Hey guys and gals,
I'm new to all this and I've decided to pop the question in the next couple of weeks. I've read way too much about diamonds prior to embarking on the journey, but in a way this has come to my disadvantage.
I currently live in Saudi Arabia and our choice of diamonds is limited, extremely limited. After learning about the "four C's" (which is the only thing salespeople know about here, and even that is limited), I dug deeper into crown, pavilion, table, and depth. I then went even deeper and started using the HCA as an elimination tool and that pretty much eliminated every single stone I've looked at.
All this has rather soured my diamond buying experience and I'm basically struggling to find anything half decent. What makes this worse is that I'm running out of time, and the sad truth is that I'm eventually going to have to settle for something that is not 100% what I wanted due to limited availability. To top things off, diamonds are not cheaply priced here either compared to NA
Originally, I wanted something with the following specs (willing to pay around 7-7.5K) :
Carat: 1.10 - 1.25
Color: F-G
Cut: Excellent
Clarity: SI1 (eye clean)-VS2
Of course, I found none of that and even if they do exist, they're HRD certified which I'm not willing to go with (I want GIA, which is EXTREMELY RARE and super over priced).
Yesterday however, I found a diamond (7.2K) with the attached specs. It has a nice spread for a 1.01 carat (as seen by actual measurements), but I'm afraid the crown angle is way to shallow (30%). I checked it out using the HCA tool and it seemed pretty decent for fire, scintillation, brilliance, etc. This diamond is prepackaged so I cannot open it until I buy it.
In person though, it looks quite good - it sparkles nicely (despite being packaged) and it has a "darker" overall look to it when looking dead center at it compared to the other one's I've seen. It doesn't have a specific dark spot, but the whole diamond has a "deeper" darker look (not sure if that's a good thing) compared to others I've seen that pretty much look like...glass.
Please any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated. What do you think of this diamond, and what would you do in my case?
Pictures were taken using my cell phone, but the darker look is apparent in the comparison photo.
I'm new to all this and I've decided to pop the question in the next couple of weeks. I've read way too much about diamonds prior to embarking on the journey, but in a way this has come to my disadvantage.
I currently live in Saudi Arabia and our choice of diamonds is limited, extremely limited. After learning about the "four C's" (which is the only thing salespeople know about here, and even that is limited), I dug deeper into crown, pavilion, table, and depth. I then went even deeper and started using the HCA as an elimination tool and that pretty much eliminated every single stone I've looked at.
All this has rather soured my diamond buying experience and I'm basically struggling to find anything half decent. What makes this worse is that I'm running out of time, and the sad truth is that I'm eventually going to have to settle for something that is not 100% what I wanted due to limited availability. To top things off, diamonds are not cheaply priced here either compared to NA
Originally, I wanted something with the following specs (willing to pay around 7-7.5K) :
Carat: 1.10 - 1.25
Color: F-G
Cut: Excellent
Clarity: SI1 (eye clean)-VS2
Of course, I found none of that and even if they do exist, they're HRD certified which I'm not willing to go with (I want GIA, which is EXTREMELY RARE and super over priced).
Yesterday however, I found a diamond (7.2K) with the attached specs. It has a nice spread for a 1.01 carat (as seen by actual measurements), but I'm afraid the crown angle is way to shallow (30%). I checked it out using the HCA tool and it seemed pretty decent for fire, scintillation, brilliance, etc. This diamond is prepackaged so I cannot open it until I buy it.
In person though, it looks quite good - it sparkles nicely (despite being packaged) and it has a "darker" overall look to it when looking dead center at it compared to the other one's I've seen. It doesn't have a specific dark spot, but the whole diamond has a "deeper" darker look (not sure if that's a good thing) compared to others I've seen that pretty much look like...glass.
Please any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated. What do you think of this diamond, and what would you do in my case?
Pictures were taken using my cell phone, but the darker look is apparent in the comparison photo.
That said, start looking on sites like James Allen, Good Old Gold, Whiteflash, Brian Gavin Diamonds, High Performance Diamonds, etc. Find the best combination of price, policy, and service. Look for an AGS 000 stone and/or one with a great looking ideal scope, post it here for a quick verification, and then order it. It shouldn't take long at all and you can rest easy knowing that it was money well spent. You can either purchase a setting locally and have the diamond set or purchase a stock setting from one of the vendors and they will set/ship it. If it has to be made or ordered, it will take longer.
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