Help me find birthday studs

[NewShiny]

Hi - long time lurker back to hunt for some diamond studs to celebrate a big birthday next month. I'm looking for 1.2-1.5 CTW studs, I/J color, SI1 or lower (eye clean of course) and have been reaching out to PS vendors. One says they can provide uncerted 1.4 CTW studs for $3500, another wants to provide GIA certed stones of the same size for $4-5K. Budget is about 4-5K and I want the largest stones I can find with excellent cut quality. I don't mind having uncerted stones, but I feel like I should get some sort of cut information for any purchase this large. Anyone have any recommendations? I feel like I've searched the whole internet and I don't know who to make this purchase with!

 

[Snowdrop13]

ID Jewellery are often recommended as working wonders with budgets.

I’m a sucker for an ACA, though,

https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-di...etails.aspx?Diamond1=3885304&Diamond2=3916971

although many would say you don’t need that level of cut for earrings!

 

[MarionC]

Newshiny, i have a landmark birthday coming up as well, and celebrating the
PS way too : ) when is your BD?
I have WF, Tiffany, and JA studs and honestly, they all look the same to me. I know the WF ACAs are the best cut, but when I look in the mirror, all the pairs are pretty and sparkly.
I had fun picking out my diamonds individually at JA...each of them has a GIA report.
This sounds like a fun project and I’ll be interested to see what you choose.

 

[tuckie]

I bought mine from IDJ (1.26ct). I wanted certified GIA XXX with good HCA score (0.7 for both) on the shallower end of the ideal range, and maximizing my size for budget. This means that ACAs, though beautiful, weren't the right choice for me. On my ears I found I care more about spread and white light vs. colored light. Of course to each her own.

Given my experience a year ago, I would expect Yeuketiel to be able to find you something you are very very happy with within your budget.

 

[ac117]

I couldn't agree with @tuckie more, especially since I did the same thing! I bought my gorgeous 1.6 ctw studs from IDJ - they are GIA certified and Yekutiel was amazing (as always) and provided me with light return images for the stones.

 

[NewShiny]

Thanks all! IDJ did provide a great quote and I don’t mind uncerted diamonds for studs, but they were unable to give me any cut info whatsoever so I’m just too wary to purchase from them. I talked to my local jeweler about selling my existing studs since they have a sizeable selection of estate pieces. Although they didn’t have any meeting my specs in store that I could upgrade to, they are bringing some in that they say are ideal cut for me to view tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

 

[tuckie]

How odd. Certainly IDJ will offer you certified GIA stones if you ask.
Good luck with the local jeweler as well!

 

[NewShiny]

Local jeweler studs checked out - EGL certs only but they are a 1.8 and just over 2.0 on the HCA and I was able to trade in two pairs of existing studs. Diamonds themselves look amazing. They are being set into screw back 4 prong settings and should be ready on Friday. Will share when I pick them up! Thanks all for taking the time to respond!