Help me choose a diamond please

[Korindian]

Finally found a setting the lady likes:
https://www.brilliance.com/engagement-rings/taper-solitaire-ring-white-gold

Looking to get a diamond from that site (brilliance.com).
Budget is 5k, looking for a round diamond between 1-2ct, or any that you guys recommend. Pretty open to it, but of course trying to go as big as possible and have it still look nice. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

 

[TreeScientist]

So, your budget is 5K total (including setting)?
This one looks promising:

https://www.brilliance.com/loose-di...-make-si1-clarity-gia-certified-SKU-D12398783

The one annoying thing about this site is you can't view any of their diamonds in real time. Need to request images/videos for each diamond as well as GIA reports. May be worth requesting these from the site and then checking back here to see what people think. Hard to tell without the report and video.

 

[TreeScientist]

Another option here if you're willing to look at other sites as well (the setting you chose is very common and just about every online retailer will have something similar to that). James Allen and Blue Nile are much nicer because they have videos for their stones.

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...i-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-3265044

Your budget is going to be pretty limited at 5K if you want to reach the 1 carat mark. Dip just below it, however, and you'll have many more options to maximize the other 3 C's. All depends on what you want. Hitting the 1 carat mark or have higher clarity and color grades.

 

[rockysalamander]

Its near impossible to find anything worthwhile on Brilliance as they don't show the certs.

Repeating what I said on your other thread...
This is in budget and the largest I can find. Its J color with great angles. I'd put this on hold ASAP while we look for additional options.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...j-color-si2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-4168723

The color looks off, but its really just the video. Though I do think it is more of a brown than yellow body color, which I actually prefer. You'll need to ask for an IS, but hold off until we look for more choices.

Has your girl looked at GIA graded diamonds to determine her color sensitivity? You'll need to be looking at J color to get over 1 carat within budget.

 

[TreeScientist]

See below as an example. If you go down to around the 0.9 carat mark, you'll find many more suitable stones. Most people won't be able to tell the difference anyway, and a 0.9 carat with excellent specs will probably look much better than a 1 carat with average/sub-par specs.

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...g-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-4104755

 

[rockysalamander]

More options. J color
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...-color-vvs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-2274062 {bit of a wild card. Outside the recommended parameters, but it looks quite good in the video and I have some hope for this. Only consider if they can provide an IS and we don't have better options; if this pans out with a good IS, the VVS clarity means it is totally eyeclean. 6.45 mm}

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-j-color-si2-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-3377857 {if the J color will work, this is a good size, good IS. One blemish on the table which might or might not suit most. 6.37 mm}

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...i-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-4252875 {this raises color to I and retains good angles. Clarity is great and I don't see any worries with a very open gallery like you have selected. But, the wide table is not as desirable for fire as a smaller table. 6.27 mm)

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...g-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-4284017 {this is a nice stone with good angles. The clarity is based on clouds not shown, so a gemologist needs to take a dekko in person to be sure. 6.3 mm}

What may be worth considering is looking at a company with a more generous upgrade policy. With JA you have to double the cost of the new diamond, while Whiteflash and HighPerformanceDiamonds are super-ideal and you can upgrade as many times as you like for any more expensive in-house diamond (i.e., she gets to wear a super-ideal on par with Hearts-on-Fire, but you can upgrade size as you have funds....yes...this is totally normal). Also, due to the cut, super-ideals make it harder to see diamond body color from the top (just the same as non-super ideal from the side). So, to hold budget the same, you could get this lovely one for now. Then, upgrade in the future. This is what I would personally do.

https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2777290.htm {5.96 mm, I color}
https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD9372 {5.97 mm, F color!}

@TreeScientist recommendations, is a lovely high color, but I would not expect the angles to work out to avoid leakage. CA at 36.5 is quite high and woudl need PA much lower to balance it ~40.3 (which then has other issues). But, do keep looking @TreeScientist! Glad to see you are sticking around.

Give some feedback. Are you happy with J color? Do you want to decrease size to improve color? Any of these suit?

