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Help me buy a diamond! please? :)

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tracy47

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 19, 2012
Messages
8
Hi ladies and gents!

Bf is about to splurge on a 1.70 carat, E, VVS1, Ideal cut, excellent symmetry, excellent polish, no flourescence.... from an online vendor, so I am trying to do as much research as I can since he is spending a lot for it. I tried the Holloway program here on pricescope and plugged in the crown and pavillion angles, and score came out to be 2.7. Does it mean this is not so good of a cut, even though GIA says it's "excellent"?

I suppose he can just get the diamond and get it appraised and get some professional opinions. Any insights and suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :praise:
 
GIA Excellent is very broad.

Here are some bad and worse GIA Excellent stones:

Who needs the HCA, images of the diamonds, and idealscopes! All I need is a GIA Excellent cut, and nothing else: http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/E-VS1-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1491758.asp ... http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-SI1-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1384909.asp ... http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-SI2-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1414633.asp ... http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/E-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1407485.asp ... http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-VS1-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1334538.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/D-IF-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1429061.asp It's a D IF GIA Ex! IT MUST BE GORGEOUS. http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/D-IF-Excellent-Cut-Round-Diamond-1451142.asp

You need idealscope image, and a vendor that can provide it (or an appraiser that can). And I would stick to under 2 if you are buying with an idealscope image.

That was the first thing.

Second-- WOW are you wasting a TON of money on stuff you can't see! WHY on earth are you buying an E VVS! I promise you-- you can get a GIA G VS2 at 2 carats and ALL you will notice is how big, white and sparkly it is-- and you will pay LESS for it than you would for that E VVS. And on your hand all you will see is WHITE WHITE LIGHT if you listen to us and understand WHY GIA

Your selection shows a very basic amount of research on the 4 C's of diamond shopping. BUT also shows that you've walked away with just enough to make a VERY expensive mistake.
 
Agree w/ Gypsy - E VVS does not equal beautiful. It just equals expensive. CUT QUALITY is what determines light performance. Go down a bit in color and clarity and up in cut grade and you'll have a bigger, better looking diamond for the same (or less!) $.
 
how much better can you do with an excellent ideal cut? There is a diamond with the same specs, IF, E, and signature ideal for $6000 more. I guess we will look at those. Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm just seeking for perfection, I guess. Even though you can't tell the difference with the naked eye. One diamond and won't ever have to upgrade, ever.
 
tracy47|1348101590|3271313 said:
how much better can you do with an excellent ideal cut? There is a diamond with the same specs, IF, E, and signature ideal for $6000 more. I guess we will look at those. Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm just seeking for perfection, I guess. Even though you can't tell the difference with the naked eye. One diamond and won't ever have to upgrade, ever.
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No, we would not recommend E IF for $6000 more! I don't think you could tell the difference between E VVS and F VS1, though. I absolutely would at LEAST go down to VVS2! You'd have to have a microscope to see the inclusions!

I'd like the numbers of the stone you are looking at. Can you post a magnified picture of the stone at least?
 
I don't have a picture of the stone.

The numbers are as follow: Depth 62.5%, table 57%, CA: 35.5, PA: 40.8, scored a 2.6 on HCA.

For a 1.71C, VVS1, E, triple ex GIA report, and above dimensions, what's a good price? Thanks one and thanks all. :)
 
tracy47|1348152253|3271597 said:
I don't have a picture of the stone.

The numbers are as follow: Depth 62.5%, table 57%, CA: 35.5, PA: 40.8, scored a 2.6 on HCA.

For a 1.71C, VVS1, E, triple ex GIA report, and above dimensions, what's a good price? Thanks one and thanks all. :)
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What is the diameter? It is a little deep and you don't want a stone that faces up smaller than it should.
 
These are the closest comps I can come up with but they are F color. However, I would rather have them over the stone you listed because we know they are ideal cut and we can see magnified images of the stones as well as idealscope images.

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-VVS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1493054.asp?b=16&a=12&c=77&cid=131

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-VVS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1279571.asp?b=16&a=12&c=77&cid=131

As you can see, you'd be paying $10k more to get VVS1 over VVS2. That honestly blows my mind!
 
You don't seem convinced yet that the beauty of a diamond is in it's cut NOT so much in it's color and clarity grading. Thats a sales ploy that maul stores use to sell diamond to uneducated people. Most people understand color, most people understand clarity, but very few understand about a diamonds cut, and that includes many of the people that are selling them. If you want a diamond that 'wows' people, that people will notice from across the room, catch glimpses of from across the restaurant, then you want a well cut stone. And as has already been explained, not all GIA EX are created equal. No one will know that you diamond is a D IF from across a crowded room but they will know that its a beauty if it's cut well.

