Please help me find a nice round diamond... $10,000 Budget

[agueco86]

Hello fellow PS'er. I recently registered, but I have been a lurking for a few months. I am planning on popping the question as soon as possible, but I am trying to find the best bang for the buck. I recently returned a diamond i bought from shane co. I-1; G 1.23CT for $6480 after doing some research on here. I felt like i was not getting the best bang for the buck and i was actually paying more for the service they are providing.

Here is a link of the setting i chose
http://www.bluenile.com/floating-halo-diamond-engagement-ring-14k-white-gold_21446

I have a budget of $10,000 USD including the setting and diamond. I have checked out jamesallen, whiteflash, and briangavin, but searching for the right ring/diamond is really confusing and frustrating. I dont understand what HCA is and the fluorescence. I only chatting with jane from jamesallen and she was very helpful. As long as the diamond is not foggy, sparkles like a beauty, eyecandy and not visible to the naked eye, I will be ok with it. I told Jane I was looking for 1 - 1.5 ct., sl1 or greater, i or greater, ideal or excellent cut only.

She considered these 3 diamonds
http://www.jamesallen.com/?q=1218w#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.03-carat-g-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-146909
http://www.jamesallen.com/?q=1218w#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.14-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-sku-129281
http://www.jamesallen.com/?q=1218w#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.15-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-182765
http://www.jamesallen.com/?q=1218w#!/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.01-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-200967

I noticed Jane gave me vs2 and greater. Would you sacrifice to sl1 for a bigger carat? Please help me choose a diamond. Thank you in advance

 

[WillyDiamond]

Re: Please help me find a nice round diamond... $10,000 Bud

Hello OP and welcome to the forum. I think it was a good move to return the diamond to Shane & Co.
Others will chime in and comment on the JA stones, not my strength.
I noticed you picked a setting, that setting is not uncommon, you might, just might get a better bang for the buck by having one of the PS vendors do the whole thing for you (diamond and setting). Not to blow my horn, but I just upgraded my wife's ring to a setting very similar to what you posted at BN, it was done by ERD. You might want to talk with Chris at ERD and tell him what you want and budget. Best of luck.

Edit: OP, I looked at a few more pics of the setting you like from BN, nothing wrong, just note there is a pretty good space between the center stone and the pave, I guess thats why they call it a floating setting. Some prefer no space (airline).

 

[agueco86]

Re: Please help me find a nice round diamond... $10,000 Bud

Thank you for the fast response Willey. How do I get in contact with ERD? I never looking into a custom setting because diamond searching is already stressful. However, I am curious how much more and nicer it would look. Thank you again for your input

 

[WillyDiamond]

Re: Please help me find a nice round diamond... $10,000 Bud

Thank you for the fast response Willey. How do I get in contact with ERD? I never looking into a custom setting because diamond searching is already stressful. However, I am curious how much more and nicer it would look. Thank you again for your input

http://www.engagementringsdirect.com/

 

[Niel]

Re: Please help me find a nice round diamond... $10,000 Bud

thats a nice budget for a stone and halo setting.

BN doesnt let you buy a setting alone, so you might want to look at other options.

I like ritani, very nice quality, not too expensive. They also sell stones directly. I would stick with there "reserve ideal" though...
http://www.ritani.com/diamonds/round-diamond-1-25-Carat-I-color-AGSL-certified/D-Z3YHY0

http://www.ritani.com/engagement-rings/halo-french-set-diamond-band-engagement-ring-in-14kt-white-gold/6115

 

[TC1987]

Re: Please help me find a nice round diamond... $10,000 Bud

HCA is Holloway cut adviser, found under Tools tab at the top of the page. You look for a score of 2 or under in order to try to screen out the leaky stones. But "let your eyes make the final decision" is the followup to that. HCA is just a rejection tool. It's used to help weed out bad performers. A score of .8 or 1 is not necessarily better than a 1.5 or 2.

I think I've read on here that you only need to use HCA on GIA or EGL stones, and that you don't need to bother for AGS 000 because the AGS 000 criteria are stricter and their 000 will always be below 2.

Also, almost no diamond gets Excellent on spread. You might find one if you search really hard but only a small % of stones get excellent spread. Look for excellent on the other three categories.

We have what used to be called the Pricescope cheat sheet. It was quoted all the time, a few years ago. It is "too restrictive" for some. But you can read some of the old threads and kind of get a summary of what you should be looking for.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/help-me-understand-what-i-saw.139055/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/help-me-understand-what-i-saw.139055/[/URL]

The crown and pavilion angles have to work together. Increase one, and you must decrease the other. Table size is individual preference. I like a smaller table and a bit of crown height for fire along with brilliance. 55%-56% table is what I got for in a modern H&A RB.