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Need help deciding between these 2 diamonds

Cyclic

Rough_Rock
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
43
my 2c -

I think either of those would be fine, ultimately - no size difference, if you're keen-eyed you might see the colour difference - I think most would not though esp once set, no clarity issues to worry about in VS1s

The AGS scan on the H and pic do indicate slight leakage under the table but I doubt you'd notice IRL w/ two eyes. I'd recommend calling JA and asking for their thoughts and recommendations as a next step.
 
The 0.82 I looks a little better to me. It looks a little more symmetrical, and even. A little more in tune with itself if you understand my meaning. :bigsmile:
 
I found a third option:
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1346480.asp

I was looking at the HCA tool link on Pricescope and it the scores for the diamond as I've linked them are:
0.81c H - HCA of 2.3
0.82c I - HCA of 1.7
0.81c I - HCA of 0.8
but it says to not use HCA to make final selections.

Should I take these into considerations for making my choice? I'm looking for the most brilliant one out of the 3. The one that will produce the best "Wow" factor to the naked eye under all lighting conditions. Do you guys have recommendations on similar diamonds? I really appreciate the help so far guys, thank you.

I am leaning towards the 0.82 I myself but I keep thinking maybe I should just go with the whiter H diamond but the AGS report shows a slight light leakage. I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyways but I figured why not go with the absolute best option even if I can't see the difference with my own eyes. This is my first time ever buying a diamond and also my first time spending this much on jewellery but it's for an engagement ring so it's worth it. Any more advice from the experienced people here will be of great help. Any slight advantage that one diamond has over the other, like which is more clean, has a better idealscope and H&A images. This information would mean a lot to me. Thanks again guys.
 
You don't use the HCA on AGS0 stones. They have already been evaluated for cut and light performance.

Given 3 AGS0 stones and 2 are I color and 1 is H color, I would choose the H. All will be beautiful diamonds and and the better color is reason to choose the H stone.
 
Ah thank you Diamondseeker. One question. The AGS report on the H diamond shows a missing contrast arrow where there is a slight light leak. But the photo shows the diamond displaying all of its contrast. Should I be concerned with that? I really like the H cause it looks to be the most "perfect" of the 3. The only thing that holds me back is that little light leak on the AGS report. If not for that little issue I wouldn't consider the other 2 diamonds. How does the idealscope of the H diamond look? I don't have much experience with reading Idealscope images. Thank you.
 
Personally, I would not worry about an AGS0 stone. I think the idealscope image is showing the diamond tilted a little because the main magnified image is totally symmetrical and the arrows look fine. I guess I favor that one because mine is H VS1, too! =)
 
Awesome. Thanks for the pointers! I'm glad there such an big and excellent community to help people with important purchases such as this. I'm grateful for all the help guys. Thank you.
 
Buy for cut first. Cut will hide color to a certain degree.

The Idealscope on the H diamond does seem to show some small leakage as Yssie said. In addition to that the light return is not perfectly distributed. It's not as symmetrical as the I diamond. The I diamond's light return is also not perfectly distributed. The other I diamond you put up also shows some light leakage...but the light return is pretty evenly distributed.

If you're set on the best and you're open to more suggestions there might be a few options here: http://goodoldgold.com/diamond/7619/ and http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2517142.htm. These both show very nice light return and distribution of light.
 
Thank you Silverfire. Every bit of info helps me greatly. I think I might be ready to decide now. I keep second guessing myself every time I think I've finally decided. It's killing me haha.
 
Good luck!
 
Both Is look like v nice choices - JA ISs and AGS simulated ASETs look fine. You won't see that difference in size, and the proportions on both are strikingly similar - I very much doubt the untrained eye would see any differences of note if you had them both in-hand to compare side by side.
 
Alright I've decided! Gonna go with the 0.82c I! The light leakage in the H just bothers me too much. I think the 0.82c I diamond will be the most brilliant of the 3 (crossing my fingers). I guess it's not a big deal since I do plan to upgrade her stone in a couple of years after I save up some money. Thanks for all the input guys. It's really reassuring to get advice from people who aren't trying to make a sale and are really just kind enough to help a fellow out :D
 
Cyclic|1299999958|2870618 said:
Alright I've decided! Gonna go with the 0.82c I! The light leakage in the H just bothers me too much. I think the 0.82c I diamond will be the most brilliant of the 3 (crossing my fingers). I guess it's not a big deal since I do plan to upgrade her stone in a couple of years after I save up some money. Thanks for all the input guys. It's really reassuring to get advice from people who aren't trying to make a sale and are really just kind enough to help a fellow out :D

two things to consider -

-I believe JA requires that you spend double the original amount to upgrade, and will credit 100% of however much you spend now toward that upgrade

-Depending on the proportions differences you may need an entirely new setting, depending on what you envision right now, which is not an inexpensive undertaking - if you are truly only planning to keep this current stone for a couple of years you may want to discuss your options w/ your JA rep re. settings that you could re-use for a different stone or settings that would require minimal work to be re-used
 
Fortunately for me, my gf does not like big stones. Even a 1ct at some stores made her scream "too big". Haha. She's a small girl and she's picky and likes to keep everything "proportional" to her finger. Those diamonds are all under $4000. I was planning to get her a 1ct RB at first but it's almost double the price for a good RB that's around the same quality as these 0.8s, so it's out of my budget range for now. So yeah, once I do follow up with an upgrade to something around the 1ct range, it will cost double of what I'm buying now so the upgrade policy would still be beneficial. I don't think she'll ever be willing to go up to something as big as 2ct. Plus, the 2 years is only an estimate. Really depends on our financial state and whether she wants to upgrade or not.
 
Well guess what guys? I couldn't help but continue my search for the best diamond for me as I sent the other 3 to a gemologist for a final inspection and found yet ANOTHER candidate!

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1360371.asp

The Idealscope image and everything else looks really good from what I've learned about what to look for. What do you guys think? I've narrowed it down to this new one and the 0.82 I diamond. Should be placing an order on either of the two by this weekend.
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1354960.asp

Not that the difference in price matters that much because they both fall in my price range but this new diamond is cheaper by a fair bit and if this diamond is the best out of the lot then it just makes sense to save on the difference. Do you guys see anything wrong with it? As far as I can tell they are very similar in every way except the IS image on the 0.79 I seems to be better than the 0.82. Seems to show better light return and distribution.
 
The .82 I was my favorite of the original 3. If the .79 is cheaper, I'd go with that one. They are both amazing, you can't go wrong.
 
Both look good, prefer the hearts image of the new stone better but that could just be that the 0.82c stone was not well place when the image is taken.
 
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