Help with picking diamond needed

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I've purchased the setting already, it's a pave setting that could fit a round brilliant well-proportioned diamond within the range of 0.9 ct to 1.1 ct.

the setting: http://www.optcentral.com/optportal/catalog/37/large/M1657R307_QR.jpg

The pave are H, SI diamonds.

I'm looking at these diamonds:

1.03 ct, H, SI1, excellent cut, $6165
https://myapps.gia.edu/ReportCheckPortal/getReportData.do?&reportno=2126535428&weight=1.03#

The first one is through the vendor I purchased my setting from. They are a drop vendor, and don't have pictures of the diamond. But they are willing to have me purchase it, ship it to me, and review. It scores really well on the HCA tool (1.3).

The others are from Brian Gavin, who initially started dealing with when I started my search:

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.075-i-vs2-round-diamond-ags-bl-104059901003

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.000-i-vs2-round-diamond-gia-39671597

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.050-h-si1-round-diamond-gia-38918370

What do you think?

I'm leaning towards the first option, but I'm not sure!

 

[Christina...]

I like the first BGD that you listed. It has all the information that you need to make an informed decision. Buying an SI stone can be a bit risky online if you don't have images of the stone. And it can me frustrating and expensive to have to ship diamonds back and forth. I'm sure that Brian could call in the virtual stones for you to be evaluated if you wanted, but that first stone by BGD is a beauty and if it's in budget then I would go for it.

edit for clarity.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I would only buy in-house stones from BG. Those are cut for his inventory with his specifications. If you want to buy from virtual inventory, I'd choose a NYC vendor who can pick up the stones (since many are in NYC) and check them out for you since they can avoid some of the shipping costs.

The first stone has potential, but you'd have to buy an idealscope to determine if it has leakage, if you feel confident in doing so.

 

[JulieN]

The first one should be fine.

 

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If i were to purchase the diamond from the setting vendor what would I need to do in the time that I had to inspect it?

I am a little bit leery of purchasing the BDG blue only because of its I colour and blue fluorescence, since the pave is H. I don't know.

 

[Christina...]

You won't be able to tell the difference in color between the center stone and melee. I've had both an I and a J set with F/G melee and you can't see a visible color difference at all. It's extremely difficult to discern color grades from one to the next. No worries there.

You would want to observe the stone in many different lighting environments, particularly where you spend most of your time. Check it out at home, work, in your car, outside on a bright sunny day, on a gloomy overcast day, in office lighting, at a big box store with strong overhead lighting. Just play with it and have fun, you want to perform well in most of these environments, especially the ones that you spend a lot of time in. It should appear bright and have a nice sparkle from edge to edge, look for any 'dead' spots that don't light up when the stone is rocked back and forth. You'll know if it's the one when you've had time to play with it. Are you going to be viewing the stone loose or in it's setting?

 

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I've decided it's too much of a hassle to ship the diamond back and forth since I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm going for the BG Blue!