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Help! Which ring should I choose?

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nocturness

Rough_Rock
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My fiance and I are currently deciding between the diamonds below and would love advice from you guys :) The ring will be in plain solitaire setting (4 prongs). It it from a branded store and so unfortunately we don't have any other images at hand besides the GIA numbers. I'd like to ask for your advice on which one I should get based on the numbers here. Since we have discussed and decided on the brand / carat / color / clarity grades and narrow down to the choices below, I hope this thread can focus on suggestions on these three and hopefully not on other issues like whether I should get the ring from a non-branded store or get a larger carat weight with a lower color/clarity. Thank you guys :)

All of them are in D color / VS1 / 3EX / No Fluorescence

Diamond 1
Carat - 1.37
Measurements - 7.10 - 7.14 x 4.36 mm
Depth - 61.2%
Table - 59%
Crown - 34.0%
Pavilion - 40.8%
Girdle - Slightly thick, faceted 4.0%
Culet - None
Clarity characteristics - Crystal, Needle
Comments - Pinpoints are not shown. Internal graining is not shown.
HCA score - 1.5
463294-82b968bbb40b1790797788be87442239.jpg

463295-1190fbfff6229e29913bc3370f75037a.jpg


Diamond 2
Carat - 1.37
Measurements - 7.04 - 7.09 x 4.39 mm
Depth - 62.2%
Table - 59%
Crown - 36.0%
Pavilion - 40.6%
Girdle - Medium to Slightly thick, faceted 4.0%
Culet - None
Clarity characteristics - Crystal, Cloud
Comments - Additional clouds, pinpoints, internal graining and surface graining are not shown.
HCA score - 2.3
463299-cfecab0efa31f4466c3bd01c4fbfb84a.jpg

463300-d3802a5840b8eb6e7feb5efdf18015bb.jpg



Diamond 3
Carat - 1.42
Measurements - 7.15 - 7.19 x 4.49mm
Depth - 62.5%
Table - 58%
Crown - 36.5%
Pavilion - 41.0%
Girdle - Thin to medium faceted 3.5%
Culet - None
Clarity characteristics - Cloud
Comments - Additional clouds, pinpoints and surface graining are not shown.

HCA score - 5.5

I know this one has a very poor HCA score, but I am really tempted because of the carat weight. This is the largest within our budget that the SA can find in their stock. There's no other 1.4-ish choices that meet the other 4C specs we required. To be honest I am tempted because I'm getting a plain solitaire setting without any side stones, and would love getting one that appears as large as we can within this 4C range.
463301-0b9c0464f3ed41782a7aecbaffc7b608.jpg


I presume the first might be the best choice here, but will the following concerns change the ranking?
1. Will the parts marked in red be an issue I should worry about (especially the "internal graining" and the "slightly thick" girdle in Diamond 1)? Will the second diamond be better because of the girdle thickness (medium to slightly thick)?
2. Although they are all in the same clarity range, the second seems to have "less" and "smaller" inclusions. I know inclusions cannot be judged or quantified from the picture, but it seems the inclusions in the first diamond are more scattered around, which I am worried that might be more likely to interfere light passing through than the other two?

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you :))
 

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Last edited:
what is the budget?

I dont see the mm sizes listed there for the 3 diamonds, but usually a well cut 1.43 isnt going to be that much larger than a 1.37
 
what is the budget?

I dont see the mm sizes listed there for the 3 diamonds, but usually a well cut 1.43 isnt going to be that much larger than a 1.37

Measurements added. Thank you :))
 
Personally, I dont think I would be happy with any of these due to the larger tables (59) on the first two and the angles on the third one. Why are these
the only stones you get to pick from?

A couple of notes...
- 1.42 is not that much larger than 1.37 to make it worth going for the size and accepting a bad angle combination. Plus the depth on the 1.42
is 62.5 which is a little deep and eating up carat weight.
- At VS1s none of these stones should have any type of clarity issue.
- thick facets can eat up carat weight. The girdles on these stones are fine.

What price range are you looking at? We can probably find you better stones.

Edit...have you seen these stones in person?
 
I wouldn't pay for a branded ring unless the stones were top of the line cut, and I honestly have to say that I wouldn't buy any of these. But if I have to choose one of these, it would be #1.

I understand the appeal of a branded ring, I really do. But I would expect the best cut for that pricing. I will always choose the best quality diamond over brand, though.

I am not seeing any D VS1s in the size range you are looking at, but here's a 1.5 E VS1 just to show you what kind of stone we mean:

https://www.victorcanera.com/diamonds/c8v9cl-1.511-e-vs1-ideal-hearts-arrows-round

Victor happens to be a high end ring maker and could make you a beautiful custom setting, too.
 
I wouldn't pay for a branded ring unless the stones were top of the line cut, and I honestly have to say that I wouldn't buy any of these. But if I have to choose one of these, it would be #1.

