Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from?

[CTsparkle13]

Hi,

Who would you recommend I purchase a loose diamond from? I am looking into the following vendors:

James Allen
Brian Gavin
Lauren B.


Thank You!!!!!!

 

[Queenie60]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

I have had good experiences with Yekutiel at ID Jewelry. Any of the pricescope recommended vendors should be safe. Hope you find what you're looking for.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

I have never heard of Lauren B as a diamond vendor.

I recommend Whiteflash, Good Old Gold, Victor Canera, and High Performance Diamonds...all well respected diamond vendors here who specialize in top cut diamonds and have them in-house. I have purchased diamonds and/or jewelry from the first three so far.

 

[Gypsy]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

BGD

 

[CTsparkle13]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

BGD

Hi Gypsy,

You tend to know alot about diamonds. What do you think of this? These are the results from David Atlas for a radiant i am interested in purchasing. The stone itself looks beautiful in a video I saw.


Length:7.29
Width:5.83
Depth:67.4
Total Depth:1156.09%
Table percent:64
Crown height:13.32
Girdle (from):Thick
Girdle (to):Thick
Polish:Excellent / Very Good
Symmetry:Excellent / Very Good

Results:
Tab Percent: 1A
Crown Height: 1A
Girdle: 1A
Depth: 4B
Polish: 1A
Symmetry: 1A
TotalGrade: 4A

 

[Gypsy]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

1. You cannot buy a radiant by the numbers. They are nothing like rounds. So posting just a lab report is meaningless.
2. No labs grade radiants for cut.
3. Vendor cut grades and scores are meaningless. So 'ideal' or 'excellent' ratings by vendors are actually more harmful than helpful.
4. You have to buy from performance and faceting.
5. That means pictures, videos and ASETs. ONLY followed by your own evaluation with your eyes once you see it.
6. Do not limit your options by table or depth. It's a waste of time with radiants. They have different facet patterns and the tables and depths can really be ANYTHING and still end up with a wonderful stone. Any one that advises you differently, except with respect to how depth affects spread, is full of it

The entire purpose of faceting a diamond is to reflect light.
How well or how poorly a diamond does this determines how beautiful it is.
How well a diamond performs is determined by the angles and cutting. This is why we say cut is king. With fancies though (anything other than a round brilliant), that is a little complicated. But no other factor: not color, not clarity has as much of an impact on the appearance of a diamond as its cut. Numbers tell you nothing about a Radiants however.
But if the numbers don't help you, how do you evaluate the cut of fancies? Well, the answer to that is light performance and faceting.
So what you need is a way to check actual light performance of your actual stone.

That's what an ASET image does. http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=education-performance Please read.
And ASET shows you how and wear your diamond is reflecting light, how well it is going at it, and where you are losing light return That is why you won't see us recommending vendors like Blue Nile, as they do not provide images or ASET images for their diamonds. James Allen can do this, though not with all their stones. Good Old Gold and Brilliantly Engaged does this. So do Brian Gavin and Whiteflash and High Performance Diamonds, but they have to call fancies in, as they do not stock them regularly.

The only stats worth noting are:
Avoid very thin girdles.
And if the depth is very deep (for radiants high sixties and low seventies are normal. Anything over that is overly deep) it will affect spread. Which is why I you have to watch the spread not the carat weight.

The rest... meaningless. You can get a nice radiant with just about any combo of depth and table. And polish is nice to stick to Very Good, but I wouldn't kick a stone out because it has only good polish. And symmetry... not very important at all in Radiants.

You need to shop for BRIGHT stones with facets that are crisp and light up and flash well as they move. That is why we kike to see videos.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

Always look at diameter measurements. With a thick girdle or greater depth, you may have a stone that faces up like a lower weight stone. Your depth percent above has a typ0, by the way.

Post the video if you want feedback. Good Old Gold is very good at calling in fancy cuts and checking light return.

 

[CTsparkle13]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

Always look at diameter measurements. With a thick girdle or greater depth, you may have a stone that faces up like a lower weight stone. Your depth percent above has a typ0, by the way.

Post the video if you want feedback. Good Old Gold is very good at calling in fancy cuts and checking light return.

