I need some expert opinions on this Engagement Ring!!

[DeeNogger]

After much time browsing the different vendors recommended here on pricescope I have decided on getting a signature Hearts and Arrows cut from Brian Gavin Diamonds. I specifically chose that cut from that jeweler because of its incredible symmetry. My soon-to-be fiance and I have a running joke/theme to our relationship regarding symmetry. We are both Chemists, her a HS Teacher and me a PhD student, and have always had a semi-joking obsession with symmetrical things. When looking at different cuts I was struck with how amazing the H&A cut was in all respects but also because of the symmetry in the facets.

My girl friends only desires was a plain solitare white gold band with a round cut diamond. She picked out a Kay's diamond when we were first talking about this sometime in May as the "perfect" ring insofar as visuals. I tucked the bookmark away secretly (below) to keep as a bench mark for her opinion.

http://www.kay.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product1|10101|10001|-1|150885301|15051|15051.15057.15106

At the time I thought that was the perfect ring, but I was smart enough to educate myself about diamonds and then make an assessment. Thank god I did as that is an I3 mess that I can only assume wont be eye clean and will have a poor cut. I shopped around and came up with the following setting and diamond:

diamond: http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-104045953067
setting: http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/home/ring-details/?product_id=5342

I have talked to Denise from BGD and she confirms that the diamond faces up white and that it is eye clean. The ideal scope shows excellent light performance and symmetry and the HCA is a solid 1.3 with all Excellent save for a Very Good in "spread".

My remaining questions are these:

1) Is Brian Gavin Diamonds the stand up, honest and quality jeweler that all the information I have been able to find suggests? Do I have anything to be worried about insofar as getting ripped off or being sent a diamond that is not the one I bought?

2) Will this diamond be amazing insofar as light performance? I have specifically sacrificed in size in order to get an awesome cut which I believe I have (AGS triple zero).

3) I have been told by Denise that the 0.782 crt diamond will not be over powered or obscured by the prongs of the setting. I have no reason to distrust her but I figured I would ask others opinions.

 

[D&T]

Yes, to all of your questions. Brian's diamond will probably be one of the most stunning diamonds that you will see out and about, It will be a true sparkler. Don't worry. There have been lots of consumers that have purchased from Brian Gavin, including myself, I have purchased many diamonds all over the web from many of the vendors on here. No doubt they are a stand up jeweler!

 

[slg47]

1) Is Brian Gavin Diamonds the stand up, honest and quality jeweler that all the information I have been able to find suggests? Do I have anything to be worried about insofar as getting ripped off or being sent a diamond that is not the one I bought?

yep, many people have bought from them with no problems, I had them set my diamond and had no problems. the online vendors recommended by PS are very reputable.

2) Will this diamond be amazing insofar as light performance? I have specifically sacrificed in size in order to get an awesome cut which I believe I have (AGS triple zero).

yes but you could go to an eye-clean SI1 to get more size if you wanted (or lower in color)...but the one you picked looks good

3) I have been told by Denise that the 0.782 crt diamond will not be over powered or obscured by the prongs of the setting. I have no reason to distrust her but I figured I would ask others opinions.

I think it will look great in that setting-if she wants a 4-prong tiffany style solitaire then that's the way to go!

 

[angeline]

Brian is a third generation diamond cutter. His word is his bond. You can count on that.

I think that diamond and that setting will be spectacular!

 

[agapitor]

My remaining questions are these:

1) Is Brian Gavin Diamonds the stand up, honest and quality jeweler that all the information I have been able to find suggests? Do I have anything to be worried about insofar as getting ripped off or being sent a diamond that is not the one I bought?

2) Will this diamond be amazing insofar as light performance? I have specifically sacrificed in size in order to get an awesome cut which I believe I have (AGS triple zero).

