Please help me on choosing a diamond

[gypsy_girl]

Hello everyone, I've been looking for my second diamond (the first one is my .8 carat Tiffany engagement ring 4 years ago). This time I want to find a quality diamond (not a name brand one). Here are the three round diamonds I've been looking at and I am having a hard time making up my mind. I would greatly appreciate it if you can give me some feedback and help me decide. Thanks a lot!!

diamond number 1: 2.26 carat, G, VS2, ideal cut, polish & symmetry Excellent, Depth 62.2%, Table 57%, measurements 8.43 x 8.39 x
5.21 mm, $34, 468

diamond number 2: 2.26 carat, G, VS2, Ideal cut, polish & symmetry Excellent, depth 62.1%, table 56%, measurement 8.37 x 8.42 x
5.22 mm, $35, 549

diamond number 3: 2.5 carat, H, VS2, Ideal cut, polish & symmetry Excellent, depth 62.3%, table 57%, measurement 8.64 x 8.67 x
5.40 mm, $36,171

Thank you soooo much!!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I'm afraid we couldn't choose between those without more information such as having an idealscope picture, picture of the stone, and possibly others such as heart images or ASET.

Here is a nice one in your range that does have some of the info:

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2400044.htm ($34,808, 2.32 H VS2)

 

[yssie]

ditto needing more info -

1. who issued these grades? if one of the big labs post report, proportions diagrams crops, or exact ct wt and report number
2. who is the vendor? have you seen the stones in-person - what did you think? Did you compare with each other in various types of lighting, and did you find you consistently preferred one over the others? If you haven't seen them I would strongly recommend having your final choice shipped out within the vendor's return period - either to you, or to an appraiser, and making sure your eyes like what they see. I'm assuming you're choosing a vendor with a sufficient and ironclad return policy.

 

[Dreamer_D]

ditto needing more info -

1. who issued these grades? if one of the big labs post report, proportions diagrams crops, or exact ct wt and report number
2. who is the vendor? have you seen the stones in-person - what did you think? Did you compare with each other in various types of lighting, and did you find you consistently preferred one over the others? If you haven't seen them I would strongly recommend having your final choice shipped out within the vendor's return period - either to you, or to an appraiser, and making sure your eyes like what they see. I'm assuming you're choosing a vendor with a sufficient and ironclad return policy.

Ditto to all of this.

 

[gypsy_girl]

I'm afraid we couldn't choose between those without more information such as having an idealscope picture, picture of the stone, and possibly others such as heart images or ASET.

Here is a nice one in your range that does have some of the info:

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2400044.htm ($34,808, 2.32 H VS2)

Thanks for your response! I really like the one you recommended. However, I am having a hard time deciding whether to sacrifice the size for a G color or rather go with a bigger size for an H color, for the same price range. Some thoughts?

By the way, the ones I posted are from Blue Nile. Is Whiteflash a reliable vendor? Sorry if this is a stupid question because I live oversea...

 

[gypsy_girl]

ditto needing more info -

1. who issued these grades? if one of the big labs post report, proportions diagrams crops, or exact ct wt and report number
2. who is the vendor? have you seen the stones in-person - what did you think? Did you compare with each other in various types of lighting, and did you find you consistently preferred one over the others? If you haven't seen them I would strongly recommend having your final choice shipped out within the vendor's return period - either to you, or to an appraiser, and making sure your eyes like what they see. I'm assuming you're choosing a vendor with a sufficient and ironclad return policy.

Ditto to all of this.

Thanks for your response! GIA issued these grades, and Bluenile is the vendor. I live oversea, and I will be in the US for 5 days next week, therefore I wanna get my diamond without having to pay duty. But I risk not having enough time to examine the stone...do you think Bluenile diamonds have a certain standards that I don't need to worry too much about picking one out without seeing it?

