I found my diamond!

[slmulkey]

Finally, my search is over! I have the following diamond on hold from dirtcheapdiamonds.com. I plan on purchasing just as soon as the paypal account is verified.

Here are the stats:

Round .87 ct H&A diamond (GIA cert)
Measurements: 6.21 - 6.24 x 3.72
color: I
Depth: 59.8
Table: 58
Girdle: Thin to Med, F
Cutlet: none
Polish: good
Symmetry: Excellent
Clarity: VS1
Flouresence: Faint
HCA= .5 (excellent on all categories)

Cash price: $2875

I will have it set in this GAI yellow gold tension setting by Mickey Roof:
http://www.mickeyroof.com/tr044.jpg

I did all of my diamond shopping completely by email as I hate to be bothered with sales patter, even over the phone. I inquired about diamonds with Whiteflash, Abazias, icestore, and of course dirtcheapdiamonds. All of my interactions with these companies were pleasant, but dirtcheapdiamonds was able to provide me with the most information in the most timely manner about the diamonds.

I also looked at the inventory of niceice, and goodoldgold. Diamonds from these sites were obviously of high quality, but appeared to carry a slight price premium for all of the information that they provide about their diamonds. If my budget were not so tight, I may have purchased a diamond from one of them.

Overall, a very nice internet buying experience so far.

 

[student]

So you decided to go for the internet in the end?

Sounds like a very nice diamond--congratulations!

 

[rsilvers]

Looks like your found the perfect stone for the setting. Everything about the specs shows a very well thought out choice. I got an AGS000 stone for a lot more money, the same clarity, and it is "just" an HCA 0.8. You beat me.

 

[pricescope]

Slmulkey, congrads with your stone

Do you have its Hearts and Arrows image?

 

[Tarams]

Great deal, congrats! (Hard work pays off!)

And I'm really begining to love these tensions settings!!!!

 

[slmulkey]

Here's a picture of the diamond. From this picture, you can see the arrows, but not the hearts. The H&A thing is really just a bonus to me, I wasn't really specifically looking for it.

Thanks for the kind words rsilvers, I think that I got a good diamond for the price and feel like I made an educated decision.

 

[slmulkey]

Tara (and anyone else interested in tension settings)-

I saw some of the designs in person and thought they were fabulous. The store I went to only had about 10 of the GAI settings, and I would have been happy with any of them.

The store wanted almost twice as much money for the setting than the price that Mickey Roof quoted me. Talk about a senseless markup, the store doesn't do anything with the setting, they just send the diamond off to Gelin and Abaci.

I do admit to being a little scared of losing the diamond from the setting, but most people agree that the setting is safe as long as you use one of the main manufacturers of the tension settings.

I also plan on insuring it, "just in case"

 

[pricescope]

Thank you for the picture, Slmulkey.

Promise to post the ring picture as well, please