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HELP! Yellow Diamond Engagement Ring

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dgt2n

Rough_Rock
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Oct 9, 2014
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My girlfriend has her heart set on a yellow emerald cut diamond. I've been looking for months for one in my price range that meets her criteria (essentially, not square and not TOO dark).

I've been looking at James Allen, Ishay Ben David, and Leibish, with very little luck.

I finally came across this diamond, which is at the lower end of my price range (looking to spend ~10-12k) http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-dia...merald-cut/1.30-carat-vvs2-clarity-sku-225711 but is the closest one I've found in a long time.

One of my (perhaps totally unfounded) concerns is that, depending on the shade, "Light Yellow" may look like a bad quality clear diamond. Is that crazy? I just feel a but unprepared, as the evaluation criteria for colored diamonds is very different than it is for clear diamonds, which is what I had spent most of my time researching before we had a discussion about her preferences.

Anyway, I would sincerely appreciate the community's feedback on this particular diamond, or any others that you may have come across, as well as any general feedback about colored diamonds,

Thanks SO much.

EDIT:
Additional information on "ideal diamond"

~1.25 carat
Fancy/Fancy Intense Yellow
~1.4 ratio
VVS2
 
Call David at Diamonds by Lauren
 
That's not crazy - it's exactly why I don't care for light yellow stones (because they can come off looking like lesser quality diamonds). I second Diamonds by Lauren - call him.
 
I would email/call the vendors to see what else they have in inventory but isn't listed yet. Note that once set, the diamond will look a bit darker and a little yellower, especially if set in yellow gold. If cupped (totally enclosed bottom), the intensity can go up a whole notch. For clarity, you can safely drop it down to VS level or just verify that it is eye clean to you. Going for VVS is going to make the search much more challenging.
 
OP - the JA diamond you linked to above has Strong Blue Fluorescence - while strong blue fluor in white diamonds is usually considered a plus (the blue acting to boost white, sometimes to the point of blue-white, in sunlight/UV conditions), in yellow diamonds it can be a drawback as the blue fluor can lessen the intensity/change the hue of the yellow (this is a temporary effect noticeable in sunlight/UV light conditions) - while some people love/do not mind blue fluor in yellow diamonds, if you are looking for a yellow diamond which looks as yellow as it can, strong blue fluor would not be your friend.
 
marymm|1412864295|3764813 said:
OP - the JA diamond you linked to above has Strong Blue Fluorescence - while strong blue fluor in white diamonds is usually considered a plus (the blue acting to boost white, sometimes to the point of blue-white, in sunlight/UV conditions), in yellow diamonds it can be a drawback as the blue fluor can lessen the intensity/change the hue of the yellow (this is a temporary effect noticeable in sunlight/UV light conditions) - while some people love/do not mind blue fluor in yellow diamonds, if you are looking for a yellow diamond which looks as yellow as it can, strong blue fluor would not be your friend.

Very interesting subject!
Actually, I have found that there's no way to make a hard fast rule about fluorescence, and it's affect on Natural Yellow Diamonds.
The most accurate blanket statement would be about price- Fluorescence will have a negative impact on 90%+ of Natural Yellow Diamonds.
When it comes to appearance, it's nowhere near as easy to generalize- for many reasons.
Maybe the main one is that fluorescence makes color grading far more difficult.
In the trade it's thought that GIA will penalize a medium or strong blue yellow- downgrading in the color. I have seen this many times.
So, sometimes a diamond that earns a FLY grade with Medium Blue can have as much color as an inert Fancy Yellow.
But in quite a few cases Marymm's statement about Fl lessening color is accurate.

One of the most incredible Canary Vivid Yellow Diamonds we ever had was strong blue- AND priced well above other Vivid Yellow Diamonds of the same size without fluorescence- and it was an SI2!
The color was .....unbelievable- which trumped the clarity and fluorescence issues.


dgt2n- I too am a lover of emerald cuts and yellow diamonds- and of course the combination of those two. Keep in mind that such stones are rare- and in many cases the color is not all that easy to see. The way that light bounces around in a radiant or cushion really amplifies perceived body color.
So, really nice looking natural Yellow EC's are quite rare- but they are out there.
 
Strong Blue fluoro is quite common in yellow FCDs and I would consider them on a stone by stone basis. Some yellow FCDs just wash out in sunlight and some are seemingly unaffected, colour-wise.
 
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