 

[yssie]

ditto needing more info -

1. who issued these grades? if one of the big labs post report, proportions diagrams crops, or exact ct wt and report number
2. who is the vendor? have you seen the stones in-person - what did you think? Did you compare with each other in various types of lighting, and did you find you consistently preferred one over the others? If you haven't seen them I would strongly recommend having your final choice shipped out within the vendor's return period - either to you, or to an appraiser, and making sure your eyes like what they see. I'm assuming you're choosing a vendor with a sufficient and ironclad return policy.

Ditto to all of this.

Thanks for your response! GIA issued these grades, and Bluenile is the vendor. I live oversea, and I will be in the US for 5 days next week, therefore I wanna get my diamond without having to pay duty. But I risk not having enough time to examine the stone...do you think Bluenile diamonds have a certain standards that I don't need to worry too much about picking one out without seeing it?

No, I do not trust this of BN the same way I would trust WF, BGD, GOG, JA, ERD, Infinity vendors...unless perhaps they are BN signature stones?

Post report number and exact carat weight for all these stones (and link to GCAL if signatures) and we can tell you more.

 

[Dreamer_D]

And just to be miss polyanna, I want to point out that you technically need to pay taxes/duty anytime you import something into your country, whether done by mail or in person I don't want to seem like I support illegal activities if I help you out here...

That said I am with Yssie and would not blindly trust BN's assessments of cut quality. The lab reports, however, do tell you a fair amount. If you post the information Yssie asks for we can help determine if any of these selections are worth taking the chance on by purchasing blind -- you can narrow the odds of them being great cuts with a little more information. For example, I think for many consumers, a GIA Ex cut grade with an HCA under 2.0 is enough to make them happy!

 

[gypsy_girl]

ditto needing more info -

1. who issued these grades? if one of the big labs post report, proportions diagrams crops, or exact ct wt and report number
2. who is the vendor? have you seen the stones in-person - what did you think? Did you compare with each other in various types of lighting, and did you find you consistently preferred one over the others? If you haven't seen them I would strongly recommend having your final choice shipped out within the vendor's return period - either to you, or to an appraiser, and making sure your eyes like what they see. I'm assuming you're choosing a vendor with a sufficient and ironclad return policy.

Ditto to all of this.

Thanks for your response! GIA issued these grades, and Bluenile is the vendor. I live oversea, and I will be in the US for 5 days next week, therefore I wanna get my diamond without having to pay duty. But I risk not having enough time to examine the stone...do you think Bluenile diamonds have a certain standards that I don't need to worry too much about picking one out without seeing it?

No, I do not trust this of BN the same way I would trust WF, BGD, GOG, JA, ERD, Infinity vendors...unless perhaps they are BN signature stones?

Post report number and exact carat weight for all these stones (and link to GCAL if signatures) and we can tell you more.

Yssie, sorry for my inexperience, I don't know what you mean by report number and exact carat weight and where can I get these figures? Bluenile only provides GIA certificate...

 

[gypsy_girl]

If you mean their GIA report number, then here they are:

diamond number 1: 2.26 carat, G, VS2, ideal cut, polish & symmetry Excellent, Depth 62.2%, Table 57%, measurements 8.43 x 8.39 x
5.21 mm, $34, 468 (GIA report number 5131367927) here is the link: http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-g-color-vs2-clarity_LD02086622

diamond number 2: 2.26 carat, G, VS2, Ideal cut, polish & symmetry Excellent, depth 62.1%, table 56%, measurement 8.37 x 8.42 x
5.22 mm, $35, 549 (GIA report number 2131284424) here is the link: http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-g-color-vs2-clarity_LD02113077

diamond number 3: 2.5 carat, H, VS2, Ideal cut, polish & symmetry Excellent, depth 62.3%, table 57%, measurement 8.64 x 8.67 x
5.40 mm, $36,171 (AGS report number 104048197004) Here is the link: http://www.bluenile.com/round-diamond-2-carat-ideal-cut-h-color-vs2-clarity_LD01802432

Please let me know which one is a better buy!

Thanks a lot.