Methodology for Rock Newbies

[rock_no0b]

Hi all, I've been reading a bit, and have been looking through GOG (goodoldgold.com) and WF (whiteflash.com) - spelling it out for other new folks as I had to decipher a bit.

I'm curious to see what other folks look at, and the order they look at to begin weeding out diamonds. My budget is 15K-17K for a round diamond; and my main focus is to have the diamond have high sparkle - I want her to be able to send SOS signals from a parking lot.

That said, I've been looking at the two sites which have tons of info such as ASET, IdealScope, BrilliantScope, DiamondXray, AGS PGS, Isee2, Megascope ... its quite intimidating.

What do you guys generally look at first?

My ideal criteria:
1.4-1.5 carat
I-F color (let me know your thoughts on whether I is still "yellow" esp for a brilliant/firey rock)
SI1+ (anything eye clean is fine)

So far with ASETs I've been looking at pieces that are symmetrical, mostly red, some blue, little greens, and very little whites/blacks. I'm sure theres much more to this hence I would love to see how you other pros think/filter out rocks.

Cheers,

 

[Gypsy]

I would stick to an AGS 0 hearts and arrows stone from Good Old Gold, Brian Gavin, Infinity (sold through High Performance Diamonds). If you stick to their in house stones in their signature lines with Hearts and Arrows you will really only need to look at the color and clarity and size that suits your budget. The AGS 0 combined with the precision hearts and arrows cutting will have already weeded out duds. All you need to do from there is pick the right stone for you.

Here are three stones that meet this criteria that fit your budget and would be great choices.

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/8216/ Bankwire price is 16,600
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/8892/ Bankwire price is 16,146
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.497-h-si1-round-diamond-ags-104055873015 Bankwire price is 13,716

Any of these would be a great stone. What are you looking for in a setting? That may help you decide on a vendor as different vendors carry different lines and have different abilities when it comes to custom work.

 

[yssie]

What shape are you looking for? Given the two vendors you've named I assume either RB or princess?

GOG and WF (and BGD, and Infinity stones, available online from HPD or www.niceice.com as well) are all good, reputable places to search for an in-house stone. Another vendor is www.jamesallen.com , lower pricepoints but you'll need to be more careful about weeding through inventory and the stones come with less generous upgrade/buyback/etc. policies. Both GOG and WF carry H&A and non-H&A RBs in-house, depending on what you're looking for (you can do a PS search on H&A to read more if you want, you'll get lots of links)

An I in the size you're looking at will not be "yellow"/"dingy"/"musty"/anything like that. It won't be *icy* white like an F, though - the difference between an I and an F would be visible if you had two 1.5caraters side by side.

Is the budget for the stone alone, or setting as well? If the latter what sort of setting are you thinking about (ie. how much of the total budget will that take?)

some other things to consider:
-Does one vendor have the setting you want? Better to buy both stone and setting from the same vendor if possible, avoids liability issues and costs & hassles of shipping, setting fees, insuring for shipping and setting...
-Is one vendor local? If so that's a fantastic opportunity to see the stones you're considering - definitely something to take advantage of!
-Do you think you would take advantage of an upgrade policy in the future? If so you'll want to choose a vendor/brand with a generous upgrade policy.

 

[Gypsy]

Yssie, he's looking for a RB of 1.5 carats eyeclean, ideal cut, and I color or better

 

[yssie]

Yssie, he's looking for a RB of 1.5 carats eyeclean, ideal cut, and I color or better

Oops. Second paragraph.

Okay, so remove 'princess' references from my post and continue

 

[TristanC]

I would look at GOG's (since you deciphered it already ) August Vintage Rounds (for huge chunky bling to send SOS signals with), or the Solasferas for ridiculously sparkly continous fire bling. I'm personally a huge Solasfera fan, but I'm only judging based on videos that I've seen by Rhino so that's my caveat.

I think an I and an F are different colours, and would be noticeable. It would be hard to say how colour sensitive you are, and it varies very very much by individual. Many on these threads say how much they prefer stones in the H-I colour ranges as they prefer the slightly warmer tones. I personally prefer E/F stones. D's cost even more but I can't tell the diff no matter how much I try to convince myself that I can.

If you decide not to get either the Solasfera or the August Vintage, then any AGS triple 0 would be excellent for light return, just a matter of finding an eyeclean one that maximises the attribute you want. Closer to H for whiteness, closer to I for size.