Need advise on buying a diamong engagement ring

[sammyfry]

Just wondering if someone can give me some advise on buying a diamond for an engagement ring. I am primarily looking at radiants and emerald cuts. Want to try to get a 2.0 carat for up to 10000, cheaper if possible. I live in North NJ and was hoping that someone can explain to me if I could see the stones in the NJ/NY city area for viewing before buying, how the appraising works, etc. Please reply to this thread, give me an overview if you are a vendor, or the next steps I would need to take to buy from you, and we can eventually take this to the phone or email. I want to get a nice rock that looks great to the naked eye, is big, etc.... If I can get a big enough rock, I would like to go with a simple plain platinum setting. Any thoughts or help is greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, my girlfriend, just recently starting toying around with the possibility of getting a radiant over a emerald... Talk about throwing a kink into the process.

Thanks,
Doug

 

[homer_j]

I am also in the garden state and looking at radiants, althought not that large. The trouble is this shape is harder to come by that your typical rounds and princess. My experience with this has proven to me that almost any local shop will bring in stones for you to see if you give them some specs. Although it will likely take some time, maybe even a few weeks. Most of the on-line vendors, including those here on pricescope, can usually work with you to find a few good stones and then have them sent to an appraiser near you for you to see. A lot of people have given praise to the quality, professionalism and integrity of Whiteflash, GoodOldGold and USAcerted.

My advice:
Run a search on this site for radiants/emeralds within your parameters and see who has got any listed. I ran this search for a 1.9-2.03 Radiant F-I, VS1-SI1 and came up with over a hundred results (most of these are the same diamond listed by separate vendors). Contact those vendors and see what they can do for you. Depending on the cut quality, color, and clarity 10k may be a little ambitious for a 2 ct radiant. This is how I did it and it worked out fine.

Good luck.

 

[sammyfry]

In your opinion what do you think would be a better rock. I'm sticking with Emeralds here. Keep in mind that I want it to be as sparkly and clear as possible to the naked eye. I am not really concerned with an inclusion that can only be seen under the scope. The first one is 1.99 F VVS2, the other is 1.98 D SI1. I am hesitant with an SI1, but it is about $1000 cheaper. Think you would notice the difference with the naked eye? Another concern would be the table%.... hmmm... any thoughts?

Thanks for your help.

1.99
F
VVS2
72%
59%
GIA
thn
no
vg
vg
no
9.38x5.46x3.93
$5236
$10419*


or a

1.98
D
SI1
67%
70%
GIA
stk
no
gd
vg
mb
8.44x6.43x4.31
$4507
$8924*