Help with Picking Round Cut Diamond...please

[veryconfused]

Thank you in advance for any help/guidance you can send my way. My boyfriend and I are looking for an engagement ring and bought a diamond and got ourselves into a pickle that showed us just how clueless we are. I thought the diamond was fantastic and just what I was hoping for but then after purchasing it when we got the paperwork, come to find out that while we were told the cut was "very good" in actuality, according to the paperwork, it is "fair". Needless to say I was "livid". Also the table width on the stone (round brilliant cut) is 69% which after doing some research I found was realllly high/large for a round diamond and not a good thing (right?). I thought the stone had lots of fire and brilliance and I was pretty shocked when I saw that it's cut was rated so poorly (especially since we were told it was very good)! We called the jeweler to pick a different diamond and I just wanted to get some insight on what to look for in a good diamond so this doesn't happen again and of course this time i will make sure to ask to see the paperwork prior to choosing.

I am wanting to spend $8,000 to $10,000 on a stone (there is a little wiggle room) and I want as big as I can get without sacrificing too much. I am hoping for something between 1.2 and 1.4 carats ,at least a G color, no noticeable inclusions, and lots of sparkle. I believe I read that cut effects the how much sparkle a diamond has more than anything so what should I look for in a cut to maximize the sparkle? Can anyone tell me what I should look for in a good stone or perhaps parameters I should stay in for maximum bang for my buck? Is my budget too low to get what I want? I was just heartbroken when I found out the stone i loved wasn't as great as it was made out to be and I just want to make sure that this doesn't happen to me again! Thank you for any help/advice you can give!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Return that diamond and absolutely never work with that jeweler on the replacement stone. He mislead you and doesn't deserve your business. Once you have done that, we would be more than happy to help you find and excellent cut diamond within your budget!

(Bottom line...don't consider stones that are not GIA Excellent cut and you'll be fairly safe. We are somewhat perfectionists here at times and even recommend some GIA Excellent cut stones over others, but as long as you stick to GIA certified and Excellent cut, you can't make a huge mistake. Your mistake in this case was not seeing the actual grading certificate before committing to buy. But we all learn from our mistakes, and you learned you can't trust all jewelers, sadly.)

 

[minmin001]

jewelery store's lightening makes anything spark like crazy.