need advice - what are the parameters i should aim for with my budget?

[petitfour]

i am looking at the vatche three stone trellis / truffle and thinking of getting the version that has .30 carat side stones. i'd like to stay around $2000-2500 for the center stone. i want to get rb and excellent cut and polish are important to me. however for carat, color and clarity, i am wondering what the max i could aim for in these categories with my budget? a .5 carat would be fine as i have small hands so a big stone is not my main priority. thanks for your help!

ed : spelling, doh!

 

[petitfour]

hmm ... it looks like people are looking at the topic but not responding.

i think i wasn''t specific enough ... sorry - just starting out.

i''ll keep reading and getting more info but if there is anything in particular that i could provide to the group that would better able you all to give me some guidance - there are lots of stats so if there are particular stats that would be more important for me to focus on and let the group know about - please let me know!

 

[WorkingHardforSmallRewards]

I say just try to figure out what your minimum color/clarity/ct standards are, set your maximum budget and start searching. then change those figure as you go. I say a great place to start is

D-G/H

IF-SI1,

.6cts minimum 10cts maximum

$2700 dollars max price,

Ideal cut

and then organize by price--just as a way to start. then take it from there once you start getting a better idea of where you will end up, and change parameters as you start to get an idea of how the pricing works and other qualities you might be interested in.

But, The first thing to establish are going to be your minimum personal standards.

FOR ME, in an Ering, it is about G/VS2--largely for mind clean issues as well as having a little extra security when purchasing online when not being able to see it in person before paying out money--for other jewelery I would purchase much lower quality merch for my fiance.

you can easily get around .60-.70cts, or even more, with that budget under various four C combinations.


To just start out looking I would recommend going to both Bluenile.com and jamesallen.com, as there search engines are very useful and they have mostly all the certificates available online. Its a great way to start guaging where you want to be at and what you want to aim for and getting a few options.

Then I recommending going to pricescope.com homepage and running your searches through there search engine once you have learned more. After that I would go to each individual homepage and run various searches on there pages as they sometimes have diamonds available that are not listed on pricescope.

for the final purchase I would say stick with a PS vendor as they will provide you with a plethora of information to make your online buying experience much more informed. Doing all of that will take a bit of time, but it should be well worth it. let us know as your hunt goes on. Also note, a couple of recent threads started over the past 2 or three days focused on searching for diamonds that were around this price range, so you might want to go look for those threads also, they were quite recent.

 

[leapinghorse]

Using a combo of H / SI1 I found many in the .75 to .80 range when I just ran a search. I was hunting for an eyeclean SI1 when I was looking. The online vendors were helpful in verifying if stones were actually eyeclean. Whiteflash will always have the stones sent to them first for a look and will be honest with you about what they see.

I chose an H color and am very happy with it. I debated going with a G, but from most people I spoke to and from reading threads, I ended up going with an H. I think many people go up in color in clarity just to feel "safe". That is definately fine, but I was happy to be able to find a bigger size within my budget.

 

[jpk1102]

I just compared 7 Diamonds in person last Friday at Whiteflash......color ranging from G to J, clarity from VS1 to SI1. As far as the color goes, comparing the diamonds face up and face down, I really couldn''t see any difference between the G and the J. The J was very, very white. None of the diamonds had any Florescense. The J color sparkled just a little bit "warmer", which we found attractive.

The diamond we selected was a Whiteflash J VS2 .777 carat ES (Expert Selection), costing under $2K, an exceptional value. Even with the loop, the VS2 inclusions were hard to see. Of the Whiteflash SI1 diamonds we inspected, all were eye clean from 10 inches.

So don''t eliminate the I or J color stones......each is individual. An excellent or ideal cut with optimum light return can make a color grade appear lighter. The I or J stones we inspected really didn''t look any different from the G, even on a white piece of paper and viewing them from the side.

I definately would make sure a SI1 is eyeclean. You can get a lot of diamond for the buck going with an H, I or J stone. And I definately would go with a vendor who personally inspects each stone (like Whiteflash does) and can make a final recommendation for you.

 

[petitfour]

oh my gosh .... THANKS SO MUCH for all of the great responses and advice esp WorkingHardforSmallRewards. PS members rock (pun intended)! i''ll be sure to keep everyone posted - prob will be asking for more advice as i get closer to a purchase.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!