Looking for a little help with diamond selection

[cjpete]

I'm completely new to all this but I've been trying to read as much as I can about diamonds to make sure that I can make at least a somewhat informed choice.

I'm still not completely confident that I know what I'm doing so I was wondering if any of you would be so kind as to give me some input on stone selection.

Here is the ring that she wants.

Since she already "hinted" at what setting she wanted it makes my choice easier but I'm still a little indecisive about solitaire selection. Right now I'm looking at this, this, this, this and this. I'm also open to any suggestions. Since the setting she wants is from BN, I figured I'd stick to getting everything from them. I'm aware that they are sometimes a bit overpriced compared to some of the others, but I'm fine with that. Also, due to the setting, we're limited to the size that we can get so I think that makes it a bit simpler.

Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated, and I thank you in advance. My head hurts from reading up on this stuff so much.

 

[JulieN]

You have to sort through Blue Nile's Signature princesses or their AGS 0 princesses. To find them on the PS database, check "in-house" which will pull up the Signature. "All" and "AGS" will pull up the AGS graded ones.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

In one way this is easy since you know the exact settings she wants, but BN is the worst place to buy a princess cut diamond because they don't provide pictures of the stone or idealscope or ASET images to show the light return. BN prices are not higher, but they make it very risky to buy a stone blind. If they have an AGS Ideal cut princess, that is your best bet. Otherwise, I would be very hesitant to buy a diamond blind and have it set in a setting.

I just did a search for 1.5-1.6 signature stones, G-H VS1-2. I do not see any signature stones that are AGS Ideal cut. So I am going to post an example of an AGS Ideal cut princess so you can compare the numbers (%) on the BN stones to the ideal cut one. For example, some of the ones you linked had huge tables. The WhiteFlash stone has a 65% table. I'd stay under 70%.

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut-loose-diamond-2774476.htm

(I had my posting screen up while Julie posted. Good idea to use the PS search to see if there are any AGS Ideal cuts.)

 

[cjpete]

Okay, so if I understand correctly, I should try to stick to AGS or at the very least BN's "Signature Ideal Cut"? So anything that has "Very Good" for cut should be removed from the choices? I apologize for my ignorance. I'm still very green at all this. I'm finding it quiet interesting though. How about the color and clarity? I was thinking nothing lower than H for color and VSI1 for clarity. From what I've read up so far, it seems like that is kind of a sweet spot for price/quality. I'm not sure though... So very confused.

 

[cjpete]

Oh, and about the table %, is the under 70% rule due to the light reflection? Looking at BN, they don't have many that fall in that % for that size in pretty much any price range.

 

[JulieN]

Try to keep it under 73.