Is it too expensive?

[Abby2013]

Hello,

My wedding is in April. My fiance and I still keep looking for a diamond. We need some thoughts about this diamond. In term of the price, it is more expensive than B2C. However, it is tough to get the ideal scope or ASET reports from B2C. So, we might end up buying this diamond from jamesallen since jamesallen has the setting that we are looking for, but there are not many diamond choices. Any thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated.


0.77 Carat H-IF True HeartsTM Ideal Diamond / SKU: 178799


http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.77-carat-H-color-IF-clarity-Ideal-cut-sku-178799

Thank you

 

[SMC]

Hello,

My wedding is in April. My fiance and I still keep looking for a diamond. We need some thoughts about this diamond. In term of the price, it is more expensive than B2C. However, it is tough to get the ideal scope or ASET reports from B2C. So, we might end up buying this diamond from jamesallen since jamesallen has the setting that we are looking for, but there are not many diamond choices. Any thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated.


0.77 Carat H-IF True HeartsTM Ideal Diamond / SKU: 178799


http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.77-carat-H-color-IF-clarity-Ideal-cut-sku-178799

Thank you

I think you are paying for the IF clarity in this case. How important is H&A to you? Would it be ok if you went down in clarity as long as it's eye clean? You can get a bigger diamond if you go down in clarity and/or give up the H&A.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Truly, I would not pay for H IF. You can go to a larger stone in H VS1 or VS2, or you can go to G VS1 or VS2 and go up a color grade. I have looked through the G and H VS stones and am not finding one I love. Can you show me what setting it is that you like to see if we can find one like it at another vendor who might have a better diamond?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Here are several Hearts and Arrows stones that I would rather have over that one:

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2898160.htm ($4751 with pricescope/wire discounts)

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2812714.htm ($4884 ")

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2896299.htm ($4896 ")

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2896302.htm ($4252 ")

And for what it's worth, I think WF has better quality settings if they have a similar style or can make one like you want.

 

[Abby2013]

Thank you all for your responses.

@ Sortmon – I can go down in clarity, but I have no knowledge about clarity characteristics. For example, crystal, feather, needle, graining etc that are reported in GIA grading report. Which clarity characteristic (crystal, feather, needle, graining, etc) that I should not buy/avoid? Which one is bad to worst?

I read a lot of websites. I know that if I choose pinpoint for clarity characteristics, I won’t see it by naked eyes.

How important is H&A to you? I did a research on the internet. It is good to have H&A, when you look at a diamond in term of the optical brilliance analysis & optical symmetry analysis. If a diamond is H&A, it will give excellent brilliance. Please correct me if I misunderstand something.

My fiancée and I have a budget around $6,000. My size ring is 4.25. Definitely, a little skinny band width setting looks great on my finger.

@ diamondseeker2006 --I am looking for a pave halo setting that has a skinny band width setting.

I found at 2 websites: Jamesallens costs $1,450 and Bluenile costs $1,800. So, I have around $4,200-$4,550 left to spend with a diamond.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/engagement-rings/halo/platinum-pave-halo-and-shank-diamond-engagement-ring-round-center-item-6804

http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-halo-engagement-ring-platinum_38563

@ diamondseeker2006 - What are your thoughts about diamonds at bluenile? I got your links and I will check them out. Thank you

 

[SMC]

I think most of the people on this forum stay away from Blue Nile because you can't get pictures of the diamonds. You can get pictures for the diamonds from almost all the other preferred vendor sites which is good because then you can truly judge if it's really eyeclean. The vendors will also give you Idealscopes of the diamonds so you can judge the light performance as well. The best deal would be an eye clean SI2 which, though rare, does exist. There are, however, plenty of eye clean SI1s so you can get a larger diamond for the same budget. There are no general clarity characteristics to avoid, it just depends on whether the characteristic is visible to the eye and where it's located.

I think H&A is a mind thing for some people who want the best of the best. Your eyes will likely not be able to tell the difference between an H&A diamond and other AGS000 diamonds or lots of GIA XXX diamonds. Light performance is better judged from the Idealscopes, not from whether a diamond is H&A.

I recommend buying from the following sites:
1. James Allen - You can put 3 diamonds on hold and request Idealscopes for all of them. Their gemologist will also get back to you on the stones' light performance and eye cleanness.

2. BGD - All the info you need is provided with each BGD Signature H&A or BGD Blue stone

3. Whiteflash ACA

4. GOG - I'm not familiar with this site, but I know you can get pictures

5. IDJ - You can request pictures of diamonds and you can also get Yekutiel to pull stones for you in your budget (I read you need to ask for "Pricescope quality diamonds")

6. B2C - They are a drop shipper but they will provide Idealscopes if you ask

 

[CharmyPoo]

Honestly, you should be fine with VS2 and above for clarity. You will likely never see the inclusions with the naked eye and many don't even find any with a loupe. I am not a fan of features as I find feathers are the most obvious to me and I often see feathers in VS2 that make them not eye clean for me.

 

[Abby2013]

@ Sortman & @ CharmyPoo– Thanks for your suggestions and comments

 

[Dreamer_D]

Honestly, you should be fine with VS2 and above for clarity. You will likely never see the inclusions with the naked eye and many don't even find any with a loupe. I am not a fan of features as I find feathers are the most obvious to me and I often see feathers in VS2 that make them not eye clean for me.

Ditto except the feathers part because I think I can't generalize like that. But VS2 is safe in an under-1ct diamond in my opinion.

 

[04diamond<3]

I like this one more than the others recommended. Assuming of course it's 100% eye clean.

http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.79-carat-D-color-SI2-clarity-Ideal-cut-sku-164411