Down to Crunchtime, Final minutes before big purchase!! HELP

[gustoqb5]

I am only days away from buying my diamond and setting. I was wondering what some experts thought on my choices. Please let me know your thoughts on the various decisions I face.
1) Which Diamond To Choose?

A)
1.28 Round F SI1 TBL:56% TD:59.8% Crn<:35 Pav<: 40.6 Polish:VG Symm:G
Diam: 7.10 (7.05-7.15) GIA Cert HCA: .6
My cost: $7,300

B)
1.28 Round H SI1 TBl:57% TD:60.7% Crn<: 35.1 Pav<: 40.8 Polish: G Symm:VG
Diam: 7.01 (6.98-7.04) GIA Cert HCA: 1.7
My cost: $6,300

C)
1.20 Round H VS1 Tbl: 58.5% TD: 60%
My cost: $5,467

Dilemma: Is the Diamond A worth 1,000 more than Diamond B? I saw them both, both eye clean. Diamond B had more white light return, but Diamond A had more of an even contrast of darks/whites. Diamond B almost looked a little more nontransparent (barely) because of this white light return.
Then with Diamond C, it is being Re-cut, this jeweler buys diamonds from insurance companies and so his cost is very low on this diamond (family friend of his who works for ins. co.). This particular diamond had a small chip on the girdle, so he is having it re-cut (the 1.2 is what it will be after the re-cutting). I love the price, but there were no proportion measurements to look at until after the re-cutting, and I believe he said we would have to send it to GIA b/c he just got it and doesn''t have a cert. IE: I don''t really have the time to wait for that if it is indeed the case.
Which one do I go with???

2) The first two diamonds are from a different Jeweler where I will buy the Setting/mounting. It is a michael B piece that the diamond will be set in. Do I buy the diamond from the first jeweler, pay to have it appraised by itself. Then send it to Michael B, to have the ring made (3-4 weeks) and then get it re-appraised all completed?
I ask this because I am going to a different jeweler for the Michael B Ring and I wonder if I need to get the Diamond appraised by itself before taking it in to this other jeweler?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Even if you think the first two diamonds are a little over priced. I ran a PS search and found the first one as low as 7100, and the second one down to 5900. I plan to take these prices in to this jeweler and see if he will go down to either price.

Thanks a lot
Gus
PS. I need to decide on this by Friday of this week. (Yikes)

 

[noobie]

Since you have seen both 1 and 2, which one do you like better? Did you see them side by side or separately? Not enough info on 3, you neeed to see it.




If you can't wait to get 3 back to look at it, I think you should just pick the one you like the best. Your eye is always the best judge. If you can't decide on the $1000 premium see if you can pick them out blind without knowing which is which. If you consistently pick the more expensive one then it might just very well be worth it. Check to make sure neither of them has a very thin girdle or a large open feather that mey be a durability risk.




good luck




If you are willing to expand your search on-line you may have more options and most can deliver a stone in a day.

 

[hoorray]

Noobie gave you good advice. At some point you have to forget about picking apart numbers and look (in lots of different lights) at the stones to see which appeals to your eyes more. Many people do not see color differences in this range, others do.

The first stone has a lower HCA, which, I beleive, Garry says can have less contrast. For a ring, head shadow can impact the lower HCA stones light reflection if you are looking at it up close. (So try that and see if it is visible in stone #1.) Also, do some searches on lower HCA scores, or HCA scores in general and see if you can find Garry's discussion on .5 HCA stones vs 1.5 HCA. At the end of the day, it's not the specs of the HCA scores that you should make a final decision with. It's what appeals to you the most. Your eyes should be able to tell you if stone #1 is worth $1000 more.

 

[gustoqb5]

Thanks for the comments. Here's the twist. Jeweler #1 (which has both stones 1 and 2) is not the jeweler selling me the Ring. So, Jeweler #2 is, he is going to bring me in 3 more stones on Friday to look at. By buying the diamond at jeweler 2, it will save me 600 more dollars on the ring. if I buy one of the two stones from jeweler 1 and take it to jeweler 2, he will up the ring 600 (not bad considering overall cost).
So, I am planning on waiting until Friday to look at his diamonds. Then if nothing jumps out at me I'll either buy either Stone 1 or 2 or I might wait until next Wednesday For jeweler 2 to get 3 more in (including Stone #3 to do a Sarin report on).
Don't get me wrong, I would gladly (although not that gladly) pay the extra 600 for a diamond that I liked the best. And if the first two from above are those two then that's what I'll do.

I will most likely post again Friday night or Saturday morning.

Thanks for the help.

 

[quaeritur]

I guess you could buy only the stone at jeweler #1, only the setting at jeweler #2 and then have it set for $35 by jeweler #3?

Just kidding. I do believe in supporting good local independent jewelers...