Looking for thoughts on a cushion cut stone

[garcia.kg944]

Hello there!

So I am narrowing down my choices for a cushion cut stone and wanted to get people's opinion on a couple.

I went to a couple of highly respected jewelers in Portland and quickly found that most places don't carry a large selection. Ended up going to both jewelers multiple times, as I was basically getting course in diamond terminology and refining my criteria which ended up being the following:

Shape - Cushion
Size - At least .85 carets due to my GF really liking the Halo setting and cushion having such a small face.
Price -Less than $4k for the diamond itself.

So after talking with one of the jewelers we narrowed it down to the following two stones

Price 3600
Size 1.0
Color D
Clarity SI2
Depth 65.1
Table 62
Polish Excellent
Symmetry - Very Good
Fluorescence - Strong Blue
GIA Report http://www.gia.edu/cs/Satellite?rep...ename=GIA/Dispatcher&c=Page&cid=1355954554547
Notes - The jeweler said that the stone had no cloudiness or oiliness that sometimes affects Strong Blue diamonds. Also he thought that the stone really should have been rated similarly as the the second stone which is described below.

Price 3800
Size 1.01
Color F
Clarity SI1
Depth 67.6
Table 63
Polish Excellent
Symmetry - Very Good
Fluorescence - Medium Blue
GIA Report http://www.gia.edu/cs/Satellite?rep...ename=GIA/Dispatcher&c=Page&cid=1355954554547

Overall the jeweler thought that I should go with the first option due to being colorless, cheaper, and not showing any negative effects of the fluorescence. What do you guys think? I looked around online and didn't see anything that seemed like a significantly better deal than this.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Niel]

Cant tell if these diamond perform well without photos, at least.

 

[garcia.kg944]

Cant tell if these diamond perform well without photos, at least.

Unfortunately I don't have a DSLR camera so I would have to make due with my cell phone (iphone 6). Would that help at all and if so, any particular views that would be useful?

 

[tyty333]

Are these stones eye-clean?

Can you get aset images to check on the light return?

The cut is the most important factor. If they are not well cut they wont return light like they should.

 

[garcia.kg944]

Are these stones eye-clean?

Can you get aset images to check on the light return?

The cut is the most important factor. If they are not well cut they wont return light like they should.

From my untrained eye they look pretty clean, but that probably doesn't mean much.

Do jewelers typically have ASET images on hand? Pacific Gem labs is one floor down so I don't think there would be much of a problem getting one.

 

[Niel]

Are these stones eye-clean?

Can you get aset images to check on the light return?

The cut is the most important factor. If they are not well cut they wont return light like they should.

From my untrained eye they look pretty clean, but that probably doesn't mean much.

Do jewelers typically have ASET images on hand?

Pretty clean? So when you look at it can you see the inclusions to the naked eye

 

[garcia.kg944]

So just to follow up.... I called the one Jeweler and asked about an ASET and never got a call back which is unfortunate cause they had previously provided pretty good service the previous two times I had went there. This meant I went back to the other diamond store I had really liked and had a good conversation with the owner and he found a nice (potentially) too high of clarity for my desired price range. I asked him about the ASET as well and he completely dismissed the notion saying no one really uses that in the industry (which very well could be true for B&M jewelers)

Here is specs and a picture of GIA Report.

$4,500
VVS2
H
1.08 Carat
Polish - Excellent
Faint Fluorescence

Anyone have suggestions on how to take a good diamond pictures with an Iphone (if that's even possible)? I don't completely trust my judgment when looking at them.

In addition to this, I've started looking at James Allen and also found a couple ones that caught my eye.

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.05-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-481828
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.02-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-sku-355419

 

[Niel]

All my photos are taken with my phone, so it is possible, though I dont use iPhone. Use an app that will let you switch your camera to macro. I Think I phones are suppose to do it on their own, but if you use camera+ or something I'd use that. Take the diamond somewhere with defused natural lighting. If you could do it under a tree that's great but they probably won't let you tale it outside so try and take it to a windowsill. Take the photo maybe 6-8 inches away, it being a clear photo is most important. Dont use zoom. After the photo is taken, then crop it. The cropping will zoom it in for you.