The best diamond for my budget

[BennyB]

Hi Diamond Junkies! (and I mean that as a compliment!)

I've done a lot of researching, and have the parameters narrowed down to fit my budget. Now the hard part is actually finding the best rock. Here's what I'm looking for:

Cut: RB - Ideal/Excellent
Clarity: SI1 (eye clean) or VS2
Color: I or better
Carat: .88-1.x (most I've seen are in the .90-.95 range)
Cert: GIA/AGS
Price: $3000-3500 (can possibly stretch)

Cut/sparkles is the most important, followed by color, then clarity, with size needing to be close to 1c.

The stone will be put in a classic solitaire setting, probably 18k yellow gold. White gold is an option too, if that would really enhance the appearance of the stone. I was thinking an H/I may look better in yellow solitaire.

Here are a few that I found that seem to meet my needs. Please feel free to suggest others or comment on these!

Bluenile 0.93c Ideal H SI1 (GIA) $3472

Bluenile 0.90c Ideal I SI1 (GIA) $3217

JA 0.91 Ideal H VS2 (GIA) $3320*


and just found this one with the cut quality search:

Whiteflash .904c Ideal I SI1 (AGS) $3598 - (seems a little pricey for those specs?)

I hope I am on the right track here. I think she will love just about anything but I really want to get her the prettiest stone I can for the money. I am open to advice/suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[stone-cold11]

The BN stones looks good from the numbers, but since BN cannot provide image we cannot confirm further.

JA might show a little leakage from the numbers and image, might not be noticeable. Ask for an IS to confirm.

WF looks good from the numbers and images.

As if eye-clean for all SI1.

 

[Lorelei]

The BN diamonds angles are hovering around steep deep range, so I would really want an Idealscope image at a minimum to evaluate these properly, however they do not provide such services.

The JA diamond I would definitely want an IS image for that one.

The WF diamond looks nice and would be my frontrunner out of the above. Check any SI clarities are eyeclean to your standards by asking the vendors.

 

[phoenixgirl]

I would pick the metal that you think your future fiancee would prefer. With much warmer colors (think L, M, etc.), the yellow gold can mask some of the tint, but many, many ladies here wear H, I, J, and K (and beyond) in platinum and white gold without any negative effects. H or I you are definitely, definitely fine with a white metal. Now, this is coming from a girl who prefers yellow gold, so just make sure you know your lady''s preference. Does she wear silver or gold jewelry more often? Not everybody likes to mix metals, so if she wears just silver jewelry, she might feel like she can''t wear it with a YG ring.

IMO, the bigger BN and the WF stone are the best choices. I don''t like the crown angle on the JA stone.

The diameter on the BN and WF stones are pretty much the same, so I wouldn''t consider size. So the decision becomes:


better color and price vs. better cut and upgrade policy

 

[BennyB]

Here is another stone I've come across-

Good Old Gold

Shape: Round
Carat Weight: 1.00ct
Color: J
Clarity: SI1
GIA Cut Grade: Very Good
AGS Light Performance: Ideal
Optical Symmetry: Premium
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Good
Fluorescence: None
Lab Report: GIA
Lab Report #: 15863633
In House: Yes
Width: 6.28mm
Length: 6.33mm
Depth: 3.98mm
Table Percentage: 55.17%
Depth Percentage: 63.40%
Crown ∠: 34.75°
Pavilion ∠: 40.47°

There are a lot of pictures on the site. The depth of 63.4 looks high but HCA has it as 0.8-EX
ex-ex-ex-gd. Thoughts on this one vs the WF one I linked in the first post? Also, any thoughts on this vendor? I assume they are good as they came up in the pricescope quality cut search..

Thanks!

edit-- just noticed it is only "Very Good" in the GIA report. I was going to try for "Excellent" only... so maybe this isn't the best stone.

 

[stone-cold11]

This GOG stone is cut to retain weight by it looks like it still managed to retain a good optical symm even with a good in symm. GIA grades it good from the depth I think, it will look slightly smaller than similar 1c ideal cut stone.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 3/21/2009 6:55:17 PM
Author: BennyB
Here is another stone I've come across-

Good Old Gold

Shape: Round
Carat Weight: 1.00ct
Color: J
Clarity: SI1
GIA Cut Grade: Very Good
AGS Light Performance: Ideal
Optical Symmetry: Premium
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Good
Fluorescence: None
Lab Report: GIA
Lab Report #: 15863633
In House: Yes
Width: 6.28mm
Length: 6.33mm
Depth: 3.98mm
Table Percentage: 55.17%
Depth Percentage: 63.40%
Crown ∠: 34.75°
Pavilion ∠: 40.47°

There are a lot of pictures on the site. The depth of 63.4 looks high but HCA has it as 0.8-EX
ex-ex-ex-gd. Thoughts on this one vs the WF one I linked in the first post? Also, any thoughts on this vendor? I assume they are good as they came up in the pricescope quality cut search..

Thanks!

edit-- just noticed it is only 'Very Good' in the GIA report. I was going to try for 'Excellent' only... so maybe this isn't the best stone.

I have seen this diamond previously, optical symmetry looks ok which is different to physical symmetry which is lab graded. It is too deep for my personal taste and it will look small for the weight but it depends on what you want.

GOG are an excellent vendor, no concerns there. Also GIA Excellent are not created equal so post the proportions of any diamonds here as you have done, then we can help you sort out the best ones.