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Lightbox LGD vs More $ Vendors

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Nikksyny

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 11, 2021
Messages
41
Hi Everyone,

Why is there such a price difference between LightBox vs James Allen vs Adiamor and then a big jump for a LGD with Distinctive Gems? Does anyone think it's worth the much higher price tag at Distinctive Gems or seen the difference in person?

Thanks for all feedback!
 
Lightbook set the "floor" of pricing, so to speak, with their LB Basic line at $800/CT and the LB Finest $1500/ct.
The stones do not come with a certificate, and you do not get to choose the specific stone ahead of time. It's like a gumball machine: you get what you get. A description of the difference between the Basic and Finest line is here: https://lightboxjewelry.com/pages/our-quality.
Several members here have purchased multiple LB stones at the same for comparison and evaluation. They will keep the one with the best cut and return the others.

James Allen, Ritani, Adiamor, Frank Darling etc. are roughly on the same level in my mind. They have access to many of the same stones via virtual inventory. The same stone may be available on all sites, but listed at different prices. You can evaluate and select for a specific stone and the 4C's, ahead of time. Certified stones are available, and sometimes they offer searchability based on which lab graded the stone (GIA, IGI, AGS, GCAL, etc). You will be able to (virtually) evaluate the exact stone you want to purchase.

Different ring settings, site-specific "branded ideal cut" or H&A stones, customer service, return policies, and upgrade programs will set these vendors apart.

The super-ideal cut vendors have signature cuts that are specific to their brand. Brian Gavin, Whiteflash are the ones you'll see here named most often for US vendors, and Jann Paul in Asia). These vendors have an even smaller subset of stones with the highest precision cuts that are in house (not virtual) and only available through them. You will not find that exact stone on any other site.

Distinctive Gems also falls into the branded ideal cut grouping above, and is most well-known for the August Vintage line of antique style stones with optimized light performance. The OEC (AVR) and Cushion (AVC) have been Jonathan's signature cuts for a long time. He also offers H&A rounds. He recently has added more options to his branded cuts (antique emerald, antique asscher, pear, elyque oval, H&A oval, H&A square cushion, etc) with optimized light performance. DG is also offering custom cutting to-spec on LGD right now if you can wait for a custom cut stone.

If custom cutting is not in your timeline, then he also offers concierge services where he will assist in evaluating stones from some of the above mass market vendors for you to help choose the best one. In a similar fashion DG has a few "cherry picked" lab grown stones that are pre-vetted and in house. While not impossible to find these kinds of well cut stones yourself in the mass market vendors above, it is much harder than a round. For some, paying a bit more to a vendor that has done an the searching for you and eliminated the headache of blindly looking though stones on your own is worth a certain amount of premium. This is more useful for stones like pears, ovals, radiants that are notorious for bad cuts and much harder to evaluate than a round.

IMHO, if you're looking for a common stone (i.e. modern round brilliant) with a well-known "formula", then the market is flooded with many options and you can find well cut stones at any budget.

If you're looking for a niche cut that isn't available from many vendors, then you may need to pay more to get a nice stone that is well cut and avoid disappointment.

TL;DR: for MRB you can find lots of options without excessive markup premium. For specialty cut or niche stones, only you know the markup amount you're willing to pay to have someone find a perfectly cut stone for you, or have one custom cut.

ETA: Jann Paul white series also has non-round specialty cut stones with optimized light performance. It sounds like White series LGD are mostly being custom cut so the lead-time is longer to acquire one.

EDIT 2: typos fixed.
 
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Thought I should add my personal take: much to my boyfriend's dismay, who was already researching MRB's, I decided that I liked OECs after seeing a few side-by-side with MRBs in person. Since he only wanted to get a LGD, we ended up going with Jon to custom cut one for us. To us, the premium was worth it for the hard-to-find cut + ideal light performance. Currently (im)patiently waiting for it to one day arrive on my finger :pray:
 
I agree with emmy12. For a modern round, there's no reason not to go with cheapest vendor that offers graded diamonds (i.e. not Lightbox). Ritani has sometimes even beat Lightbox pricing. I usually look at Ritani for IGI stones and Frank Darling and Adiamor for GCAL 8x stones.
 
emmy12 said:
Thought I should add my personal take: much to my boyfriend's dismay, who was already researching MRB's, I decided that I liked OECs after seeing a few side-by-side with MRBs in person. Since he only wanted to get a LGD, we ended up going with Jon to custom cut one for us. To us, the premium was worth it for the hard-to-find cut + ideal light performance. Currently (im)patiently waiting for it to one day arrive on my finger :pray:
Click to expand...

This sounds so exciting, emmy12! I can't wait to see!
 
Wow, thank you so much for all the information! Much appreciated. I'm looking for a around 1.5 round brilliant. I saw that Distinctive Gems has a Private Reserve of LGD and the 1.56 is 5100K. Eeek. It looks beautiful, but other vendors offer similar for around 1200-1500K. James Allen a liitle more pricey, but not much. I'm glad you advised me because I was thinking I should go for the DG.
 
Nikksyny said:
Wow, thank you so much for all the information! Much appreciated. I'm looking for a around 1.5 round brilliant. I saw that Distinctive Gems has a Private Reserve of LGD and the 1.56 is 5100K. Eeek. It looks beautiful, but other vendors offer similar for around 1200-1500K. James Allen a liitle more pricey, but not much. I'm glad you advised me because I was thinking I should go for the DG.
Click to expand...

What do you think of these?

1.51 Carat Round Lab Grown Diamond F Color VS2 Clarity Ideal Cut | Ritani

1.51 Carat Round Lab Diamond ID Cut F Color VS2 Clarity with diamond report number IGI #LG537240806
www.ritani.com www.ritani.com

1.50 Carat Round Lab Grown Diamond E Color VS2 Clarity Ideal Cut | Ritani

1.5 Carat Round Lab Diamond ID Cut E Color VS2 Clarity with diamond report number IGI #LG478113889
www.ritani.com www.ritani.com
 
For a regular modern round cut there is no way I’d pay DG pricing. And I like him because he sold us my engagement diamond way back when. But his pricing for lab grown round ideal cut round stones is just ridiculous. There is nothing special about them that you can’t find yourself (with a little help from PS members).
 
Nikksyny said:
Hi...these look nice. What does type II treatment mean?
Click to expand...

Most natural diamonds are Type I, and most lab diamonds are Type II. Type IIa means it's devoid of boron and has no blue nuance. Type IIb means there is boron present and may display blue nuance. Since these reports only say Type II without specifying IIa or IIb, we need to look at the video to see if they have blue nuance. The videos for both of these stones show that they don't have blue nuance.
 
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