Need some advice on parameters

[Fey]

I'm looking for a round, about 1ct, with about $8k budget. However I don't have much experience in diamonds, and so have questions

My intended setting will be a white gold tension ring. At the moment my lower cut-off for color is H -- is that fine or I should go a bit higher, given the setting?

Am I silly for preferring VVS clarity even if VS is almost always "eye-clean"? Yes, I know, "whatever rocks your boat", but it's not yet perfect (F) and already more than eye-clean...

I understand that the ideal cut is a balance between brightness and fire. Deviations into which directions (in terms of proportions / angles) give more fire and into which directions -- more brightness?

The jeweler who'll be making the ring is a friend and is willing and able to source me diamonds at "wholesale" prices -- are online prices at the usual suspects going to be essentially the same or should I expect a noticeable difference?

Please throw wisdom at me

 

[RockyRacoon]

I'm looking for a round, about 1ct, with about $8k budget. However I don't have much experience in diamonds, and so have questions

My intended setting will be a white gold tension ring. At the moment my lower cut-off for color is H -- is that fine or I should go a bit higher, given the setting?

Am I silly for preferring VVS clarity even if VS is almost always "eye-clean"? Yes, I know, "whatever rocks your boat", but it's not yet perfect (F) and already more than eye-clean...

I understand that the ideal cut is a balance between brightness and fire. Deviations into which directions (in terms of proportions / angles) give more fire and into which directions -- more brightness?

The jeweler who'll be making the ring is a friend and is willing and able to source me diamonds at "wholesale" prices -- are online prices at the usual suspects going to be essentially the same or should I expect a noticeable difference?

Please throw wisdom at me

I'll try to touch on a couple of the points:

You don't need VVS clarity, but that doesn't make you silly. However, since VS2 and (some) SI1 can appear the same to the naked eye, it might be worthwhile to put money into a different priority.

I think your color cut off is just fine, although some may advise you can get away with I-color.

DON'T BUY THE DIAMOND FROM A FRIEND. There's a miniscule chance that the person can meet the quality of stones available online, and will almost certainly not be able to match the price. We see lots of 'friend' deals that go sour very quickly. In addition, you want to be able to have a recourse in case you don't like the stone or there is an issue, and it's easier to deal with a business than a friend, in this situation.

If I had an $8k budget, here are the options I would consider:

1.012ct, G, SI1
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.012-g-si1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104070749009

1.03ct, H, SI1
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/10986/

1.113ct, H, SI1
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.113-h-si1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104066186026

 

[Fey]

Thanks, Rocky.

I found the answer on the brilliance/fire trade-off myself, in case anyone is curious it's here.

With clarity, part of the issue is that in the tension setting the stone will be looked at from the side as much as from the top. But yes, it's mostly money vs mind-clean thing :-/

About buying from a friend, it's not "from", it's "via" and he is runs a company that produces jewelry almost solely for the trade. It's pretty normal for him to get an order that specifies a run of settings and a handful of diamonds to put into these settings. Still, I understand that the choice online is greater.

You suggested a couple of stones from the Blue line -- I'm not sure I like strong fluorescence (yes, I've read the appropriate threads and looked at the photos). Faint looks cool, strong looks too much.

Speaking of specific stones, this particular one from JA is AGS000 and is priced a bit below what I'd expect -- do you think there's any particular reason for that?

 

[tyty333]

That JA stone is a beautiful stone. You're not hitting the 1
carat mark so you're not paying that premium. I would look
For a VS 1 stone. That should be more than eye clean enough.

 

[Fey]

Well, yes, I'm not paying the magic number premium, but am still somewhat confused.

The JA stone is a 0.95 G VVS1 stone with the AGS000 cut and it's $6.8K.

For comparison, this stone from HPD is a 0.90 G VS1 stone with the AGS000 cut and it's $8K.

On paper the HPD stone is worse so does its price just reflect that it's Infinity-branded?

I think I'll ask JA for an Idealscope image...