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JustAnotherGuy

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 11, 2013
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Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster!

I am looking for a class D, flawless, triple excellent princess cut diamond around either .5cts or .75 cts. I have been looking for months and the closes I have come is out of my price range at 1.3 cts/$19,000. It is also bigger than I would like. If anyone could recommend anyone to help me find it, or a company, that would be great.

I know that you can get a good looking diamond that doesnt have to be D or flawless, but that is what I would like to give to my future wife, please dont try to talk me down to something else.

PS, there is actually a .51ct, D IF XXX and that is the closest I found, but I really am hoping to find a flawless diamond.

Thank you so much!

~JustAnotherGuy
 
JustAnotherGuy|1381546511|3536199 said:
Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster!

I am looking for a class D, flawless, triple excellent princess cut diamond around either .5cts or .75 cts. I have been looking for months and the closes I have come is out of my price range at 1.3 cts/$19,000. It is also bigger than I would like. If anyone could recommend anyone to help me find it, or a company, that would be great.

I know that you can get a good looking diamond that doesnt have to be D or flawless, but that is what I would like to give to my future wife, please dont try to talk me down to something else.

PS, there is actually a .51ct, D IF XXX and that is the closest I found, but I really am hoping to find a flawless diamond.

Thank you so much!

~JustAnotherGuy
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I really don't understand why you need to buy a tiny Internally flawless diamond versus a larger 100% eye clean one. If you want a D or an E colour, and your eye will NEVER be able to tell the difference between a D or an E if someone showed you a mixed try of both btw, I can understand wanting an ice white colour, but I don't get the clarity thing at all.... In fact the average person, the better than average person cannot tell the difference between a D,E and an F, G....

It's the cut that gives the stone most of it's fire. People mistakenly think they are getting a better cut or a stone with more fire because it is flawless and that is simply wrong. If its top fire and sparkle you are going for then you might be better with something like a Solasfera Princess cut. A top cut one of these has more facets, reflecting more light back and has more pin flash fire and sparkle than a standard stone. The fire they have also tends to hide colour, I would make a bet with you that your eye would NOT be able to tell the difference between the stone I have linked below and a standard cut D IF princess of the same size other than the one I have listed possibly is more sparkly;

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/11020/

This is also a pretty darn nice stone as well and once again I seriously doubt you will ever notice its not ice white;

http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity-new&id=112

If you want the best looking stone for what its worth I would take the best CUT stone any day of the week over one with internally flawless clarity. The two above are about as perfectly cut as you can find, will be 110% white looking and have near to flawless clarity.
 
She would prefer a smaller diamond, she is very simple in that regards. It may seem dumb to others, but if I go with what she wants, I would like to buy the best diamond I can. I have been saving for this for some time, and would prefer to buy her as close to a perfect diamond as I can get, even if it is not visible to the human eye.
 
Perfect begins with cut. So as long as you are sticking with stones of the cut quality just posted, I suppose D FL is okay if that is what you want. But I think IF is certainly more than adequate.
 
By narrowing your search parameters by so much, you're going to miss out on some great cut stones, possibly even missing that 'perfect cut' diamond just because it barely missed the D FL mark. They are priced high because they are the most rare, so it doesn't give you a lot of options, and that's before you consider the cut quality. I think it's worth mentioning that a perfect color isn't necessarily an icy white D color. Some people actually prefer a little warmth to their stone.

I can understand the attraction in having the most rare color and clarity specs, but only if the cut is as ideal as other diamonds with lower color/clarity.
 
JustAnotherGuy|1381550445|3536239 said:
She would prefer a smaller diamond, she is very simple in that regards. It may seem dumb to others, but if I go with what she wants, I would like to buy the best diamond I can. I have been saving for this for some time, and would prefer to buy her as close to a perfect diamond as I can get, even if it is not visible to the human eye.
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Wanting to buy your other half the best stone possible in your price range is what most people do. It's endearing and a sign you care about the other person. Has she been saying she specifically wants an Internally flawless diamond? If not then that is totally in your head and not hers. My husband's family own a shop and I see time and time again guys thinking that buying a flawless diamond is buying the best yet they ignore cut or look over a much better cut stone for some imaginary grail they do not find.

Generally women will 85% of the time always go for the bigger stone if presented with two different sized stones with Identical cuts. Princess cuts also face up small compared to Round Brilliant cuts so a .50 carat Princess will appear smaller than a .50 carat Round Brilliant that is a top cut.

