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honor_med

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
2
I will be proposing to my GF of 4 years soon, and need to buy the big ring in the next couple of weeks, but right now I'm a little overwhelmed. My budget is $11,000, and thanks to the great info on this site, I think I've narrowed it down to at least a round 1.5 ct, color H, S1 (eye-clean), HCA < 2.... but I have some questions getting started on my search.

How does one go about getting all the different Crown angles, etc so they can be compared using the HCA tool???

I need the ring shipped to TX, so since Whiteflash and BGD are both based in TX as well, I would end up paying sales tax. So leaning towards James Allen right now. Is there any way to avoid this??

I really want to go with the most "bang for my buck", but I want to make sure I'm getting her the most fiery ring at the largest size in my budget. Could some one help me find some examples of rocks that really sparkle within my budget??


Thanks so much... I'm so excited for the big day.... she's gonna go nuts.
 
The angles are on the GIA/AGL/EGL (not recommended) reports.

James Allen is usually a little bit cheaper than the other vendors you mentioned, so it sounds a double win to me.
 
Only comment about JA is that they do tend to have the lowest prices now, but they do NOT have a lifetime upgrade policy. If you ever plan on upgrading (or think she might want an upgrade, I know early to think about this, but better do it now), then you'd be better off going with a merchant with a lifetime upgrade policy (so you can get your current purchase price applied to the upgrade).

If you use the PS search feature, it gives you the table % and depth % -- you can eyeball these and decide whether it's worth it to click-click-click to the cert image to get the angles for the HCA score. Alternatively, you can click the AGS0 box and "in-house" in the search -- this will give you diamonds that will probably have HCA < 2, and in-house means that the merchant can send you photos and ASETs and IdealScopes.

Did you decide if you wanted H&A for the RB? Or a 60-60? Or another type of optical symmetry?
 
Honor_med,
If you want to use Whiteflash or BGD, I believe you can avoid sales tax if you have the ring shipped to a relative out of state. When we were originally looking at a vendor here in Atlanta (where we live), we were told this was the way to avoid sales tax. As long as you ship to an out-of-state location where the vendor does not do business, you're good to go. I'd definitely ask.
 
Stone-cold11 said:
Nope, JA has life time upgrade policy. http://www.jamesallen.com/about-us/upgrade-policies.html
Click to expand...

<gnashes teeth> When I was looking for a loose stone, I totally did not see this link this summer -- but now that I read it, it looks like the new diamond would have to be 200% of the value of the original diamond to trade it in. In OP's case, that would be $22k. Even in 10 years, that would be one heck of a rock!
 
Unfortunately, I don't have relatives that live out of state, so I will probably have to go with one of the vendors who do their business outside of Texas.

I really hadn't considered symmetry yet, other than that I don't really want to pay for a name if it doesn't really impact the sparkles. My GF really likes sparkles... so I want to make sure I'm putting my money to where it really counts. So does an H&A stone provide more fire to the stone?? I'm not familiar with the 6o/60 proportion you refer to....

Stone-Cold - so light leakage I take it is a bad thing?? What exactly did you see on the ASET image that gave you that impression??
 
honor_med said:
Unfortunately, I don't have relatives that live out of state, so I will probably have to go with one of the vendors who do their business outside of Texas.

I really hadn't considered symmetry yet, other than that I don't really want to pay for a name if it doesn't really impact the sparkles. My GF really likes sparkles... so I want to make sure I'm putting my money to where it really counts. So does an H&A stone provide more fire to the stone?? I'm not familiar with the 6o/60 proportion you refer to....

Stone-Cold - so light leakage I take it is a bad thing?? What exactly did you see on the ASET image that gave you that impression??
Click to expand...
60/60 means a stone having a 60% table and 60% depth, angles must still work together.

Light return is one of the things that gives you sparkles, in general, no light return, no sparkle. Look at the Idealscope image, there is a ring of area under the table that is not as red as the rest of the stone such as under the main crown facets, not white as total leakage, probably not noticeable when viewed with stereo vision.
 
Anne :) said:
I believe you can avoid sales tax if you have the ring shipped to a relative out of state. When we were originally looking at a vendor here in Atlanta (where we live), we were told this was the way to avoid sales tax.
Click to expand...
While this is do-able (and works on the same principle as Amazon.com purchases for non-New-Yorkers... I think you're supposed to claim the purchases on your state taxes each year. At least in California, there's a tax line item for purchases made from out of state that were not taxed. I wonder if it would look fishy trying to insure a new valuable while not claiming the purchase.
 
Anne :) said:
Honor_med,
If you want to use Whiteflash or BGD, I believe you can avoid sales tax if you have the ring shipped to a relative out of state. When we were originally looking at a vendor here in Atlanta (where we live), we were told this was the way to avoid sales tax. As long as you ship to an out-of-state location where the vendor does not do business, you're good to go. I'd definitely ask.
Click to expand...

Your vendor shouldn't have told you this - it's illegal, whether or not you get caught
https://www.pricescope.com/journal/internet_and_sales_tax_free_ride_or_not




honor_med, if you're looking for firey modern RBs (lots of colour as opposed to bright white twinkles) try stones with higher crowns and shallower pavilions (called "FICs" on this site) - or OECs (GOG's AVRs are optimized for light return, though as branded stones they'll carry a premium)
 
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