Guidance on the basics please - Thank you!

[grateful4advice]

Greetings,

I am very grateful for this site's existence and the enthusiasts who make it possible. As most of you, I am refusing to follow the crowd into a retail jewelry store at the mall. I’ve looked at many settings and I continue to arrive at these 2:

1. http://tinyurl.com/GabrielNY
2. http://tinyurl.com/MyBlueNile

Now, for the diamond. Size vs clarity? Is there a minimum size requirement to really make this setting amazing?

So how does this work? If I purchase the diamond from a different retailer, do I have the setting shipped to me? Do I have the diamond shipped to the setting retailer?

My budget is 4K-6K.

Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated.

Thank you all for your time!

Eduardo.-

 

[tyty333]

I think a .75 would look nice in those settings
Plus would fit in your budget. I dont
Think bluenile sells their settings without a
Center stone. Id Jewelry Online and
GoG handle Gabriel and Co. Settings.

What size fingers does your GF have?

 

[ecf8503]

Better clarity does not equal more sparkle. CUT quality is what makes it look good, so don't settle for anything less than ideal (AGS 000 or GIA XXX w/ idealscope to assess light performance).

I'd call Good Old Gold - they carry Gabriel settings, and I'd put something like this in it: done. http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/12072/

Much easier to do one stop shopping. But BN does not supply any idealscope images to assess light performance. Also I don't think BN will sell a setting alone nor will they set outside stones.

 

[grateful4advice]

- tyty333 : I guess I need to stray from the notion that it needs to at least be 1 ct. I believe she wears a 7.

- ecf8503: I will definitely follow your advice to emphasize on cut.

It suddenly feels like it will be a longer journey than I expected. Seems like the band options are endless and so are the ones for halo.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[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, 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.


And no, you aren't getting a one carat center with your budget unless you make significant sacrifices. Shoot for a 6mm stone, Good Old Gold is a Gabriel retailer.

I suggest one of these:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/11741/
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/12072/


If you want a one carat, this is what you are looking at for price/color/clarity. It's a very nice stone:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/12365/ Ask if eyeclean.

 

[grateful4advice]

Gypsy,

Thank you so much!!!

What an awesome response with straight forward facts and comments. I am much more confident now.

I am actually willing to bump my budget a bit more to get a one carat center. If the prices are ranging like the one you provided, I can definitely do this.

Common knowledge to you perhaps but I did not know this rule about 2 months of paychecks to determine one's spending range. If so, my take home for 2 months is 12K and 7K is way below that.

Cheers and Thanks again!!

Eduardo.-

 

[OoohShiny]

I am actually willing to bump my budget a bit more to get a one carat center. If the prices are ranging like the one you provided, I can definitely do this.

Common knowledge to you perhaps but I did not know this rule about 2 months of paychecks to determine one's spending range. If so, my take home for 2 months is 12K and 7K is way below that.

Hey Eduardo

Don't be tied to the 'x' number of months pay thing, it is basically a marketing idea to make people spend more IMHO

Spend what you are comfortable spending!

With regards to going for a full 1 Carat stone, prices jump at the Carat mark so I would look for something like a 0.90ct-0.95ct stone because it will be cheaper but basically exactly the same size There are not many around because many cutters cut to retain weight and hit that 1ct mark because they make more money that way, but just below it is where you will find better value stones

 

[OoohShiny]

With regards to going for a full 1 Carat stone, prices jump at the Carat mark so I would look for something like a 0.90ct-0.95ct stone because it will be cheaper but basically exactly the same size There are not many around because many cutters cut to retain weight and hit that 1ct mark because they make more money that way, but just below it is where you will find better value stones

For example...


G VS2 0.94ct Crafted by Infinity diamond (one of the best cuts you can buy) for around $7.7k:
http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity&id=916
A little bit of a stretch (10% over your £7k indicative budget) but I think it would be worth it.


If you didn't want to pay that small extra premium for the CBI cut, how about a GIA ExExEx 0.96ct G VS1 with a HCA score of 1.3 ExExExVG for just under $7k?
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-5085356-0.96-carat-Round-diamond-G-color-VS1-Clarity.aspx?sku=5085356&utm_source=pricescope.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com


Alternatively, you could drop a few colours and actually pick up a K VS1 1.16ct CBI stone that looks perfectly clean to me on the images, for $7.3k, less than the 0.94ct CBI stone and only $300 over budget!
http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity-new&id=688