Trying to find good deal on 1 ct. Princess Ideal

[minorthreat]

Between Infinity and WF ACA princess cuts I am trying to locate myself one of these

.095 - 1.05 ct.
D-G color
Ideal Cut/polish/light performance
IF - VS2 (As long as it is eye clean)
AGS certified
Princess

All of this for $5,000. I understand that I can''t expect to find a D colored IF 1 ct. for under 8-9k I am just curious if anyone has seen any killer deals on high quality 1ct. princess cuts recently? As I am trying to get my stone ordered asap so I can get my setting made.

 

[jstarfireb]

1.01 F VS1 for just over $5k.

Or, drop the clarity to SI1 (check if the stone is eye-clean, but an eye-clean SI1 will look exactly the same as an IF) and go a tad smaller...0.90 F SI1.

Or save a pretty penny by dropping color to I and get this 0.98 I VS2 for under $4k! I think this is the prettiest stone of the bunch (just look at that killer ASET!) and a heck of a deal. My princess is an I, and the color is really not a problem. The brightness of the ideal cut quality offsets the color, and I is near colorless to begin with.

ETA: Don't be put off by the fact that these aren't Infinity or ACA; even though they're unbranded, they're hand-selected by Jonathan of GOG.

 

[DiamondsDiamonds]

The 1.01 ct. princess looks really good!

 

[Lorelei]

It depends on your preferences, if you want the brand and pedigree of the ACA or Infinity, then those are the ones to look at, if not then definitely check out Jstar''s selections.

 

[minorthreat]

OK, So I have myself an appointment on Friday for at the San Francisco Diamond Exchange. I told them I want them to gather whatever AGS certified Ideal cuts they have that are within this criteria:
.95-1.05 Ct. Princess
G color or better
VS quality or better
Ideal Cut
Ideal Polish
Ideal Light Performance

The receptionist tried telling me the same typical thing I hear from most sellers "My friend, GIA is the best and strictest certification there is" I had to lay the line down and explain to her that AGS0 Ideal cuts were way stricter on the angles/cut and that I ONLY want AGS Ideal cuts. So hopefully they will actually do what I ask. Ill keep you guys posted as I plan on acquiring a stone in the very near future.

I really fell in love with Infinity stones and I want to go and see some non Name branded stones to compare the quality/price with the Infinitys since they are a little out of my price I want to pay.
Wish me luck

 

[mryan]

i think you should still seriously consider GOG after you see the diamonds at the other place. I just received my ering from GOG today and it is AWESOME. i am waiting to post pics till after i propose just incase she's lurking on the forum but I would def. recommend GOG.

 

[Lorelei]

Keep us posted!

 

[minorthreat]

OMG, SOMEONE KILL ME. I went into two separate places in the SF diamond market and both places acted exactly how I expected them to.

Let me first explain my situation...
I started reading about princess cuts about three months ago. It was not until about one month ago I found pricescope. I feel I learned more in the last month off of this site then I have learned about diamonds in my entire life (Yay pricescope

). After all the research I have done, I myself have fallen head over heals for the Infinity cuts. They are truly unique and beautiful and also achieve the highest light perfomance ratings there is. Before you get all defensive, by no means am I saying that ONLY Infinity stones can have exceptional light performance, I am only stating that almost all Infinity stones are guaranteed to be Ideal in this category. So you are probably wondering, If you like Infinity so much why don''t you just purchase one? Well I would love too, but my price budget isn''t quite there yet as I am expecting a newborn in about three months. I want to get around a 1 ct stone and the Infinity cuts are all near the 7k range when I really only have around 5500 max to drop on my stone itself. That being said, I made an appointment with the San Francisco Diamond Exchange in downtown SF. This place has a reputation in which people who go in for an appointment, 90% of the time they walk out with a purchase. They claim to be a diamond wholesaler and offer pretty decent prices. You make a call and tell them your criteria of stone and when you show up you get one of their sales reps who devote 100% of their time to servicing you. When you arrive for your appointment they have about 5-6 stones that meet your criteria out and ready for evaluation. They are only open Mon-Fri so I had to take time off of work to go.

My pre-criteria were as follows:
.95-1.05 ct. princess
d-g color
VS+ clarity
Ideal Cut AGS certification is a must (since they are stricter on their depth/table)

I wasn''t really going in there to purchase a stone it was mainly to see what my other options are if I could not afford the Infinity. It was also meant to be a learning experience for myself and to place some actual visualizations to cut/color quality as the only research I have done so far was watching videos on Goodoldgold and reading this forum.

