What do I look for ?

[Susu]

I know that I want a round cut diamond, around 1.5 carats. I want it in the colorless range. The jewlers keep pulling out F''s or G''s with a clarity rating of SI2. Do I really want SI2? Will it make a big difference to go to like VS2? And it seems by reading on this site that the cut should be the most important thing. Most of these were ideal cut. But are all ideal cuts the same?
Thanks, I feel that I am struggling, I want to get the best diamond that I can, for the best price.

Also, I looked at one from a chain jewlery store that seemed really pretty. It had extra facets cut into it. It had well over a hundred. It was so sparkly! It was a G in color and a VS2. Some one told me that they put more facets to make a ugly diamond look good. They were called Celebration diamond. What do you think???

 

[Lorelei]

Welcome!

Cut is very important, so it is worth paying great attention to. My suggestion is to stick to vendors who have in house diamonds, so they can advise you on each particular diamond, and stick to AGS0 and GIA Excellent cut grade, this will make finding a pretty diamond easier. Colour and clarity is an individual preference, some would never consider an eyeclean SI2, whereas others have very clean and stunning SI2 clarity and are delighted! Assuming an SI2 and VS2 were both eyeclean, you probably wouldn't notice any difference, assuming the size, cut and colour were the same. Colour may be more visible, but again see if you can look at some well cut diamonds in person to see what you like best. The trick is to decide where your preferences lie, then find the best cut diamond you can. Perhaps you could consider your F or G colour grade you say you like, and VS2 to a clean SI1 for clarity might be a good plan to begin with.

No, all Ideal cuts aren't the same, sometimes vendors use this term very loosely, so each diamond needs evaluating on its own proportions.

Read this advanced tutorial as it should give you a good start in learning how to select your ideal diamond!

http://diamonds.pricescope.com/

Also I haven't heard of the Celebration Diamond, or the odd explanation you were given regarding it.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Use this seach tool and you'll find some great examples. Put in Excellent-excellent for cut and check GIA and AGS only for labs.

https://www.pricescope.com/sift.aspx

This is the only ideal cut stone I see right now in that size and with F or G color and VS2:

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-560213.htm ($16,011)

If you'll look at H and SI1, there are several more choices:

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-636608.htm ($11,490)

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-636607.htm ($11,33

H stones that are ideal cut face up very white. G and H are the top of the near colorless range.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Great advice you''ve gotten so far. I just want to add that you may want to do some personal research at jewelers where they carry AGSO or GIA excellent stones so you can get a feel for your personal color preferences. You can save a tonne of money on that size stone if you are comfortable with an H-I-J color. It''s a personal preference thing, so if you haven''t seen true ideal cuts next to each other, you may not know your true color preference yet. Poorly cut stones show their "color" a lot more, as do stones that are graded by labs that are lax in the color dept

(e.g., that G stone you see in the maul may "really" be an "I" if it had been graded by AGS or GIA). Same is true for clarity.

DD

 

[spike13]

I am a newbie like you, but considering on this site no one is raving about their diamond with "extra facets" I would be very cautious of anyone telling me that.