Thoughts on this fancy yellow cushion?

[Rrolack]

Just for a bit of background: I'm looking to get a ring with a fancy yellow center stone as a birthday gift for my wife. After visiting Tiffany here in NYC, one takeaway was that I clearly preferred the cushion cut over the radiant (which seem to be the two dominant cuts for fancy yellows).

That being the case, here is some of what I'm looking for:

- Color wise, ideally in the fancy intense range. My feeling is that vivid generally isn't worth the premium.
- Something clearly larger face-up than her original engagement ring (which is 6.5mm square).
- A stone that's not a perfect square (i.e. not 1.00 L:W), as I feel the rectangular shape looks better in a ring.

As an example of a stone which meets these specs, any thoughts on this one?

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/fancy-color/yellow/cushion-cut/4.01-carat-vs2-clarity-sku-279307

This stone aside, any other thoughts on my search are of course welcome

 

[Queenie60]

If your budget is $79,000 - you have access to many stones! Try Leibish.com They specialize in fancy colored diamonds. Also, diamondsbylauren.com - they have many fancy colored diamonds as well. Good luck. Luck wife!!

 

[grateful4life]

I have a 5 carat fancy yellow cushion that I purchased for about the same price as the 4 ct you shared here. Mine is a VS1. With the 18 k yellow gold under my stone, I feel that it looks like a fancy intense without the mark up. It's up to you if you want to pay the premium for fancy intense but I wanted to share my personal experience with you. Have fun! She'll love her new yellow diamond! They're amazing!

 

[Rrolack]

If your budget is $79,000 - you have access to many stones! Try Leibish.com They specialize in fancy colored diamonds. Also, diamondsbylauren.com - they have many fancy colored diamonds as well. Good luck. Luck wife!!

I actually found DBL to have a very small inventory. This looks to be their FIY cushion inventory at the moment, all which are 1.2 carats and below (perhaps I missed something, however):

http://www.diamondsbylauren.com/index.php/categories/loose-diamonds#colors=diamond_color_yellow&intensity=diamond_color_yellow_fiy&shapes=cushion&carat-min=&carat-max=&price-min=&price-max=&cat_id=207&ring_types=&page=1

I have a 5 carat fancy yellow cushion that I purchased for about the same price as the 4 ct you shared here. Mine is a VS1. With the 18 k yellow gold under my stone, I feel that it looks like a fancy intense without the mark up. It's up to you if you want to pay the premium for fancy intense but I wanted to share my personal experience with you. Have fun! She'll love her new yellow diamond! They're amazing!

I'll definitely keep this in mind. Price per carat is the reason I'm looking more at FIY than FVY, and it's great to hear that a cupped FY can approach a FIY in color.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Not your shape, but

http://www.66mint.com/product/gia-natural-fancy-intense-5-01ct-yellow-diamond-ring/

cheers--Sharon

 

[kenny]

I have a 5 carat fancy yellow cushion that I purchased for about the same price as the 4 ct you shared here.
... I feel that it looks like a fancy intense without the mark up.

1. You can't grade FCDs by a pic.

2. There is no more a 'premium' for a Fancy Intense Yellow than there was a premium for your Fancy Yellow over a Fancy Light Yellow.
Each grade just costs whatever it costs.

3. Nature gives us FCDs with tone & saturation that varies continuously.
It's humans that chop them up into discrete grades.
But, even within GIA's Fancy Intense Yellow grade FCDs will vary from less color (right next to the less-expensive Fancy Yellow grade) to more color (right next to the more-expensive Fancy Vivid grade).

Where a particular Fancy Intense Yellow FCD falls along this continuum will be reflected in its price.
I've been told that Leibish has 10 tone/saturation subcategories (with reflective prices) within the FIY grade.

There's no way a vendor is going to price one FIY that borders FVY the same price as another FIY that borders the FY grade.

 

[aac2013]

I love yellow diamonds!

First, the JA diamond you posted is a great size but there is loss of color reflection at the top and bottom of the stone (ie notice the dark areas). This happens frequently in colored diamonds so be sure to look for stones where this is minimized. It is distracting particularly in large stones.

Other than those already mentioned, Mark Broumand also carries yellow diamonds. Jewels by Grace has a few from time to time as well. Be sure to actually call these places rather than just going off the website because they have access to more than what is noted.

Chiming in with Kenny, I personally found a big difference within each graded color range when I was looking for my diamond. With such a big purchase, you may want to have a vendor gather a few options for you and then fly in to see them side by side.

grateful4life....your ring is gorgeous!

 

[grateful4life]

I love yellow diamonds!

First, the JA diamond you posted is a great size but there is loss of color reflection at the top and bottom of the stone (ie notice the dark areas). This happens frequently in colored diamonds so be sure to look for stones where this is minimized. It is distracting particularly in large stones.

Other than those already mentioned, Mark Broumand also carries yellow diamonds. Jewels by Grace has a few from time to time as well. Be sure to actually call these places rather than just going off the website because they have access to more than what is noted.

Chiming in with Kenny, I personally found a big difference within each graded color range when I was looking for my diamond. With such a big purchase, you may want to have a vendor gather a few options for you and then fly in to see them side by side.

grateful4life....your ring is gorgeous!

Thank you aac2013!

I agree regarding seeing them in person. When we were shopping for our stone, we spent some time letting the vendor know what we were looking for and then decided to fly out to them to see them in person. I'm SO happy we did. There's just nothing like seeing them in person It made the selection process so much easier and fun too!

 

[Rrolack]

First, the JA diamond you posted is a great size but there is loss of color reflection at the top and bottom of the stone (ie notice the dark areas). This happens frequently in colored diamonds so be sure to look for stones where this is minimized. It is distracting particularly in large stones.

I'd noticed the loss of color and light at the top and bottom as well. If this could be distracting in person, I'll likely keep looking.

Thanks everyone for your helpful thoughts - very educational and much appreciated!