Please give us a comment on this stone for an engagement ring.

[audy]

My finance and I are looking for a loose diamond for her engagement ring. We found this stone from the local shop.
The stone comes with GIA cerificate. It''s also heart and arrow brilliant cut (though not stated in the certificate)

Below is the specification of this stone.

Carat weight 0.74 ct
Color I
Clarity IF
Measurement 5.83-5.86*3.58 mm
Depth 61.2
Table 57
Girdle Thin Faceted
Culet None
Polish Excellent
Symmetry Excellent
Fluorescence Faint

Here are our questions

1. The price offered by the shop is 3250$. Is it reasonable? Do you have any suggested price? We have checked many online sellers but could not find the closely similar ones.

2. Will the thin girdle of the stone cause any problem in the future? Is it conssidered the flaw of this stone?

3. Compared with the following four stones, is the above one the best alternative, in our budget range of 2500 $ to 3500 $ ?

A. 0.76 H/IF H&A GIA price 4050 $
B. 0.61 H/IF H&A GIA price 2700 $
C. 0.72 I/IF H&A GIA price 3175 $
D. 0.52 E/IF H&A HRD price 3125 $

Please note that all stones are heart and arrow brilliant cut. The A-C come with GIA cert and ex/ex in pol/sym. The D comes with HRD cert with same quality.

Any suggestion or comment are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Regular Guy]

Let''s see...maybe you''re considering options that are ....internally flawless?

Impressions...I like the one you selected best, don''t think the thin girdle is a problem, and pricing compared to options here, while possibly at the high end, I also don''t think I see a comprable, so - and especially since it''s with a local vendor - I should think it reasonable.

Only other comment...without knowing other cut data, like crown & pavilion data, it would be more challenging to compare the selected option with, say, option C, which could turn out to be better, once more info were available. Is getting sarin info, as reviewed in the tutorial -- an option?

To get the best benefit from this site, take light performance into consideration; from the point of view of Pricescope''s raison d''etre, that''s where it''s at.

Best wishes,

 

[moremoremore]

There are so many amazing stones out there...I really don''t see the point in paying for IF clarity while going with I color. The I color is what you can see (not saying it''s a yellow stone) the IF you can''t see. Even if you went with a Vs1- you will see *nothing* and can save money, buy a larger stone, or get a better color. Unless you love this stone, I say keep looking. Just my 2 cents.

 

[drk]

Hi Audy,

Have you considered stones that aren''t IF? Most people on Pricescope seem to be keen to find stones with a combination of a colour that they can live with and a clarity that''s high enough that they can''t see the inclusions. Buying an IF stone seems to be to be a way to spend money on something that you can''t see. Most of us seem to be happy to sacrifice a bit of clarity to get a superb cut and a bigger size in the colour range that they''re comfortable with. I ended up with a K SI1 that I love, and we went from looking in the 0.7-0.8 range to the 1.22 that I finally got. I couldn''t be happier with our choice.

Is your jeweller able to provide you with the crown and pavillion angles on the diamonds you''re considering? That''s the kind of information we need to be able to guess whether the diamonds are likely to perform well. Would you be able to buy an idealscope? That will give you a good idea of what the light return is.

The thin girdle shouldn''t cause any problems. If it gets to very thin or extremely thin, then that would be an issue. The thin to slightly thick range is considered the well-cut range for round brilliants.

In terms of the price? Very hard to say, since there aren''t many IF stones in our size range listed on here.
From the price stats section here:
0.50-0.69 cts H&A Round (Average/Lowest $ per carat)
IF VVS1 VVS2 VS1 VS2 SI1 SI2
D 5350/5073 4636/4191 4326/3605 3960/3644 3369/3359
E 4752/3689 4455/3602 4214/3439 3717/2345 3093/2368
F 4329/4229 5107/4896 4799/4281 4351/3995 4084/3340 3529/2636 2837/2462
G 5845/5845 4693/4416 4504/4090 4264/3744 3683/3264 3149/2784 2507/2208
H 5073/4815 4152/3840 3744/3456 3486/3262 3141/2784 2823/2496
I 3412/3168 3034/3033 2603/2125 2159/2112

0.70-0.89 cts H&A Round (Average/Lowest $ per carat)
IF VVS1 VVS2 VS1 VS2 SI1 SI2
D 5655/5394 5266/5022 4630/3851 3672/3432
E 4744/4146 4294/3899 4446/3679 4060/3294
F 5289/5115 4973/4743 4505/3672 4345/3431 3664/3047
G 5424/5364 5085/5071 4666/4428 4420/4185 3890/2991 3203/2729
H 4524/4448 3927/3377 3419/2962 3406/3006
I 4200/4200 3101/2608 2831/2382

If I were you and were about to buy from a local shop, I would probably buy an idealscope and use it to weed through the stones. If I could get the crown and pavillion angles to get a better idea of the cut, I would. And I''d consider non-IF stones to give me more flexibility in terms of colour and size.

Good luck with the search!
Drk

 

[lmurden]

It''s expensive! My diamond is a I color VS1 .71 carats 61.9 Depth/57Table and it was only $2291.00. Keep looking.

