Hi,
I have done some further research following my post a few days ago, and I'm actually finding this all very interesting and exciting. Still a novice - but a happy one!
I am now seriously contemplating A Cut Above stone from Whiteflash for an engagement ring. (Lesley at Whiteflash has been great so far!). I have a dilemma over colour and clarity specs.
Basically I want a stone which looks as close to perfect as possible *to the naked eye* (when it's set in the engagement ring), even on prolonged close up inspection, with max. fire / brilliance, but I am not particularly bothered about what someone would see if examnining the stone alone (i.e. out of setting) with a 10x loupe or greater.
In terms of clarity, is it worth going above an SI1 on that basis (i.e. can you tell the difference with the naked eye between an SI1 and anything above it? If so, what is the lowest grade (VS2?) above that when you *definitely* won't be able to see anything with the naked eye?)
Moving on to colour, I'm probably going for a white gold engagement ring. I've read that if the stone is to be set in white gold you should not go lower than a G, as "off" colour in an H or lower will show up because of the white gold metal - is this correct in people's experiences? (I've also read that H is fine, so I guess I just want as many opinions as possible). Is G a high enough colour grade, or would F (or even E) make a noticeable difference to the naked eye (when the stone is in its setting)?
Brilliance / fire is definitely my priority, but once I have that sorted in terms of what the stone will look like on her finger I want to maximise the carat weight, so I'm basically trying to get people's views of the trade-off between colour and clarity I should be making to get a stone that looks great (alive?) to the naked eye, work out what the lowest colour and clarity grades are which will still definitely give me that, and then use the rest of my budget to increase carat weight.
In summary, I guess I'm looking for what could be called the perfect colour / clarity "NAKED EYE CUT OFF POINT", i.e. perfection to the naked eye at the lowest colour / clarity spec needed to guarantee that is achieved. I have not come across an accepted term for this, but if there is one, apologies for not using it!
Any thoughts / advice / comments gratefully received. Cheers.
Claude
I have done some further research following my post a few days ago, and I'm actually finding this all very interesting and exciting. Still a novice - but a happy one!
I am now seriously contemplating A Cut Above stone from Whiteflash for an engagement ring. (Lesley at Whiteflash has been great so far!). I have a dilemma over colour and clarity specs.
Basically I want a stone which looks as close to perfect as possible *to the naked eye* (when it's set in the engagement ring), even on prolonged close up inspection, with max. fire / brilliance, but I am not particularly bothered about what someone would see if examnining the stone alone (i.e. out of setting) with a 10x loupe or greater.
In terms of clarity, is it worth going above an SI1 on that basis (i.e. can you tell the difference with the naked eye between an SI1 and anything above it? If so, what is the lowest grade (VS2?) above that when you *definitely* won't be able to see anything with the naked eye?)
Moving on to colour, I'm probably going for a white gold engagement ring. I've read that if the stone is to be set in white gold you should not go lower than a G, as "off" colour in an H or lower will show up because of the white gold metal - is this correct in people's experiences? (I've also read that H is fine, so I guess I just want as many opinions as possible). Is G a high enough colour grade, or would F (or even E) make a noticeable difference to the naked eye (when the stone is in its setting)?
Brilliance / fire is definitely my priority, but once I have that sorted in terms of what the stone will look like on her finger I want to maximise the carat weight, so I'm basically trying to get people's views of the trade-off between colour and clarity I should be making to get a stone that looks great (alive?) to the naked eye, work out what the lowest colour and clarity grades are which will still definitely give me that, and then use the rest of my budget to increase carat weight.
In summary, I guess I'm looking for what could be called the perfect colour / clarity "NAKED EYE CUT OFF POINT", i.e. perfection to the naked eye at the lowest colour / clarity spec needed to guarantee that is achieved. I have not come across an accepted term for this, but if there is one, apologies for not using it!
Any thoughts / advice / comments gratefully received. Cheers.
Claude