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Help with choosing a RB Engagement Ring

chloecro

chloecro

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 16, 2012
Messages
58
Hi all,
I've been a lurker for about 8 years, and now I'm in the process of choosing my own engagement ring! I'm engaged to the most wonderful man in the world, who wants to give me "whatever will make me happy" in terms of a ring.

I live in NYC, and I went to Tiffany (since it's right near work), and met a really nice gemologist who showed me some beautiful rings. I'd like a RB solitaire in the 2.5-3 ct. range. The rings they showed me were between $61-68K, which I expected. Since I've been reading PS for many years, I know I could probably get a beautiful (better) stone elsewhere for a similar price or less.

Since I will probably help my love pay for the ring (I have expensive taste, and he's ten years younger), I made an appointment at Michael C. Fina last week, and I saw a beautiful 3 ct HOF for around $62K. It's H color, VS1, and I loved it.
I have an appt at Kwiat this coming weekend, and I'll continue to look until I find just the right thing.

My question is this: I'm horrible when it comes to knowing what's good in depth, culet, etc. Naturally I want the most sparkle possible. :love:Can anyone help me with my search? He's ready to get me whatever I want, and I want to make a great choice that will make me happy for years and years.

I looked on James Allen, because I really like that they have a return policy, but I also think I want to see the stone in person.

Thank you thank you for advice, suggestions!!
 
What color and clarity are you looking for?

If you buy from Brian Gavin Diamond, White Flash, GoodoldGold or High Performance Diamonds you will get a premium high end cut stone.
As you are already set on the your carat weight, you just need to decide the trade off between clarity and color.

Here is a knock out I/VS2 2.50 form HPD (for just 40K): http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity&id=841

Knock out H/VS1 2.4 from WhiteFlahs (44K) http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2763642.htm
 
Thank you. The 3 ct. was H color, and I'd like to stay in the E-H range if possible. But I notice that pretty much everything in that ct. range with a higher color rating increases exponentially in price.

I want lots of sparkle, but I think everything's pretty, so that's why I'm asking PSers. I'm the type who will find it breathtaking in the store and then get it home and find flaws. I have to discipline myself and be veery careful in this important search.
 
Since you live in NYC, you can make an appointment with JA.

Visit us
We welcome visitors to our New York office. Visits are by appointment only. Contact us at 1-877-826-9866 to schedule one.
James Allen Office
6 East 45th Street
New York, NY 10017
 
 
I think I will make an appointment w James Allen. I didn't realize it was an actual store. This is one of their diamonds I've been thinking about:
What do you think?

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1465199.asp
 
By the way, 06PVC, thanks for those suggestions. I'll check out the links. Some of them look very nice.
:appl:
 
The Crown/Pavilion combo on that stone is not perfect. It scores a 3.7 on HCA which is a reject. It may have fine light performance but need to look at the JA provided idealscope to make sure.

I would stick to HCA scores under 2 for Ideal performance. There are plenty of them out there in the size/clarity/color range you are looking.
 
Thanks. That helps a lot. I'll keep looking.
 
chloe you can also call some vendors and ask them to call in stones for you if you tell them your budget/parameters. many vendors do not stock larger stones but have access to them and can call them in and take idealscope/aset/sometimes even video (usually there is a small fee associated with this service)
 
Yes, thanks. We have an appt. to look at some stones at Kwiat this Sat.

I called to make an appt. at James Allen, but the said they were more of an office (with a gemologist),and I could pick three diamonds from their website that I wanted to look at. I said I'd get back to them, because I'm realizing I don't have the best eye and perimeters yet. I want to make sure my choices are even worth it.

Some of the suggestions you've all sent me are gorgeous, but I def. want to stay in the 63-66k range and get a lot of sparkle for my buck. I have to say that now I'm starting to get overwhelmed by what to choose and what's more important. :loopy:
Cut, color, ct.weight, etc.
It's especially hard when I can't see the stone.
 
If you live in the NY area can I recommend you make a trip out to GoodOldGold in massapequa. They will be able to walk you through the ins and outs the the 4c's and help you narrow down your eye and parameters.

They also will be able to find and call in stones for you and then subject them to the most technologically thorough tests around.
 
I know GOG is excellent, but unfortunately I don't have a car (or a license) and live in Manhattan.
I guess I could have my BF rent a car or we could take the train to Massapequa.

Below are the stats I got yesterday for the 3 ct RB stone at Michael C. Fina. I should mention that the stone looked gorgeous in the store (but I guess they all do), and I really liked the girl who helped us and would be glad to give them business if it's the right stone. It's 63K, which is right where we want to be. Anyway, she sent me the stats yesterday, and I've attached her response below. As always, I'm SO grateful for everyones' insight and help.

Keep in mind that traditional diamond cutting/grading is done at 10 power magnification. Hearts On Fire diamonds are cut, and polished at 100+ power magnification. Because of the different technology that they use, they are able to keep each diamond to measurements, within a fraction of a percent of each other. Because of this, and their level of technological advance over traditional diamond cutting, it is next to impossible to compare them to traditionally cut diamonds. With that in mind, see the below information.

