Similar price/ cut do you choose Color over Clarity ?

[poorbastard]

Given 2 round brilliant diamonds with same Cert paper, with similar Ideal cut, carat and price. Would you give up Clarity for Color ? or Clarity over Color....Sample...E & VS1 or F & VVS2 ? etc...Any thoughts ?

If, the price is couple hundred bucks difference which would cost more ?

 

[Magnum]

I voted for color over clarity, in general, as long as the stone is eye-clean, but between the two choices you listed, very few people would be able to tell the difference in the color or the clarity with just the unaided eye (I assume we're talking about Round Brilliants, but you didn't specify). As far as which is less expensive, clarity usually costs more than color, so I would think the E VS1 would be less expensive.

 

[poorbastard]

Hi Magnum,
Thanks for the response...Just edited the post to list it as Round Ideal Cut diamond. I saw them at different places, believe it or not the higher color cost more...but once i gave them the price of the lower color/higher clarity they willing to lower it down but still few hundred bucks higher...though i don't have to pay tax for the second one so the price will be the same as first with tax. I didn't believe it but he showed me the price chart/ index per carat and to my surprise they both cost the same...Still scratching my head over this

 

[Magnum]

When comparing just two stones from two different venders, you're not getting a real good sample to determine average price difference, because the two vendors could have very different price markups. By going to this page,

Pricescope average price stats

you can see the average and lowest price per carat for 1A cut stones of every color/clarity combo in several carat ranges. The prices are taken by averaging thousands of dismonds on the internet, so it's a more accurate comparison of price differences. By looking at the charts you can see that on average, F VVS2 costs more than E VS1 in every carat range but 1 (statistical anomaly?) Hope this helps.

 

[pqcollectibles]

Clarity comes at a higher premium than color. Also, most people cannot discern the difference in adjacent (E/F, F/G, etc) color grades. I would go for the higher clarity, F color. As Magnum pointed out, statistically the F, VVS will yield the better buy between two comparable carat weight/cut diamonds.

 

[limey]

And usually without the assistance of a loupe one can not see a VS1 inclusion, so an even better buy is F, VS1.

 

[dimonbob]

Just for starters if both of these diamonds are the same size and cut and mounted...you will not see a difference in color or clarity.

I voted E/VS1. Some people can see and appreciate a color difference. No one can see the difference in a VVS2 and a VS1. Even with a 10x loupe most non-diamond people cannot see the difference. So why pay for something that is impossible to see?

For beauty, get the best cut possible.

 

[verticalhorizon]

I too, voted for E VS1, b/c its incredibly difficult to see a VS1 inclusion.

The two examples were so close, perhaps too close. The real challenge is when you find two similar diamonds but with a compromise two grades apart.

RB F SI1
RB H VS1

Chances are these two diamonds wouldn't be priced similarly for identical sizes, but then how often does that happen. Chances are one will be 1ct.

What would you do then?

 

[Magnum]

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On 5/21/2004 2:05:50 PM verticalhorizon wrote:

What would you do then?

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As long as it was eye-clean, I would take the F SI1. If not, than the H VS1 would be the choice. But hopefully by using the internet and the various PS vendors, you won't have to make that choice, but instead get a G VS2.

 

[Jennifer5973]

Generally speaking about color, the human eye--even untrained--can spot yellow more than clarity issues, so I'd go with color over clarity unless the clarity is so poor, it is not eyeclean to anyone. The difference between E and F--most experts would have a tough time without master stones!

On the other hand, I'd rather have an F SI1 than a K VS1, even if well cut.