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Noobie looking for help!

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Steve88

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 10, 2018
Messages
160
looking to pop the question soon and am currently diamond shopping. I saw this diamond on blue nil and I thought it had great value until I saw the strong blue fluorescence. Can any of the veterans here give me some pointers?

The diamond is
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD10661812

Thank you to anyone that replies!
 
As a member of the trade, I will not discuss this particular diamond.

However, when looking at diamonds with Strong Blue Fluorescence, you need to have someone inspect the diamond and assure you that there is no adverse effect to the sparkle and beauty of the diamond. You also need to be dealing with someone who will not balk at giving you a full refund if you do not like how it looks.

Many people like/love/lust after the effect, so long as it does not cause the diamond to look oily or fuzzy out of doors, referred to as overblue.

Strong Blue Fluorescence will dramatically affect the resale of your diamond, making it harder to sell if you ever need to, although you are getting it also at a reduced price because of the fluorescence.

Wink
 
Steve88 said:
looking to pop the question soon and am currently diamond shopping. I saw this diamond on blue nil and I thought it had great value until I saw the strong blue fluorescence. Can any of the veterans here give me some pointers?

The diamond is
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD10661812

Thank you to anyone that replies!
Click to expand...
The angles are OK, althogh I personally perfer a crown angle above 34. But, that is one visibly flawed internally flawless diamond. It is either very very dirty or there are significant surface imperfections. I would ask BN.

Is IF necessary or just a lucky find?

I like the angles here better and it looks cleaner.
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-de...DiamondDetails&action=newTab&catalogView=true
 
Just to explain, a bit, what “strong blue fluorescence” can mean is that in bright sunlight the gem can look “hazy”.
Blue Fluorescence can be desirable in a lower colour diamond ie H, I, J because it can “cancel out the yellow tone”.
And iF is “overkill” unless for cultural reasons.
Diamonds are graded at x10 magnification and some types of inclusions are extremely difficult to see with just your eyes at normal viewing distance. That’s why people can talk about an “SI clarity” (which is a low clarity grade) as being “eye clean” meaning you can’t see the inclusions with just your eyes.
When buying diamonds people often suggest you can drop down on clarity if the stone is still “clean” to the eyes or drop down in colour as most people can see any yellow tone until about “I” grade. People will advise to stay just below certain carat weights because there’s a “price jump” at certain size increases ie a .96 carat can be quite a bit cheaper than a 1.02 carat but to the eye, no one can see the size difference - likewise 1.46 rather than 1.52, 1.95 rather than 2.04 carat.
However, of all factors, cut is probably the most important.
If a diamond isn’t cut well, it simply doesn’t sparkle well and seeing as that is the number 1 beautiful factor of a diamond you need to make sure the cut is excellent.
 
Thanks everyone for the help! Never in my life would I have thought diamond shopping would have so many factors that go into it :cry2:

So this particular diamond I found was luckily IF. I saw a diamond with all the similar specs but the difference was a VVS1 as opposed to IF. The VVS1 was only 90 dollars cheaper so I thought why not on the IF.

With that said, I understand that strong blue fluorescence can have a big impact on the resale value but I’m also guessing that the price is where it’s at because of the strong fluorescence.

Another big obstacle for me is to try and pick out a diamond online. Like everyone said, on paper the diamond is probably good but I won’t be able to tell for sure until I actually see the diamond.

One good thing about buying from Blue Nile is that they have a free 30 day shipping return with all the prepaid shipping labels included.

I guess ultimately my question is if the IF is worth it if it has such a strong fluorescence and also if you guys think I can find better value elsewhere?

Thanks again to everyone replying with advice. Cheers
 
Also, most of the cuts on Blue Nile are considered “excellent”. Are those cuts good enough for the diamond to shine at its full potential?

I spoke to a rep from Blue Nile and although he said the IF diamond I chose is beautiful, he insisted I pay a bit more and find a diamond without any fluorescence. He then pointed me to this one..

https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD10394760

Not sure how big of a difference VS1 and VVS2 is. I also like the Blue Nile diamond @rockysalamander pasted up top. Is VVS2 and a VS1 a big drop off?

