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Looking for 2.5 radiant...HEEELLPPP

R

radiantnewbie

Rough_Rock
Joined
Apr 1, 2015
Messages
5
My boyfriend and I recently decided to start looking at rings. I always loved my mom's rectangular radiant growing up and am pretty set on that shape. I've been snooping around here for a few days and I've realized that I am in WAY over my head on this. I've watched a few GOG videos and don't want to be stuck with a watery crushed ice radiant. I like a very brilliant radiant and would really like some larger facets mixed in with the smaller ones if possible. I do not like any radiants with princess cut facets.

We're looking to go as large as we can get in our 34k budget. That includes the setting, but I'm thinking of something fairly simple in platinum (not too expensive).

Specs I'd initially thought I wanted:

Size: im not hung up on carat weight as long as the spread and light return are great. I'd like to have something bigger (if possible on my budget) on its face than my mom's which measures: 8.3 X 6.8 X 4.7.
L/W ratio: 1.2-1.3 (from what I've read this will make my search that much harder because I'll need to go deeper in order to get the best light return, but I have these long, skinny fingers that are calling out for a rectangular stone!)
Color: D-G
Clarity: IF-VS2
Fluorescence: none
Cutlet: none
Polish/Symmetry: EX-VG on both


I'm going to be honest and tell you that neither of us has the slightest idea what we're doing, but we want to make sure that we get the best stone we can in our budget. Due to the size we're looking for, we have been looking exclusively at online vendors: James Allen, Whiteflash, Adiamor, GOG.

GOG doesn't have anything rectangular on their website in this price range. We are currently set to look at this stone at Adiamor tomorrow (long story, but we're in LA and Adiamor will let us view stones in person and was cheaper than JA by about 1k for the same stone).

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/2.51-carat-f-color-vs2-clarity-sku-300057

My only problem is that I now realize that I don't even know what I'm looking for in person because I just haven't seen enough radiants to know how brilliant the stone is (especially when it's not sitting next to a great stone to compare it to, like GOGs videos) and by bringing this stone to LA, I can't even ask JA for an ASET image, which from what I have read, is the best way to tell how much light return a stone has.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how they think the light return on this stone might be/whether this stone would give me the look I've described above?

ANY tips/suggestions/help/education is appreciated!!
 
If you tell GOG what you are looking for they will bring stones in to match your specs. Radiants are very difficult to buy.
Here is my* favorite radiant faceting pattern (this doesnt match your specs)...
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/4.00-carat-f-color-if-clarity-sku-23444

I would suggest you go with someone like GOG to make sure you get the best you can.

The stone you posted looks like it will have some mush but also some bigger flashes in the bow-tie area.
You can request 3 aset images from JA. An aset image will show you how well the stone is returning light.
Do they have 3 stones that you like?

What is your budget? We can take a look and see what they have that fits your specs/budget that might have decent light
return.

Edit...just saw $34k...i'll see what's out there...

These were the only other stones that I though looked interesting. They have some leakage but I thought they might give you
some small flash but also some bigger flashes. I had to drop down in size and color.
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/?CaratFrom=2.22&CaratTo=15.00&Color=G,F,E,D,H&PriceFrom=200&PriceTo=34000&Sort=Price%20asc,%20DefaultOrder&TabSelected=3&DiamondID=384442,217566,359879,432016
 
Hi Newbie!!

There's a huge issue in selecting radiant cuts, based on watching videos of someone who does not like radiant cuts.
The cut was invented by someone who had a specific look in mind.
Photographing, and taking videos of the type of look he designed is quite a different task than depicting stones cut for a different type of light return. Not better or worse, but different.

A well cut Radiant cut will have a lot of smaller sparkles.
Stones cut like round diamonds have fewer, larger sparkles.

Even ASET interpretation is totally different due to the different types of looks.

I strongly suggest getting to see stones in person.
Original Radiant Cut Diamonds can be seen at many different jewelry stores.
 
Thank you everyone!!

I actually went and viewed the stone I'd pulled today. It was totally different in person and I didn't love it as much as I hoped I would. :((

First, I learned that I am really sensitive to color, a G was really about as low as I think I'll go because everything else looked so yellow!

@Tyty333 - You were spot-on in calling the facets of that stone! The bow tie had much larger facets and the rest had much smaller sparkles. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of having the larger facets in the bow-tie arrangement. I think I prefer something where the larger facets are towards the middle of the stone or maybe more spread out throughout the stone. Not even sure what I should be looking for at this point!

I did email GOG tonight, so hopefully they can find something for me!

I actually really like the facet pattern you posted!!! I love how the larger facets are symmetrical around the center of the stone. Does that have a name/how would I go about finding a stone like that in my price range?

Sadly, James Allen really doesn't have a whole lot of good looking stones in my budget and color preference (I appreciate the honesty of the rep that I chatted with last night. He told me that I could do better and to be patient).

@RockDiamond - do you know of anywhere in the LA area that would carry stones of this size that I could see in person?
 
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