I know that for a diamond under .5 carat, I want to spend as much money on the diamond as possible, so WF was the better option for me.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 3/31/2008 11:36:24 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I believe that if you buy the diamond separately, it is upgradeable. The trade off is that it is more expensive to do that.

Correct.

 

[arjunajane]

thanku! can''t afford it at the moment but one of those will definately be my next diamond purchase