Help picking an ACA round diamond - thanks!

[hying]

Hi, I’ve been reading the forums for several weeks and wanted to humbly ask for some help in choosing a diamond. Our budget is preferably around $2500 for both the ring and setting, definitely not over $3000 total, as we are both still in school right now.

Based on what I have learned here at pricescope, an Ideal cut can help hide inclusions and enhance color, so I have mostly been looking at AGS0 stones at the F-G/SI1 level. I have run all the diamonds through the HCA, and they all have scores of <2.

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-912957.htm#
(question: The “hearts” photo shows some black marks within the hearts, which don’t seem to be present in most of the other ones. Is this significant?)

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-540877.htm#

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-912958.htm#

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-912943.htm#

I have looked at the other pictures (Idealscope, ASET) available, but frankly have a hard time seeing that much of a difference, so I thought I’d ask some people with much more knowledge than myself their advice.

As an aside, the boyfriend and I went to Jareds yesterday to look at their Peerless cut, so we could see the actual hearts & arrows in person, and the lady in the store told me that Peerless was “the only AGS000 diamond on the market today and that it didn’t need an Idealscope picture because it didn’t leak any light.” I was pretty sure that this was not totally accurate, but wanted to check with you guys.

Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated. I’m so glad I found Pricescope – I have learned so much, and definitely began to see how much salespeople in B&M stores don’t know after I had read just a little. Thanks everyone!

 

[neatfreak]

First, all of those ACA's look fabulous. Just so you know, you can go down a bit in color probably without noticing anything, but that is a personal preference.

As for Jared, you are right, that is a load of bull. Any AGS0 stone is an AGS0.

 

[cectra79]

I agree with Neatfreak, they are all very nice. Get a G or even an H, you won''t notice the difference in this size at all. Make sure your stone is eye clean.

Did you already pick out a setting? If you go with a simple solitaire setting, you can get a larger stone.

Good luck!

 

[hying]

I''m still trying to decide on the setting right now - I really like bezel settings (no diamonds, just a simple metal band around the stone), but since no one offers any ready-made ones, I would have to get that custom made, which is more expensive. So I''m trying to decide if I really want the bezel setting, or if I should just get a regular Tiffany setting. At least I know for sure that I want just a solitaire.

 

[Lorelei]

Hi Hying!

I would ask the good folk at Whiteflash to look at those diamonds for you, to see which might be best for you. It is possible that the black marks on the hearts is an inclusion reflecting, WF will be able to advise you and the inclusion may well not be visible, or the reflections if that is the case. This can be a good approach as they can advise you on whether each diamond is eyeclean, colour grade, and give you an idea of the personality of each.

 

[Stephan]

The 0.602 looks very nice to me, and it''s cheaper than the 0.58.

 

[hying]

Based on several suggestions, I looked up H color rings, and found one that I liked:

http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/Diamond_Details.aspx?idno=636692#

However, my only concern is that when I plugged it into HCA, it came out with a score of 2, whereas all the other ones where less than 2. Will there be a significant difference - it''s hard for me to translate a number into how the diamond will look.

Otherwise, I like this diamond because it seems to have fewer inclusions on the AGS report than several of the G/SI1 diamonds I posted above. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

 

[purrfectpear]

I believe there are several mfgrs of bezel settings. I doesn''t have to be custom.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

With your budget, I would seriously recommend just getting the $250 tiffany setting for now to allow you to put most of your money in the stone! You can always reset the stone later, and that is a good idea anyway since preferences change over time.

Incidentally, you don''t need to put ACA stones in the HCA. They are all ideal cut, AGS0, and have great idealscope images. All you have to decide is size, color, and clarity!

You could go with this one with the $250 setting:

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-912949.htm

 

[honey22]

As ds said, you don''t need to worry about the HCA for the ACAs. They are all great stones.

The woman at Jared''s -

, what more can we say!

I also second DS''s suggestion on the stone, you can always get a different setting later when you decide what you really want, and ACAs are upgradable, so you can even upgrade to a larger stone down the track!

 

[bling addict]

Here's one you might want to consider, a bit larger than the one's you have been considering, H, si, ACA, 0.748 $2683 (with p'scope discounts) and with the setting Diamondseeker suggested you would still be < $3000.

ETA2: Just looked at the AGS report and it appears to have quite a lot of inclusions, so maybe it's not eyeclean, I guess you could ask whiteflash.

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-912923.htm

ETA
Here's an F, si, expert selection, HCA 0.3, AGS 0 $2701 with p'scope discount (it says it is not hearts and arrows) -- I'm not sure if there is something would make it one to pass on, perhaps someone more knowledgeable could comment??
target=http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-920319.htm#