Depth: 61.6%
Culet: pointed
Pavilion Depth:15.1%
Girdle Percentage: 1.3-3.7%
 
know GOG is excellent, but unfortunately I don't have a car (or a license) and live in Manhattan.
I guess I could have my BF rent a car or we could take the train to Massapequa.
Click to expand...

It is a 60 minute train ride but can't blame you for not wanting to go.
If you don't want to make the trip, I recommend you going to IDJ than. It is on 47th street and will be able to give you the best prices and great customer service and can call in any diamond you see online for free and quickly. That is where I bought my diamond.

I am unfamiliar with Michael C. Fina. A B&M is going to have a much larger market up in general. Which of course means that you could pay for the same diamond but get a much lower price elsewhere, or for the same price get a better diamond.

The angles you gave with reference to the 3ct diamond are insufficient to tell if it is good/bad cut.
 
Oh shoot,
Really? What other information should I ask her for?

Actually, I don't mind an hour train ride. I think I can handle it for a superior stone. :wacko:
 
Oh shoot,
Really? What other information should I ask her for?
Click to expand...
For the HCA, the 4 parameters you need are Crown Angle, Pavalian Angle, Table and Depth. When you use the HCA tool enough you start knowning the different combo's that work.
Here is the link. https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca

Actually, I don't mind an hour train ride. I think I can handle it for a superior stone.
Click to expand...

Wooohooo!!!! Bring a book, LIRR can almost be pleasant if it is not rush hour.

I live a little under an hour away from IDJ and GOG and visited both. My experience is that IDJ will give you the most value for the dollar (I was working on a tight budget for the specs I wanted), while GoodOldGold will insure you get the best cut stone, subjecting all there stones to an impressive array of tests. With what your looking for I think GOG would be the better choice but you could always consider IDJ as it is a lot more convenient.

Here is the link to get in touch with GOG: http://www.goodoldgold.com/FindMeADiamond/
I had looked on there website, and it didn't seem like they had anything great in house, but they will be able to call in stones for you. There is a deposit per each stone called in that goes towards the purchase price.
Also per information GOG is pretty amazing in the education side of there website. Their owner Jon Weingarten (spelling) posts here under Rhino) and has not inaccuratly dubbed his site "The Ultimate Diamond Information Site."

He has ~400+ videos posted here: http://vimeo.com/diamondinfo
 
I noticed that the GOG website didn't really have many stones fitting my requirements.

I actually sent them an email yesterday requesting an appt., but I haven't heard back from anyone yet. Do they have a bigger inventory or will they have stones sent in fitting my requirements once I make an appt?

You have been sooo helpful.
 
chloecro|1334851440|3175091 said:
I noticed that the GOG website didn't really have many stones fitting my requirements.

I actually sent them an email yesterday requesting an appt., but I haven't heard back from anyone yet. Do they have a bigger inventory or will they have stones sent in fitting my requirements once I make an appt?

You have been sooo helpful.
Click to expand...

I would call them and let them know your specs and budget. They can source stones for you.
 
Oops,
I noticed you already mentioned that above.
 
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/9259/
This one looks very nice. Opinions? GOG would have to have it sent in. It might be worth checking out.
I can only attach the link; for some reason it's not letting me attach images. I hope the link works.

Diamond1.jpg

AGS.jpg
 
I am not in love with that stone, it get the "Superior H&A" branding but the Idealscope/ASET show a bit of leakage in the table (which may or may not be noticable to the naked eye), and the megascope scores are all in the VG range (not really sure how relevent this is). I would tell them that is one that you are interested in and definitely see it in person when you go, but also ask them if they have something at a similar price point but with better light performance.

GoodOldGold will also make you videos comparing various choices. These will be very helpful.
 
Oh how I wish I had an educated enough eye to see that leakage potential. :roll:
Thanks once again for all of the pointers.
 
Oh how I wish I had an educated enough eye to see that leakage potential.
Thanks once again for all of the pointers.
Click to expand...

I'm only 100+ posts in and a few months learning about diamonds (bought a ER in January). Leakage is the light pink/white in the middle area (called the table) of the stone. I would talk to GOG about that diamond, as although it looks like there may be some leakage it may not be an issue, especially as that diamond got their "H&A" designation which comes with thorough testing.
 
Thank you. This weekend my bf and I went to Kwiat and stopped by HW just to take a look ( Ridiculously obnoxious experience, which I'll post elsewhere-- eww). Anyway, I found what looked like a beautiful, beautiful stone (loose) at Kwiat, and I wanted to post the GIA report to get some opinions.

My bf still likes the Tiffany ring, but I think this is a higher quality stone.
 

Attachments

The angles look nice. Think the only issue is that at a B&M you may be a premium.
 
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