Help deciding, please? :D

[nicoleanne]

Hello! I have been a lurker here for many, many months, and am excited to be in the midst of a diamond decision (on behalf of my to-be fiance). I''ve learned quite a bit from reading the forums, but am still learning and have some questions...

After spending a while looking at other vendors I contacted Brian Gavin & Lesley for info on a few diamonds in their inventory--we are on a budget and they seemed to have more available in the just-under-.5 range. These are the two I''m between:

1) 0.488 H VS1
5.05-5.07 x 3.12
Crown Angle 34.3
Pavilion Angle 40.9
Depth 61.7%
Table 56.1%
Girdle: Thin to Medium
Negligible fluorescence


2) 0.466 I VS1 $978
4.97-4.99 x 3.06
Crown Angle 34.3
Pavilion Angle 40.8
Depth 61.5%
Table 56.3%
Girdle: Thin to Medium
Negligible fluorescence


I''m wondering:

1. These two being fairly close, from what I can tell, what would you pick? There is a $100 difference between the two. Is the bump up in color and slight bump in size worth it?

2. There are discrepancies between the numbers on the Sarin reports and the AGS numbers. The above are the AGS. I realize that at this point, with BGD, I don''t really need the HCA, but plugging in the AGS vs. Sarin brought up some (negligible/considerable?) differences in the scores. For the .488, the Sarin numbers gave a 2.6 on the HCA (VG-VG-VG-VG) and 1.4 (EX-EX-VG-VG) with AGS. Which numbers should I be looking at?


ASET of #1

 

[nicoleanne]

ASET of #2

 

[JulieN]

The accuracy of the numbers is irrelevant when you have the ASET picture.

 

[Hest88]

I don''t think the bump in size is worth it, but only you can tell if you''d notice the I color over the H. I think they''re both beautiful choices.

 

[tonyc2387]

I''d be willing to bet that if both these diamonds were set on a table in front of me, and I had no knowledge of which was which, it would take me around five to ten minutes to tell which is which without a loupe. And that''s a long, long time to compare two things.

If they''re BGD ideal, they''ll look awesome. Pick whichever your heart, or your budget, tells you to go with... neither will be wrong!

 

[stone-cold11]

HCA is a rejection tool not a selection tool. Anyway the ASET images trumps HCA score and both look good. At that size you will not notice the difference in color and clarity, I would drop the clarity probably to SI1 if I want a bigger stone

 

[FB.]

Agreed.
VS1 is unnecessarily high clarity.
VS2 is almost always eye clean. SI1 is often eye clean. SI2 is sometimes eye clean.

Lowering the clarity slightly should allow you to find a 0.5-0.6ct stone, or a higher colour grade, or a combination of both.

 

[Lorelei]

Both are lovely diamonds, unless you prefer a higher clarity grade you could definitely lower the clarity if you wished, but this is a personal choice.