What is her finger size? Unless her fingers are super tiny that isn't a big diamond at all for the price range you have quoted.

All women and men for that matter as well will pick a diamond based upon the most brilliant, the one that you can see like a beacon across a room on her hand. The one that you can't take your eyes off in the window. This has NOTHING to do with colour or clarity.

I swear to you that the two stones I listed will appear white, and should in theory be better cuts than most of what you will find in the size you are narrowing your search down to.

If she has specifically requested a flawless diamond then we will all find you one. If not then, I get where you are coming from I even get the sentiment that your relationship is flawless or she is flawless and so is the stone, but for me getting or giving a flawless cut ie the stone with the best possible optics will be nicer looking on the hand than one with lesser optics, costs a fortune that is a D or an E and a flawless clarity.
 
I asked her what her prefer sized was, giving her the options of a .5, .75 and 1ct diamond, and she said that I couldnt go wrong with a smaller diamond. She wasnt sure if she would like a big one, but she would love a smaller one no matter what.

Her ring size is a six.

I understand the most important quality is cut. On Bluenile there is actually a .8 D Flawless diamond, excellent polish and symmetry but the cut is very good, not excellent. I am not willing to trade the cut for anything.

I guess I can explain a little about why I want D and Flawless. We actually bought promise rings for each other, and she didnt want anything very expensive, so I spent under a $100 on the ring I gave her, but she bought me an extremely nice ring worth at least a few hundred. So i really want to get her the best diamond I can, and knowing she wants a smaller one, I want to get the best diamond I can.

One more question, should I look at a special cut diamond like hearts and arrows or a diamond with more facets? I do understand I can get a high quality diamond without having to go D or Flawless/IF.
 
There is only one grading lab that offer a cut grade for princess cut stones and that is AGS and AGS princess cuts are few and far between on the market. Some of the branded cuts are quite nice, they come at a premium and whether or not they are worth it is up to you. Solesfera is one that comes to mind. I completely understand your reasoning to get a D IF but what thing that you should keep in mind is that a D IF isnt better than an E VS1, it is just rarer. It is completely true that you will never see the difference between the two stones without 10x or probably 20-40x magnification. The only reason I mention this is that limiting the color and clarity grades will rule out many outstanding cuts which in my eyes and many others here is more accurate in defining a better diamond.
 
JustAnotherGuy|1381565636|3536281 said:
I guess I can explain a little about why I want D and Flawless. We actually bought promise rings for each other, and she didnt want anything very expensive, so I spent under a $100 on the ring I gave her, but she bought me an extremely nice ring worth at least a few hundred. So i really want to get her the best diamond I can, and knowing she wants a smaller one, I want to get the best diamond I can.
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Sorry if this sounds inappropriate. Your story with the promise rings above seems to indicate she doesnt want you to spend much money on the ring so she said she wants an inexpensive one, while buying you a much more expensive ring. It seems to me she might be saying that she wants a smaller diamond because for some reasons she doesnt want you to spend much money on the ring. She might have thought that the 1 carat is more expensive than the 0.5 carat. I think that it would be best to present to her that you will definitely spend X amount of money on the ring. However, with that same amount of money, based on different combo of the 4C s, you could get her the sizes of 0.5, 0.7 and 1carat and the diamonds all look equally sparkly and beautiful. Give her some times to think about it (and indicates subtly that you think the 1 carat will look beautiful on her finger, so that if she chooses the big one she wont feel embarrassed). If she still insisted on the smaller one then by all means get her the best colour, cut and clarity combo you can afford.
 
JustAnotherGuy|1381565636|3536281 said:
I asked her what her prefer sized was, giving her the options of a .5, .75 and 1ct diamond, and she said that I couldnt go wrong with a smaller diamond. She wasnt sure if she would like a big one, but she would love a smaller one no matter what.

Her ring size is a six.

I understand the most important quality is cut. On Bluenile there is actually a .8 D Flawless diamond, excellent polish and symmetry but the cut is very good, not excellent. I am not willing to trade the cut for anything.

I guess I can explain a little about why I want D and Flawless. We actually bought promise rings for each other, and she didnt want anything very expensive, so I spent under a $100 on the ring I gave her, but she bought me an extremely nice ring worth at least a few hundred. So i really want to get her the best diamond I can, and knowing she wants a smaller one, I want to get the best diamond I can.

