help me decide!

[essaince]

HELP!!! I got engaged in January and have been looking for a ring since. and it''s driving me NUTS to say the least. I''ll start by explaining my situation...my fiance and i are both pretty young (early 20s) and are on a tight budget. I only recently started researching about diamonds and oh my gosh i wasn''t prepared for this much info. There are two primary jewelers that I am "working" with. More specifically, they are looking for a loose stone that will fit in our budget ($1400) the setting is going to be a plain 6 prong tiffany style band. I will express the two jewelers as "A" and "B"- A is a person that i have been buying jewelry from for all occasions (like mother''s day and my best friend''s birthday) and i guess i trust her (but i do know she is out to make money). B is a jeweler that as I was out with my fiance looking for a ring, we ran in to and my fiance ordered his wedding band from her (she was the only one who had that style)... she showed us a few diamonds for me to "choose" two that were of particular interest to me were:

0.54 E, VS1
round brilliant
EGL cert
$1800

0.51 D, SI1
round brilliant
GIA cert
$1400

I didn''t see any where on the cert any indication of CUT, which i now know is important. and i can''t run the measurements through the form we have here because i couldn''t find the angles of anything! where is this information? and why is the GIA report so important? the jeweler B kept telling me "that''s a good one" and she seemed less enthusiastic about the other EGL one, is this just a sales tactic or is she genuine? ( i do NOT trust these people, as you can tell

!!!) by the way, i checked out the GIA one, and the inclusions are very small and were difficult for me to fine... but they both seemed shiny and bright to me...i guess ignorance IS bliss

Please advise!! oh yes, I talked to jeweler A about this, and she has told me that the GIA is a good price? but i have found some online that are better quality at approximately the same price (like $50 difference)... HELP!!!

this purchase has to go through by the end of this month...i also need help with the band... i saw the band of my dreams at jeweler B but when i went back to order it, it was GONE and the new one she got that "looks" like it doesn''t even compare!

 

[E B]

Hi Essiance, welcome to Pricescope!

With no numbers relating to cut, we can't really give opinions as to which stone is the best. I'd feel more comfortable with the GIA cert, but that's about all I can say. If you go back in to look at them, ask for the certs..get the numbers and compare them to an "ideal cut" chart. GOG has one on their website.

The two stones, both colorless...is this a must for you? If you go down a bit in color, you could go up a bit in size (or down quite a bit in price). I have an "I" that's just as white as can be and several members have "Js" that they adore...a couple even have white Ks!

Here are a couple online stones worth looking at, if you and your fiance are indeed comfortable with buying online (we did!)

.534 H, SI1 $1322 with PS discount

.541 H, SI1 $1403 with PS discount (ask if it's eye-clean!)

H, SI1 seems to be the popular "hot-spot" around here....the best of both worlds (color and clarity) in terms of not over-spending for something you can't see.

Congratulations, and good luck!

 

[CdnBlingGal]

Hi essaince! Welcome to PS!

GIA/AGS are the better lab reports to go with as their grading is more strict than EGL. EGL's grading is a little more lenient, they're grading can be off. I agree with EBree about going down in color. If you get an ideal cut stone, you can even go down as low as H/I/J as these can face up white. More bang for your buck. You can even go down to an SI2 if it's eyeclean (most PS vendors can and will tell you whether the diamond in question is eye clean or not)
Also if you get an ideal cut .50ct, it will look larger than a poor cut .50ct.

EBree linked a couple of very nice diamonds. Good Job EBree

If you are open to buying online, I would totally recommend some of the PS vendors like Whiteflash or GOG.

Hope you find the diamond of your dreams. Congrats and Good luck!

 

[strmrdr]

If you dont want to buy online I recomend getting an ideal-scope and the ideal-light.
It will allow you to quickly judge the cut of the diamond.
https://products.gemappraisers.com/pc-20-1-light-and-scope-set.aspx

 

[essaince]

thank you, i will take a look at those... i am skeptical about buying online...is it really secure? and how do you know what you get is what you paid for? BY THE WAY! i am freaked out about that regarding the two rocks i''ve looked at... i mean, how do you know it matches the cert??!?! oh, and can someone please tell me how to tell the angles, and cut quality? apparently the smaller stones don''t have a comprehensive GIA report like the ones over 1.0?? the cert is like a little folded to go menu!! thanks for everybody''s help!!!!!