Q&A: Choosing a Cushion Cut Diamond for a Solitaire Yellow Gold Setting for Under $7k In Total

Hi, I’m hoping to get your help on a cushion cut diamond (that will be set in yellow gold). I’d love a chunky (not crushed ice) cut with as much shimmer as possible, I’d obviously like the diamond to be as large as possible, but since my budget is 6k-8k, I don’t know how much bigger than 1.4 ct I can go. Perhaps I could focus more on the length x width so the diamond appears bigger when set in the ring?

I’ll trust your judgment on the diamond color (again, being set in yellow gold). I don’t want it to appear yellow but otherwise don’t want to overspend for unnecessarily high color grades. As far as clarity, I’d get an SI2 or SI1 if I can get one without any eye-visible inclusion.

Thoughts on any specific diamonds from James Allen or Blue Nile or elsewhere? I’m looking to buy in a pretty quick rush!

Thanks for your help.

Thank you so much for the reply. To give you a run-down of everything I’m looking for, let me summarize below, but the biggest things I’m looking for is a very sparkly diamond with no eye-visible inclusion that is close to 1.5 carats.

– Shape: Cushion-cut only
– Cut: I want as much sparkle as possible, and I certainly want the chunky look (not the crushed ice look). I don’t know if this means I get a Brilliant cut or if I can still get the sparkly, chunky vibrancy from a Modified Brilliant (or an X-factor Modified Brilliant), so I’ll leave this up to you. Perhaps it also means considering a seller’s special selection of cushions?
– Color: I want the diamond to appear “white”, but since I’ll be setting this into a yellow gold ring, I understand I may have some leeway in perhaps dropping even below an H to an I or something. Again, I’ll trust your judgment here.
– Clarity: Most importantly, I absolutely do not want any eye visible inclusion when set in the ring, particularly a black carbon piece. I’ll trust your judgment whether that means I need to go to a VS1 or VS2 or if I can get away with an SI1 or SI2.
– Weight: I’d like to be close to 1.5 carats, but I recognize that there is a big price jump right at 1.5. I’ve seen some within my price range that are as large as 1.6 ct, but I could also get something just below 1.5 ct.
– Ring: I’ll be setting the diamond into a thin, 4-pronged solitaire band in either 14kt or 18kt yellow gold. I know these are pretty cheap so I’m focusing my budget on the diamond itself.
– Other Factors: I don’t want the cushion to be too rectangular. It doesn’t need to be a perfect square shape – I’m guessing somewhere from 1.1 to 1.2 might be an ideal length/width ratio to get the classic look but again those aren’t set-in-stone boundaries. From what I’ve heard, it seems best to keep the depth and table both below 70%, but again I’ll trust you on this. I want the polish and symmetry to look great, so they should both be Excellent or at the very least Very Good. Finally, for the girdle, I understand that having a thick girdle may not look great, but I’m sure you have a better eye for this.
– Price: My total budget (diamond + ring) is $6k-$8k. I would ideally spend right around $7k though, so assuming that the ring is only around $300, I’d only want to see diamonds above $6,000-$6,700 if they are incredible deals.

Thanks again so much for your help on this. It’s been hard navigating all the online jewelers and I’m trying to buy a diamond within the next week or two if at all possible (I know it’s super quick!).

Sorry for the delayed response, but I really appreciate your work. I was out of the country for work for a couple of weeks but am back and am planning to purchase a diamond this week or latest this weekend. One of the James Allen diamonds you linked me to earlier is still available, but I seem to be finding some great deals on B2CJewels and Solomon Brothers as well.

For example, I ran a search on Pricescope, which aggregates different online diamond sites and among other results, found this result which seems real good:
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-6748430-1.59-carat-Cushion-diamond-I-color-VVS2-clarity.aspx

What do you think of this diamond? Do you think it’ll have great shimmer and no visible inclusion? It’s a few hundred dollars above my ideal price of ~$6,700, but it’s still within my price range. Any thoughts? I’ve realized that within my price range I can actually find diamonds a little bigger than 1.40 carats as you were showing me a few weeks ago, so if you have any other thoughts closer to 1.5 or 1.6 (or larger), but still within my price range with I color or better and VS2 clarity, I’d love to hear.

Thanks again, and hoping you can help me purchase a diamond this week!

Thanks for the follow-up. I have a few questions:

1. How can you tell it is eye-clean?

2. Would the J color appear off-white at all once set into a yellow gold setting?

3. Would I notice the faint flourescence at all?

4. Do you not recommend taking a look at diamonds over at Ritani or B2CJewels (as I had linked to above)? Are they worse than James Allen?

Thanks again so much for helping me to wrap up a purchase here by this weekend.

Thanks so much for the response. I’m at work right now but this evening I was going to take another look at those sites. I know this would be asking for a quick turnaround, but if I send you 4 or 5 diamonds this evening, do you think you might have time to look during the day tomorrow, so that I can actually purchase a diamond tomorrow evening after work? It would give me a huge peace of mind to have your blessing over whichever diamond I end up purchasing, but I really need to purchase by tomorrow if at all possible.