Sorry for so many newbie questions
 
The diamond clarity grades in order are FL(flawless), IF(internally flawless), VVSI-1(very, very slightly included 1), VVS-2, VS1(Very slightly included 1) the above grades will not show inclusions to the eye. VS2 and SI-1(Slightly included-1) may show eye visible inclusions with SI-1 being more likely to show inclusions. Then SI-2 and I-1/I-2. At the I-1/2 level the inclusions may affect the diamond's structural integrity. SI-2 can still be eye clean but it is much harder to find and really requires expert help to find one for you. IF means the diamond appears to have no noticeable internal flaws at a 10x magnification. It may still have some surface imperfections or internal imperfections that are visible at a greater magnification. VS1 to SI1 range is the best value if you are trying to maximize size and is the preferred range for most US shoppers. You still will likely find an eye clean diamond in these ranges though it will have more visible flaws than an IF at a 10x magnification. I prefer the diamonds that @rockysalamander posted than the BN representative's pick. The BN diamond does not have the most complementary crown and pavilion angles compared to the OP's suggestion. Good luck, there are some wonderful people on this forum who can help you make the best use of your time and resources. Are you open to looking at other diamond vendors such as Whiteflash? They have a super ideal diamond line and are a popular vendor. There are some youtube videos comparing super ideal cuts to excellent cuts. I just can't think of a link at the moment. Maybe someone else can suggest a video for you.
 
@princessandthepear thank you for the feedback! Yes I’ve been seeing whiteflash a lot on this site. Is the company legit? And also how is their return policy? Someone above also mentioned about their super ideal cuts. Do you know if their super ideal cut is better than most excellent cuts?

Thanks!
 
Steve88 said:
@princessandthepear thank you for the feedback! Yes I’ve been seeing whiteflash a lot on this site. Is the company legit? And also how is their return policy? Someone above also mentioned about their super ideal cuts. Do you know if their super ideal cut is better than most excellent cuts?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes, WhiteFlash (WF) is a quality vendor. Other quality vendors I like and recommend frequently are Brian Gavin Diamonds (BGD) and High Performance Diamonds (HPD). All three of these vendors are well known and respected for providing superbly cut super ideal diamonds with generous return & upgrade policies, and are all very, very transparent in sharing data on the diamonds (videos and full images including ASET, idealscope, hearts & arrow, etc).

I am helping someone else trying to upgrade through BlueNile (BN) and have not been impressed by their tactics of strong arming them into decisions of poorly cut stones. I'd like the OP of that thread to sell her current stone and jump to a better vendor but that doesn't work for her, which I understand. This isn't to say BN is bad or you can't get a good stone from there it just seems more difficult for the average Joe.

FYI, the owner of HPD, @Wink, and I was having a discussion in another thread about magic weights of diamonds. He linked a great article explaining how his company operates at a higher level of ethos than some others. It is worth a read if you can spare a few minutes. I believe HPD, WF and BGD all operate at this level.

https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/education/education-caratlimit

As far as which super ideal cut is best? That's a lot of personal opinion. WF has their ACA line which is awesome. Years ago, Brian Gavin helped co-found WF and was responsible for developing their ACA line of stones. He left several years back and went out on his own to form BGD. As such, Brian is well respected as providing a superior cut and even takes some of the ACA's in his trade-in program at BGD (although they are technically WF stones). BGD has a new signature cut called the Black Series that is even more exacting and IMO beautiful than normal H&A super ideal cuts. It's proprietary to BGD.

Then you have HPD and their Crafted by Infinity (CBI) line of super ideals, which are also superb. I've not seen their stones in-person but saw videos and images where it appears the way they cut provides more contrast which I really like a lot. Many others do to, and some that have compared ACA and CBI stones together have reported they prefer CBI to the ACA because of the contrast difference. Recently I was helping another individual who saw an ACA and CBI side by side with his own eyes and neither him or the NYC diamond rep could see any contrast difference.

Regardless, this gets me back to my original point -- stones from any of these 3 will be lovely and not disappoint you in any way. You will get an ideal cut stone full of fire with superb customer service and generous and flexible upgrade/return policies.
 
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