These are so close, how do I choose???

[angeline]

Calling all experts... I am looking for a diamond (duh!) for a modern, tension or bezel set in a matte yellow gold. I would like to hit the 7mm mark, and of course wouldn't be averse to more! I have found 3 stones and don't know how to choose. 2 are on the James Allen website, so no Idealscope as yet. Anything obvious about these stones jump out to anyone to help me narrow things down? I do appreciate people's time and expertise here!

Stone 1:

Carat Weight: 1.44ct
Color: J
Clarity: VS2
AGS Cut Grade: Ideal*
GIA Cut Grade: Excellent*
Optical Symmetry: Ideal
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Fluorescence: Negligible
Width: 7.23mm
Length: 7.28mm
Depth: 4.51mm
Table Percentage: 53.92%
Depth Percentage: 62.16%
Crown ?: 34.05°
Pavilion ?: 40.89°
Upper Girdle ?: 42.15°
Lower Girdle ?: 42.19°

Stone 2:
Carat weight: 1.59
Cut: Ideal
Color: J
Clarity: SI1
Certificate: AGS

Depth: 61.3%
Table: 54.7%
Crown angle: 33.9
Pavillion angle: 40.8
Polish: Ideal
Symmetry: Ideal
Girdle: Thin to medium
Culet: None
Fluorescence: Neglible
Measurements: 7.52*7.56*4.62

Stone 3:
Carat weight: 1.58
Cut: Ideal
Color: J
Clarity: VS2
Certificate: GIA

Depth: 61.4%
Table: 57%
Polish: Excellent - Ideal
Symmetry: Excellent - Ideal
Girdle: Medium
Culet: None
Fluorescence: None
Measurements: 7.47*7.52*4.60

Crown Angle: 35.0°
Pavillion Angle: 40.8°

The last two cost about the same within a couple of hundred (stone 2 is cheapest) and the first is about $500 cheaper than 2 and 3.

Does anyone htink I should go down in size to about 1.2ct which would give me close to 7mm and get at least an I in color? I guess no-one can tell me what I like, I saw a J at my B&M and only when she was putting it on the tray and I saw it sideways could I perceive any color. Top down it looked like the I color to me, which looked just fine to me.

thanks in advance for any help!

a

ps this IS is for Stone 1, I don't know how to insert it in the right place!

 

[JulieN]

between 2 and 3, I'd go with 2 as long as it's eyeclean, as the shallower crown will help the face up color.

Stone 2 is the cheapEST and 1 is 500 less than both? Or 500 more?

 

[angeline]

Thanks for your reply Julie... let me get this straight...

Stone 1 is about7500
Stone 2 is about 8000
Stone 3 is about 7700

so I got it a bit wrong - sorry! Stone 1 and 3 appear in the PS listings so their is the discount, Stone 2 doesn't.

 

[JulieN]

JA''s PS discount is 5% by wire, so 7600 for stone 2.

 

[strmrdr]

cost not an object

stone 1 is my fav.
stone 2 looks good
stone 3 is likely a nice diamond but the angles arent as good as the others.

 

[strmrdr]

taking cost into account I still like #1 but #3 looks good too.

 

[Regular Guy]

I kinda like 1, in respect to its characteristics of both VS2 and AGS0. The cost savings, and optimizing of being close to but short of 1.5 are attractive, too.

 

[angeline]

JulieN - truly? I asked JA on the phone today and he said that if it didn''t appear in the PS database I could only get the 1.5% wire transfer price. 5% sounds much better!!! I will check that out, thanks!

Strmrdr - I confess I was leaning to number 1 but not for esoteric clever reasons, only because I hear more about GOG on here and they have all the information right there. Is it too hard for you to condense why no1 is your favourite? it mught help in my searches to understand why...

Thanks, a

 

[JulieN]

It does appear on the DB; you have to do "search all" and not "in-house" it's 7705 with PS discount, and I guess it has to be called in, which costs 25 if you don't buy it (return shipping to the supplier, I guess,) but free if you do.

This one, right? http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?cid=131&item=937925&aff_id=ps621

 

[angeline]

You''re absolutely right, that is the one! I was using the cut quality search, not the main search engine, so maybe that automatically only searches in-house. That''s a really good piece of information, thanks for sorting that out for me!

a