Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

So do most of you folks not recommend buying from BN?

J

Johnab

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 19, 2016
Messages
10
Due to lack of info from there site? I posted a few diamonds I thought were contenders for "the one" and was told its impossible to buy without idealscope and images...frustrating... though I see the point. There must be some way to go about making an educated diamond purchase on BN though. My head is starting to hurt from reading up on different opinions and grading, working 75 hours a week in heavy construction and then narrowing a choice down only for that stone to be gone or bought the next day when I go to order. :wall: I've used this site to narrow down stones and hoping some of pros here can further refine my choices or see something bad I overlooked. Ideally I would like largest diamond without sacrificing anything to the naked eye. Originally I was going for something under $10k but of course then I see something better at $10,200...then this $10,800 one is even nicer! etc, so "around" that range is preferable but flexible. Huge thanks in advance for anyone who helps, comments, anything lol.

http://www.petragems.com/blog/princess-cut-diamonds-assessment-chart-guide-indepth-information/

Setting
http://www.bluenile.com/build-your-own-ring/luna-diamond-engagement-ring-white-gold_44541

Any opinions on this bad boy?
http://www.bluenile.com/build-your-own-ring/diamond-details/LD06371764

Only bad thing I see is extremely thin girdle which I hear is prone to chipping.


This one is also nice but has medium blue florescence

http://www.bluenile.com/build-your-own-ring/diamond-details/LD06563869

Few other stones that peaked my interest and had good details based on above site
http://www.bluenile.com/build-your-own-ring/diamond-details/LD06207936
http://www.bluenile.com/build-your-own-ring/diamond-details/LD03920933
http://www.bluenile.com/build-your-own-ring/diamond-details/LD06587808
 
This one is a bit more $$$ but just showed up in there stock. If you think it is a much better purchase then any of the previous stones, I'd be willing to fork up the extra cash to make a better, smarter purchase. Hopefully this is a once in a lifetime purchase anyway right? :twirl:

http://www.bluenile.com/build-your-own-ring/diamond-details/LD03623123
 
It would not be smart to buy a Princess diamond from numbers, so you would be better shopping elsewhere.
 
It's almost impossible to buy fancy cut stone (princess, pears, cushions...anything besides round) by the numbers. That is why
people are suggesting you use a vendor that has pictures and hopefully aset images.

Is there a reason you want to stick with blue nile?
 
I have bought round diamonds years ago from them and when I shopped around locally what i received, stores couldn't touch the quality to price that I got from BN, so I know there a great way to get a lot for your $. Plus I was planning on bankwire (1.5%) discount and going through fatwallet site for additional 2% cashback.
 
I'd maybe risk buying blind with a round if I searched everywhere else and couldn't find one, but there are vendors with pictures, so why not start with those? With a princess cut, you have to see a picture of the stone regardless of whether you get an idealscope or ASET image. I really recommend ideal cut princess stones, though. For superideal cuts and ideal cuts: Good Old Gold, Whiteflash, and High Performance Diamonds. Then for GIA excellents (and possibly some AGS Ideal cuts) at moderate to low prices: James Allen, B2C Jewels, Enchanted Diamonds. The first three have the best trade-in policies, but if trading in will never be a consideration, then you can include the latter three in your search. On Enchanted, you have to select show listings with pictures only in the search. Their prices usually beat BN, fyi.
 
I have bought several Blue Nile Signature Rounds and Signature Cushion - I like and trust their Signature line of diamonds as they come with GCAL certificates which provide additional info and images of the specific stone(s) - though I still cherry-pick through their selection. [Note: Like other vendors' Signature lines, BN does price their Signature diamonds higher per carat as compared to non-Signature diamonds.]

Here are 3 BN Signature Princesses which I think look well-cut -- these all also are true squares, which personally I prefer in Princess-cuts, but of course YMMV...

http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD03570405
http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD04403643
http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD06600498
 
Very true, marymm! If he really wants to buy a princess cut from BN, Signature is the way to do it.
 
Thanks for post, but I have read two articles who say that BN signature line isn't what they make it sound to be. Now I'm not sure if this is just competition speaking bad on them or true but here are the two I have read.

http://niceice.com/blue-nile-signature-ideal-diamond-vs-blue-nile-ideal-cut-diamonds/

http://m.whiteflash.com/about-diamonds/diamond-education/blue-nile-reviews---signature-ideal-princess-cut-diamonds-1444.htm

For that reason I have just considered them just the same as any other diamond in there stock, no more, no less.
 
In my experience, I would agree that the top stones at vendors such as BN and JA do not necessarily meet the standards of other top branded stones. So true, I would kind of relate those to WF Expert Selection, for example, and not ACA.
 
Yes, if you are looking for super-ideal AGS OOO round brilliants and/or AGS OOO princess-cuts, I would not recommend BN to you.

But as your OP says you are looking for "the largest diamond without sacrificing anything to the naked eye," I would and do recommend certain BN Signature diamonds to you.

I have not looked at James Allen for princess-cuts with your criteria, but likely JA would also have several candidates meeting your stone specs/budget.
 
Isee absolutely no problem with shipping by the numbers for rounds. So unlike some, I'd absolutely recommend it, depending on the person and the situation. If someone is crazy about a branded cut, then no. But if you want the most bang for your buck, blue Nile is often the best. This is with rounds.


