Requesting help to decide between two very similar diamonds

[mtruism]

Wow, what a community you all have going here! I am a newbie looking for an engagement ring, and have found two stones so far at James Allen. They are currently being reviewed by their gemologist to give me some pointers, but I thought I would try to get some opinions on this board.

Diamond 1: http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.34-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-246651
Diamond 2: http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.25-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-259284

My primary question here is: Is Diamond 1 worth an extra $~1200 over Diamond 2? That increase represents ~13% increase in price.

Some more specific questions are:

- Diamond 2 has a few subtle inclusions (one directly on the table) that are visible in the online views... are these visible "in real life?" do they impact light performance?
- will Diamond 1 larger when set than Diamond 1?
- does the excellent polish rating of Diamond 2 look noticeably better than the v.good polish rating of Diamond 1?

Any other comments are certainly welcome. Thanks in advance!

-Mike

 

[tyty333]

Re: Requesting help to decide between two very similar diamo

I prefer diamond 2 (1.25). Looks like a brighter stone and has more the typical numbers that I like. They are close enough
in size that once mounted you wouldn't really notice. The VS2 inclusions on the table are barely noticeable in the blown up
version. But...ask JA just to be sure (I'm CYAing here. I really cant imagine that they are visible.

 

[mtruism]

Re: Requesting help to decide between two very similar diamo

Thank you both for your responses. I got feedback from the JA gemologist basically stating that there is not much difference between the two and they both have excellent light performance and they both face up eye clean.

The only thing I'm thinking about now is an HCA score of 1.4 for Diamond 1 and 2.4 for Diamond 2. From what I'm gathering though, it doesn't seem like the HCA scores should be used to make a decision between two diamonds as close as this, that this difference is not large enough anyway to warrant the extra cash.

Feedback from JA: "both diamonds are very similar and have comparable performance. They possess an excellent amount of brilliance (white light return), fire (dispersion of color) and sparkle that is well balanced and symmetrical. They both also face up completely "eye clean". The only difference between the two is the 1.34 carat is noticeably larger (when unset). If we were to set these diamonds, we would have a lot harder of a time noticing a difference in size (especially if we are setting them into a halo setting). "

 

[Gypsy]

Re: Requesting help to decide between two very similar diamo

Do not disqualify a perfectly good stone if you have an idealscope image, on the basis of the HCA.

HCA under 3 is FINE with an idealscope. Yes, many say under 2. But that's over strict unless you have no idealscope, JA has idealscopes. Idealscope trumps pretty much everything.

 

[mtruism]

Re: Requesting help to decide between two very similar diamo

I'm not that familiar with idealscopes. Would you recommend that I request them for these stones?

 

[JulieN]

Re: Requesting help to decide between two very similar diamo

The JA videos are so good it is not strictly necessary.

The 1.34 looks fine.

 

[mtruism]

Re: Requesting help to decide between two very similar diamo

Got the idealscopes. Looks to me like 1 is the better performer? I am admittedly extremely new at trying to interpret these...

Diamond 1:



Diamond 2: