Hi everyone,
I stumbled across this forum as I have begun my descent into the world of diamond acquisition, and have found its members to not only be incredibly knowledgeable, but supportive and friendly, so I figured I would take an opportunity to introduce myself as well as to ask a few questions that I have around the diamond purchasing process.
First, I am at the beginning of my journey and have a goal of finding a perfect diamond for an amazing woman that I am madly in love with. I am giving myself a time table of 6 - 8 months, so lots of time to learn more and to solicit help from those more knowledgeable than I.
Second, to date, I have steeped myself in everything 4 Cs and believe I have a decent foundation from which I can at least speak intelligently around some of the more basic differences but am struggling with trade-offs (i.e., size over color, or clarity over cut, etc). I have not yet gone to a jeweler to look at diamonds first hand, but I think that will be coming up soon as it will likely help me better understand some of the differences. I tend to over-analyze and can easily see myself spending days deciding whether I should get a wonderful diamond because of feathering that can only be seen at 20x.
Based on the research I have done so far, below are some of the parameters I feel comfortable working within:
Budget (for entire ring): $20K
Carat: ~1.6c
Cut: Brilliant Round AGS 000 (Equivalent to ACA H&A from WF)
Clarity: VS
Color: G
Setting: No idea and still have tons to learn here
I have found a few diamonds that fall within these parameters on WF, JA, GOG, and BG Diamonds, but as I said, I am not yet ready to pull the trigger before I get more comfortable with a few concepts. Specifically:
1) I see most diamonds on the secondary market (especially those around 1.5 - 2.0c are ~I/SI. I would prefer to get a better than average quality diamond, but I wonder if it would be worth it go a little larger to say a ~1.8c diamond and compromise by finding an eye clean and relatively white I (possibly with some fluorescence).
2) There is a lot of talk about whether certain diamonds are true H&A or near H&A. Since there is no universal standard, it is hard to justify additional investment because it is labeled as a H&A diamond. I am curious to hear about some experiences people on this board have had and whether some feel it is worth spending the extra dough from a performance perspective or whether it is really just for bragging rights.
3) Lastly, it is more of a request than a question. As I have stated, my budget is ~$20K, but I am not dead set on spending that amount. I would be more than happy to spend less if I find a comparable used diamond for a fraction of the price and I would also be happy if I find a much better used diamond but yet stay within my full budget. I am huge on value and is one of the reasons I have given myself so much time to research. My request to the board members is if anyone sees anything on the secondary market that fits the criteria I just mentioned, I would really appreciate it if you could shoot me a message to let me know.
Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for everyone's help!
VIK1NG0
I stumbled across this forum as I have begun my descent into the world of diamond acquisition, and have found its members to not only be incredibly knowledgeable, but supportive and friendly, so I figured I would take an opportunity to introduce myself as well as to ask a few questions that I have around the diamond purchasing process.
First, I am at the beginning of my journey and have a goal of finding a perfect diamond for an amazing woman that I am madly in love with. I am giving myself a time table of 6 - 8 months, so lots of time to learn more and to solicit help from those more knowledgeable than I.
Second, to date, I have steeped myself in everything 4 Cs and believe I have a decent foundation from which I can at least speak intelligently around some of the more basic differences but am struggling with trade-offs (i.e., size over color, or clarity over cut, etc). I have not yet gone to a jeweler to look at diamonds first hand, but I think that will be coming up soon as it will likely help me better understand some of the differences. I tend to over-analyze and can easily see myself spending days deciding whether I should get a wonderful diamond because of feathering that can only be seen at 20x.
Based on the research I have done so far, below are some of the parameters I feel comfortable working within:
Budget (for entire ring): $20K
Carat: ~1.6c
Cut: Brilliant Round AGS 000 (Equivalent to ACA H&A from WF)
Clarity: VS
Color: G
Setting: No idea and still have tons to learn here
I have found a few diamonds that fall within these parameters on WF, JA, GOG, and BG Diamonds, but as I said, I am not yet ready to pull the trigger before I get more comfortable with a few concepts. Specifically:
1) I see most diamonds on the secondary market (especially those around 1.5 - 2.0c are ~I/SI. I would prefer to get a better than average quality diamond, but I wonder if it would be worth it go a little larger to say a ~1.8c diamond and compromise by finding an eye clean and relatively white I (possibly with some fluorescence).
2) There is a lot of talk about whether certain diamonds are true H&A or near H&A. Since there is no universal standard, it is hard to justify additional investment because it is labeled as a H&A diamond. I am curious to hear about some experiences people on this board have had and whether some feel it is worth spending the extra dough from a performance perspective or whether it is really just for bragging rights.
3) Lastly, it is more of a request than a question. As I have stated, my budget is ~$20K, but I am not dead set on spending that amount. I would be more than happy to spend less if I find a comparable used diamond for a fraction of the price and I would also be happy if I find a much better used diamond but yet stay within my full budget. I am huge on value and is one of the reasons I have given myself so much time to research. My request to the board members is if anyone sees anything on the secondary market that fits the criteria I just mentioned, I would really appreciate it if you could shoot me a message to let me know.
Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for everyone's help!
VIK1NG0