So I walk in and meet the very friendly rep and first thing we do is look at my requested stones that were supposed to meet my criteria. First thing I notice is that all six stones are all GIA certified. I am not saying I won''t buy a GIA cert. stone, its just the simple fact that I am about to invest a pretty large stack into a stone that will be a lifetime gift, I really did not appreciate that I specifically said AGS cert only and they try pulling this on me. They treated me as if I was misled by a private entity to purchase some undesired stone. They tried expressing how much more of a financial investment a GIA cert. stone is compared to a AGS stone. In fact, I can quote the rep on this "If 100 stones go on the market 98 of them will be GIA cert". So anyways, back to the six stones... They had 6 1ct. e-g colored princess cuts and they were all good quality cuts... again not what I asked. All the stones were priced from 5k-6k and they were all just standard GIA cuts (VS2, G/G) nothing special. There was 1 decent one that looked much smaller cause it had a large depth however I knew it was the best cut in terms of light performance. They lady asked me to pick which one I thought would perform the best on her test and it was plain as day for me to tell her which one would. Of course I was correct and only proved that I actually knew what I was talking about even more. After me argueing with her and her buddy for a long time that AGS did in fact have Ideal princess cuts I forced them to go to craftedbyinfinity.com and Highperformancediamonds.com and showed them a few AGS certificates and I finally set them striaght. They both had no idea what an ASET was either. After getting my point across that I value the cut and the light performance over any other aspect of the stone I gave them (AGAIN) my criteria and told them to call me if they could find anything near it. It just makes me wonder how many people go into the typical jewelery store and just say... oh that looks pretty and they buy some poorly cut stone. I am serious though, some of the cuts they had were so obvious where the light would leak through I couldn''t believe it.

So here I am, left with no other choice but to save up for an Infinity stone. I guess time is on my side right now though since the price of diamonds are slowly falling and I really do not have a set date by which I want to propose by. Wish me luck!

 

[Lorelei]

Thanks for the write up!

Something to consider which might bring that Infinity to you a little faster, would you consider H or I colour? These will still be very white with a fantastic cut Infinity and could really help the budget - just a suggestion. Of course if you prefer D to G then thats fine but I just thought it was worth mentioning in case it was an option for you.

 

[Gypsy]

I''d drop to eyeclean SI as well.

Go to a Hearts on Fire dealer, ask to see Dream cuts in H-I-J and SI clarity. It might help you out a bit.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 2/14/2009 4:22:47 AM
Author: Gypsy
I''d drop to eyeclean SI as well.

Go to a Hearts on Fire dealer, ask to see Dream cuts in H-I-J and SI clarity. It might help you out a bit.

I was going to add that and forgot, thanks Gypsy - MT would you consider eyeclean SI clarity? This too would make a difference to the budget.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 2/13/2009 9:47:49 PM
Author: minorthreat
OMG, SOMEONE KILL ME. I went into two separate places in the SF diamond market and both places acted exactly how I expected them to.

I wasn't really going in there to purchase a stone it was mainly to see what my other options are if I could not afford the Infinity. It was also meant to be a learning experience for myself and to place some actual visualizations to cut/color quality as the only research I have done so far was watching videos on Goodoldgold and reading this forum.

So I walk in and meet the very friendly rep and first thing we do is look at my requested stones that were supposed to meet my criteria. First thing I notice is that all six stones are all GIA certified. I am not saying I won't buy a GIA cert. stone, its just the simple fact that I am about to invest a pretty large stack into a stone that will be a lifetime gift, I really did not appreciate that I specifically said AGS cert only and they try pulling this on me. They treated me as if I was misled by a private entity to purchase some undesired stone. They tried expressing how much more of a financial investment a GIA cert. stone is compared to a AGS stone. In fact, I can quote the rep on this 'If 100 stones go on the market 98 of them will be GIA cert'. So anyways, back to the six stones... They had 6 1ct. e-g colored princess cuts and they were all good quality cuts... again not what I asked. All the stones were priced from 5k-6k and they were all just standard GIA cuts (VS2, G/G) nothing special. There was 1 decent one that looked much smaller cause it had a large depth however I knew it was the best cut in terms of light performance. They lady asked me to pick which one I thought would perform the best on her test and it was plain as day for me to tell her which one would. Of course I was correct and only proved that I actually knew what I was talking about even more. After me argueing with her and her buddy for a long time that AGS did in fact have Ideal princess cuts I forced them to go to craftedbyinfinity.com and Highperformancediamonds.com and showed them a few AGS certificates and I finally set them striaght. They both had no idea what an ASET was either. After getting my point across that I value the cut and the light performance over any other aspect of the stone I gave them (AGAIN) my criteria and told them to call me if they could find anything near it. It just makes me wonder how many people go into the typical jewelery store and just say... oh that looks pretty and they buy some poorly cut stone. I am serious though, some of the cuts they had were so obvious where the light would leak through I couldn't believe it.

