New poster, advice on a small diamond!

[jenniferlouise]

So this is my first post here, though I've been lurking for a bit trying to learn more.

So my boyfriend and I have been talking about marriage for a while, but I this year is the year that he is going to propose (he plans on purchasing the ring in the next couple months). So I've been doing research for a while, but it can still get a bit confusing. His budget for the ring is around $1,500 (give or take a little bit), and when we were looking at rings in the locally owned places, I did realize I liked smaller center stones (I think having a big stone at this point in my life is a little excessive). I would rather have a smaller more "perfect" stone, so I wanted to keep the specs pretty high. Don't know if that's the right decision.

So here's the specs on the stone I feel is good, but hoping to get advice from people who know a little more than me.

It's a Blue Nile diamond (so no pictures that I know of, don't know if I can request them, probably not, though from what I briefly read, the Signature Ideal cuts are in house unlike all the other diamonds, not sure if that's correct though)

GIA certified. Tried finding AGS ones on BN in my range of what I want, but couldn't.
Round Brilliant
.32ct
Signature Ideal/Excellent cut
F color
VVS1 clarity

Clarity Characteristics: Pinpoint, Indented Natural
Depth %: 60.9%
Table %: 57%
Girdle: Medium
Cutlet: none
Florescence: faint blue
Crown Angle: 35
Pavilion Angle: 40.6

The HCA score I got was 0.8

Let me know if you guys need any more info

 

[JulieN]

Check the AGS box here: https://www.pricescope.com/diamond-search-results

That will return only AGS diamonds.

 

[jenniferlouise]

Oh, I guess I wasn't clear. I meant I couldn't find a way on Blue Nile's site to find AGS stones specifically. I knew I could search them on here

I am just trying to find a stone on Blue Nile's site, since that's where we're currently planning on buying the ring (as it's the only place I can find a setting I like that isn't too expensive, since the total for the setting + diamond that I'm working with is $1500.) since I figure it'll be easier than trying to get a stone and setting from different places (I don't even think BN lets you purchase just a setting).

 

[Niel]

I think cut is something not to compromise on. But color and clarity, i think dont NEED to be "perfect" stats to be perfectly beautiful
An eye clean stone that near eye clean can easily get you a .5 ct in your budget.
I want you to take a look at this thread, the whole thing is really helpful, what he originally started with and what he was able to get for his budget is pretty impressive
ETA wrong link
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-halo-hesitation.183593/page-4']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-halo-hesitation.183593/page-4[/URL]

 

[JulieN]

Use the PS search function to find AGS stones from Blue Nile's site, is what I meant. Blue Nile is a sponsored vendor here, so their inventory is on the PS database.

 

[jenniferlouise]

I think cut is something not to compromise on. But color and clarity, i think dont NEED to be "perfect" stats to be perfectly beautiful
An eye clean stone that near eye clean can easily get you a .5 ct in your budget.
I want you to take a look at this thread, the whole thing is really helpful, what he originally started with and what he was able to get for his budget is pretty impressive
ETA wrong link
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-halo-hesitation.183593/page-4']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-halo-hesitation.183593/page-4[/URL]

Just read through that thread, interesting. I may widen my search a bit, but I think I still want to keep it on the higher end. I guess I might have to venture out to the local stores again and take a closer look at the specs of their diamonds to get a better idea of how far I am willing to go.

JulieN, ah, yea, I've already attempted that and couldn't get any BN stones to show up within my price range (and even a wide range for the other specs) =\ A ton of WhiteFlash and JA though.

 

[HopeDream]

I'm quite picky, and I found that for eyecleanliness you can easliy drop to VS2 and still have a nice clean stone.
Try dropping your clarity a little and see what options open up. I like F color - it's quite close to D but much easier on the budget.

Happy hunting!

 

[JulieN]

JulieN, ah, yea, I've already attempted that and couldn't get any BN stones to show up within my price range (and even a wide range for the other specs) =\ A ton of WhiteFlash and JA though.

Perhaps you are limiting the search to "In-House" (Blue Nile in house is all GIA) instead of "All."

You could easily hit a half carat and still have a very high quality stone.

 

[Niel]

heres a nice I that looks eye clean from JA, if you wanted to make it to a .5 ct
http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.50-carat-I-color-SI1-clarity-Excellent-cut-sku-174157
with the PS wire discount I bet it would be under 1500 with this cute Lucida inspired setting
http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/engagement-rings/solitaire/14k-white-gold-thin-cross-prong-diamond-engagement-ring-item-121

Heres a nice D from Brian Gavin
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.432-d-si1-round-diamond-ags-104056657013
I believe he gives a PS discount too, so it would go will with this lovely setting
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/ashleigh-14k-white-gold-5853w14


i also like this ritani setting
http://www.ritani.com/diamonds/round-diamond-0-45-Carat-G-color-AGSL-certified/D-T157F7
http://www.ritani.com/engagement-rings/tulip-airline-solitaire-engagement-ring-in-14kt-white-gold/5336

 

[lusting]

Just popping my head in to agree that you should really think about dropping the clarity (and possibly also colour). At VVS1 you are paying a premium for a characteristic which will make no (eye-)visible difference. Dropping it to at least VS2 is your best bet for value, though I and many others on here) would also consider SI1's. Just confirm eye-cleanliness with the vendor (ideally yourself if you can get to view the diamond). I went for an SI1 for my engagement ring and couldn't be happier. The F colour would be beautiful, though with you prioritising cut (which is great) you may be able to drop to a G (or even H) without noticing any difference. Personally I have a D, though I wasn't looking for this high in colour it is certainly a sight to behold! But mine is a pear and we had much more limited options so given that this one ticked all my other boxes I decided to pull the trigger on it rather than wait around for a lower colour (and therefore maybe slightly bigger size for the same price) diamond.

