Need advice on 1.5 ct stone

[Mike94301]

I am new to this site and to the world of diamonds, and am in the market for a 1.5 ct round cut stone. Based on the excellent information I was able to gain from this site, I have found the following diamond on Bluenile:

1.52 ct, F, SI1, Table 56%, Depth 61.6%, Crown 35.5, Paviliion 40.6. The stone is priced at $12,452 and scored a 1.3 on this site''s HCA. Here is the link to the stone: http://www.bluenile.com/diamonds_details.asp?pid=LD01308302&keyword_search_value=LD01308302

I am looking for advice as to whether this stone represents a good value, if I should be looking elsewhere, or if there are factors that I am not considering. Also, I would appreciate any suggestions on what I should be doing to verify the quality of the stone once I receive it (and within my 30 day return window).

Any and all feedback/questions are welcome.

Mike

 

[dmus]

I bought a AGS000 1.5 rb G SI1 from BN and was very happy. In fact I am finding that I probably would prefer an F or E now. The icier the better. Make sure its eyeclean.

The crown angle is high. this might impact performance but the pav angle of 40.6 might compliment it well. However, I''m not an expert and someone like strmrdr or Ellen might help there. Your only problem is BN doesn''t provide idealscopes or ASET pictures so you''d have to give it a try and return if the light performance isn''t what you were expecting. Good luck.

 

[Mike94301]

Dave -- thanks -- I have been told by BN that the stone is eyeclean.

 

[Kaleigh]

Did you purchase it? It says it's no longer available. Looks great to me. You can always take it to an independant appraiser to have it gone over within the 30 day time period.

 

[Mike94301]

Yes -- it will be delivered Thursday, but I will use their 30 day return policy if I can find a better value or if the stone is not as advertised.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 4/14/2008 9:36:39 PM
Author: Mike94301
Yes -- it will be delivered Thursday, but I will use their 30 day return policy if I can find a better value or if the stone is not as advertised.

I think you''ll be very pleased, take some pics for us!!

 

[Mike94301]

Thanks and I will definitely post some pics on Thurs.

I welcome any other comments/questions in the meantime.

Mike

 

[Mike94301]

OK -- I got the ring -- pictures are as follows -- I would like opinions on the inclusion. The first three pictures are my attempts at showing the inclusion (it is right in the center of the stone). The last two are of the stone in sunlight.

Let me know what you folks think -- I still have 30 days to return it...picture 1 attached

 

[Mike94301]

Picture 2

 

[Mike94301]

Picture 3

 

[Mike94301]

Picture 4

 

[Mike94301]

Picture 5

 

[JulieN]

looks nice to me.

 

[purrfectpear]

If that''s a carbon spot in pic three, and if you can see it with your eyes, I wouldn''t spend $12K on it. Only you can decide if it makes your heart sing.

 

[rogeshoe57]

Looks like a nice diamond! Seems like a decent price. If you like how it looks then keep it. I bought a F SI1 1.37 and its super white and icey. I couldn't find inclusions with my untrained eye. I could only see it with a 10x loop.

 

[Mike94301]

Date: 4/17/2008 9:54:08 PM
Author: purrfectpear
If that''s a carbon spot in pic three, and if you can see it with your eyes, I wouldn''t spend $12K on it. Only you can decide if it makes your heart sing.

Yes that is an inclusion. I cannot see it if I look straight down at the top of the stone (see pics 1 and 2 -- it is barely visible just below the center of the stone) but I can clearly see it if I look at the stone from the side (i.e. eyes on the plane of the girdle).

I don''t have that much experience with diamonds -- should I be looking for a better SI1 out there or is this as good an S1 as I am going to get?

Appreciate any feedback.

Mike

 

[rogeshoe57]

The price of the diamond seems like a pretty good deal. If you can''t really see the inclusions then I wouldn''t worry about it. You need to judge yourself to see if you are happy with the diamond. If you got hesitations then possibly return and get another one. The inclusions aren''t bad for an SI1. The best inclusion areas usually ones that people prefer are ones that aren''t on the table. But those aren''t easy to find that are SI1.

 

[Mike94301]

Date: 4/17/2008 10:57:11 PM
Author: rogeshoe57
The price of the diamond seems like a pretty good deal. If you can''t really see the inclusions then I wouldn''t worry about it. You need to judge yourself to see if you are happy with the diamond. If you got hesitations then possibly return and get another one. The inclusions aren''t bad for an SI1. The best inclusion areas usually ones that people prefer are ones that aren''t on the table. But those aren''t easy to find that are SI1.

Thanks for the feedback -- I am happy with the way the diamond looks but I want to make sure that I am getting an ok price. I have an appointment with an independent appraiser next Friday to have the color and cut verified (idealscope, etc.). If that checks out I will keep the diamond.

 

[Mike94301]

Some additional background on why I am going with this type of stone: my girlfriend''s family has several (about 10) diamonds that have been in the family for several generations, and I have been told by several of her family members that they are "investment grade". Not sure exactly what that means, but from what I am told about them they are supposedly of excellent quality.

The problem that I have is that my girlfriend''s sister-in-law has one of these rocks as the centerpiece of her engagement ring, and I have not seen it up close to know what I am dealing with. The only thing I do know is that about three seconds after I propose she is going to do a side-by-side with her sister-in-law''s ring to compare.

The last thing I want to have to deal with is to get my girlfriend a diamond that is noticeably different that the family diamond, so I figure that if I go with an ideal cut, F color, SI1 stone it will stand up to (and may even look better than) the family diamond.

I would have been comfortable going with a G color stone, but I just don''t feel that I can risk it.

 

[rogeshoe57]

You should be good, yours will probably look better than the sister in laws I got a 1.37 F SI1 with H&A from GOG a week ago. It looks awesome in the sun and icey white in low light. I am planning on proposing next week in Hawaii. I need to ask her parents this weekend. Best of luck to you.

 

[Pandora II]

Personally the inclusion would bug me a lot, but I'm very eagle-eyed.

For the price, I'd probably keep looking.

ETA: I don't believe there is any such thing as an 'investment' diamond unless it's a great natural coloured stone, or a very large size. If it's under 5ct, you're unlikely to get what you paid for it.

I've seen 'investment' stones for sale in the little sealed boxes..... yeah right IMO.

Obviously, if you are buying a stone to use at a future date, you will make a profit due to price increase, but you probably couldn't sell your stone for the same price that a new one of the same stats would cost you.

 

[Mike94301]

Thanks for the comments, Pandora. I am not too bothered with the inclusion as it cannot be seen with the naked eye unless you look through the pavilion. I have an appointment with an independent appraiser on Friday for a close-up look at the stone.

In the meantime I am continuing to shop around. I am not attached to this stone by any means and would welcome any suggestions on alternatives within my search parameters (approx. 1.5 carats, F color, VS2-SI1, excellent cut). I have been having trouble finding stones in this range and thought that this one warranted a closer look.

If I do find (or if someone suggests) a better stone I have no problems returning the one that I have. I have been looking on GOG and WF -- any other recommended sites? Also, given my specific circumstances can I get by with a G color?

Many thanks to all for reviewing and commenting.

Mike

 

[Mike94301]

Date: 4/18/2008 2:21:26 AM
Author: rogeshoe57
You should be good, yours will probably look better than the sister in laws I got a 1.37 F SI1 with H&A from GOG a week ago. It looks awesome in the sun and icey white in low light. I am planning on proposing next week in Hawaii. I need to ask her parents this weekend. Best of luck to you.

Thanks -- I am planning for a mid-May proposal and have already spoken with the parents. Hope everything works out for you.