One more question, should I look at a special cut diamond like hearts and arrows or a diamond with more facets? I do understand I can get a high quality diamond without having to go D or Flawless/IF.
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I am going to read between the lines and take in what you have said and assume she isn't a person that likes ostentatious things, she also sounds like a sweet girl and doesn't want you to spend a bucket of money on her and that is why she is saying go for a smaller stone. She isn't sure if she would like a bigger one because she has never tried one. Anything you give her she will love, she sounds like that type of person which is a wonderful positive one!!!! A size 6 is a medium (not large and not small) sized finger. If she had a size 4 finger with your budget and a .50 carat I would say knock yourself out, but a .50 princess is not going to look big on a size 6 finger, a .75 princess is also not going to look big on a size 6 finger and neither will a 1.00 carat princess. A 1.00 carat princess will face up on the finger smaller than a 1.00 carat round. I am only pointing this out to you because again reading between the lines you have a relatively great budget.

I have never seen anyone take back a 1.00 carat stone because its too big. Not ever. She might find it big to begin with but she will over time get used to it. You obviously know her better than me, so if it is small you are after compromise. Go for something in the .60 to .85 even up to .95 range that is a perfect or near perfect clarity a perfect cut and a colour of say D, E, F or G, don't limit yourself. She will never be bothered by a stone in an F or a G and you are more likely to find what you want in that colour range. A top cut will face white you won't see any colour at all. A bit bigger stone on the hand is going to be more impressive to everyone else that looks at it than one with a perfect colour and clarity. We are all trying to reiterate to you that no-one will ever notice the colour and clarity. Everyone that looks at her hand automatically notices size. It's just something we humans do.

Good Old Gold and a couple of other places like James Allen, Whiteflash and Engagement Rings Direct frequently sell better cut stones than Blue Nile. Good Old Gold sells some really interesting top of the line cuts like the Solasfera and like the Hearts and Arrows Jubilee branded stones. I am not sure if you are near Good Old Gold but if you are I would encourage you to go and look at some to see if you like them or not. They also have videos on Youtube of most of their cuts for you to look at as well.

You can get a better cut stone or a more sparkly stone buy buying something like Crafted by Infinity Princess from Wink, and from buying a custom cut from Good Old Gold. They are not better or worse than each other. The Crafted by Infinity stones for example cut by Paul Slegers don't have more facets, they are a standard Princess, he just cuts each one specifically to optimise light return, so the fire and sparkle the customer ultimately sees. Good Old Gold has its own cutters as well, they can also probably get you a top cut standard Princess as well. Will these stones appear nicer or better looking than the Blue Nile Internally Flawless stone that is a worse cut? Yes indeed they probably will.

The branded cuts like a H & A Jubilee don't look like a princess exactly they have cut off corners not pointy ones and they have hearts and arrows in them like a round diamond. Do they reflect more light than a normal princess? Depends on how well the princess is cut. These stones reflect light differently. Watch the Youtube videos to see if they appeal to you.

The Solasferas are different again. They are a standard Princess shape but have more facets. This gives them more pin fire flash and sparkle, so its like a little disco ball of light on the hand. People either love them or hate them. Again go to youtube and have a look. The have an insane amount of fire but lots of people prefer the standard look of a Princess over them. It's personal taste.

Whiteflash also sell a range of Cut Above Princesses which are specifically cut for better light performance as well. Will they be better looking than your Blue Nile stone? You would have to get ASET images but possibly yes. Here is a link to one I found with a top cut, you can have a look at other sizes and colours in their cut above range from this link;

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut-loose-diamond-3004603.htm

What you need to do is say my budget for the stone is x or y, and I am looking for a IF, or a VVS1 in a range between say .60 to 1.00 and it would be great in a D,E but you would be O.K with a F, or a G and let the wizards on here find a number of stones for you, if you like any of them put them on hold because lurkers read these threads and buy stones out from under the intended reader. Try and get ASET images and pics of the stones put up a couple of them for comparison sake on here and everyone will point you towards the best stone.

Also tell everyone what sort of budget you have for the setting and what you want for a setting, metal type, platinum, white gold, yellow gold, rose/pink gold or post a picture of something you like and again the wizards here will point you in the direction of the best vendors to find what you are looking for within your budget.
 
Yes she is wonderful and doesnt want me to go broke paying for the ring, but I told her that I was spending the same amount of money going higher quality or bigger stone.

arkieb1 That is a lot of info, thank you so much! I am looking at those different places, I am looking at whiteflash. Infinity Princess seems awesome but they only have two very large stones in princess cut. Should I email Wink?

