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Shopping for Engagement Ring...NEED Help

smejia

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 12, 2016
Messages
1
Hello,

I'm not very knowledgeable with engagement rings (rings in general) so definitely looking for advice here. I went to Brilliant Earth with my fiance to be, and we got a good idea of what i'm looking for.

looking for a Rose Gold helix or cross-band setting. Brilliant Earth called this style "Bisou" and their rep put a price for $1,690. is this Fair? 14k Rose gold with .35 total Carat weight - http://www.brilliantearth.com/Bisou-Diamond-Engagement-Ring-Rose-Gold-BE1D1109-1279020/

For the diamond, my girlfriend really does appreciate "clean diamonds" which is one of the main reasons we visited Brilliant Earth to begin with. She is also very interested in Lab Created Diamonds, and would prefer that style. Thoughts on lab created diamonds?

I'm looking for a pear shaped diamond between 1.0-1.3 carat and with the following specifics, " I'd recommend looking at lab diamonds in the 1.1-1.5 carat range, Oval or Pear cut, D-I color range, Very Good+ cut grade, VS2+ clarity." (per the reps email)

Here are two options she provided, and again, is this a fair price? Can they be found somewhere else for a better price/quality?

1.01 Carat, Good cut, H color, and VS2 clarity Oval diamond - $3,370 - http://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/2552284/ (this is oval shape)

1.13 Carat, Very Good cut, D color, and VS1 clarity Pear diamond - $5,050 - http://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/2642876/

1.05 Carat, Very Good cut, D Color, and VS2 Clarity Per Diamond - $3,450 - http://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/2658649/


Thanks for all the help!
 

Asscherhalo_lover

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Messages
5,703
I think the price on the setting is pretty average for a cast setting of the carat weight but I can't for life of me understand why you would spend so much money on a lab diamond for the center stone. You do know the setting is set with real diamonds right? If you don't want a diamond for the center, you could get a pretty fabulous gemstone for that money.
 

AdaBeta27

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 7, 2004
Messages
1,077
I didn't even know there are lab diamonds in oval and pear, lol. Round is the only lab diamond that I'm familiar with. Which brings me to this point: Oval and pear are "fancies." There is no cookbook recipe for buying any "fancy" diamond shape, and there are no GIA or AGS lab cut grade standards. You'll need an ASET image to gauge it's performance, and photos to determine how much bow-tie there is across the middle and what the faceting pattern is like. Or, you need an ASET scope and yourself to go examine the diamonds in person, and an independent appraiser or Pricescope prosumers to advise you on which ones look like the best performers. Oval and pear stones can be very shallow or very deep, or anything in between. There are no standards for fancies, except Princess, which only AGS lab has a cut grading system for. There are however the cutter decides to make the best use of that piece of rough.

Pear or any make with pointy ends or corners will tend to concentrate tint in those points. An I color princess looks really creamy to me. You may need to stay at H or G or even higher for a pear, if tint is an issue. Oval washes tints better. A superb modern RB washes / hides tint the best.

With round brilliant diamonds, modern H&A or 60/60 traditional symmetry, we have the HCA Cut Adviser under Tools tab at top of this page. You can plug the numbers in for a round, look for a score 2 or under and eliminate a lot of bad performers straight off. You can look up the "Pricescope Cheat Sheet for Rounds" thread. You can go to NiceIce.com, education section, and read 5 and 15 Minutes to Success. If you look at only AGS 000 diamonds, you don't even need to run the HCA numbers, because AGS has already screened only the best performers for 000 cut grade. GIA 3X is a far broader range and it includes some poor performers, so use the HCA for GIA graded RBs.

Most of the round lab diamonds that I've looked at specs for are not of the proportions that Pricescope prefers. I've never seen a lab created diamond in person, so I can't comment on their looks or performance. But I like a smaller table, like 55-56%, and a bit of crown height, for fire, and I also like chunkier arrows in the 76-77% lgf, and I just haven't seen a lab diamond yet that sounds like it will have the personality that I prefer.
 

Niel

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jul 23, 2012
Messages
20,044
I'm a firm believer that second hand rings are the "cleanest" diamonds as you're reusing an existing diamond and not adding additional impact to the earth.

As for lab diamonds, I'd you continue to go that route you'll have to move this to the lab grown section of this forum, but those have to be made with something. And is mining the minerals used to made the diamonds make them more ethical?
If she's is just looking for an ethical diamond, check out most websites will see that they sell ethically mined diamonds.
 

AdaBeta27

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 7, 2004
Messages
1,077
There are Canadian diamonds. Good Old Gold used to carry some and can probably source them. USA Certed is actually in Canada, I believe. They used to be a PS vendor back in the early days.

I'm not certain, but I think it's still true that fancies sell for less $ per carat than round brilliants.
 
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