What is most important?

[Mandrins]

Hello everyone! I''m new to the site and have found a lot of great information but frankly, my head is spinning! We have just started to look at engagement rings and I''m not certain what the most important factors we should consider are when shopping for diamonds. I am not a big jewelry person and I have small slim hands so do not want anything overwhelming. We''re thinking in the .75-1.0 carat range. Because we are on a budget (around $3k), what should we concentrate most on? And what is the opinion of purchasing a loose diamond online-are the popular online vendors trustworthy? Thank you all in advance for any suggestions you might have!

 

[hlmr]

Hi Mandrins! Welcome to PS!!

Definitely concentrate on the cut (not shape) of the diamond first and foremost. After that, you are looking for something with good color and clarity in your carat range.

The popular online vendors are very trustworthy, but it is preferable if you can spend some time reading and educating yourself, before you make a purchase. You want the best looking, most sparkly diamond you can get for your money, so make sure you understand what to look for with respect to the cut of the diamonds.

There are lots of amazing people here that can find you exactly what you are looking for, so rest assured you have come to the right place!

 

[Lynn B]

Concentrate on *CUT* and your diamond will out-perform and out-sparkle just about every other diamond out there. Most B&M jewelry stores will concentrate on color and clarity, but in reality, these have FAR less to do with beauty than CUT does.

My advice (since you asked!)

... shop around the inventories of the PS vendors (you can't go wrong there!) looking for diamonds in your price range. Take notes and compare what your money will buy... smaller diamonds of higher color/clarity... larger diamonds of "lower" color/clarity. Spend some time here looking at all the various diamonds... see what D/E/F/G/H/I/J and even K look like in ideal cut stones. See what VS and SI clarities look like. You may be very pleasantly surprised.

Buying online is a VERY safe, very smart, very cost-effective way to buy a diamond. I know it sounds scary at first, but trust me!

And oh... welcome -- you've come to the RIGHT PLACE!

ETA: hlmr and I must have been posting at the same time!

 

[FacetFire]

Well, most folks here will tell you that you should put most of the money into the diamond rather than the setting...you can always change the setting when more funds become available. After that, it is a question of what is most important to you. Cut should be primary. Clarity should probably be last in the list...as long as it''s eyeclean. So, then:

Do you want to go for size?
http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-122959.htm (.91 I SI1)

Do you want to go for color?
http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-129079.htm (.72 G VS1)
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/2269/ (.74 F SI2) providing it''s eyeclean

Many people here will tell you that you can go with a lower color to go bogger...I''s and J''s do face up plenty white for a lot of people (me included). But some people are sicklers for D-E-F color stones too. I''d definiely go take a look at some stones of different color at your local store to determine where your comfort zone lies.

Good luck!

 

[hlmr]

Date: 10/20/2006 9:01:54 PM
Author: Lynn B
And oh... welcome -- you''ve come to the RIGHT PLACE!

Good advice, given twice, is always nice!!

 

[Mandrins]

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my questions, I appreciate it!

 

[f0rbidden]

a long time ago when i was active here before, there was a huge post on ranking the 4c''s.

Cut, of course, was first - since with a poor cut, any diamond will look bad.

then came the differences!

while i always opt for clarity and color before carat weight, most people didn''t agree with that, and the vast majority chose carat weight before the others.

i guess once you have a great cut stone, the rest is up to you!

 

[codex57]

Carat - most people look at that first

Cut - second, over the other remaining characteristics. Can compensate if the other 2 C''s are bad. If choosing btw a bad cut and size tho, I''d never go with a bad or even med cut to get the size. I need good cut at least.

Color - something else visible to the naked eye, but it''s sorta hard to notice btw different shades while set in a setting and on a finger

Clarity - least important because either inclusions are visible, or they''re not. If they are, and you''re on a real tight budget, even visible ones may be hard to notice unless inspected closely. Besides, once a ring gets dirty (through lotion, hand washing, etc), you can''t tell what''s an inclusion and what''s just crap on the diamond.

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 10/20/2006 9:04:42 PM
Author: FacetFire
Well, most folks here will tell you that you should put most of the money into the diamond rather than the setting...you can always change the setting when more funds become available. After that, it is a question of what is most important to you. Cut should be primary. Clarity should probably be last in the list...as long as it's eyeclean. So, then:

Do you want to go for size?
http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-122959.htm (.91 I SI1)

Do you want to go for color?
http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-129079.htm (.72 G VS1)
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/2269/ (.74 F SI2) providing it's eyeclean

Many people here will tell you that you can go with a lower color to go bogger...I's and J's do face up plenty white for a lot of people (me included). But some people are sicklers for D-E-F color stones too. I'd definiely go take a look at some stones of different color at your local store to determine where your comfort zone lies.

Good luck!

Looks like FacetFire got you started at considering some concrete options. I'll add on...

For size, consider from James Allen this one...a .91 J SI 1, AGS 0 at $3140 with discounts...

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamond.asp?b=16&a=12&cid=131&item=885671

or, with greater concern for color, something like this .75 G SI1 ACA at $2993 with discounts...

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-29446.htm

By the way, concerning the topic at hand, the tutorial on this board does make some specific suggestions:

http://diamonds.pricescope.com/summary.asp

Note that the two I mentioned above were just lifted from the search by cut db here:

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

using it to presume cut is a primary sort for you, then sorting by price, and then looking from there...

Best wishes,

 

[Stone Hunter]

Welcome to PS!!! This is a fun place.

Go look at diamond rings at many many stores. Try on all different shapes, Round Brilliant, Oval, Square, Rectangle etc. Decide which looks best on your hand. As someone else said look at different colors DEF-GHI-JKL as well. But very important now, the stones you see at local stores will usually not be as well cut as the ones you can get online. So an I at the local Kay store won''t look as white as an I from James Allen. I am saying this after looking at about $300 thousand dollars worth of diamonds at Brick & Mortar stores. Then I saw an I at Diamond Brokers of Florida and an I at James Allen. Both of those were very white compared to what I had seen at my local stores. Even though I was comparing GIA stones to GIA stones.

Of course if you have very high end stores near you such as Tiffany you may see some well cut stones. And I''m pretty sure that Tiffany has some I colored stones. But even expensive stores try to sell stones that only have an OK cut and the OK cut doesn''t show as white as a Very Good cut.

Doing all this diamond shopping is exciting.

Look alot, just don''t buy at a mall store the prices are high for the quality level they sell. Once you''ve looked alot you''ll know what colors and clarity you''re looking for.