Quick Question - James Allen Preset Diamond Earrings

[kwpask]

Hello - I am in the market for a dual 30th birthday gift for my wife and a 'push present' for our first born due here in the next few months. I have bought her diamond engagement ring, wedding band and anniversary band as well as my band from James Allen and really enjoy their diamonds and service.

I wanted to buy her diamond Studs. How are the pre-set James Allen studs? My all in budget was around $2000 but with a current 25% off flash sale I could get 1 CTW earrings for around $2400. Am I better off going with loose stones - albeit I don't believe they are on sale for the 25% off.

Also, is there a huge difference between .75 TCW and 1 TCW? It's essentially $1,000 more after the discount - will I feel good about paying nearly twice as much for .25 TCW?

 

[MamaBee]

The preset earrings on James Allen don’t mention cut and that’s the most important feature to make sure they sparkle like little fireballs in her ears. I also wouldn’t get the preset ones because they have an average of SI1-SI2. SI2’s will be hard to resell later if you wanted to upgrade her earrings. I would check out Brian Gavin’s website. His diamonds are cut to ideal and you can get the setting and earrings very close to $2000 and get a definite SI clarity I color and ideal cut which is the most important. I plugged in white gold to keep the cost down..but white gold is very nice and great for studs. I would also use the chat feature or phone them. Tell them your budget and that you want them to make sure they are “eye clean”. Just in case you think I work for them..I don’t. I bought my studs on Blue Nile..I wanted a specific cut, color, etc and was able to do that myself on Blue Nile. I did buy my eternity band at Brian Gavin so I can vouch for the quality.

 

[mrs-b]

Look at it this way....your wife will feel great about receiving 1ctw earrings!

1/2 ct stones (2 of which make up the 1 ct total weight amount) are a nice, noticeable size. What size is her engagement ring?

As for quality, I haven't seen any JA pre-set earrings, but the feedback here has been good. It also saves you having to find stones yourself.

Having given it a quick look, I was able to find a nice looking pair of I colored diamonds, almost certainly better cut, at the 1ctw mark for $2670. With setting, they'd be about 3k. I'm not sure if you want to go to that effort or spend that extra money. If you had that budget, you could probably find something better than the pre-set ones, but perhaps not 'better enough' to make it worth the extra effort.

To add - I think a pair of earrings is a lovely idea; one diamond for her birthday, one for her beautiful new baby.

ETA Earrings are not like engagement rings and don't get the same level of scrutiny, and I wouldn't go to the same effort, or aim for the same level of diamond, in earrings. If you have plenty of budget - sure! But if you'd like to get your wife 1ctw and your top budget is, say, 3k, then the JA ones will be perfectly fine.

 

[coda72]

I agree with Mamabean in that I don’t know about the quality of the diamonds in James Allen preset studs. For right around $2,000, you can choose your own diamonds and get ideal cut studs that are between 0.75 carat and 1 carat total weight. This would be what I would pick out.

https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/...r-prong-basket-earring-14k-white-gold-5382w14

https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/...ls/0.418-i-si1-round-diamond-ags-104101026031

https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/...ls/0.422-i-si1-round-diamond-ags-104101026034

 

[MarionC]

I bought a pair of preset diamond earrings from James Allen and the cut was excellent.
Another time, after I had been on PS for a while, for fun I picked out my own diamonds from JA and had them set. I like that those two rather small diamonds each have a GIA certificate, but I am pleased with both sets.
I would recommend JA.