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[kellicos]

Hi, I ran across your forum as I was searching the internet for info about how to buy a diamond. My husband and I are in the process of shopping for a new ring for me because of an unfortunate circumstance. I recently broke my wrist and had surgery, and they want you to take off all your jewelry during that. I handed my ring to my husband and watched him put it in a zippered coin purse. Yet somehow when I went to look for it, it ws gone. We''ve gone crazy searching for it and have almost given up. We got married 11 years ago and were poor college students. My ring came from a mall jewelry store and had a diamond so small they used a special setting to make it look like it had a diamond at all. I believe we paid $350 for all 3 rings. Anyway, we had been considering the possibility of replacing this in favor of the "rock of my dreams" but now find ourselves forced into shopping. We went to a large jewelry store here in town and they seemed quite helpful. At any rate I came up with what I think I am looking for. Obviously we''ve never done any diamond shopping, and he has left the education and everything up to me. I like a trillion-shaped diamond on a plain white-gold setting. I''d like the band to be decorated with some modest baguettes. I''ve read a lot of this site, and learned a lot. My question is, should I seriously think about buying this diamond we saw downtown? The stone has an IGI cert, but I can''t tell you all the details (I''d have to go look at it again now that I know what some of the info means). It''s .45 VS1 G, that''s about all I remember. They''re asking $1500 for the stone. Is this way out of line?

Thanks for any help you can give,
Kelli

 

[oldminer]

I would suggest you consider how a triangle (trilliant) diamond looks versus a round, oval, marquise or pear shape. The other four shapes potentially are more brilliant. Also, you can shop better for these more commonly sold shapes and perfect the pricing better, too.

While IGI does a huge job, you may be well advised to look thoroughly BEFORE you make this big purchase. It is likely that it will be another 11 years or so, until you make such another big jewelry buy. You ought to do it right. Don't wait until you hurt yourself again...

Put in a search in the www.pricescope.com search engine and see how much competing stones of various shapes cost. You will then have a lot of knowledge about the one you saw..

Also, take the color and clarity grades down a notch in your pricescope search to be realisitic about the liberalism in some lab grading. It will help to keep the playing field level when you search pricescope for GIA and AGS graded diamonds versus the other major labs...

 

[Looking4stone]

Well you've come to the right place. I am so glad i held off on buying anything until i came here. I am on the verge of buying a stone now. I am quite sure i would have considerable buyers remorse had i found this site after i bought. The people here are very helpful.

 

[kellicos]

Thanks for the advice. We certainly will take our time with this. We are "Consumer Reports" type people, which is I suppose how I ended up here. I have considered and am certainly not completely closed to the idea of the other shapes, and tried a few on, but I really do like the triangle because the shape itself is so striking. I understand that the shape cannot have the brilliance that a round one might have. If I do opt to look for this shape, what exactly should I look for? I am having a hard time finding them on the various sites and am completely confused as to which on-line sites to trust. I will spend some more time at pricescope and I'll get back to you when I have some specific questions!

Thanks,
Kelli

 

[kellicos]

I've done a little more research and have come up with a few questions. I really really do like the triangle shape. But I can't really find any guidelines on what to look for as far as cut in this shape. If I see one of these, how do I know I'm looking at a well-cut stone? I found two on dirtcheapdiamonds.com, I thought if I posted the stats maybe someone could comment? I really know very little about diamonds, just what I learned in the tutorial and from reading your posts.

First one:
Laboratory: GIA
Carat Weight: 0.5
Color: F
Clarity: SI1
Shape: Trilliant
Depth: 33.1%
Table: 70%
Polish: GD
Symmetry: GD
Culet: NA
Girdle: -
Fluorescence: Faint
Measurements: 6.82x6.47x2.14

Second one:
Laboratory: GIA
Carat Weight: 0.57
Color: F
Clarity: VS1
Shape: Trilliant
Depth: 32.3%
Table: 47%
Polish: GD
Symmetry: GD
Culet: N
Girdle: M-VTK FAC
Fluorescence: None
Measurements: 6.48x7.33x2.37


Thank you! I'm so glad I found this site, you guys seem to be very knowledgable and reputable.

Kelli

 

[Mikesgirl]

From what I have seen, there are no specs for better looking trilliants (or trillions) out there. AGA doesn't show them on their grading charts and several sites with search engines don't even list them as an option for a main stone - only as a side stone. So if I had a friend who was shopping for a trilliant, my instinct says:

Look for a nicely balanced triangle, where the sides are similarly in length.
Whiter would probably be prettier, so F, G in color.
I'd try to max the face size - bigger for the weight - although this would not be an approach I'd use for a round brilliant. If there is no clear advantage to a particular depth, I'd go for visual sze for weight and money.
I would not want to see any inclusions, so I'd be looking for a VS2 or SI1 eye clean.

This is based on no knowledge of trilliants, only gut based on everything I've read on this site.

I think you are the very first thread I've read where someone was considering a trilliant for the center stone.

 

[kellicos]

thanks for the advice, Marty. We're still a little ways from deciding what to do, but I'll make sure and let you guys see a picture when we get this done. Any other opinions are more than welcome! This is a little scary

Kelli