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PEACEWARRIOR

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
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I am on my e-ring journey and looking for the best diamond I can buy for my $5000 budget. I visited local jewelers like Jared's and the quality of diamonds they were selling were a lot less than what I can find online. They did have certified diamonds but not from GIA or AGS. I am studying and reading everything I can on diamonds and PS is just amazing. PS members are incredible. Here's a GIA certified diamond that I found online from a reputable online jeweler. I used the HCA and AGA/NAJA tools to rate this diamond and it scored excellent.

What do you cut maniacs think? Is it possible to buy a well cut diamond without the name brand and save $$$ and get better color and clarity? The diamond below matched or beat signature cut diamond scores that I am considering.

AGA/NAJA:Total grade 1A
HCA: 1.6 EX,EX,EX,VG
Carat wt 0.83
Cut:Excellent
Color:H
Clarity:IF
Lab Name:GIA
Depth:62.00
Table:56.00
Crown Angle:35
Pav Angle:40.8
Polish:Excellent
Symmetry:Excellent
Culet:None
Fluorescence:None
Ratio:0.00
Measurements:6.01x6.05x3.70
 
From the info you posted it looks like a great stone! :)) Your next step should be to ask the vendor to provide you with IS or ASET images as well as actual images of the stone.

Is there a reason you are looking at an IF stone? As I'm sure you know, it's not necessary and you can get more bang for you buck by dropping down a bit. And yes, it's absolutely possibly to buy a better more beautiful non branded stone!
 
I agree with Christina. I would lower the clarity and buy an eye clean stone and maximize the size with the savings. If you're going to mount it on a white setting you could go down to an I or J color stone and not notice the difference with your naked eye.
 
This stone just happened to be in my budget range while I was searching for stones that were not H&A cuts. I used AGA and HCA tools to grade diamonds that I am interested in and found those tools to be very useful. I like H&A cut stones but it seems to me that every jeweler has their signature line of diamonds but to get their ideal cut or super cut stone for my e-ring budget I have to step down in color and big time in clarity. The pic I have of this diamond shows very nice and clean arrows for a GIA graded excellent cut diamond. The diamond will be mounted on an 18kt yellow gold solitaire setting as my girlfriend prefers yellow gold.
 
Thanks Christina for telling to me look at IS and Aset images.
I checked several GIA excellent cut diamonds online and saw their IS/ Aset images. The images I saw were disasters :shock: The diamond I was looking did not have IS or Aset images. It had excellent HCA and AGA/NAJA scores but I can't take the risk of it being an optical dud especially for an e-ring. I will be looking at the H&A cuts once again as they have the best cuts.
 
hey! let me first say YAY im so glad she is going with yellow gold, i love yellow gold.

and whats good for you is that you can go a little lower in color with it being less noticable. plus, as stated, you can drop down in clarity. As long as its eye clean, do you really care what the cert says?


now keeping in what i said there, theres a nice one at good old gold

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/10865/


or, even if you are willing to go down in clarity, you can get about the same size in BG stone. (the color would be so white with the fluor AND the G)


http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.805-g-vs1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104063639037

and heres a true H&A branded stone, but when i compare it to the BGB, id rather spend less and get the fabulous fluor... the ASET and ID looks sooooo similar!

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.822-g-vs2-round-diamond-ags-104063637016#!prettyPhoto[gallery2]/1/
 
I am glad she prefers yellow gold too. Those are some nice stones you picked out. I will have to look at them especially BG's blue diamonds as my girlfriend's favorite color is blue just like my blue eyes. :D

Anyone purchase an Infinity diamond from www.highperformancediamonds.com?? Is there really a difference in optics from BGD, WF, JA,BN, GOG and Infinity H&A cuts? They all claim their H&A diamond is the best. Is there really one or two that stand above the rest?

I wish these jewelers would show off their H&A diamonds with videos on their websites. It would be nice to see how these diamonds perform when mounted on a setting under all lighting conditions.
 
Crafted by infinity does show you videos of their value select brand.

I truly think you would be more than satisfied with any stone from BG, CBI, or that GOG one. the .9ct GOG one had all those tests run, so you can tell its a good performer. I think any of their differences would be so minute that to your eye you wouldnt much notice.

heres just a few things to consider.

do you think fluor is cool? (id raise my hand for that!)

do you want as much size as possible?

which place has the setting you like? (GOG has lots of brands, BG only has a few, but they are really pretty! I havent seen too many ctrafted ones but they seem nice)

whats your budget for the setting, what kind did she want?
 
Niel|1373840281|3482952 said:
Crafted by infinity does show you videos of their value select brand.

I truly think you would be more than satisfied with any stone from BG, CBI, or that GOG one. the .9ct GOG one had all those tests run, so you can tell its a good performer. I think any of their differences would be so minute that to your eye you wouldnt much notice.

heres just a few things to consider.

do you think fluor is cool? (id raise my hand for that!)

do you want as much size as possible?

which place has the setting you like? (GOG has lots of brands, BG only has a few, but they are really pretty! I havent seen too many ctrafted ones but they seem nice)

whats your budget for the setting, what kind did she want?
Click to expand...

I think you are right that I will be satisfied with any stone from the vendors mentioned. The size of diamond I am looking for now is in the .75 to.95 range. What is important to me is the upgrade policy of the vendor. I do plan to upgrade to a larger diamond (over 1 carat) in a year or two. The setting I like is the traditional six prong solitaire setting in yellow gold with platinum prongs. It's a safe setting as my girlfriend has traditional tastes.

I like the blue fluor and that is very cool. :D
 
I'd read the Brian Gavin upgrade policy really well. I think they require you upgrade 2 things. So like size AND color or clarity. And that stone is alresdy really high color and clarity.
 
PEACEWARRIOR|1373915954|3483436 said:
msop04|1373915086|3483422 said:
What about one of these stones??

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-dia...-i-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-213709

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.91-carat-i-color-vs1-clarity-sku-227380
Click to expand...


Those are great looking diamonds but I am leaning a lot towards another online vendor that in my newbie opinion has the best H&A round cut diamonds.
Click to expand...


No problem! BG has the best H&A in my opinion... just trying to "maximize" your budget. :D
 
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