Which one of these diamonds do you feel is best ?

[sourplumps]

Hi folks,

Been lurking a while and still not confident on how to make the best choice here. I have gotten a feel that cut>colour>clarity is the best approach and can see why. But I'm trying to weigh the values of carat vs those metrics. I've checked out rings and feel 1ct has enough heft that it will look decent on the ring, but I am torn on weighing the compromise of clarity/colour against size. These are some of the diamonds I am looking at and thought the enthusiasts here would help me to drill down on the merits of them against one another.

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.97-carat-f-color-si1-clarity-sku-228085
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.91-carat-i-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-223883
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.90-carat-f-color-si1-clarity-sku-180266
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.01-carat-g-color-si1-clarity-sku-227767
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.00-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-223868


Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

L

 

[bunnycat]

Hi folks,

Been lurking a while and still not confident on how to make the best choice here. I have gotten a feel that cut>colour>clarity is the best approach and can see why. But I'm trying to weigh the values of carat vs those metrics. I've checked out rings and feel 1ct has enough heft that it will look decent on the ring, but I am torn on weighing the compromise of clarity/colour against size. These are some of the diamonds I am looking at and thought the enthusiasts here would help me to drill down on the merits of them against one another.

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.97-carat-f-color-si1-clarity-sku-228085
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.91-carat-i-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-223883
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.90-carat-f-color-si1-clarity-sku-180266
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.01-carat-g-color-si1-clarity-sku-227767
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.00-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-223868


Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

L

You might try doing a little more looking and using the HCA tool to help you weed out possible poor performers.

https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca

The first one scores over 3, and the 1ct H score over 4, so I would probably put those on the back burner for now. Of the remaining ones, the .90 F and 1.01 G both scored under 2 on HCA, which is what you want to aim for with that tool. So you could look for 1 more to add to the pile and get Idealscopes for them and a gemologist review.

In addition to carat weight versus cost, also consider the diameter spread. A well cut 1ct stone ought to have a spread around 6.4-6.5mm, maybe just a little under that or over that depending on the angles.