VoxExMachina
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- May 12, 2015
- Messages
- 9
Was at the mall and decided to look at e-rings with the gf. Went to Zales and everything was garbage. Salesperson was very pushy and obnoxious. Tried to sell us a bargain 2ctw ring. Center was 4 small princess cut stones made to simulate a larger single stone. She said there's no difference except for price. Clarity was also terrible with SI3 being the best they had.
Jareds was next and the only thing she liked was the LEO RBC diamonds. But even their 1ct were of SI quality and H or I color and close to $10,000 OTD.
Tiffany's was next and of course she liked everything they had there. Princess, cushion, and RBC rings all did look stellar. $20k for a 1ct center was a bit shocking. They did have a near 1ct RBC solitaire that was $15k but the cut wasn't very good as it lacked the brilliance and fire of the others.
So here's where I'm at. Neither me nor my gf are well versed in jewelry. She would like something that is 1ct in size or more. Or rather she'd like a ring that is 7-8mms in size but she doesn't like halos. Well, exceptions were the tiffany embrace and soleste settings. Her other preference is to have a pave band and no yellow gold. I'm going with platinum since it seems more durable and doesn't need to be plated or dipped with rhodium AFAIK.
But beyond a platinum ring everything else is up in the air. For cuts or shapes she like round, asscher, princess, cushion and maybe even an emerald cut. She loved the bright and sparkly tiffany diamonds and even a few Leo diamonds weren't too bad. So now I need some help. I have done some cursory research and cut is the most important of the four Cs and should be the last compromise. For clarity SI1 can still be eye clean depending on the type of inclusion and location. I might stick with VS2. For color it really depends on the individual stone as they can face up whiter. But generally H and above is good.
Regarding certifications it appears only GIA and AGS are worth anything as they tend to be more accurate. Whether a GIA excellent cut is equal to a AGS ideal cut though I'm not sure. It appears not to be the case. There's also ASET and IDEALSCOPE images that show light performance but I have no idea how to read those except lots of red is good. Green is okay and black or white is bad.
Now, given my gf's size preference for 7-8mm I need to find the best bang for the buck. RBC seems to have the biggest face up size. But a 1ct RBC hearts and arrow is 8-10k or more. I can find a 1.2ct princess or emerald for 6k which might face up like a 1ct rbc. So what shape offers the best bang for the buck in a ideal cut or well performing stone?
My budget is $10k and I'm considering adding a halo to get the desired 7-8mm of finger coverage. My gf did like the soleste and embrace so a halo should be fine.
Jareds was next and the only thing she liked was the LEO RBC diamonds. But even their 1ct were of SI quality and H or I color and close to $10,000 OTD.
Tiffany's was next and of course she liked everything they had there. Princess, cushion, and RBC rings all did look stellar. $20k for a 1ct center was a bit shocking. They did have a near 1ct RBC solitaire that was $15k but the cut wasn't very good as it lacked the brilliance and fire of the others.
So here's where I'm at. Neither me nor my gf are well versed in jewelry. She would like something that is 1ct in size or more. Or rather she'd like a ring that is 7-8mms in size but she doesn't like halos. Well, exceptions were the tiffany embrace and soleste settings. Her other preference is to have a pave band and no yellow gold. I'm going with platinum since it seems more durable and doesn't need to be plated or dipped with rhodium AFAIK.
But beyond a platinum ring everything else is up in the air. For cuts or shapes she like round, asscher, princess, cushion and maybe even an emerald cut. She loved the bright and sparkly tiffany diamonds and even a few Leo diamonds weren't too bad. So now I need some help. I have done some cursory research and cut is the most important of the four Cs and should be the last compromise. For clarity SI1 can still be eye clean depending on the type of inclusion and location. I might stick with VS2. For color it really depends on the individual stone as they can face up whiter. But generally H and above is good.
Regarding certifications it appears only GIA and AGS are worth anything as they tend to be more accurate. Whether a GIA excellent cut is equal to a AGS ideal cut though I'm not sure. It appears not to be the case. There's also ASET and IDEALSCOPE images that show light performance but I have no idea how to read those except lots of red is good. Green is okay and black or white is bad.
Now, given my gf's size preference for 7-8mm I need to find the best bang for the buck. RBC seems to have the biggest face up size. But a 1ct RBC hearts and arrow is 8-10k or more. I can find a 1.2ct princess or emerald for 6k which might face up like a 1ct rbc. So what shape offers the best bang for the buck in a ideal cut or well performing stone?
My budget is $10k and I'm considering adding a halo to get the desired 7-8mm of finger coverage. My gf did like the soleste and embrace so a halo should be fine.
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