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Looking for 1ct + round engagement stone

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RobBob

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 3, 2003
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I am in the market for a round stone that is in the 1ct range, VS inclusions or better and a clarity of G or better. I am looking to spend in the neighborhood of $3,500 - $4,000 for the stone. I do live in NY an I can be in the Diamond district in about an hour, any suggestions on shops to try down on 47th or perhaps recommend an on-line site that may be able to accomodate what I am looking for. I would love to get a great quality stone and I feel I should be able to get a beutiful stone in this price range. I was shown a nice diamond at a local shop for $3,800 but I didn''t want to jump on the first stone I was shown. Thanks in advance for your help!!!
 
The only advice that I can give you is to really look into the cut of the diamond as priority.
It can have excellent color and clarity, etc, but if the cut is not great then it will lack what
we love about the diamond, its sparkle. I am only giving you this advice, because the first time around, I did not give it enough attention and I was dissapointed. Good luck to you.
FYI, the clarity would be VS inclusions and the color grade is G.
 
In that price range you would only be able to get a very poorly cut G VS1(2). A well cut diamond will appear larger than it actually is, and will look a whole lot nicer.

It sounds like goodoldgold is in your vicinity. You might stop by and check out some stones they have like this 0.83ct G S1 or this 0.82ct G s1.
 
Yeah--I'd check the spread (width) and see what size it "really" is. 6.5mm is the neighborhood of a well cut 1ct.

6.15-6.25mm is a good .85-.9 ct. and crappy 1ct.

I was looking for the same thing--every time I saw a cheap 1ct it priced that way for a reason. Also make sure the cert house I have found out that GIA/AGS are tier 1 and EGL is tier 2. Most venders will tell you outright that EGL can be 1 grade lower on color and clarity. Not that you shouldn't buy an EGL just be wary that an VS2/G might really be a SI1/H (GIA).

I am buying an awesome .87 ct (sending the check Sat.) instead of a so-so or crappy 1 ct. The spread on this one is 6.2 mm, VS2 / H (GIA) $3500

What I found is that get what you pay for (mostly). The price is the price for a reason.
 
RJ;

I recommend you stick with either a GIA or AGS Report.
Their accuracy and reliability is the best in the industry.

If you come down here to NY's 47th Street, there are very few
jewelers in the exchanges that will show you the
amount of data that is available over the internet.

Good Luck.

Barry
www.superbcert.com
 
I like Spyders comment
If goodoldgold is close, that would be a safe bet for a good looking stone.

Wayne
 
A well cut diamond will look bigger for two reasons:

1. Poorly cut diamonds are often too deep which means their face diameter is less than it proportionally should be

2. A well cut diamond will sparkle even at its outer edges, which makes it be perceived as bigger in size

Hope you find a nice stone
 
If you are shopping in person then getcha self a $25 ideal-scope and $5 callibration ideal cut CZ and take out the guess work and confusion caused by different lighting. If you are really serious get the new super dooper model with the lighting control dome.

Everyone else here has given yu good advice
1.gif
 
I think you are going to have to compromise in one or more areas. You're not going to find a well cut, G, VS2, 1 carat diamond for $4000.

Here are some examples:

Going down on clarity and carat weight: http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=1524538

Going down on color, clarity, and carat weight (this diamond scores a 0.6 on the HCA and has a diameter similar to the stone above even though it's 0.07 points lighter):
http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=1599176

Going down on clarity:
http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=1586624

Going down on cut quality (but fitting your specifications):
http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=1438358

increasing your budget bigtime:
http://www.superbcert.com/products/index.cfm?Product_ID=135&Product_Subcategory_ID=3&Product_Category_ID=3&Product_Group_ID=1

going down on color and carat weight:
http://www.superbcert.com/products/index.cfm?Product_ID=502&Product_Subcategory_ID=2&Product_Category_ID=3&Product_Group_ID=1
http://www.superbcert.com/products/index.cfm?Product_ID=441&Product_Subcategory_ID=2&Product_Category_ID=3&Product_Group_ID=1

The point is, if you found a 1ct., G, VS2 diamond in your price range, it had a poor cut or it wasn't necessarily G VS2. If you do your homework, you'll be able to find something very nice in your price range, but I would recommend making cut a priority as well. Going down one color and clarity grade to do so won't make much of a difference visually, but improving the cut dramatically will.
 
Here are a few more diamonds that you might want to check out. I also think that you are going to have to come down in color, clarity or carat size. My advice would be to drop below the magic (read costly) 1.0 ct mark and drop one grade in either color or clarity.

http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=1612226 (1.01 H, SI1, GIA cert, $4015)

http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=1331353 (.98 G, SI1, GIA cert, $4049)

http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=1568025 (.96 H, VS2, GIA cert, $3939)

All of the above have the are potentially good cuts. If you are interested in any of them, give them a call/email and ask if they have a sarin report.

Good luck.
 
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