Please help me make a decision...

[Anrosenbrock]

Hi there. I have been lurking on this site for a few weeks (and have learned quite a bit), but I'm still having a hard time making a decision.
A little back story... I am upgrading my engagement ring and have decided on an oval (currently have a .96 ct J SI1 radiant). At first I was just going to upgrade the setting but couldn't find one I loved (I tend to like the more curvy setting of the round/oval). I went into a jewelry store and found an oval setting and fell in love (it is "the one"). So now I have my heart set on an oval diamond.
I've done tons of research, but I'm having trouble figuring out what aspect is more important/would make for a more beautiful diamond. I'm pretty set on it being bigger, as close to 1.5 ct as possible. But my budget is not huge 5000-6000. I have found a couple in my price range but I just don't know which to choose. I was hoping I could get some insight and advice. Here are a couple that I'm looking at:

https://www.pricescope.com/diamond/55f053ffa9bc9bd258ddb230ae30935f

https://www.pricescope.com/diamond/c1a447e5b0dd4fbad04c3e6c1aa8e44a

https://www.pricescope.com/diamond/306f0bb36925e92fe14c4985f1d1b986

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Gypsy]

Can't help you with the information you provided. All could be awesome. All could be dogs. Why? Stats mean nothing with ovals. And there is nothing in the links you provided that can tell us if you have nice stones or dogs.

The entire purpose of faceting a diamond is to reflect light.
How well or how poorly a diamond does this determines how beautiful it is.
How well a diamond performs is determined by the angles and cutting. This is why we say cut is king. With fancies though (anything other than a round brilliant), that is a little complicated. But no other factor: not color, not clarity has as much of an impact on the appearance of a diamond as its cut. And with ovals the numbers on a lab report are meaningless.

There is really is no other way to determine if you have a good oval cut is to see images of the stones, and then you need is a way to check actual light performance of your actual stone.

That's what an ASET image does. http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=education-performance Please read.
And ASET shows you how and wear your diamond is reflecting light, how well it is going at it, and where you are losing light return That is why you won't see us recommending vendors like Blue Nile (except for their Signature Ideal line), as they do not provide images or ASET images for their diamonds. James Allen and Good Old Gold do this. So do Brian Gavin, B2C and Whiteflash and High Performance Diamonds. ERD does too, for stones they source for you.

Keep in mind that marquise and ovals and pears are especially hard to shop for because so many have bowties. So finding a bright, well cut oval is a herculean task at times if the stock at vendors is poor.


If you don't know what a bowtie is let us know.

Also please note, you do not shop for ovals by carat weight, you shop for them by spread (dimensions). A 1.3 oval can easily face up larger than a 1.5 depending on it's proportions.

 

[Gypsy]

I just looked at 3 vendors for you. There isn't a whole heck of a lot out there. I looked at up to 6500, K-D and Si1 or better for clarity. So a huge range.

Here are the three largest stones I found that have a chance of being decent performers:
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.31-carat-i-color-vs1-clarity-sku-240887
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.25-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-sku-307264
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.10-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-317764 (this one is actually larger than the 1.25 above, so remember what I said about dimensions not weight being important).

I know none of them hits your 1.5 carat mark. But, you have a a .96 radiant. Even a one carat oval would be an upgrade in size. Radiants face up small for their carat weight, ovals face up large for their carat weight. You need to stop focusing on carat weight, and focus instead on maximizing spread (dimensions). Look at the dim

And I know you want a pretty ring, not an ugly one that looks like this: http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.51-carat-j-color-si1-clarity-sku-303497

So please put the three stones above on hold and ask for an ASET (it will take 3 business days).

That said, I would also call Engagement Rings Direct: http://www.engagementringsdirect.com/ And ask them to source the "biggest eyeclean stone, J or better color and eyeclean clarity with great performance and no or minimal bowtie. Tell them that ideally you would like a length to width ratio of 1.37 or better. And that you would like to get as close to 9x7 as possible in spread. For under 6400."

ERD can work to find you a nice stone, that might be larger than those I posted above for you. They have a lot of sources for stones and a good eye for fancies. And they can get you an ASET image. Okay?

 

[Anrosenbrock]

Gypsy, thank you so much for all the info and taking the time to look at diamonds for me! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I think I have been wasting a lot of time on the wrong things and this will help so much. I can see now why you really need to see the actual diamond in pictures. I think the 3 diamonds you posted are beautiful! I am also going to give Engagement Rings Direct a call like you suggested. Thank you again for all the info. I feel like I already have a better idea of what to look for.