 

[TreeScientist]

More options. J color
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...-color-vvs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-2274062 {bit of a wild card. Outside the recommended parameters, but it looks quite good in the video and I have some hope for this. Only consider if they can provide an IS and we don't have better options; if this pans out with a good IS, the VVS clarity means it is totally eyeclean. 6.45 mm}

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-j-color-si2-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-3377857 {if the J color will work, this is a good size, good IS. One blemish on the table which might or might not suit most. 6.37 mm}

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...i-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-4252875 {this raises color to I and retains good angles. Clarity is great and I don't see any worries with a very open gallery like you have selected. But, the wide table is not as desirable for fire as a smaller table. 6.27 mm)

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...g-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-4284017 {this is a nice stone with good angles. The clarity is based on clouds not shown, so a gemologist needs to take a dekko in person to be sure. 6.3 mm}

What may be worth considering is looking at a company with a more generous upgrade policy. With JA you have to double the cost of the new diamond, while Whiteflash and HighPerformanceDiamonds are super-ideal and you can upgrade as many times as you like for any more expensive in-house diamond (i.e., she gets to wear a super-ideal on par with Hearts-on-Fire, but you can upgrade size as you have funds....yes...this is totally normal). Also, due to the cut, super-ideals make it harder to see diamond body color from the top (just the same as non-super ideal from the side). So, to hold budget the same, you could get this lovely one for now. Then, upgrade in the future. This is what I would personally do.

https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2777290.htm {5.96 mm, I color}
https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD9372 {5.97 mm, F color!}

@TreeScientist recommendations, is a lovely high color, but I would not expect the angles to work out to avoid leakage. CA at 36.5 is quite high and woudl need PA much lower to balance it ~40.3 (which then has other issues). But, do keep looking @TreeScientist! Glad to see you are sticking around.

Give some feedback. Are you happy with J color? Do you want to decrease size to improve color? Any of these suit?

Still learning.

What do you think about this one Rocky? A little over budget, but has nice proportions and good HCA score (if he wanted to go with a higher color). I think it's a good price.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...g-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-3885321

 

[rockysalamander]

Still learning.

What do you think about this one Rocky? A little over budget, but has nice proportions and good HCA score (if he wanted to go with a higher color). I think it's a good price.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...g-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-3885321

If the OP wants to go smaller, 6.17 mm, its a good choice. Since is sub-1 carat there is no clarity plot. It gets a VS2 with a feather and indented natural. So, I'd assume they are well off the table and pretty small. So, good choice!

 

[TreeScientist]

If the OP wants to go smaller, 6.17 mm, its a good choice. Since is sub-1 carat there is no clarity plot. It gets a VS2 with a feather and indented natural. So, I'd assume they are well off the table and pretty small. So, good choice!

OK, I'm getting better

Yes, I couldn't see the feather or indented natural even in the superzoom, so I assumed they were closer to the girdle. Also has fairly good arrow pattern (not perfect, but pretty good).

 

[Korindian]

Guys, thanks so much for the replies! Getting very excited now! Quick question, what do you think of a diamond with these specs?

 

[rockysalamander]

Angles and color are good.

Can you show the clarity plot and any notes? Basically, the lower part of the report. How much are they asking? Is the GIA report recent (2017/201 dated?

Based on the plot, notes and photos -- I probably reject 9 of 10 I look at even with good numbers

 

[Korindian]

Angles and color are good.

Can you show the clarity plot and any notes? Basically, the lower part of the report. How much are they asking? Is the GIA report recent (2017/201 dated?

Based on the plot, notes and photos -- I probably reject 9 of 10 I look at even with good numbers

They are asking $5900. Here is another screenshot I have they sent:

 

[Korindian]

Angles and color are good.

Can you show the clarity plot and any notes? Basically, the lower part of the report. How much are they asking? Is the GIA report recent (2017/201 dated?

Based on the plot, notes and photos -- I probably reject 9 of 10 I look at even with good numbers

Let me know what you think

 

[TreeScientist]

Looks good to me. That's a nice clarity plot for an SI1. I'd reserve it and ask to see them to pull the stone for you and get one of their gemologist's opinions on it.

 

[TreeScientist]

Keep in mind that a large feather reaching the girdle may (usually not, but sometimes) pose a durability issue. Get the opinion of the gemologist in this particular case.

 

[Korindian]

Looks good to me. That's a nice clarity plot for an SI1. I'd reserve it and ask to see them to pull the stone for you and get one of their gemologist's opinions on it.

Thank you