 

[oldminer]

The search for IF can be equated to the search for perfection. Nothing is perfect, but the quest for it is eternal. If perfect is representative, to you, of your devotion or love, then IF it must be. However, if you have been looking for an IF stone because of some sort of doubt about anything with a tiny inclusion, then put your mind at ease about VVS1, VVS2 and even VS1 diamonds. They are quite free of any meaningful inclusions and in your size range, you will never see them with naked eyes and probably find it difficult to impossible to spot them with even a 10x loupe.

It is generally a cultural situation that makes some people search for IF. Sometimes it is simply the perfectionist nature of the consumer. Sometimes a person searches for IF because they are afraid to go any lower. The first two reasons are legitimate ones, but the last reason is not a good one.

We all should respect your choice in these matters so long as you are well informed. Above all, buy a diamond with excellent light performance to get the most beautiful stone. Best of luck with your search.

 

[dazedland]

I''d keep looking because I agree with everyone on here about the IF not being necessary especially when it''s an I colored stone. The convenience is nice of being able to shop locally, but you can get a bigger stone for your money if you go with a lesser clarity. Many people on PS have stones that are SI1 or even SI2 that are eye clean. My stone is H VS1 and I couldn''t spot an inclusion at all even though they are marked on the GIA report.

 

[karenleah15]

I agree with looking for a VS stone. You are paying too much for IF when a VS looks the same. Also isn''t it true that if you wear an IF stone over time it will become a VVS1 or VVS2? I thought I read that somewhere? Someone correct me?

 

[IrishEyes]

It is possible for the IF to change into a lower clarity grade over time with wearing. Say, for instance, you whack the ring real hard on something one day and create a small fracture from the surface running into the stone - that makes it no longer IF. Internally flawless means that any surface flaws cannot extend into the stone, so once they do, you''ve just lowered the clarity grade.

One way to protect against this, you you are dead set on an IF stone (although I''m really not sure why, as IF stones IMO are overrated) is to have the stone bezel-set. This will help protect against any chipping and fracturing that could change the stone from IF to something else.

But I''m with everyone else in saying that IF is usually paying too much, when you can get a VVS1, VVS2, VS1 or VS2 that you won''t see anything in with the naked eye. Also, I believe in a stone having some sort of inclusion, it gives your diamond a sort of "birthmark", something that makes it unique to your special stone!

 

[fire&ice]

Yes, I''m curious - Why the IF?

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 6/28/2005 1:47:17 PM
Author: moremoremore
There are so many amazing stones out there...I really don''t see the point in paying for IF clarity while going with I color. The I color is what you can see (not saying it''s a yellow stone) the IF you can''t see. Even if you went with a Vs1- you will see *nothing* and can save money, buy a larger stone, or get a better color. Unless you love this stone, I say keep looking. Just my 2 cents.

MMM
i believe you, if you (eagle eye More) see nothing in a VS1 ,then it should be good enough for 95% of the people.

 

[pinkee]

Just some comments - just upgraded my stone and the GIA Gemologist I worked with indicated that a nice eye clean SI2 in the H color will look just as nice as anything higher in quality as long as the cut is very good. I would highly recommend if price is an issue you can get a very nice stone for your price range around 1 carat H/SI2

 

[audy]

Thank you all for active participation. All comments are apprciated.

Well... why IF? it is really a difficult question for me. I tried to find the best thing i can buy (within the budget mentioned) for my girl.

So the budget is the first put in consideration.

Then because we thought that our budget was too small for 1 carat diamond, we considered the cutting as a second priority. Because certified stones sold in the place we live mostly come with GIA certificate, we did not know how to judge the cutting from the certificate (GIA doesn''t mention cutting at all). Heart and Arrow is the good choice for the best cutting. So we ended up with Heart and Arrow stones.

We tried to compare the stones. The 0.5 ct (B, D) were too small in my view. The 0.75 ct were OK for the size. We closely looked at 0.76 H/IF H&A GIA price 4050 $ and 0.74 I/IF H&A GIA price 3250 $ under the white light and we both could not tell the diffrence.

The I color stone is still considered white (though the E stone is colorless) So I thought the I color stone is the better choices.

So here is steps we chose the stone: budget - cutting - clarity - color and carat size.

We also stoped at many other shops; the other candiadates are
E: 1.02 ct F/VS1 GIA 8500 $
F: 1.00 ct G/VS1 GIA 7500 $
G: 0.93 ct J+/VVS2 HOPE CUT 4125 $
H: 1.01 ct K/VVS2 HOPE CUT 4675$
I: 1.06 ct H/VS1 HOPE CUT 7050$
J: 0.73 ct J/IF HOPE CUT 2725 $
K: 0.94 ct I/VS1 GIA 3600 $

The stones E-K above are not heart and arrow. HOPE is the brandname of diamond cutter from South Africa; they have their own certifying system (quite similar to HRD) so all HOPE stone do not come with GIA or HRD.

So here come our more questions.
1. Because most stone we saw come with GIA certificate, how could we know the stones are cut ideally? Do we need to bring the ideal scope with us?

2. Do you have any comment for the above stones (E-K). Is there any better stone or should we still keep looking?

3. We had chance to look at all the stones above through 60x-100x scope. I admit that all are eye clean but when we look through the scope, for non IF, the inclusions were there. Well...please tell us in your opinion, do you think whether it is a good idea to look at the stones though the super magnifying scope before purchasing a stone.

4. Is it true that the two stones with similar quality like color, size and clarity, H&A stone will be more expensive?

5. From the price of all stones above, do you think my local jeweller sell us overpriced stones?


Thanks for you all.