Round 1 carat loose stone for US$5k?

[britbf]

I want to buy a round cut diamond for an e ring centre stone and my budget for that is US$5k - can all you good people on PS please help me understand what I should expect to get for that.
With regards to size my fiancee really wants a 1 carat - but is a nice 1 carat possible at this price?

I would like to get an idea of what I should expect to get in a store near my home (I live in Los Angeles)
But also what I could get if I was willing to use an online diamond broker like Blue Nile.

Ideally I''d like to try to understand what the difference would be in relative terms
So should I expect to pay 5k in a store for a stone that would cost 4k on blue nile? or is the difference bigger or smaller?

I am clueless and could really use some honest help from independent voices on PS

xxx

 

[yssie]

1.08 G SI2 ACA http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/round-cut-diamond-906726.htm
1.06 J VS2 ACA http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/round-cut-diamond-1848209.htm
1.05 I SI1 BGDsig http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-1040381680041
1.03 J SI1 Infinity http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity&id=413
1.02 F SI2 JAtruehearts http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1253643.asp



so yes, you can get a 1ct H&A online in your budget with a little compromise

 

[512BB]

Here is my experience in your situation. I bought my ering stone at Good Old Gold, they have a retail store in Long Island, NY as well as an online store. I got a 1.1ct J SI1, Medium Blue Florescence, GIA cert, Hearts & Arrows. Their credit card price was $4,975. They have a bank wire discount (not sure on %) and a 3% discount on the stone if you buy a designer setting from them, which I did. Since it was H&A it also came with their lifetime guarantee, which means you can trade in the stone for 100% credit of original purchase value towards a more expensive stone. If you don''t see what you''re looking for on their site, then I would recommend giving them a call and see if they can get something for you, I''ve been told they are very good at that. They also have all the information you would need about each diamond listed on their site.

Other online vendors that have a good reputation on PS are Whiteflash, Brian Gavin Diamonds, Nice Ice, High Performance Diamonds, James Allen, and probably quite a few others. I would recommend these over Blue Nile as they actually have stones in house and they generally have much more information on the stones available, as well as being able to call in stones.

As for as a physical store compared to an online one, you would have to check it out in person. Some are very expensive, some are competitive with internet pricing. If you do want to check out stones in a store, get the basic information on it as well as the grading report number, as you can get the report information from the grading websites, and then you can get the experts on PS to give their opinion on it.

Hope this helps.

 

[stone-cold11]

Usually the mark up between online and brick store is about 10-15%.

Remember, carat size is a weight measurement and does not automatically equate to the same diameter.

For example.

, the left stone is a 0.87c while the right stone is a 1.0c stone, both having the same diameter, which one looks smaller to you?

From this link.http://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/diamond-carat-weight/

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 3/21/2010 8:21:17 PM
Author: yssie
1.08 G SI2 ACA http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/round-cut-diamond-906726.htm
1.06 J VS2 ACA http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/round-cut-diamond-1848209.htm
1.05 I SI1 BGDsig http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond/diamond-detail/?product_id=AGS-1040381680041
1.03 J SI1 Infinity http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity&id=413
1.02 F SI2 JAtruehearts http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1253643.asp



so yes, you can get a 1ct H&A online in your budget with a little compromise

These are all good possibilities As Yssie points out, you will need to compsomise something to get 1ct in yoru budget, but really it is not a true "compromise" because any of those stones would be lovely. I like I SI1 as a good safe zone for color as long as you confrim with the vendor that the stone is eye clean!

 

[HVVS]

Depending on the store, it will most likely have lesser cut grades at higher markups than the PS vendors. Don't compromise on cut. Color sensitivity varies, and I color is the grade where many people start noticing tint in the 1ct stones. But some actually prefer the warmer rather than the glare white colors. If I have a limited budget, I'd throw it all into the center stone and then put it in some stock mounting from Stuller or Adwar or Overnight Mounting, etc., or even from eBay. I mean solitaire setting from eBay. Most of the diamond settings on eBay will not be worthy of PD diamonds. Settings can always be changed and it's nice to have time to thoroughly look around before committing to an expensive one.

http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/round-cut-diamond-2192304.htm was one I was looking at but backed off of due to the feathers. WF says the feathers don't reach the surface. I had that diamond on reserve. I don't know whether they forget to release it or if someone else reserved it afterward. Nice SI2 but I decided to keep looking.

 

[britbf]

thanks dreamer D - I noticed you replied on my other thread too...

I am looking into whiteflash and brian gavin and I really like the sliding scales on whiteflash down one side that show the rankings of colour and clarity - good for beginners like me