Need help finding/evaluating five stone ring please!

[champagnepear]

I have a budget of 3k and I want a five stone diamond ring. I contacted IDJ and they gave me a quote of $2600 for a 1.25 tcw, $3300 for 1.5 tcw, or $3750 for a graduated 1.5 tcw with .5, .3s, .15s. I'm a size 5 btw.

This is all with F/G stones (in 14k.) I asked about using warmer stones (h/I) but it seems they don't do that. I'd rather have slightly warm stones and pay less/get a higher carat weight ... Especially as I've had a K colored antique cushion and thought the slightly warm tint was lovely.

Would James Allen come in less since I could pick out lower colored stones myself? TBH the quotes from IDJ do seem really fair but I do love bargain hunting. But I know IDK ensures "pricescope quality" which is important.

Secondly, I think I would prefer graduated - is it worth the extra cost? I've gone through the entire 5 stone ring thread and I love them all. So it's really hard to decide. Has anyone else made this decision and what factors did you consider?

Thanks - sorry I'm a little all over the place, I'm on mobile.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I don't think you'll do better than IDJ on price. I think warm colors look better in antique stones than modern round brilliants, so I wouldn't go too low in color. It may be that at those sizes the prices for a color grade lower are not that much different. I think 1.25-1.5 is plenty big on a size 5 finger.

 

[HegemonyCricket]

I don't think you'll do better than IDJ on price. I think warm colors look better in antique stones than modern round brilliants, so I wouldn't go too low in color. It may be that at those sizes the prices for a color grade lower are not that much different. I think 1.25-1.5 is plenty big on a size 5 finger.

Agree with this. I recently bought a graduated 5-stone after extensive research/contemplation. I wear a size 4.25, and I feel like I could have gone smaller in stone size, as well as more drastic difference in size between the center stone and the side stones. Mine were the following measurements:

- Center: 0.823 ct G VS2 - 6 mm
- 2 next to center: 0.4 ct H SI1 - 4.75 mm each
- 2 on end: 0.25 ct F/G melee - 4 mm each

Pictures here if you want to compare: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/graduated-five-stone-aca-trellis-ring-from-whiteflash.220018/page-2']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/graduated-five-stone-aca-trellis-ring-from-whiteflash.220018/page-2[/URL]

I adore my ring, but if I had to re-design and save money, I would try to keep the center stone the same size and just reduce the size of the side stones.

What if you did something like 0.6 ct, 0.25 ct x2, and 0.15 ct x2? That would still bring you to 1.4 ctw.

 

[champagnepear]

Thank you so much Hegemony! I did see your ring and it's gorgeous. Definitely out of my budget though, so good to hear you think a smaller TCW would work as well. And thanks for your thoughts on proportion, that's exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for.

 

[champagnepear]

Thank you DiamondSeeker. I am a little confused now because I realized I saw a 1.5 carat five stone band from IDJ on eBay for about $2800... It was F, SI1 so I guess the cuts on the eBay stones must not be as high quality as for the piece which they quoted me? Hmm.

 

[tyty333]

Thank you DiamondSeeker. I am a little confused now because I realized I saw a 1.5 carat five stone band from IDJ on eBay for about $2800... It was F, SI1 so I guess the cuts on the eBay stones must not be as high quality as for the piece which they quoted me? Hmm.

You are correct. The ebay stones are not "Pricescope quality" stones. They are not cut as well and probably not something
that would make a PSer happy (but may work fine for a big slice of the population).

 

[tyty333]

So wait a second...who did you talk to at IDJ? I had some issues when I called to get quotes on a 5/7 stone. The quote I got on
a 5 stone was 6% more than what was listed on line. The quote I got on the 7 stone was 20% more than what was listed on line.
Something didnt seem right to me. I questioned the person I was working with and they got back to me and said the price for
PS quality was the same as their online prices (we just get better cut stones for that price).

I think you need to call and ask to speck to Yekutiel (unless that's who you already talked to.)

 

[champagnepear]

So wait a second...who did you talk to at IDJ? I had some issues when I called to get quotes on a 5/7 stone. The quote I got on
a 5 stone was 6% more than what was listed on line. The quote I got on the 7 stone was 20% more than what was listed on line.
Something didnt seem right to me. I questioned the person I was working with and they got back to me and said the price for
PS quality was the same as their online prices (we just get better cut stones for that price).

I think you need to call and ask to speck to Yekutiel (unless that's who you already talked to.)

I talked to Yekutiel's sister, Shulamit.

 

[tyty333]

So wait a second...who did you talk to at IDJ? I had some issues when I called to get quotes on a 5/7 stone. The quote I got on
a 5 stone was 6% more than what was listed on line. The quote I got on the 7 stone was 20% more than what was listed on line.
Something didnt seem right to me. I questioned the person I was working with and they got back to me and said the price for
PS quality was the same as their online prices (we just get better cut stones for that price).

I think you need to call and ask to speck to Yekutiel (unless that's who you already talked to.)

I talked to Yekutiel's sister, Shulamit.

Hmm, I hate that the PS quality prices are not some set percentage over the online prices. They seem to change depending who you
talk to. From now on I'm recommending that everyone talk to Yekutiel.