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First time buy diamond, first post....please help

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Legend

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15 yrs anniversary is comming up next month, so I budget for her $20k (tax and band included) for a minimum 2ct ROUND BRILLIANT CUT (ideal) diamond.
I searched in this forum and found some dealers with G-I color and VS1-VS2 in that price range.
Questions:
What labs are good? can anyone rank for me from top to bottom one? I only know GIA, but now EGL, EGS and so on....
With that price range, do you prefer better color grade or better clarity?
Does VS1 and VS2 good enough? Able to see under naked eyes?
One dealer said I can go with I color and VS2 for bigger carat, but can you tell color differences between G-J or maybe I and J?

Any other opinions for what else I can consider?
Thanks.
 

iwannaprettyone

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AGS seems to be the most respected around these parts.

I suggest using the pricescope search to find the most reputable vendors.
 

Lorelei

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Date: 4/24/2009 5:01:20 PM
Author:Legend
15 yrs anniversary is comming up next month, so I budget for her $20k (tax and band included) for a minimum 2ct ROUND BRILLIANT CUT (ideal) diamond.
I searched in this forum and found some dealers with G-I color and VS1-VS2 in that price range.
Questions:
What labs are good? can anyone rank for me from top to bottom one? I only know GIA, but now EGL, EGS and so on....
With that price range, do you prefer better color grade or better clarity?
Does VS1 and VS2 good enough? Able to see under naked eyes?
One dealer said I can go with I color and VS2 for bigger carat, but can you tell color differences between G-J or maybe I and J?

Any other opinions for what else I can consider?
Thanks.
I can tell the difference between reliably graded G and J colour, I and J no. AGS and GIA as Iwanna mentions are the two top labs with AGS often being preferred around here for cut grading. VS clarity should be fine also, as long as you get a well cut diamond you will have a pretty rock. If you would like we could post some suggestions of diamonds which might suit you. What did you have in mind for the setting, platinum? Did you want a simple solitaire or a setting with accent diamonds?

Congrats on the anniversary!
 

Legend

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Yes, can you suggest some "rocks" that meet my criteria and you think that is best for me? thanks so much for doing that.
I want to buy the loose diamond then I will buy the setting here at local store and watch them put it in. :)
So, I would say the price for loose diamond is round $15k.
I checked in here, there are dealers: abaziar, usa certed, solomon brothers, whiteflash...etc...which one is more reputable?
thanks again.
 

rickster123

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I''m a newbie also, I strongly recommend reading thru a lot of these threads and going to the "Helpful Thread" thread. they have great videos that explain all about color differences, etc. Go to the Show me the Ring thread also and you can see lots of different real life pics of different rings to help you decide. You''ll feel better about your decision making ability. Then again, you could always just listen to the pros here, they certainly give great advice. Good Luck
 

diamondseeker2006

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I would suggest looking at this search tool:

https://www.pricescope.com/sift.aspx

Put in excellent-excellent for cut, and check GIA and AGS for labs, plus your color and clarity range.

I have dealt with both WhiteFlash and Good Old Gold, and those two furnish more info on their stones than any of the others. They also carry more in-house ideal cut stones than most. Infinity diamonds are also nice, but the selection is not as plentiful. I''ll see if I see any that meet your criteria.
 

diamondseeker2006

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Okay, unless you go below I color and SI1 clarity, you''ll have trouble meeting your budget in an ideal cut stone. Here are two H SI1 stones that are close to your price target:

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4884/

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/Whiteflash-ACA-cut-diamond-1466927.htm (5% wire/pricescope discount)

I personally stick with G-H color and might consider I color. Others do go to J color, but whether you can handle that depends on how color-sensitive you are. I also prefer VS clarity, but you''ll get into really high price territory if you go with higher color or clarity on an over-2 ct. ideal cut stone.
 

Legend

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THanks so much for those suggestions.
I personally like the G-H color and VS clarity. NOw I know CUT is the most important, so I will look for IDEAL brilliant (excellent, excellent, excellent) :)
Let me check out that search function.
How safe is it buying online?
What if you buy the diamond and it never ship to your house or maybe it lost on the way...what can I do? thanks.
 