For princesses, if you buy their branded princess, or manage to find an ags000, why not?
But other than that I'd rather not get a princess from there, myself.
 
Niel|1453675561|3980844 said:
Isee absolutely no problem with shipping by the numbers for rounds. So unlike some, I'd absolutely recommend it, depending on the person and the situation. If someone is crazy about a branded cut, then no. But if you want the most bang for your buck, blue Nile is often the best. This is with rounds.


For princesses, if you buy their branded princess, or manage to find an ags000, why not?
But other than that I'd rather not get a princess from there, myself.
Click to expand...

Is there a way to tell a ags000 from a gia report?
 
Johnab|1453678976|3980859 said:
Niel|1453675561|3980844 said:
Isee absolutely no problem with shipping by the numbers for rounds. So unlike some, I'd absolutely recommend it, depending on the person and the situation. If someone is crazy about a branded cut, then no. But if you want the most bang for your buck, blue Nile is often the best. This is with rounds.


For princesses, if you buy their branded princess, or manage to find an ags000, why not?
But other than that I'd rather not get a princess from there, myself.
Click to expand...

Is there a way to tell a ags000 from a gia report?
Click to expand...

Sometimes they have ags certified stones. So I was just saying if you find one of those.
 
I've bought princess cuts from Blue Nile. I bought their sig cuts, and they're lovely. I have MANY of their sig cuts - both in rounds and some in princess cuts, and I find their diamonds to be lovely. Certainly the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen is a BN .95ct sig cut round - and I have diamonds from BGD and Good Old Gold - two of the preferred, highly recommended vendors on PS.

As Todd on NiceIce said - it's a case of choosing the stones with the best stats when buying a round. I recently bought a large (3.61ct) stone from BN, and it's stunning.

But Todd is actually wrong about BN sig cuts in saying that they only have an extra piece of paper. BN sig cuts are owned and cut by BN in New York and all are eyeballed for performance and cut to specific stats. As someone who owns a lot of them, I like them. A lot. And for the record - they're also guaranteed to be eye clean - even to SI1. Sig cuts also don't come below an I color, and they aren't offered in SI2 clarity.
 
If you want an AGS stone, the easiest way is to add polish and symmetry to your search parameter. If you then scroll down the list of stones that come up, you'll see some stones (not a lot - but certainly some) will have 'ideal' listed in polish and symmetry. This is not a term GIA uses, so you'll find that all those stones are AGS. It saves you looking at every individual stone to find the AGS ones.
 
Another vote for BN Signature cuts. I'm coming out of lurkdom because contrary to public opinion around here, I think they can be amazing. I have an AGS000 round and it is truly beautiful, and one of those diamonds that you notice from across the room. Two gemologists, asked to examine it, one of whom said it was among the 2 most beautiful diamonds she'd ever seen. (And no, she wasn't trying to sell me anything lol). I really can't imagine a diamond that would substantially out-perform this one, and I've seen a fair amount of diamonds.
 
I may consider non signature BN if the stone is with perfect proportions 55/34.5/40.8, VS1 clarity and no fluo, and pricing that justifies the risk shopping without a photo.
 
I tried this, changing the polish and symmetry to EX/ID and not a single diamond listed had anything but Excellent in both categories. Does it work for princess?
 
I'll search for you. Just a sec.

You didn't do anything wrong. I searched for all G-H VS2 Sig. princess cuts and all of them are GIA graded which is why they say excellent instead of ideal. The AGS Ideal cut just makes it easier to find a great stone, but I am not opposed to GIA princess stones. It just takes a little more work.

I'd say go ahead and choose 3-4 of the signature stones that meet your budget and post them here and we'll try to help you narrow them down.

This is about as big as you can get staying in G-H color and I think it looks nice (have to verify eyeclean with BN):

http://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD02975182
 
It's late and I haven't read the other responses. Just want to say that you can get a great diamond from BN for much less than the other vendors, as long as you take advice about the measurements and use the HCA. You can't check out the light performance before purchase with graphics like you can with the more expensive vendors, it's true. But BN has no-questions-asked returns and you can check out the diamond's light performance with the most high-tech equipment that you own - your eyes! BN is a great way to get more diamond for your money, IMO.
 
Jambalaya|1453706856|3981045 said:
It's late and I haven't read the other responses. Just want to say that you can get a great diamond from BN for much less than the other vendors, as long as you take advice about the measurements and use the HCA. You can't check out the light performance before purchase with graphics like you can with the more expensive vendors, it's true. But BN has no-questions-asked returns and you can check out the diamond's light performance with the most high-tech equipment that you own - your eyes! BN is a great way to get more diamond for your money, IMO.
Click to expand...

Hey Jam...he is looking for a princess cut so...HCA and measurements dont really work. tyty
 
I bought a diamond from BN (round). I picked out 3 I was interested in and asked BN to send me photos. They were able to provide photos for 2 of the 3 stones. I ended up purchasing 1from them and I am so very happy with it and their customer service.
I am no diamond expert - I just wanted to share my personal experience with you.
 
How good were the images they provided? Enough to see the imperfections? I'll send an email seeing if I can get a few from them.
 
BN sent me ASET images. I also asked them to verify the stones were eye-clean (they were all VS1).
The good thing is you have 30 days to return/exchange if you are not satisfied.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Be a part of the community Get 3 HCA Results
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top