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Hearts and Arrows Diaomond for ~$4000

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bungana

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 9, 2013
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I am looking to buy a diamond engagement ring with a max. budget of $5500. I want a solitaire setting and I do like round stones.

I have been looking online and estimate that a platinum ring which I like will cost $800-900, which leaves me with ~$4000 to spend on a diamond (taking taxes into account in NY state).

I have been looking at Hearts and Arrows rounds because they are so common and therefore assumed them to be a little more affordable-- I also really like to cut!

In terms of specifications, I have tried to focus on VVS1/VVS2 clarity , D-F color and ideal cut. It seems that this will get me a stone of ~.5 to .6 ct. It turns out that my girlfriend is attracted to bigger stones.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what characteristics I could trade to get a bigger stone without any noticeable (to the naked eye, obviously) drop in quality.

Also, I have been looking at Whiteflash, Blue Nile and Good Old Gold as potential vendors. Any suggestion on which might provide the best deal/buying experience?

Thank you in advance for any advice!
 
If you are looking at WF and GOG as potential vendors, and keeping to their signature rounds, you can safely drop to SI-1 clarity (as long as you confirm with the vendor the stone is eyeclean to your satisfaction). I too prefer the colorless range but if you keep to the F-G color range your diamond will be very white. With this adjustment in your specs, your budget should allow you to increase the carat weight to roughly 0.75 - 0.80ct - this will appreciably increase the face-up size of the diamond as compared to 0.the 50-0.60ct range.

I very quickly checked the WF site and within your budget you could go with a 0.775ct F-SI1 or a 0.793ct G-SI1 - both are in the WF A Cut Above line and will be incredible performers.
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2763653.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2794555.htm

I checked the GOG site real fast and do not see any stones in the F-G color range that fall within your budget, but it might be worthwhile to contact them to see if they have anything fitting your requirements not yet listed on their website.

If you already know your setting preference, I recommend you check WF and GOG to see which has the setting you like and then go with that vendor to find the diamond if possible.

eta: certainly you can also go larger in carat weight if you decide to go with color lower than G - however, for an ER, unless your GF has stated a preference for warm colors (J and lower), I would not recommend going lower than H-I (and my personal bias is the E/F range, and many PSers routinely recommend G color as an excellent choice if you prefer the colorless range but want to increase size).
 
Actually if you talk to people in the industry you pay more for the termonology "hearts and arrows" a beautiful ideal/excellent cut GIA certified diamond does the deal and if you want the best bang for your buck look at everything if it ends up H&A that's great ...We will help you look for $4,000 budget.

Again having bought many diamonds and have lurked here for like forever. You said she likes larger diamonds then go for .75 anything just under one carat

color G-H VS to eye clean s1I.......ideal/ execllent cut. look for table 54-58 depth 60-62.3

you can even select on of these fabulous vendors Brian Gavin Good old Gold, James Allen, White flash and call them and they will hand select stones for you for no additional cost.
 
niesells selections from WHite flash are both awesome.....
 
niesells selections from WHite flash are both awesome.....
 
I agree, you won't notice a difference in normal viewing distance between VVS1 and VS1. A lot of people have beautiful SI1's and even some SI2's are eye-clean enough, dropping down in clarity will allow you to maximize size. Also, you can definitely drop down in color from D to G/H/I, G is plenty white for most people. In fact, a lot of the rings in mall jewellery stores are EGL H/I, which is equivalent to GIA J/K/L. I would take your girlfriend shopping and ask them to show you several different diamond colors to see if she is sensitive to diamond colour. I personally have owned an AGS 0 I colour diamond in a platinum setting, which was very white to my eye. I currently have a GIA J colour and it is cut so well that I see nothing but white when I look at it :-)

If she isn't colour sensitive and Jon confirms that this stone is eye-clean (ask him, and make sure to specify what eye-clean means to you - from 2 feet, from 6 inches, from the top, from the side....?), I think this would be great option to maximize your budget and get close to the 1 carat mark without paying the premium for a 1 carat stone

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/10258/

Good luck :-)
 
hearts and arrows are rare, not common.
 