Legend

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anyone bought from bluenile before?
Please see the price of 5 rocks below and let me know which one do you prefered and why.
thanks so much.. :D
http://img15.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bluenilehvs2.jpg
 

stone-cold11

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Date: 4/25/2009 11:42:42 PM
Author: Legend
THanks so much for those suggestions.

I personally like the G-H color and VS clarity. NOw I know CUT is the most important, so I will look for IDEAL brilliant (excellent, excellent, excellent) :)

Let me check out that search function.

How safe is it buying online?

What if you buy the diamond and it never ship to your house or maybe it lost on the way...what can I do? thanks.

Can''t really tell much from your search result as it is only an image, would like to see the actual link to the report.

I would prefer buying from JA to BN as JA can supply an IS image but not BN. But if you really want to buy from BN then you still can use the 30days inspection period to your full advantage. Buying online is safe as long as the vendor is reputable.

If the diamond is lost on the way, it will be covered by the vendor''s shipping insurance, he will either refund you or look for a similar replacement with you.
 

Lorelei

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Date: 4/25/2009 11:42:42 PM
Author: Legend
THanks so much for those suggestions.
I personally like the G-H color and VS clarity. NOw I know CUT is the most important, so I will look for IDEAL brilliant (excellent, excellent, excellent) :)
Let me check out that search function.
How safe is it buying online? Very if you shop with a trusted vendor with an excellent rep.
What if you buy the diamond and it never ship to your house or maybe it lost on the way...what can I do? thanks. The vendor will have it insured.
 

Legend

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Thanks all for the info.
One more question please :)
I searched in BlueNile for their top Signature/Ideal cut, I notices that the depth are only in 61.1 to 61.9 range and the table only between 55% and 57% . So that mean when I search for Excellent cut from other stores, I only search for stone in that range of depth and table. if outside that range, it may not be "Excellent". Is that right? anyone has experience on the depth/table ? (Ofcourse I will choose sym/pol ex/ex )

I came down to JameAllens, Abazias, and Mondera.
Mondera now has 5% discount, that is almost $1k discount.
Can you negotiate price with them? How can you do it? i know economy in tank so some of them are willing to negotiate, but not sure how you guys expert here do it.
thanks again.
 

Lorelei

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Date: 4/27/2009 10:27:03 AM
Author: Legend
Thanks all for the info.
One more question please :)
I searched in BlueNile for their top Signature/Ideal cut, I notices that the depth are only in 61.1 to 61.9 range and the table only between 55% and 57% . So that mean when I search for Excellent cut from other stores, I only search for stone in that range of depth and table. if outside that range, it may not be 'Excellent'. Is that right? anyone has experience on the depth/table ? (Ofcourse I will choose sym/pol ex/ex )

I came down to JameAllens, Abazias, and Mondera.
Mondera now has 5% discount, that is almost $1k discount.
Can you negotiate price with them? How can you do it? i know economy in tank so some of them are willing to negotiate, but not sure how you guys expert here do it.
thanks again.
No. These may be parameters they use for their Signature Ideals but in the overall scheme of things there are top cut diamonds with more or less depth and smaller or larger tables. The SI are their in house diamonds by all accounts.

You can try a search using the Pricescope your Diamond tool also above, enter your specs and that will bring up the best cut diamonds listed, these are usually AGS0 and GIA Excellent cut grade which are available with many of the PS online vendors, then you can work through to see which are the best ones using our advice and the HCA to eliminate the steep angled GIA Excellents. The search by cut function will have most of the info you need provided for you.
 

Legend

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Thnks.
I just talked to Abazias about matching 5% off with Mondera.com, they said yes, but later on they said NO. I though they are local company and i kinda support them by buying from them, but they dont care. so far not a good experience with them. I said I come from this forum and they don''t care either.
7.gif

I would not recommend Abazias.com for anyone. Not a good experience so far.
No wonder, others in here recommended JamesAllen and other store, but Abazias.




Keyword: Abazias reviews, Abazias.com, abazias store reviews....... would not do business with that company.
 
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