Engagement Diamond HELP!

[badatmakingdecisions]

I have been engagement ring shopping for a couple weeks now. I am horrible at making decisions like this where it is essentially win-win. I just want everything to to perfect.

I am going to be doing the Tiffany Solitaire style ring with a single round diamond mounted on a platinum band with a 6 prong setting.

I have a few diamond choices and I'm not sure what is the best "deal" / what matters most. Hoping for some decision help from this wonderful community. All the diamonds listed are GIA certified

1. Carat: 1.21
Color: G
Clarity: VVS2
Cut / Polish / Symmetry: Excell / Excell / Excell
Price : $9900

2. Carat: 1.36
Color: H
Clarity: SI-1
Cut / Polish / Symmetry: Excell / Excell / Excell
Price : $10,062

3. Carat: 1.20
Color: F
Clarity: SI-1
Cut / Polish / Symmetry: Excell / Excell / Excell
Price : $10,823

 

[drk14]

I have been engagement ring shopping for a couple weeks now. I am horrible at making decisions like this where it is essentially win-win. I just want everything to to perfect.

I am going to be doing the Tiffany Solitaire style ring with a single round diamond mounted on a platinum band with a 6 prong setting.

I have a few diamond choices and I'm not sure what is the best "deal" / what matters most. Hoping for some decision help from this wonderful community. All the diamonds listed are GIA certified

Welcome to Pricescope! While you wait for the experts here to chime in, let me start you off by saying that to get the most useful help, you will need to provide a lot more information.

For instance, what do you think your girlfriend will care most about in a diamond? Size? Dollar value? Brilliance/sparkle/shine? Presence/absence of invisible blemishes?

Also, what is your budget? (looks like $10k give or take $1k, but if you have additional flexibility, please specify).

The bottom line is that if you deal with a reputable vendor (e.g., the PS vendors that are frequently recommended on these boards), there probably is no "deal" to be had, in that you get what you pay for. However, the way to get a "deal" is to look for diamonds that cost less because they have a lower clarity grade, lower color grade, do not have popular carat weight values (e.g., 1.00ct, 1.50ct, etc.), have fluorescence, etc. With help from the folks on PS, you'll be able to find such a "bargain" diamond that will look no different (and sometimes better) than a significantly more expensive diamond.

However, to avail yourself of this assistance, you also need to provide more information about the diamonds you are looking at. In particular, you need to provide numbers for the crown and pavilion angles (or %), table % and depth %. Also, to ensure the best possible diamond, you need to restrict your search to vednors who will provide images of their diamonds, along with IdealScope and other imaging data.

Good luck!

 

[Gypsy]

The entire purpose of faceting a diamond is to reflect light.
How well or how poorly a diamond does this determines how beautiful it is.
How well a diamond performs is determined by the angles and cutting. This is why we say cut is king.
No other factor: not color, not clarity has as much of an impact on the appearance of a diamond as its cut. An ideal H will out white a poorly cut F. And GIA Ex is not enough. And you must stick to GIA and AGS only. EGL is a bad option: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/egl-certification-are-any-of-them-ok.142863/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/egl-certification-are-any-of-them-ok.142863/[/URL]
So how to we ensure that we have the right angles and cutting to get the light performance we want?
https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/diamond-cut
Well one method is to start with a GIA Ex, and then apply the HCA to it. YOU DO NOT USE HCA for AGS0 stones.
https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/holloway-cut-advisor
The HCA is a rejection tool. Not a selection tool. It uses 4 data points to make a rudimentary call on how the diamond may perform.
If the diamond passes then you know that you are in the right zone in terms of angles for light performance. Under 2 is a pass. Under 2.5-2.1 is a maybe. 2.6 and over is a no. No score 2 and under is better than any other.
Is that enough? Not really.
So what you need is a way to check actual light performance of your actual stone.
That's what an idealscope image does. https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/firescope-idealscope
It shows you how and wear your diamond is reflecting light, how well it is going at it, and where you are losing light return. That is why you won't see us recommending Blue Nile or Ritani, as they do not provide idealscope images for their diamonds. BGD, James Allen, GOG, HPD, ERD and WF do.

The Idealscope is the 'selection tool'. Not the HCA.
So yes, with a GIA stone you need the idealscope images. Or you can buy an idealscope yourself and take it in to the jeweler you are working with to check the stones yourself. Or if you have a good return policy (full refund minimum 7 days) then you can buy the idealscope, buy the stone, and do it at home.


Now if you want to skip all that... stick to AGS0 stones and then all you have to do is pick color and clarity and you know you have a great performing diamond. Because AGS has already done the checking for you. That's why they trade at a premium.

 

[Gypsy]

Please get the GIA report numbers for each of the stones. Look them up here: http://www.gia.edu/report-check-landing Then put the numbers in the HCA (link above). Toss out anything with an HCA under 2. And then post the remaining stones here for us WITH THE LINK TO THE LAB REPORT, and we can help you from there. If none of the stones pass the HCA we can help you by finding you stones that are better cut and better performing for your budget.

 

[badatmakingdecisions]

GIA Numbers:

2166641639

1166223971

1169043965

 

[drk14]

Let me start you off:

2166641639

First get the GIA report (by entering report number at http://www.gia.edu/report-check-landing):

http://www.gia.edu/cs/Satellite?pag...&c=Page&cid=1355954554547&reportno=2166641639

Look for these numbers in the report:

Depth 62.5 %
Table 57 %
Crown Angle 36.0°
Crown Height 15.5%
Pavilion Angle 40.6°
Pavilion Depth 43.0%

Go to the HCA tool and plug in Depth, Table Crown Angle, and Pavilion Angle:
https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca

This returns a score of HCA = 1.9, which is potentially good news.

Now repeat for the other two. Anything with HCA > 2 can be tossed out.

 

[drk14]

GIA Numbers:

2166641639

1166223971

1169043965

OK, one of these numbers isn't right, and the others are out of order, compared to your first post.

2166641639: HCA=1.9. 1.20ct-F-SI1 (i.e., Option #3 in OP, but note that Symmetry=VG, not Ex).

1166223971: HCA=1.4. 1.24ct-G-VS2. (not one of the diamonds in your original list).

1169043965: HCA=3.5. 1.36ct-H-SI1. (i.e., Option #2 in OP).

So the H diamond can be rejected. The mystery G diamond can be found on B2C's website (including a picture), but it looks like it's been sold (unless you have another supplier).

 

[Gypsy]

Great job drk, thank you!

 

[badatmakingdecisions]

Dirk you are indeed correct.

The diamond is out of stock because it is on memo to me right now.


Thoughts on it?