3) I have been told by Denise that the 0.782 crt diamond will not be over powered or obscured by the prongs of the setting. I have no reason to distrust her but I figured I would ask others opinions.[/quote]

First of all good for you for doing as much research on diamonds and settings as you can. DH purchased my ering 10 years ago from a B&M at a mall and paid more for a much smaller diamond. I've just purchased from BGD (my first online purchase) and got a J/VS2. I'm very happy with the stone and I would never have considered anything lower than a H color when I first started looking for my 10year upgrade. You will be amazed at how much it will sparkle.

The setting is also nice and simple and will highlight the diamond. My original ering had a similar setting and my .4 diamond really stood out since there weren't paves or design to detract from the stone itself.

 

[DeeNogger]

Thanks a ton for all the responses! It is a big purchase for me, both in the amount of money and especially in how important it is for me to get it right! One last question that I almost forgot about:

An acquaintance of mine mentioned that she has a white gold e-ring and that white gold rings have to be re-plated frequently (she had to after just 6 months). Now I am getting a 14k white gold ring which I assume means its solid 14k gold and this wont be an issue for me. I am pretty sure she has a super cheap ring and probably doesnt realize that non-platted rings dont peal off like that but I figured it would be worth it to ask. Will a 14k white gold ring need to be re-plated and if so how often? Is this a feature of just white gold or do all gold materials do that?

 

[D&T]

sometimes it depends on the chemistry of the person or the mix of white gold, My local jeweler says his mix NEVER requires rhodium dipping, however, some have to rhodium dip frequently as the metal sometimes react differently on different people. Its not going to "peel" off like you mentioned, but rather loses the crispy whiteness, gold naturally is yellow, but its not going to turn bright yellow either, she may not notice it, sometimes you just need to dip it once a year I would imagine.
if your friend's ring is "peeling" then sounds like to me, that she got a gold plated ring, which is completely different than SOLID gold.

 

[slg47]

no, this is a feature of all white gold rings (except unplated). White gold is plated with rhodium to make it look more white. the rhodium wears off and will need to be replated. everyone's skin is different so some people's rings need to be plated more frequently.

 

[lovemybling]

I have many white gold rings and some of mine have needed to be replated and others not. So I agree with what others have said, it just depends. Mine I have only really noticed the "yellow" coming thought on the bottom or underside of my rings. You know the part on the palm side. So it may not even bother you. The most you might have to do it would be like once a year though and I don't think it is very expensive to do.

good luck

 

[antelope1]

It sounds like you did a great job!

The BGD setting in platinum is $575 -- which is about $225 more than the 14K white gold, but ... a bargain IMO for the PT setting. That might be the lowest price for the 4 prong tiffany's setting that I have ever seen! If you can afford the extra, I would go for the PT setting (which is harder, more scratch resistant, and has less metal loss) -- also, no plating required.

 

[IceExplorer]

My remaining questions are these:

1) Is Brian Gavin Diamonds the stand up, honest and quality jeweler that all the information I have been able to find suggests? Do I have anything to be worried about insofar as getting ripped off or being sent a diamond that is not the one I bought?

2) Will this diamond be amazing insofar as light performance? I have specifically sacrificed in size in order to get an awesome cut which I believe I have (AGS triple zero).

3) I have been told by Denise that the 0.782 crt diamond will not be over powered or obscured by the prongs of the setting. I have no reason to distrust her but I figured I would ask others opinions.

1) I purchased from Brian. His description of the diamond, while on the phone with me, was dead accurate. Brian's experience and knowledge FAR exceeds that of ANY sales associate I've met with. While shopping, I visited more than 2 dozen B&M stores. Also, his honesty and integrity is on par with his knowledge. Brian (and his staff) are stand up people. Rest assured, the diamond you are interested in is going to be the one that is shipped to you. A benefit with BGD is their return policy, if you don't like it, ship it back. Ask if it's laser inscribed and have it confirmed by a 3rd party appraiser. Also, you can print off the AGS report and have a 3rd party appraiser confirm it's the same stone. You are good hands.

2) Ask Denise and Brian about how it performs. They will tell you ALL the details about the stone. Someone mentioned above, you might be able to get a bit bigger if you go lower than VS2. Ask Denise if they have any comparably priced stones that might be of interest to you, she'll let you know about their inventory.

