New To Radiant Diamonds - advice please

[aaj23]

Hey guys,
I'm like many others on here currently looking for an engagement ring and have found myself looking at loose diamonds online...mostly between Blue Nile and James Allen. I found six radiant cut diamonds that I'm looking at currently and was hoping for some advice as they range quite widely in price and from what I can tell each have positives and negatives. I can afford the most expensive, but I'd obviously not like to spend the upper end of my budget if I don't have to. The six diamonds I found were as follows (all GIA certified), please let me know which you guys think I should go with or if I should continue looking:

Price Carat Cut Color Clarity Depth Table Plsh Sym Girdle Culet Fluor. Dimensions Ratio
$20,382 2.60 G I VVS2 67.4 64 EX G VTN-STHK NO FAINT 8.51x7.40x4.99 1.15
$23,707 2.31 G G VS1 65.4 64 VG G M-THK NO NO 8.29x7.06x4.62 1.17
$25,442 2.31 VG G VS1 67.6 66 VG VG M-STHK NO NO 8.91x6.55x4.43 1.36
$17,943 2.38 G I IF 68.2 64 VG G TN-VTHK NO FAINT 9.26x6.64x4.53 1.39
$19,730 2.04 I G VVS1 65.4 64 VG VG VTN-STHK NO MED 8.41x6.79x4.44 1.24
$13,900 2.08 P I VS1 71.9 64 EX VG STHK-THK NO NO 8.33x6.27x4.51 1.33

Thank you VERY VERY much for your expertise and any guidance!

 

[tyty333]

Hi aaj23,
With fancy cut stones we really need to see images. What kind of radiant are you looking for? Some have what
we call the crushed ice look (lots of tiny facets producing lots of tiny twinkles) and others have a more obvious
pattern that produces somewhat bigger bigger but fewer flashes of light.

Here are 3 different examples...
Crushed ice
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VVS2-Premium-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1093573.asp
No pattern crushed ice
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/K-VVS1-Ideal-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1337107.asp
More of a pattern
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-IF-Ideal-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1360057.asp

And there is every combination in-between. You have to decide what look you like then you can start narrowing
it down. Blue nile does not provides images so your chances are 50/50 at best you''ll get something pretty that
has good light return. James Allen has pictures and also provides aset images to check on the light return so
they would be a better option. You could also work with someone like Good old gold, Engagement Rings direct
and you might even try ID jewelry. You can find links to the different vendors here if you want to go that route.
https://www.pricescope.com/featured-sponsors/

Here is a pretty patterned radiant at GOG
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/7899/

I didnt see much at JA. None of them looked all that great to me (in the 2 caratish size).

tyty

 

[iota15]

The last four in your list are really rectangular. Is that what you're going for?

If you're buying a radiant online, I wouldn't even consider putting down money without seeing an Aset and picture first. There's not much you can go by, number-wise, although they all look to be in some reasonable range - except maybe the last one but it might be fine too.

If you were looking to save some moola - and who isn't when they can - would you consider looking at lower clarity stones? My personal view is that it's quite unnecessary stick to VS1 and above stones. On a case-by-case basis, VS2, SI1 and even Si2 stones can be eye-clean and just as beautiful.