I understand the appeal of a branded ring, I really do. But I would expect the best cut for that pricing. I will always choose the best quality diamond over brand, though.

I am not seeing any D VS1s in the size range you are looking at, but here's a 1.5 E VS1 just to show you what kind of stone we mean:

https://www.victorcanera.com/diamonds/c8v9cl-1.511-e-vs1-ideal-hearts-arrows-round

Victor happens to be a high end ring maker and could make you a beautiful custom setting, too.


Thank you very much :)
May I know what's the issue I should be concerned about with the #1 stone? Is it mainly about the table percentage?
The first stone and the one you mentioned score the same on HCA (both 1.5 within TIC range). I would have thought they are basically in the same quality of cut based on the numbers (although I do know that there are much more that have to be put into account). I would love to know why the Victor one is more likely to perform better than #1 judging from the numbers and HCA so that I know what to look at next time. Thank you very much :))
 
So we have a cheat sheet of numbers we use here on PS. If you stay within these numbers you are pretty much guaranteed a decent stone*.

Depth 60-62.3%
Table 54-58%
Crown angle 40.6-41 degrees
Pavilion angle 34-35 degrees
lower crown pairs better with higher pavilion angle and vice versa. 40.6 with 35 and 34 with 41 for example.

59% table is not too bad but if you are picky like PSers then you want to stay in the ranges above. Can you get an idealscope of the first stone?

To paraphrase from another thread where Rhino (GOG) was commenting on this subject...
- bigger tables produce a "big splash" of reflected light which is generally white light (Most Pricescopers put emphasis on fire)
- Fire generally comes from refracted light and not reflected light

The first stone has good angle combinations it's just that the table is slightly larger than what we suggest. Have you seen this stone? Can you
look at it under different lighting conditions and make sure it performs well? If I HAD to buy one of these stones, just going by the numbers, it
would be the one I would go for.
 
I agree that a branded stone is a waste unless it's a super ideal cut... which these are not. You can get so much more with your money AND get a super ideal cut (as DS mentioned above with the VC stone). Also, I wouldn't pay for D/VS... if you must have colorless, F/VS2 (or even G/VS2) will be super clean and white. Of the 3 you posted, I would only consider #1.
 
Is there a reason you are going for D colour?

E and F will look basically identical to a D on the hand - you don't wear a selection of stones next to each other to compare against each other day-to-day, so you should not worry about going for E or F when worn in isolation.

(If anything, I would say an F looks more 'genuine' than a D - Cubic Zirconia and other simulants are usually colourless and a D colour, if I understand things correctly, so a D might look like it's not a real diamond!)

If you definitely want to remain in the 'colourless' range but are willing to drop to an F, you should be able to increase the size noticeably, I reckon :)

As said above already, though (msop04 posted while I was typing! lol) a G or even an H will look very white when viewed from above - you'll only see a slight tint from the side, which may not be something you'll see very often if you are going for a setting that covers the side view :)
 
To show you that you can't tell the difference in the 1.37 and 1.43...
1.37 vs. 1.42 .jpg
 
Is there a reason you are going for D colour?

E and F will look basically identical to a D on the hand - you don't wear a selection of stones next to each other to compare against each other day-to-day, so you should not worry about going for E or F when worn in isolation.

(If anything, I would say an F looks more 'genuine' than a D - Cubic Zirconia and other simulants are usually colourless and a D colour, if I understand things correctly, so a D might look like it's not a real diamond!)

If you definitely want to remain in the 'colourless' range but are willing to drop to an F, you should be able to increase the size noticeably, I reckon :)

As said above already, though (msop04 posted while I was typing! lol) a G or even an H will look very white when viewed from above - you'll only see a slight tint from the side, which may not be something you'll see very often if you are going for a setting that covers the side view :)

I don't think there is any danger of seeing tint in a G, so I wouldn't even worry about that. I'd go with G/VS2 and get more stone.
 
OP, what is the budget for the diamond? And can you post a photo of the exact 4 prong setting you like?
 
LOVE Victor's stone. An E is super white. If I wanted white white I would choose an E. I wouldn't need a D. Victor's stone is a super ideal cut. Check out the AGS certificate. I read a post recently that described to me quite well the difference between GIA 3x and super ideal. Let me find it.
 
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/help-me-pick-a-main-stone.232598/

Follow this thread too. TRhey discuss super ideal cuts. I had a 3x GIA that fell into the PS parameters but as I wore it over two years there were things that I didn't like. After seeing super ideals, I feel like I could tell the difference in the crispness of the facets and reflections and how the sparkles go from edge to edge. This is something unnoticed only after wearing my stone for over a year (F, VS1, 2.59 carats). Who knows whether your wearer will notice or care. I did.
 
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