Please Help Me Compare These Two Stones, Please!

[brianpg]

Hello everyone! I''ve been lots of reading trying to educate myself on stones in the last few weeks. I just found this sight earlier tonight, and I wish I would have found it alot sooner! Anyways, I spent a LONG weekend in Houston looking at stones in stores. I wasn''t very impressed at any of the stores. Prices in general were not competitive, or they didn''t have good certifications on them, or the sales person didn''t know what they were talking about (one said flour was super bad on a stone), another said platinum is softer than white gold) although the experience of using a loop (I think thats what it is), looking at stones, etc was very good.

After that I determined I was going to use an online store to get the stone. I looked at BN on the recommendation from a friend at work, and all was well. I thought I made my desicion. Then I read on here. I spent some more time looking at GOG and WF, but for my particular wants, I didn''t find any blazing deals over BN. Anyways, I would just like a bit of input from all of you about these two stones.

first one here: (GOG)
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4710/
Shape: Round
Carat Weight: 0.75ct
Color: G
Clarity: VS2
AGS Cut Grade: Ideal
Optical Symmetry: Superior
Polish: Ideal
Symmetry: Ideal
Fluorescence: None
Culet: None
Lab Report: AGS
Lab Report #: 9751601
In House: Yes
Width: 5.79mm
Length: 5.84mm
Depth: 3.61mm
Table Percentage: 55.60%
Depth Percentage: 62.00%
Crown ∠: 34.90°
Crown Depth: 15.30%
Pavilion ∠: 40.70°
Pavilion Depth: 43.00%

This seems like a nice diamond (on paper... which doesn''t mean much

) all in all. It the right size and quality I was aiming for. The big pros for this stone are that GOG has the trade-up policy while BN does not, BUT I know my future wife (hopefully

) doesn''t want anything bigger.

Here is the second stone, BN
http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-1-carat-or-less-signature-ideal-cut-f-color-vs2-clarity_LD01309133?__fun_frm=i&filter_id=0#grading_report
Shape: Round
Carat Weight: 0.70ct
Color: G
Clarity: VS2
CUT: BN SIG. Ideal
Polish: BN SIG. Ideal
Symmetry: BN SIG. Ideal
Fluorescence: None
Culet: 0.03mm
Lab Report: GIA, GCAL
Width: 5.73mm
Length: 5.75mm
Depth: 3.54mm
Table Percentage: 56%
Depth Percentage: 61.7%
Crown ∠: 34.0°
Crown Depth: 15.0%
Pavilion ∠: 41.2°
Pavilion Depth: 43.50%

The only thing about this stone I am curious of is, it lists the girdle as "thin to meduim". I heard there are possible durability issues (ie chipping) with thin enough girdles. Also this doesn''t have an AGS rating, only GIA and GCAL, and the more I read here, the more it sounds like AGS is the holy grail of ratings (assuming its a good one

)

Any input you have would be great help! Thanks alot guys!

 

[brianpg]

I almost forgot the critical detail! I WILL be asking her on 8/8/08, no matter what, so I need to have it by then. She lives in Ohio and I in Texas, we both have pretty busy work schedules, and she is visiting that weekend, and it will be the last chance I see her till Xmas. I don''t know if this makes a big difference or not, but I figure the more I inform the better.

PS here is a brief rundown of what I''m trying to get

Round cut
~7/10 ct.
F, G color
VS1 or VS2
Ideal or VG cut
sub $4k
just an overall good quality stone.

THANKS!

 

[honey22]

I would take the GOG stone (even without pics). Jon handpicks gorgeous stones for his H&A range, and I prefer that one as it has an AGS cert ( I tend to agree with the holy grail idea).

GOG also has an upgrade policy, whereas BN doesn''t.

You don''t need to worry about that girdle at all - will not be a problem.

Should be a gorgeous stone!

 

[Lorelei]

I like the sound of the GOG diamond also. As to the girdle it is more very thin that can be a durability issue, but even then the very thin part may not be an issue according to the location, how much of an area covered and how thin it is. In these cases, an expert vendor's advice is the way to go, but with that there should be no worries - should you decide to purchase it in preference to the GOG diamond.

 

[brianpg]

Well it''s to late now! I spoke to a very helpful lady at GOG and purchased the 0.75 ct H&A stone with a solitaire setting. I was figuring most of the responses to this thread would favor the GOG stone. All in all it seems like a good deal. I just cant wait until I get it here!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/25/2008 5:55:23 PM
Author: brianpg
Well it''s to late now! I spoke to a very helpful lady at GOG and purchased the 0.75 ct H&A stone with a solitaire setting. I was figuring most of the responses to this thread would favor the GOG stone. All in all it seems like a good deal. I just cant wait until I get it here!

Great choice!!!

 

[rcrosier]

I like the GoG option best, but Whiteflash is located in Houston, so you could go see their stones in person (as I did).

Edit: Congrats on the purchase!

 

[brianpg]

Well, I just got the ring today from GOG. Their service was excellent, I worked with two nice ladies named Vicki and Christen. I would recommend them to anyone.

Ok, enough words, how about some pictures! Oh, and the details too:

Thanks for the advice all!

PS- please excuse the poor pics and ugly man hands.

 

[brianpg]

Another pic

 

[brianpg]

And another

 

[brianpg]

And another

 

[kcoursolle]

It turned out beautifully!!! I think you made a great decision on the stone and setting. How wonderful you got it in time to ask her on the 8th! Good luck with the proposal, any chance we can see handshots afterwards?

 

[brianpg]

Date: 8/6/2008 9:38:36 PM
Author: kcoursolle
It turned out beautifully!!! I think you made a great decision on the stone and setting. How wonderful you got it in time to ask her on the 8th! Good luck with the proposal, any chance we can see handshots afterwards?

I''ll be sure to get some hand shots after I ask her. Also, I''ll try to get some in better natural light. It was overcast all day today thanks to the leftovers of tropical storm Eduord.