Tiffinay Lucida or Blue Nile Radiant

[The Reknown]

I recently purchased a Tiffinay Lucida diamond .96 F color VVS1 for $14 K. It is beautiful, but it is at max of my price range. I can afford it but I am wondering if I should by a less expensive Blue Nile diamond and save the bucks. I can get a BN diamond 1 carat D color VVS2 for about half the price. My girlfirend likes the finer things in life. With Tiffinays am I paying more and getting more or just a name? Will a BN diamond do?

Thanks

 

[gailrmv]

There are lots of topics about whether Tiffany is worth the price. No need to reiterate that here, but do a search. You do pay more, but to some people it is worth the premium for the name and unique style, to others it is not. For me personally there are other stores I would prefer to work with than either Tiffany or Blue Nile, but many beautiful rings have come from both companies.

A radiant is going to look a lot different than a Lucida - they are different cuts. If you have time, why not check out a radiant in a local store and see if you like it. You could also order from Blue Nile or another pricescope vendor and compare side by side with your Lucida, then return one.

If you like the Lucida setting, the Vatche X Prong is similar and is excellent quality. I have one and love it. Ellen has one also. She has posted wonderful pictures which you can find in a search.

I am sure you didn't mean to come off this way, but it sounds like you don't care all that much about the ring. I know some guys care more than others about these things, but it's a lot of money and likely very important to your fiance, who will be wearing it forever. I'd take plenty of time to compare and really think through what you (and she) value most in a ring and how best to use your budget. For example, some people like to know they have D VVS as you mentioned, but for me, I'd rather have lower cut and clarity and a bigger stone because that's more important to me. It's different for everyone, but many people find they do not want to pay more for something they cannot discern with their naked eye.

ETA: Did you say radiant and then edit? I could have sworn you said radiant.

 

[neatfreak]

If Tiffany''s is important to her, stick with what you have. If not, I''d go with BN myself. But be aware that a radiant will have a very different look than the Lucida.

 

[Lorelei]

To the best of my knowledge, BN do not offer cut analysis tools which are so useful for choosing a well cut radiant, such as ASET images and detailed photographs. You can't pick a radiant by the numbers, they need to be seen to be judged. Also Bn don't have in house stones in some cases, so I would suggest if you want to look for a radiant, contact vendors such as Good old Gold or Wink Jones, Whiteflash for example, tell them what you are looking for, and let them help you. They may have some in house stones that have had the cut analysis done, that way you won't be buying what could really be an unknown quantity.

However if your GF would value the Tiffany Lucida more, maybe that would be one of the finer things in life to her - then you may be best staying with what you already have. However unless this is a personal preference, you could drop the clarity to VS or even an eyeclean SI1 if such a diamond presented itself. Also there is little point getting a D colour diamond in my opinion, unless it is well cut and you have the tools to evaluate each radiant for cut quality.

 

[UCLABelle]

Well, with the Lucida, you are getting a unique, exclusive cut (one that I think is divine).....you are paying a lot for the name, but in this case, you also bought a really special cut as well...

 

[sparxs111]

The other thing is you can get lots of replica tiffany designs out there. Whiteflash and Superbcert thought of very well on this forum for replicas, then she gets the delicate tiffany look but at a 1/4 the cost.

 

[Isabelle]

You can replicate the setting of the Lucida perhaps, but you sure can''t replicate the diamond cut. It''s protected by a utility patent. A radiant is quite a different cut. Now what you could do is go down to an I in color and a VS 2 in clarity, and that will increase the size of the diamond Tiffany will give you. You should ask your sales rep to do a search in inventory and see what $14K will buy when you aren''t focused on getting an F vvs clarity grade. Keep in mind too that a Tiffany "H" or "I" is going to look white. Some will say they see yellow. Thats a bunch of crap. If a stone is a GIA H or GIA I, (which Tiffanys are), then it will look white. So in this case, you are okay going for carat weight. But, ultimately, the thing to remember most of all is that the Lucida diamond isn''t the same as a radiant cut. Not at all. So if she likes the Lucida, you should stick with that. It''s a gorgeous ring, particularly on the hand. Pictures of it don''t even come close to doing it justice.

 

[bee*]

I agree with Isabelle. They are very different diamond cuts and while you can replicate the setting, you can''t replicate the diamond as it''s patented. I have a lucida and we searched high and low to find something similar that we were happy with and couldn''t find anything so we went with the real deal. We went with an I and it''s extremely white so if you want to save some money, maybe go a bit lower in colour.