The ring is custom, I have already designed that, and it is 2K for that, and I was planning on spending between 4K-6K for a diamond. The half caret was under that, which was fine, but I did want to go bigger.

I do want colorless for the diamond so D E or F, and clarity between Flawless-VVS2, Ideal or superideal cut is a must, between .7-1.1 ish cts.

Thanks for all the responses, I wasnt sure if anyone would really respond. I thought I was pretty educated about this, but I love to learn as much as I can. Thanks again everyone!!
 
JustAnotherGuy|1381584501|3536334 said:
Yes she is wonderful and doesnt want me to go broke paying for the ring, but I told her that I was spending the same amount of money going higher quality or bigger stone.

arkieb1 That is a lot of info, thank you so much! I am looking at those different places, I am looking at whiteflash. Infinity Princess seems awesome but they only have two very large stones in princess cut. Should I email Wink?

The ring is custom, I have already designed that, and it is 2K for that, and I was planning on spending between 4K-6K for a diamond. The half caret was under that, which was fine, but I did want to go bigger.

I do want colorless for the diamond so D E or F, and clarity between Flawless-VVS2, Ideal or superideal cut is a must, between .7-1.1 ish cts.

Thanks for all the responses, I wasnt sure if anyone would really respond. I thought I was pretty educated about this, but I love to learn as much as I can. Thanks again everyone!!
Click to expand...

I would email everyone and ask what they have. Some of them will charge you to get something in, but you can always ask what they have already in their inventories based upon the criteria you have outlined above, that should be free. Now we know exactly what your budget is and what you are after I did a search on James Allen as well these came up as potential stones that fit your search criteria. Email them and ask them to pick out the best 3 if they have, there are absolute stone gurus on here that will tell you which ones to go for if you pick a few you like. The good thing about the Whiteflash stones is you can ask for ASET images. The good thing about Good Old Gold is they will help you pick out a few stones and if you ask make a video to help you pick the one your eye prefers.

Here are some James Allen options; (sorry its a big long link to cut and paste, it should take you there if you click on it, but I narrowed down the search based upon your criteria);

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/?CaratFrom=0.70&CaratTo=1.07&Color=E,D,F&Clarity=IF,VVS1,VVS2&Cut=Ideal,Excellent&PriceFrom=400&PriceTo=999000&Sort=Carat%20asc,%20DefaultOrder&advancedParameter=Symmetry&showAdvanced=show&Polish=EX,ID&Symmetry=EX,ID&Lab=&Flour=&DepthFrom=45.0&DepthTo=80.0&TableFrom=50.0&TableTo=83.0
 
Hello ArkieB1.. when my husband and I were buying a diamond for me 25 years ago they DID push flawless, VVS1.. IF.. but we had a friend who said that VS2 was fine so we went with that.. It is nice that today young people can get MORE for their money.. I never knew anything about cut till I stumbled upon pricescope.. true I wasn't buying a new stone, but we/I bought plenty of sparkle for me over the years... I wish I had known more but such is life, I do now! =)
 
Tekate|1381586801|3536347 said:
Hello ArkieB1.. when my husband and I were buying a diamond for me 25 years ago they DID push flawless, VVS1.. IF.. but we had a friend who said that VS2 was fine so we went with that.. It is nice that today young people can get MORE for their money.. I never knew anything about cut till I stumbled upon pricescope.. true I wasn't buying a new stone, but we/I bought plenty of sparkle for me over the years... I wish I had known more but such is life, I do now! =)
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Some people have a misguided idea that IF or VVS1 = a better stone. The best clarity in the world won't make up for a bad cut. The cut is one of the most important factors in making a stone appealing to the eye. The best cuts are usually the best diamonds provided they are totally eye clean and if you like white stones a decent colour. If you can afford or totally want nothing other than an IF stone then that is fine, but on a budget I think its a waste of money. If it has sentimental meaning then that is fine as well...
 
JustAnotherGuy|1381584501|3536334 said:
Yes she is wonderful and doesnt want me to go broke paying for the ring, but I told her that I was spending the same amount of money going higher quality or bigger stone.
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Going larger doesn't mean sacrificing quality. You could easily get a much larger stone (which she will probably want later on anyway) that is extremely good quality in F and VS ranges. It will look EXACTLY THE SAME AS A D/FL -- better if the cut is superb. I think you are confusing quality with rarity. I agree with the other posters... a 1ct stone will NOT look large on a size 6 finger. It wouldn't look large on a size 4 finger... You girlfriend seems very sweet and will most likely be happy with anything you get her, but unless she plans on displaying "My ring is D and FL" then all anyone will notice is the size. Wouldn't you rather get her the largest diamond in your price range, while still being icy white and totally clean?