3) I completely understand how you'd like to get a better feel for the end product. You might want to consider making a post and asking if anyone else has this setting that would be willing to post pictures. Something like: BGD 4 prong setting owners - Help!

Good luck with your project! Sounds like you a doing a great job so far.

 

[tyty333]

It sounds like you did a great job!

The BGD setting in platinum is $575 -- which is about $225 more than the 14K white gold, but ... a bargain IMO for the PT setting. That might be the lowest price for the 4 prong tiffany's setting that I have ever seen! If you can afford the extra, I would go for the PT setting (which is harder, more scratch resistant, and has less metal loss) -- also, no plating required.

If it fits in the budget I would do this too.

 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you did a great job!

The BGD setting in platinum is $575 -- which is about $225 more than the 14K white gold, but ... a bargain IMO for the PT setting. That might be the lowest price for the 4 prong tiffany's setting that I have ever seen! If you can afford the extra, I would go for the PT setting (which is harder, more scratch resistant, and has less metal loss) -- also, no plating required.

If it fits in the budget I would do this too.

One more for the "go ahead and get the platinum" crowd unless you don't mind taking it in for a "tune up". If we had purchased my setting online, we would have gone with platinum. Mine is a 14K white gold tapered cathedral with a euroshank that we both fell in love with. We hesitated, but the B&M store we purchased it from has been around for decades and (quite happily) re-plates mine whenever I feel like it is starting to lose it's brightness. I work with paper a lot, and have body chemistry that speeds up the process, so I end up going in about once every 3 months. Honestly though, I don't mind at all. My ring looks brand new every time, it's a free service, and I get to look at all the sparklies while I wait.

 

[mommy2nk]

I just recently worked with Denise and the BGD team on a 5 stone ring. When I started my search I was wanting the ring to total 2.5 carats but dropped down in size due to budget. I had tried on a ring in NY that totaled this carat weight and loved the look and knowing I would need to drop down worried me. After looking at several options, selecting and pay for 5 diamonds (totally 1.7ish) I second guessing that selection. I contacted them back spoke with both Lesley who connected me to Brian. Brian spoke to me at length about the setting, what my wants were, about his diamonds, etc. then he selected another set of 5 stones (totally 2 carats). I went with the new selection and then waited for my ring. It was difficult because my husband was very hesitate about using an online vendor and when I told him the ring would not be the 2.5 carats and it was more money (better diamonds) he was not very happy. He knew how much I liked the other ring. He also didn't understand how cut grade can affect the appearance and performance..This ended up being a bit of an issue during the wait. So now, not only did it need to knock my socks of but my husbands as well, actually more so him since it was a lot of money and his gift to me.
The turn around time was very quick and OMG I could have never ever imagined the ring to be as amazing as it was (is.. ). I have NEVER EVER seen diamonds as beautiful and sparkly as these. Not only that the finger coverage was actually more then that of the 2.5 carat, I think because the cut was far superior. Now as far as my husband he was indeed blown away and he has made several comments about the size of and brillancy of my ring. I even got him to say going with BGD was a good choice....
Sorry for the long story, I just wanted to get the point across that his diamond far exceed anything I have ever seen and that you are in good hands.

About the white gold, if it is in the budget I would go for the platinum setting. Although getting a ring redipped isn't a big deal. I just had one done at Jared where they replace 2 melee diamonds and re-dipped for $30. I had the ring for 4 years before doing it because I thought it cost a lot more to do. I didn't mind the patina of the white gold that much but I like the look of the shiny white much better. Platinum will also patina, but it will just be a matter of a good polish to get it shiny again.

I think the stone you are looking at will be lovey but going off what a couple of other's have said if your wanting a bit bigger...I have noticed that a lot of PS'ers have eye clean SI1 (quality cut) and they very beautiful stones.

I think it is wonderful you are taking the time to look and get opinions. Congrats on your up and coming engagement!