So here I am, left with no other choice but to save up for an Infinity stone. I guess time is on my side right now though since the price of diamonds are slowly falling and I really do not have a set date by which I want to propose by. Wish me luck!

When I read in your previous post that you were going to the Diamond Exchange, and that you had specified to have AGS stones to look at, I had typed out a response to not be surprised if they only had GIA stones. But I deleted it, I didn't want to be a killjoy and have you have a possible negative attitude before you even got there. So this doesn't surprise me in the least. I'm sorry they wasted your time.

As for the second highlight, I could believe that, but not for the reasons they are insinuating. It would be because the vast majority of GIA stones most likely couldn't make the AGS0 cut grade. However, there are definitely some GIA stones online that are worth looking at, GOG's for one, and some of WF's Expert Selection. At a certain point, one begins to split hairs.

I would also absolutely echo the recommendations to lower clarity to SI1, and I would also recommend lowering color to at least H, possibly lower. As you may well know from your research, a well cut stone will mask some color. Here's an interesting thread, if you haven't seen it. Pay particular attention to the pro shot, where the stone isn't picking up colors from its surrounding.

I princess

 

[jstarfireb]

I'll add that I have an I color Whiteflash ACA princess, and the color is not at all a detriment. The brilliance from being a stone with ideal light return offsets the color, and I color is still considered near colorless from the start. Jon from GOG has said something to the effect of "I could show you an I color diamond that looks whiter than an F because of the ideal cut." I've compared my I side by side to my friend's F princess, and I can't tell the difference for the life of me. And, food for thought: Tiffany's sells I color diamonds...if it's good enough for Tiff's, it's good enough for me.

You could also consider downsizing just a tad...maybe =141&src=loupe:2o8h065d]this 0.90 H/VS2 would be a possibility?

ETA: Also, if this F/SI2 from Wink is eye-clean, it fits nicely in the budget.

 

[minorthreat]

Ya, I am going to stick to vs quality and also keep my color to a G or better. I have a kid on the way in May so holding onto the money I have saved up right now isn''t such a bad idea either. I am just going to keep saving and hope everything goes well with the new born then continue shopping then when I can afford it. Thanks for the input guys, it really has been an incredible learning experience on pricescrope.

 

[Maisie]

I really hope you find what you are looking for. I have recently started looking at Infinity and I like what I see!

 

[jstarfireb]

Saving money is never a bad idea! Perhaps by the time you''re looking again, WF might have a better selection of 1ct ACA princesses (they''re a little low right now). Good luck!

 

[Fly Girl]

A Crafted by Infinity princess is truly something special. Saving up to get exactly what you want is a great idea. Don't settle for less. Personally, I have never been a princess fan until I saw the Infinity cut. They are awesome, and unique. I'd love to get an Infinity princess for a pendant myself. But in that case, I'd be willing to go lower in color to save $$$. For a ring stone, I'm with you, hold out for colorless if that is what you want.

 

[Lorelei]

Best of luck and if you need any more help just let us know!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 2/15/2009 10:28:17 AM
Author: Lorelei
Best of luck and if you need any more help just let us know!

Ditto!

 

[purrfectpear]

1. Diamond wholesalers do not sell to the public. It''s an oxymoron.

2. I''ve lost track of how many people have told you that VS is paying for something that cannot be detected by the human eye. There are many eyeclean SI diamonds.

3. If I was going to give birth in 3 months, I''d rather be engaged now with a beautiful diamond. Do you think that VS will make her happy you waited?

Just weighing in with my opinion

 

[Todd Gray]

Hi Minor Threat,

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when you were tormenting the clerks at the Exchange because it sounds like it was an adventure! I''m definitely partial to AGS grading for princess cut diamonds, I like the visual performance rating that they provide.