JustAnotherGuy|1381584501|3536334 said:
The ring is custom, I have already designed that, and it is 2K for that, and I was planning on spending between 4K-6K for a diamond. The half caret was under that, which was fine, but I did want to go bigger.
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I'm a little confused, because in your first post, you stated that your budget was $19K?? :confused: ...that's a really big difference. :| So, is it $4K or $19K? I highly doubt you'll be able to find a D/FL or D/IF anything for $4K...

JustAnotherGuy|1381584501|3536334 said:
I do want colorless for the diamond so D E or F, and clarity between Flawless-VVS2, Ideal or superideal cut is a must, between .7-1.1 ish cts.
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Either of these stones would be icy white, clean, and amazing!
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut-loose-diamond-2968192.htm
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/11305/
 
I was saying I found a diamond that was close, but was out of my budget because the stone cost 19K. My budget is 4K-6K for the diamond.
I may be confusing rarity and quality to a degree, but a D IF is a higher quality diamond than an F VVS2. Visually they may be the same, but the quality is going down. I'm not trying to argue, just explaining how I see it.

Im not sure about the setting, the only thing I do know is that it is a kite setting. (https://www.pricescope.com/files/images/tulipsetting.jpg)


Right now, I am taking in all the options and looking at 1ct diamonds mostly, and I am hoping to go with a cut that gives the most brilliance, my top options seem to be WhiteFlash A CUT ABOVE and Crafted by Infinity Princess. The cut is the most important, and if I can get that additional brilliance, I do see the value of going with and E or F diamond that is VVS 1 or 2. I dont really want to drop under that.

Again, thank you all so much, I feel a little foolish thinking I knew so much, there is such a great community here and I am glad that people are willing to take some time to help me out, I cant thank you all enough
 
JustAnotherGuy|1381612261|3536536 said:
I was saying I found a diamond that was close, but was out of my budget because the stone cost 19K. My budget is 4K-6K for the diamond.
I may be confusing rarity and quality to a degree, but a D IF is a higher quality diamond than an F VVS2. Visually they may be the same, but the quality is going down. I'm not trying to argue, just explaining how I see it.

Im not sure about the setting, the only thing I do know is that it is a kite setting. (https://www.pricescope.com/files/images/tulipsetting.jpg)

Right now, I am taking in all the options and looking at 1ct diamonds mostly, and I am hoping to go with a cut that gives the most brilliance, my top options seem to be WhiteFlash A CUT ABOVE and Crafted by Infinity Princess. The cut is the most important, and if I can get that additional brilliance, I do see the value of going with and E or F diamond that is VVS 1 or 2. I dont really want to drop under that.

Again, thank you all so much, I feel a little foolish thinking I knew so much, there is such a great community here and I am glad that people are willing to take some time to help me out, I cant thank you all enough
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Oh, I didn't mean to sound argumentative, so apologies if that's how I came across to you!! :)) I looked, but wasn't surprised when I didn't find any stones that were 0.50 or larger in the D/FL that would fit your budget.

You can't go wrong with the ACA stones, so that's a great decision! Unless that is the setting she specifically asked for, I would not recommend it. It's one of those type settings that people either "love it or hate it." I would also recommend you go with round stones though, since they will sparkle more and face up larger than princess cuts of the same weight. However, if that's the setting for sure, then princess it is! I know you said you don't want to go below VVS2, but if you would at least consider VS, it would open up a lot more options for you.

That said... if you are adamant on VVS, I liked this stone a lot.
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut-loose-diamond-2957774.htm
 
No worries, you didnt. I wasnt sure if I was coming across that way. Yes she specifically asked for that setting, I was initially planning on going with a round, but thats one area she was very specific. I did see that diamond on whiteflash, I am considering it. I am reading up on whiteflash and they seem like a great company to work with!
 
JustAnotherGuy|1381618229|3536562 said:
No worries, you didnt. I wasnt sure if I was coming across that way. Yes she specifically asked for that setting, I was initially planning on going with a round, but thats one area she was very specific. I did see that diamond on whiteflash, I am considering it. I am reading up on whiteflash and they seem like a great company to work with!
Click to expand...

If you mention to them you are a Pricescope member Whiteflash will give you a small discount.
 
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