Hi,

Can you look at the following link and tell me your thoughts!?
http://www.jamesallen.com/mobile/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.51-carat-h-color-vvs1-clarity-sku-1023603

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

It's okay, but it is very hard to find great radiants. You could ask for an ASET on it. I like to see defined facet patterns. These are not rectangular, but they are examples of better cut radiants (all would need ASETs to see light return):

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.51-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-586205

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.66-carat-g-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-374603

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.50-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-368836

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.67-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-368826

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond-search/1.53-Radiant-N-AGS-G-VS2-diamond-stock-12189-cert- (love Lucere radiants)

 

[CTsparkle13]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

1. You cannot buy a radiant by the numbers. They are nothing like rounds. So posting just a lab report is meaningless.
2. No labs grade radiants for cut.
3. Vendor cut grades and scores are meaningless. So 'ideal' or 'excellent' ratings by vendors are actually more harmful than helpful.
4. You have to buy from performance and faceting.
5. That means pictures, videos and ASETs. ONLY followed by your own evaluation with your eyes once you see it.
6. Do not limit your options by table or depth. It's a waste of time with radiants. They have different facet patterns and the tables and depths can really be ANYTHING and still end up with a wonderful stone. Any one that advises you differently, except with respect to how depth affects spread, is full of it

The entire purpose of faceting a diamond is to reflect light.
How well or how poorly a diamond does this determines how beautiful it is.
How well a diamond performs is determined by the angles and cutting. This is why we say cut is king. With fancies though (anything other than a round brilliant), that is a little complicated. But no other factor: not color, not clarity has as much of an impact on the appearance of a diamond as its cut. Numbers tell you nothing about a Radiants however.
But if the numbers don't help you, how do you evaluate the cut of fancies? Well, the answer to that is light performance and faceting.
So what you need is a way to check actual light performance of your actual stone.

That's what an ASET image does. http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=education-performance Please read.
And ASET shows you how and wear your diamond is reflecting light, how well it is going at it, and where you are losing light return That is why you won't see us recommending vendors like Blue Nile, as they do not provide images or ASET images for their diamonds. James Allen can do this, though not with all their stones. Good Old Gold and Brilliantly Engaged does this. So do Brian Gavin and Whiteflash and High Performance Diamonds, but they have to call fancies in, as they do not stock them regularly.

The only stats worth noting are:
Avoid very thin girdles.
And if the depth is very deep (for radiants high sixties and low seventies are normal. Anything over that is overly deep) it will affect spread. Which is why I you have to watch the spread not the carat weight.

The rest... meaningless. You can get a nice radiant with just about any combo of depth and table. And polish is nice to stick to Very Good, but I wouldn't kick a stone out because it has only good polish. And symmetry... not very important at all in Radiants.

You need to shop for BRIGHT stones with facets that are crisp and light up and flash well as they move. That is why we kike to see videos.

Gypsy,

Can you look at the following video and give me your thoughts on these two radiants please:

I have prepared two beautiful diamond options for you to consider, below is the YouTube video link. Please make sure to select high quality playback (720p) in bottom right corner of the video screen, if watching on computer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1j40ia3-o0

 

[CTsparkle13]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

It's okay, but it is very hard to find great radiants. You could ask for an ASET on it. I like to see defined facet patterns. These are not rectangular, but they are examples of better cut radiants (all would need ASETs to see light return):

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.51-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-586205

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.66-carat-g-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-374603

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.50-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-368836

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.67-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-368826

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond-search/1.53-Radiant-N-AGS-G-VS2-diamond-stock-12189-cert- (love Lucere radiants)

Diamondseeker,

Can you look at the following video and give me your thoughts on these two radiants please:

I have prepared two beautiful diamond options for you to consider, below is the YouTube video link. Please make sure to select high quality playback (720p) in bottom right corner of the video screen, if watching on computer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1j40ia3-o0

 

[kenny]

Re: Who would you recommend to purchase a loose diamond from

In no particular order, Whiteflash, High Performance Diamonds for a Crafted by Infinity, Good Old Gold, and Brian Gavin Diamonds.

I used to recommend James Allen but I think they stopped posting Idealscope pics so I no longer recommend them.
Also, I've seen more customer complaints about them than about any other PS vendor.