I have no problem with you wanting a D or E IF VVS, but I think it's a shame to do it at the expense of cut. And you could get a much much larger stone if you went down to a G VS, and once the stone was set you would never visually see the difference between it and a E IF. You said that you wanted to do it right the first time and don't want to ever upgrade, but I can tell you that when your standing next to someone with an ideal cut G VS and her diamond is bouncing light all over the place :sun: and you then look down at your D IF and see 'meh', then the first thought that will go through your head will be 'I wanna new diamond!!'. ;( I sincerely hope that you will do some more research and do it right the first time.
 
diamondseeker2006|1348153711|3271609 said:
These are the closest comps I can come up with but they are F color. However, I would rather have them over the stone you listed because we know they are ideal cut and we can see magnified images of the stones as well as idealscope images.

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-VVS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1493054.asp?b=16&a=12&c=77&cid=131

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-VVS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1279571.asp?b=16&a=12&c=77&cid=131

As you can see, you'd be paying $10k more to get VVS1 over VVS2. That honestly blows my mind!
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or you could purchase this G VS1 for thousands less. You can't even see the difference between the VVS1 and the VS1 in the magnified images, you would never ever see them IRL.

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1436462.asp

eta: or you could move into a 2ct stone and still not see the color clarity difference, but you would sure see the size!
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1493063.asp
 
You have it all wrong. Beauty has NOTHING to do with E over G. Or IF over VS1.
 
thanks everyone for your comments. I do not want to compromise the cut at all! I have my mind set on the color and clarity, and want to find a good cut. I don't want a bigger stone, 1.7 is the biggest size my little finger can handle.

What other criteria should I be looking for to ensure it is a good cut? There are a lot of diamonds on Blue Nile with the exact same specs but with different CA and PA, do you suggest that I run all the numbers through HCA to see which has the best score, and buy that one? Luckily, money isn't a big issue, I would gladly pay a little more for the best cut with color and clarity that I only know about. . Forgive me, I have mind issues! :tongue:
 
Are you stuck on Blue Nile? If I was concerned about getting the best diamond for my money then I would want to see images at the very least of the diamond I was purchasing, I would also want IS images and to be able to speak with someone that was actually looking at the diamond and be able to ask specific questions about it.
 
I am pretty set on bluenile, they offer the most selections that fit what I'm looking for. I plan on getting the diamond appraised when I get it to make sure it's of the quality they say. If there is any problem, I can always return it within 30 days per their policy.

Should I go for the signature ideal cuts on bluenile? From what I've read on here, it just means that those diamonds are their stock diamonds, not necessarily the best cuts.
 
tracy47|1348155343|3271637 said:
I am pretty set on bluenile, they offer the most selections that fit what I'm looking for. I plan on getting the diamond appraised when I get it to make sure it's of the quality they say. If there is any problem, I can always return it within 30 days per their policy.

Should I go for the signature ideal cuts on bluenile? From what I've read on here, it just means that those diamonds are their stock diamonds, not necessarily the best cuts.
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Um, I'm not sure, I was under the impression that the signature ideal line was considered by BN to be a better performing stone than their other selections. I believe that you are correct though that these stones are in house and not available to other vendors. I'll take a look and see if I can find that out for you though. Maybe Gypsy or DS know for sure...
 
This is from the BN site...

Every diamond in the Blue Nile Signature Collection is hand-selected and cut to the most exacting standards, guaranteeing a more brilliant diamond than any other Ideal cut.

So it appears that they consider their signature line to be a better quality than the stones in their 'ideal' category. I don't have any first hand experience with BN or their signature line so I can't comment on whether or not their signature line is superior to the rest of their inventory or not....
 
Tracy, I really have no problem with your wanting high color and clarity, because why not if you have the budget?! But I would simply not buy a stone of that price from a vendor that does not even provide pictures or idealscope images. There are better vendors and you can likely get a better stone. The F VVS stones I linked are AGS ideal cut and hearts and arrows...top cut quality. I would have to have that if I were buying any diamond, but especially an expensive high color/clarity diamond.

Here are two more that I would definitely rather have:

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2631631.htm

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2724962.htm

If you should ever possibly want a larger diamond, you'd be much better off buying from a vendor with a trade-in policy like Good Old Gold or WhiteFlash.

Christina, I'd have to look at each BN Sig stone to evaluate it individually. I don't think they are all guaranteed H&A.
 
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