Hi folks, I am hoping you all can help me out with a difficult situation. My wife of 24 yrs lost the diamond ring I gave her in 1991, and she is devastated. The good news is that we did have ring insurance, but it now looks to be somewhat low in value. The diamond I gave her originally was an Original Radiant Cut .85 VVS1 color H, and best guess it had an about 1.10 - 1.2 dimension. It was set on a custom band. It was insured at $6500 total. I got her to look at settings over the weekend, and she gravitated toward a white gold solitaire setting with channel diamonds on the sides. She has 2 things she wants me to promise when I get her a new ring. First, she is adamant that we are not spend more than the insurance coverage (I want to get her something a little bigger but I respect her reasoning). Second, she wants it to be a squarish cut, no rounds (similar to what I originally got her). So, based on local prices I see for settings it looks like I have around $4500-4700 to spend on a loose diamond. For sure the original stone had the "bucket of ice" look, and she still is fine with that look, but I showed her both radiant cuts and cushion cuts online and she was fine with a squarish cushion style. We both also liked the more symmetric Jubilee and Brellia cuts of the cushions we saw.
I am leaning toward a cushion because in the several days of diamond education I gave myself it seems the cushion is easier to get some level of confidence on brilliance and fire compared to most of the pure radiants I am seeing. Seems like the radiant's are a crap shoot as too whether it will pop or just sit there due to such poor cutting of these stones. I noticed that both David Gavin and GOG has some level of certification (ASET & DiamXray, etc) on the "cut" for their cushions so I have a better feeling for buying them sight unseen and ultimately how it will look when mounted.
I obviously still have a ton to learn, but I want to get her the best I can for the money we have, so any advice on cuts, diamond sources, etc would be much appreciated. Right now I would say I am leaning toward a cushion .85 - 1 carat, VVS - VS1 (if eye clean), anything between D - G (a little worried about H or above for a cushion set on white gold), prefer a more symmetric style like Jubilee or Brellia, more squareish versus roundish. Am I on a good track or missing something in my analysis, and do ya think I can get a high quality cushion like this with my budget?
Thanks
John
I am leaning toward a cushion because in the several days of diamond education I gave myself it seems the cushion is easier to get some level of confidence on brilliance and fire compared to most of the pure radiants I am seeing. Seems like the radiant's are a crap shoot as too whether it will pop or just sit there due to such poor cutting of these stones. I noticed that both David Gavin and GOG has some level of certification (ASET & DiamXray, etc) on the "cut" for their cushions so I have a better feeling for buying them sight unseen and ultimately how it will look when mounted.
I obviously still have a ton to learn, but I want to get her the best I can for the money we have, so any advice on cuts, diamond sources, etc would be much appreciated. Right now I would say I am leaning toward a cushion .85 - 1 carat, VVS - VS1 (if eye clean), anything between D - G (a little worried about H or above for a cushion set on white gold), prefer a more symmetric style like Jubilee or Brellia, more squareish versus roundish. Am I on a good track or missing something in my analysis, and do ya think I can get a high quality cushion like this with my budget?
Thanks
John
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