Hi all - My fiance proposed to me with a ring he picked out, a 1.5ct princess G (GIA) in a bezel setting. I had a lot of guilt/stress over this but decided I wanted a ring more my style, which my fiance was very nice about. After a lot of searching, I picked out a stunning Gelin Abaci tension ring (http://www.gelinabaci.com/html/product_detail.php?id=438), which my fiance loves too. For the new round stone to go with it, we wanted something equivalent to my original one to keep the cost in line, plus the new setting was pretty expensive. So I looked at Gs & Hs, figuring they are the same color I had before, and my previous stone looked very white. Since I couldn't tell the difference in color between a G & H when looking at the loose stones, I went with H. The final stone is 1.28ct H SI1 excellent cut round (GIA), which is similar to the original ring except in shape.
The process of picking out a diamond was uncomfortable for me; it involved so much money. I was trying to keep the cost roughly in line with the original stone, and I don't believe in paying extra for things you can't see. The sales person was telling me weird things like the SI1 I was leaning towards was "almost a flawless stone, maybe in 1000 years it will become flawless" and "no one can tell the difference between an excellent cut and a good cut". I realized I wasn't going to get good advice from him and felt on my own to pick out something that felt almost arbitrary among the choices I had as I couldn't visually see much difference. The sales person didn't mention any considerations about what kind of stone would look best in the setting I picked out - and it is an unusual setting with certain aspects that make it different from other settings.
So I selected the 1.28ct H excellent cut round and the setting in 14k white gold, and it's sent off to Gelin Abaci to be made. When we pick up the ring in the store, my heart sinks because the stone color looks like a dingy yellow. The setting is gorgeous though. So everyone is looking at me, and what can I say but the ring is beautiful? And it is, except for the stone color. I held up the original G color ring and the color difference was startling.
After some more time with the ring, thinking and research, here is what I've learned. My stone looks white-ish about 50% of the time. The other 50% it has that dingy off-color slight yellow. (Depends on where I am, the angle of the ring, etc.) When it's white looking it's beautiful. I'm thinking maybe the bezel on the original ring made that stone look really white? And that that my tension setting is type of setting that would show off any yellow color the most, since the stone is basically just "hanging" there out in the open, and it has very little metal around it to make it look whiter. (You can see all the way to the point from both front & back). Since it's round shape, excellent cut and GIA graded, in theory it should look as white as an H can possibly look. I read a lot of posts about color and I know H is considered decent, acceptable color as it's near colorless. And that stones look whiter when set, which maybe is only true for prong & bezel settings? And I don't care if holding up a D color next to it makes it look yellow since I won't be doing that - but I do want it to look good on its own the majority of the time.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. It's been such a long road to get here from the original ring. Do I go through the ordeal of trying to get a different stone, which means remaking the setting and paying more for that and a stone? I worry my fiance and the store will be fed up with me and think I'm a terrible person for this. Would I have to go up to an F to see a difference, and is it going to be enough of a difference or do all diamonds look off-color part of the time? And how much more would an F cost - looking online the prices vary so much I can't even figure it out, but the F's don't look that much more expensive from what I can tell. Or do I just accept this stone, which half the time looks good. I have to decide quickly, as I can't go through another paying-tax-twice scenario (for anyone who saw my previous post).
Thanks so much for your feedback on this. Getting an engagement ring should be a wonderful thing and I feel like mine has been a more stressful path.
The process of picking out a diamond was uncomfortable for me; it involved so much money. I was trying to keep the cost roughly in line with the original stone, and I don't believe in paying extra for things you can't see. The sales person was telling me weird things like the SI1 I was leaning towards was "almost a flawless stone, maybe in 1000 years it will become flawless" and "no one can tell the difference between an excellent cut and a good cut". I realized I wasn't going to get good advice from him and felt on my own to pick out something that felt almost arbitrary among the choices I had as I couldn't visually see much difference. The sales person didn't mention any considerations about what kind of stone would look best in the setting I picked out - and it is an unusual setting with certain aspects that make it different from other settings.
So I selected the 1.28ct H excellent cut round and the setting in 14k white gold, and it's sent off to Gelin Abaci to be made. When we pick up the ring in the store, my heart sinks because the stone color looks like a dingy yellow. The setting is gorgeous though. So everyone is looking at me, and what can I say but the ring is beautiful? And it is, except for the stone color. I held up the original G color ring and the color difference was startling.
After some more time with the ring, thinking and research, here is what I've learned. My stone looks white-ish about 50% of the time. The other 50% it has that dingy off-color slight yellow. (Depends on where I am, the angle of the ring, etc.) When it's white looking it's beautiful. I'm thinking maybe the bezel on the original ring made that stone look really white? And that that my tension setting is type of setting that would show off any yellow color the most, since the stone is basically just "hanging" there out in the open, and it has very little metal around it to make it look whiter. (You can see all the way to the point from both front & back). Since it's round shape, excellent cut and GIA graded, in theory it should look as white as an H can possibly look. I read a lot of posts about color and I know H is considered decent, acceptable color as it's near colorless. And that stones look whiter when set, which maybe is only true for prong & bezel settings? And I don't care if holding up a D color next to it makes it look yellow since I won't be doing that - but I do want it to look good on its own the majority of the time.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. It's been such a long road to get here from the original ring. Do I go through the ordeal of trying to get a different stone, which means remaking the setting and paying more for that and a stone? I worry my fiance and the store will be fed up with me and think I'm a terrible person for this. Would I have to go up to an F to see a difference, and is it going to be enough of a difference or do all diamonds look off-color part of the time? And how much more would an F cost - looking online the prices vary so much I can't even figure it out, but the F's don't look that much more expensive from what I can tell. Or do I just accept this stone, which half the time looks good. I have to decide quickly, as I can't go through another paying-tax-twice scenario (for anyone who saw my previous post).
Thanks so much for your feedback on this. Getting an engagement ring should be a wonderful thing and I feel like mine has been a more stressful path.
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what does the GIA cert say on fluor?
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