Thanks again, and hopefully that time frame does indeed work for you.

Apologies in advance for the long email, but I’ve come toward the end of my diamond search and am planning to purchase 1 of these 19 diamonds set into a yellow gold solitaire tomorrow evening. If you have any chance to take a look at these diamonds I’m considering and tell me which ones I shouldn’t consider (and why, in a word or two), I would be eternally grateful and will absolutely give you credit for the purchase.

Also, separately, should I get a 14k yellow gold or 18k yellow gold setting?

Things I absolutely want:
1. The cushion diamond to be as radiant as possible, with no eye-visible inclusion, no slight eye-visible color once in the setting, and no crushed ice/oily/milky appearance due to fluorescence. I don’t mind fluorescence if it’s just blue and has none of the crushed ice/milky look.
2. I want the diamond to be at least 1.50 ct and ideally closer to 1.55 ct if I’m going down to a J color instead of an I, and probably closer to 1.60 carat if I’m going to one of the “cheaper” online sites. Although I want as big a diamond as I can get under around $6500, I am willing to sacrifice a little weight for a very shiny, well-shaped diamond. Obviously, the cheaper the better though.

I’ve attached the diamonds in a searchable Excel spreadsheet with every detail written down in the Excel sheet. I think you’ll find the Excel sheet far more helpful in going through all these very quickly.

……

One thing I forgot to note, in case you don’t notice it in my “notes” section.

This diamond in particular from B2CJewels seems like it could be an incredible deal and I would strongly consider it if you think it meets my criteria I just sent in the email 5 minutes ago (http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-8189119-1.72-carat-Cushion-diamond-J-color-VS2-clarity.aspx).

……

Could you please take a look at these four diamonds for me? I want to make sure that they look radiant, with no eye-visible inclusions or the milky/cloudy look from fluorescence or the crushed ice look that can ruin some cushions.

I would prefer to get one of the first two diamonds (if you think they’re good) because they’re larger.

1. Blue Nile 1.76 carat diamond that has strong blue fluorescence:
Blue Nile LD07293371 … the diamond will appear to be ‘sold’ but only because I have it reserved
2. B2CJewels 1.72 carat diamond that supposedly has an ‘excellent’ cut:
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-8189119-1.72-carat-Cushion-diamond-J-color-VS2-clarity.aspx
3. B2CJewels 1.66 carat diamond that has a fantastic picture:
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-8497925-1.66-carat-Cushion-diamond-J-color-VS2-clarity.aspx
4. James Allen 1.50 carat diamond that is much smaller than the rest but has a beautiful photo online:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.50-carat-j-color-vs1-clarity-sku-1911048?a_aid=dmnd1357

Additionally, for a very thin yellow gold solitaire band, would you recommend I get 14k gold or 18k gold? Thanks in advance for your help.

For that first diamond from Blue Nile, they sent me the attached file with picture. If so, what do you think about the fluorescence and whether it impacts the diamond?

Also, thoughts toward 14k vs 18k for yellow gold setting?

Ah, thanks for letting me know. If I wanted to get an eye-clean 1.6-1.7 ct (or at the very minimum, 1.55) cushion under around $6,500 (max of $6,700) do you have a couple of recommendations? I was pretty set on the Blue Nile one but since you said the inclusion would be visible, I’ll consider purchasing something else tonight.

Thanks again.

……

Could you take a look at these four diamonds for me as well? If you give a strong recommendation to any of them, I’m inclined to purchase one (unless you have a totally separate diamond you’ve found).

1. Ritani 1.66 carat
https://www.ritani.com/diamonds/cushion-diamond-1-66-Carat-J-color-GIA-certified/D-0VPM26

2. James Allen 1.56 carat
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.56-carat-j-color-vvs1-clarity-sku-1776194?a_aid=dmnd1357

3. James Allen 1.55 carat
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.55-carat-j-color-if-clarity-sku-1776198?a_aid=dmnd1357

4. Brian Gavin 1.52 carat
https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.520-j-vs1-cushion-diamond-gia-6211091651&a_aid=y

The very last one – the Brian Gavin one is from his “select” line and isn’t a Modified cushion like almost every other I’ve looked at. Does that mean anything to me?

Darn, it looks like the BG diamond got sold in between last night and now. It’s not showing up for me anymore either.

I may purchase that 1.50 ct JA one this afternoon, but if you happen to come across one that is any amount larger (ideally around 1.55) but is still eye-clean and super-radiant, would you mind sending over? I’m kind of tired of this process 🙂 so I absolutely plan on purchasing today as long as I can get the diamond itself for about $6,700 or less.

Thanks again for all your help these last couple weeks.

Yes, I did end up purchasing the 1.5 ct from JA. Now my only problem is trying to get them to ship it to me ASAP so i can propose! I’ll be bugging them today to see if they can expedite the shipping.

But yes please do what you can to get credit for the sale – I’m happy to confirm on my end.

Thanks again.

Looks beautiful, thanks for your help!