 

[lusting]

Oh also I think you need to beware of Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome (DSS is referenced around here a lot). If you are happy with the look of around a 0.3 carat when trying on rings at the store, I would recommend aiming for around 0.5 carat. I too liked rings of that size but we decided to up the size a bit more when purchasing and I'm so glad we did, 6 months on I can't imagine being happy with a smaller one now.

 

[rubybeth]

Oh, I guess I wasn't clear. I meant I couldn't find a way on Blue Nile's site to find AGS stones specifically. I knew I could search them on here

I am just trying to find a stone on Blue Nile's site, since that's where we're currently planning on buying the ring (as it's the only place I can find a setting I like that isn't too expensive, since the total for the setting + diamond that I'm working with is $1500.) since I figure it'll be easier than trying to get a stone and setting from different places (I don't even think BN lets you purchase just a setting).

What is the setting you like? I wonder if we couldn't find something elsewhere, unless you've literally looked everywhere already. James Allen has many, many inexpensive settings, and a vendor that can get Gabriel & Co. settings would be another option: www.gabrielengaged.com like ID Jewelry (www.idjewelryonline.com but best bet is to call them and tell them you are from Pricescope) or Good Old Gold.

I am not sure--what is Blue Nile's upgrade policy? Or do they not have one? I would look for a vendor that has a policy that will work for you. With James Allen, you have to spend double, but with a $1,500 budget, in 5 or 10 years, a minimum of $3,000 might not seem like all that much (and it might just be double on the diamond cost alone?). My DH's budget was about $1,200 in 2008, and so I do speak from experience.

 

[tyty333]

I think cut is something not to compromise on. But color and clarity, i think dont NEED to be "perfect" stats to be perfectly beautiful
An eye clean stone that near eye clean can easily get you a .5 ct in your budget.
I want you to take a look at this thread, the whole thing is really helpful, what he originally started with and what he was able to get for his budget is pretty impressive
ETA wrong link
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-halo-hesitation.183593/page-4']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/need-help-halo-hesitation.183593/page-4[/URL]

Just read through that thread, interesting. I may widen my search a bit, but I think I still want to keep it on the higher end. I guess I might have to venture out to the local stores again and take a closer look at the specs of their diamonds to get a better idea of how far I am willing to go.

JulieN, ah, yea, I've already attempted that and couldn't get any BN stones to show up within my price range (and even a wide range for the other specs) =\ A ton of WhiteFlash and JA though.

Be aware that if you are not looking at well cut stones then you probably wont get a true read on the color. If you have a jareds
near by you can checkout their Peerless line (well cut) and get an idea of color.
(stone that are not cut well will show more color than stones that are well cut).

 

[jenniferlouise]

What is the setting you like? I wonder if we couldn't find something elsewhere, unless you've literally looked everywhere already. James Allen has many, many inexpensive settings, and a vendor that can get Gabriel & Co. settings would be another option: www.gabrielengaged.com like ID Jewelry (www.idjewelryonline.com but best bet is to call them and tell them you are from Pricescope) or Good Old Gold.

I am not sure--what is Blue Nile's upgrade policy? Or do they not have one? I would look for a vendor that has a policy that will work for you. With James Allen, you have to spend double, but with a $1,500 budget, in 5 or 10 years, a minimum of $3,000 might not seem like all that much (and it might just be double on the diamond cost alone?). My DH's budget was about $1,200 in 2008, and so I do speak from experience.

I actually keep going back and forth with the setting. The one I was looking at on BN was a 3 stone, with diamonds on the band as well. But since I'm not sure if we're going to buy our wedding bands from the same place we buy the engagement ring, I'm thinking I'll go more simple and do just a solitaire, so if I end up doing something more flashy (I know it's not really traditional, but we have talked about it, and kind of want to spend more money on the wedding band compared to the engagement ring, plus I can always upgrade my engagement ring later) for the band it won't clash with the ring if they're different.

BN had a pretty similar upgrade policy to JA it seems. If you trade in, the new diamond has to be 100% greater (so basically double I guess they're saying) than the original one you purchased from them. haha yea, his budget is (hopefully) going to be much greater once he graduates from school and hopefully has a full time job, but he doesn't really want to wait to propose either.

By the way I am looking at everyone's responses, I greatly appreciate the feedback. Taking everything into consideration...

Since I'm going more simple I took a look at JA, and found this for $1,080:
http://www.jamesallen.com/#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.40-carat-G-color-VVS2-clarity-Ideal-cut-sku-73860
put it into the HCA and it scored a 1.1

It looks pretty promising.

And also a .43ct one from BN (again GIA certified)
Price: $1,287
Signature cut
G color
VVS2 Clarity
Clarity Characteristic: Pinpoint

Depth %: 61.1%
Table %: 57%
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Girdle: Medium to Slightly Thick
Culet: None
Fluorescence: None
Crown angle: 34
Pavilion angle: 40.8

and it scored a 1 on the HCA