0.8 ct stone is a great value and gets you to 6mm diameter. I SI1 is what I consider the perfect compromise on color and clarity.

This 6.1mm 0.85 I VS1 fits perfectly with your budget:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/9708/
 
bungana|1362850042|3400638 said:
I am looking to buy a diamond engagement ring with a max. budget of $5500. I want a solitaire setting and I do like round stones.

I have been looking online and estimate that a platinum ring which I like will cost $800-900, which leaves me with ~$4000 to spend on a diamond (taking taxes into account in NY state).

I have been looking at Hearts and Arrows rounds because they are so common and therefore assumed them to be a little more affordable-- I also really like to cut!

In terms of specifications, I have tried to focus on VVS1/VVS2 clarity , D-F color and ideal cut. It seems that this will get me a stone of ~.5 to .6 ct. It turns out that my girlfriend is attracted to bigger stones.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what characteristics I could trade to get a bigger stone without any noticeable (to the naked eye, obviously) drop in quality.

Also, I have been looking at Whiteflash, Blue Nile and Good Old Gold as potential vendors. Any suggestion on which might provide the best deal/buying experience?

Thank you in advance for any advice!
Click to expand...

Actually, I think the price per carat for rounds tends to be higher than for other fancy cuts since rounds tend to be more popular and in higher demand. If your GF likes round you should stick with it, but if she is open to other shapes it might be worth looking at since you may be able to get more for your budget. You also don't have to have H&A to have a beautiful stone. As long as what you get has an ideal cut you can maybe skip the H&A and also get more from your budget.
 
Jon has some incredible videos on youtube, search diamond info man, if you want to learn a bit around diamond color, clarity, and cut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzBGhkF5C4o

In this video he compares diamond colour in the size you are considering
 
Did a quick search and this one looks to be eye-clean H&A (But the inclusions are in the middle of the table so phone them and give them your definition of eye-clean and ask them to evaluate it for you):

0.793 G SI1 ACA http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2794555.htm

This one looks nice to me. You should ask for idealscope images if you are interested:

0.73 G VVS2 ($3720) http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-...G-color-VVS2-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-195638

Others that you would need to get magnified and idealscope images for:

0.84 H VS1 ($3500) http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-3319077...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com
0.87 I VS1 ($3330) http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-2857556...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com
0.80 G VS2 ($3550) http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-3466812...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com
0.80 G SI1 ($3200) http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-3491479...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com
0.90 G SI2 ($3800) http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-3429897...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pricescope.com
 
It is true you don't need H/A symmetry to get a well performing stone. The Whiteflash and Good Old Gold ones posted are going to be GREAT performers, but if you want to squeak a little more size in, you might look at Ideal Cut non-H/A stones (you can look in WHiteflash Expert selection line for those). Those are the ones that are AGS0 (Ideal cut) but didn't make hearts symmetry. (H/A is not common, it is a lot of extra work for the cutters and uses more rough to cut, so it is quite uncommon).

Another place to look is Brian Gavin's Blue line. Very well cut (because it's an in-house brand for him cut to his specifications) but doesn't guarantee Hearts symmetry so you get a discount there and the fluorescence also gives a discount. So you get all the benefits of good cutting, and a llittle discount in several areas.

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.801-h-si1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104063639040
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.830-h-vs1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104063639033

As for dropping color and clarity. I think you are fine down to H, possibly I and down to an eyeclean SI. Fluor can help make a slightly tinted stone look a little less tinted as well and so you might even be good down to I even with some color sensitivity. For example- the stone in my avatar is an I with medium fluorescence. I would not have been ok with I without it, but the fluor is a huge bonus in the I J range to whiten them up a bit. (H is my personal lower limit with no fluor, you may have a different one.)

Also- Whiteflash and Brian Gavin are in Texas, so you ought to not have to pay taxes that way (???). Plus if you call BG and tell them you are from Pricescope, you get a small additional discount off the wire price.
 
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