Help & Advice Appreciated - Decision Time!

[dino79]

Hi All,

I'm a newcomer to the forum and man am I glad I found you guys. I knew the basics from my trips to local jewelry stores, but I've learned so much more about diamonds in the past few days. I've been studying on here so much my head is about to explode, diamond overload!

So I'm ready to pop the questions to the love of my life, and have narrowed down my selection to three potentials. What I was looking for was a round diamond between 1.7 - 1.8 ct with plenty of fire!

Could I please ask for your preferred diamond of choice between these three?

Diamond #1
1.77 ct
Excellent Cut, Polish, Symmetry
Color: G
Clarity: VS2
Girdle: Thin
HCA Score: 1
Price: $14,671

Diamond #2
1.74 ct
Excellent Cut, Polish, Symmetry
Color: G
Clarity: VS2
Girdle: Thin
HCA Score: 1.7
Price: $13,868

Diamond #3
1.70 ct
Excellent Cut, Polish, Symmetry
Color: G
Clarity: VS1
Girdle: Medium
HCA Score: 1.6
Price: $15,720

Thanks for taking the time to help me out. This will be the biggest purchase of my life and I want to get it right

 

[dino79]

Diamond #2

 

[dino79]

Diamond #3

 

[stone-cold11]

#2 is my choice but I would like to see an Idealscope/ASET image of the stone to see if there is any leakage.

Does the vendor have those scopes? Maybe you should buy one for your hunt? Not that expensive.
Here is how to interpret the images.
http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=education-performance

And you can buy the scopes from here if the vendor do not have it.
http://www.ideal-scope.com/cart_order.asp

 

[dino79]

No idealscopes images are available, but I was thinking with the cut and symmetry rated as excellent and the strong HCA ratings of the stones, the chances of them having significant leakage would be very low.

Have people found stones with similar ratings to have significant leakage?

 

[dino79]

Also, with diamond #1, is the location of the feather something to be concerned about?

It''s not considered too close to the girdle, is it?

 

[stone-cold11]

The problem is with GIA. The numbers for the angles are the average of 8 facets, and then round off to 0.2 degrees for the pavilion and 0.5 degrees for the crown. So a bad combination is possible even for good numbers to result in leakage.

The feather location is fine and no worry as it is graded VS2. For it to be a problem it will not be VS level, at least a SI level.

EDT:
I guess I should have asked before hand. Is this from a brick store or online vendor? If brick store, then you have seen the stone?

 

[dino79]

Thanks for all the help, Stone-cold, I really appreciate it.

I'm not able to view them in person.
These are all from an online vendor, blue nile.

 

[stone-cold11]

OIC. Have you check JA? They have pics and can produce IS on demand and their price are most of the time better than BN.

 

[dino79]

Thanks! I''ll be checking them in the next few minutes.

Also, regarding grading practices, do you find that AGSL is more accurate than GIA?

 

[stone-cold11]

At least the numbers are only rounded off to 0.1degrees for both the crown and pavilion angles.

One suggestion. Should meet all you specs. The pic seems off. Get an IS image if you are interested.
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1227429.asp

 

[Lorelei]

The first diamond could be worth considering, no way with the others if from BN without Idealscope images as too risky for leakage. Definitely want an IS for the diamond SC posted above, would be interested to see if what I am noticing in the photo shows up on IS.