Probably sick of all the newbie posts....

[drewH]

but unfortunately, here is another one

I''ve kind of procrastinated on looking at engagement rings (just bought a new house and life has been hectic) but I''ve been looking the last few days. I''ve learned a lot just by reading the forums but I know it''s not enough. I will be going to my local jewelery district today (Los Angeles) to compare prices and hopefully pick out a ring. Recently, I''ve read on here about engagementringsdirect.com and heard good things. I''ve picked out a few diamonds I''m interested in and would like opinions on which may be the right one for me. My budget starts at around $7500 but I''ll go up to $8500 if the diamond would look a lot better. (bang for my buck I guess is the best way to put it

I''m prepared to purchase in store or online, so hopefully someone with experience can lend a hand.

#1 ($823
Shape : Round
Carats : 1.27
Cut Grade : Very Good
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS1
Measurement : 6.97x7.02x4.26
Depth : 60.9
Table : 57
Girdle : VTN-M
Polish : Very Good
Symmetry : Very Good
Certification : GIA
Fluorescence : NO


#2 ($8527)
Shape : Round
Carats : 1.29
Cut Grade : Very Good
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS2
Measurement : 7.11x7.27x4.22
Depth : 58.7
Table : 58
Girdle : VTN-M
Polish : Very Good
Symmetry : Very Good
Certification : GIA
Fluorescence : FB

#3 ($7521)
Shape : Round
Carats : 1.24
Cut Grade : Excellent
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS1
Measurement : 6.88x6.92x4.28
Depth : 62
Table : 59
Girdle : TN-M
Polish : Very Good
Symmetry : Excellent
Certification : GIA
Fluorescence : SB

#4 ($7664)
Shape : Round
Carats : 1.25
Cut Grade : Very Good
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS2
Measurement : 6.91x6.95x4.24
Depth : 61.2
Table : 57
Girdle : TN-M
Culet : Very Small
Polish : Good
Symmetry : Very Good
Certification : GIA
Fluorescence : NO

#5 ($8225)
Shape : Round
Carats : 1.29
Cut Grade : Very Good
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS2
Measurement : 6.97x7.02x4.33
Depth : 61.9
Table : 58
Girdle : VTN-STK
Polish : Very Good
Symmetry : Very Good
Certification : GIA
Fluorescence : NO

Sorry if this is all very confusing...(I know it is to me).. Thanks for any help!

 

[kenny]

You need the crown and pavilion angles for these to judge the cut.

 

[drewH]

Thanks, for the reply....it looked like their website didn''t post those dimensions. I know the sites listed on here do. But I also noticed that ERD is quite a bit cheaper than those listed on here. I will try to obtain that information over the phone. Thanks again!

 

[kenny]

If may be on the GIA reports if they can be viewed online.
In fact since there seems to be a GIA cut grade for all of them, I believe it will be on the reports.

 

[drewH]

Thanks for the help kenny! I was able to locate the information on the GIA certs:

#1 ($823

Shape : Round
Carats : 1.27
Cut Grade : Very Good
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS1
Measurement : 6.97x7.02x4.26
Certification : GIA

Depth: 60.9 %
Table: 57 %
Crown Angle: 35°
Crown Height: 15 %
Pavilion Angle: 40.4°
Pavilion Depth: 42.5 %
Star length: 55 %
Lower Half: 75 %
Girdle: Very Thin to Medium, Faceted
Culet: None
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Very Good
Fluorescence: None


#2 ($8527)

Shape : Round
Carats : 1.29
Cut Grade : Very Good
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS2
Measurement : 7.11x7.27x4.22
Polish : Very Good
Symmetry : Very Good
Certification : GIA
Fluorescence : FB

Depth: 58.7 %
Table: 58 %
Crown Angle: 33°
Crown Height: 13.5 %
Pavilion Angle: 40.8°
Pavilion Depth: 43 %
Star length: 55 %
Lower Half: 80 %
Girdle: Very Thin to Medium, Faceted
Culet: None
Comments: Clouds are not shown.

#3 ($7521)

Shape : Round
Carats : 1.24
Cut Grade : Excellent
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS1
Measurement : 6.88x6.92x4.28
Certification : GIA

Depth: 62.0 %
Table: 59 %
Girdle: Thin to Medium, Faceted
Culet: None
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Excellent
Fluorescence: Strong Blue
Comments: Additional clouds are not shown.


#4 ($7664)

Shape : Round
Carats : 1.25
Cut Grade : Very Good
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS2
Measurement : 6.91x6.95x4.24
Certification : GIA


Depth: 61.2 %
Table: 57 %
Crown Angle: 35°
Crown Height: 15.5 %
Pavilion Angle: 40.6°
Pavilion Depth: 43 %
Star length: 55 %
Lower Half: 75 %
Girdle: Thin to Medium, Faceted
Culet: Very Small
Polish: Good
Symmetry: Very Good
Fluorescence: None
Comments: Additional clouds are not shown. Surface graining is not shown.



#5 ($6376)

Shape : Round
Carats : 1.29
Cut Grade : Very Good
Color Grade : G
Clarity Grade : VS2
Measurement : 6.98x7.04x4.35
Certification : GIA

Depth: 62.1 %
Table: 57 %
Girdle: Thin to Medium, Faceted
Culet: Very Small
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Very Good
Fluorescence: None
Comments: Additional clouds are not shown.

For some reason some of them don''t have the crown and pavilion information on the GIA certificate found online. Also, I''m not quite sure what the comments mean. Thanks for your help!

 

[Regular Guy]

Drew,

You might apply the HCA Cut advisor (found at the upper right, under tools) yourself, or here. Generally, from your first post, only option 3 shows excellent by GIA standards. The odd non-excellent HCA score will be good, but it''s not the pattern. Unfortunately, many excellent GIA options don''t pass HCA mustard, so the reasonable test would have been to first at least check that one against the HCA, but that one was one of the ones without enough data to run it.

See also below my signature for other ideas. I''ve found James Alexander to be pretty price sensitive, too, if that''s your real target.

Regards,

 

[diamondseeker2006]

You need to avoid the ones with very thin girdles. And you will be safer if you stick with Excellent cut.

 

[Lorelei]

The comments clouds not shown/ additional clouds not shown are included for the sake of completeness, to detail them would make the report plot look messy when the clouds are a non issue anyway. The only time they could be is if they are the grade setting inclusion in an SI2 for example. So no worries here.