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Q&A: Choosing Round Diamonds for a Three-Stone Platinum Setting for a ~10K Budget

By Mike Fried,

Thanks very much for the informative site. I have sworn for years that I would never support the De Beers diamond artificially-constrained-supply business model by purchasing diamonds. After nineteen years of marriage, though, and after she’s put up with 1,000 of my principled stands over the years, my wife wants a nice diamond ring and she deserves it whether it has any real value or not. I need your help to find a nice ring for her, please. Here is what I would like:

-Three stone ring
-The primary stone should be around 1 carat, and I’m perfectly happy to be in that value range just under one carat
-Beautiful diamonds that she will be proud to show off; i.e., I don’t want the side diamonds to be ugly because the primary diamond consumed too much of the budget, and I don’t want size to dominate quality. If I can’t afford a nice set with a ~1 carat primary, then let’s go smaller.
-Budget: ~10K for diamonds, another ~1K for a platinum ring (I have a little flexibility in the budget if there is an unbelievable value available at a slightly higher price point)

I don’t have a problem spending less than my budget
I don’t have a problem with a bigger primary diamond
I don’t want gaudy diamonds – neither of us is interested in having the biggest ring possible
Her ring size is 6.5 so I’m guessing a one carat primary diamond will be appropriately sized, but I would love your opinion on that.
I would love to have four or five options to compare

A couple of questions:
What is the normal ratio of primary diamond to side diamond in carats?
What is the normal ratio of primary diamond to side diamond in price?

Thanks very much for your assistance. 

 Thanks very much for the diamond recommendations. It appears that the imperfections around the edge of the primary diamond are spaced such that they could not be hidden by a standard four post setting. I’m very interested in having diamonds that appear as flawless as possible when presented in a normal setting. On the side diamonds, I’m surprised at the number of inclusions visible in the 40x picture. Do these affect the reflection of light and thus appear as a lower quality diamond?

I don’t mind paying a little more or going with slightly smaller diamonds to achieve my goal of a visually flawless diamond ring in normal circumstances (to include her staring at it for hours…). Would you be able to recommend some other combos that cost a little more / are a little smaller but get the desired effect? Alternatively, do you contend that the diamonds suggested already meet this criteria and I’m overly critical of things I can see under magnification that essentially won’t exist if unmagnified?

Thanks very much for all of your help. 


 Those diamonds are 100% eye-clean and have no impact on the brilliance of the diamonds. That is why I recommended them. I think going up in paper quality is a waste of money for no noticeable gain. I’ve had a lot of experience interpreting those diamond photos and each of those diamonds are a winner. 

Thanks very much. That’s the exact statement I was looking for. Unfortunately, I have apparently waited too long and the 1 carat diamond is now unavailable. Would you mind making another recommendation on the primary diamond? I really appreciate your help and plan to order as soon as you make your next recommendation. Would love to get this done today.

Thanks! 

 

That is a good set as well. If you put the two side by side, they will look pretty much identical. So if you want the extra color grade, go for it. 

Thanks very much for all of your help. We’ll see if one of these purchases works out in the next few minutes. 

Keep me posted. 

I’ve ordered diamonds! Unfortunately JamesAllen.com didn’t have any settings I liked. Any suggestions on where to get a setting without the diamonds? 

Did you send them a link of the setting you liked? That would make your life a lot easier if they can get you something like it. Can you send me a link? 

Yes, I definitely would’ve preferred to get the setting at the same place I purchased the diamonds. I sent them a link and spoke with an associate and they indicated they could customize something for me but it was a minimum of 3 weeks which doesn’t fit in my schedule. Here is a picture of the setting I would like, but I haven’t necessarily found anywhere:

forevermark-3stone

Here is another setting that I like a lot:
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/three-stone/3-stone-butterflies-diamond-engagement-ring-231.htm

While this one is pretty fancy, I’m perfectly happy with the simplest of 3 stone settings (as in the attached picture). Here is an example that’s pretty close on blue nile:
Blue Nile Classic Three-Stone Diamond Engagement Ring

The rings that are closest on JamesAllen.com have these gaps in the band where it raises to meet the diamond that I don’t like (and they would still have to be customized because they come preset with other gemstones).

The settings I’ve found seem really expensive. The link at the top is almost $2K just for the setting. They won’t sell the blue nile setting without selling you diamonds. I can find some less expensive pieces on something like itshot.com, but I have no idea how reputable they are or how their quality is. I’m not looking to skimp on this part of the ring and will pay $2K if I need to, but don’t want to pay way too much if I don’t have to.

Thanks again for all of your help on this. Any additional info you can provide is appreciated. 

 

 What about this one?

http://www.since1910.com/engagement/platinum-three-stone-diamond-setting-14ct-tw-mg1026m13-ps1185.aspx

We know the people there and can get a quote on the setting without the diamonds. 

 Sorry for the slow reply. Having a little trouble w/ JamesAllen.com where one of the diamonds I picked out and paid for turned out to be unavailable a day later. Doesn’t look like they have any good replacements for it. Seems like I may be back at square one again.

Thanks for the recommendation on the ring – it looks a little thinner and daintier than I’m looking for.

I’m going to go back to work on the diamonds now and see if I can find a replacement.

Thanks.


Okay – Here’s what’s going on. As a reminder, I bought three diamonds from JamesAllen.com but one of the diamonds I bought was somehow already sold or sold after I bought it or something. Then I had a center diamond with only one side diamond for a 3 stone ring. I’ve kept an eye on the diamonds and haven’t been able to find a replacement…until now. Here is the new diamond:
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.52-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-249937?a_aid=dmnd1357

It will be matched with the two I’ve already purchased (but they have not yet shipped because of the issue):
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.99-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-236139?a_aid=dmnd1357

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/0.50-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-249319?a_aid=dmnd1357

Would you mind taking a look at the set and letting me know if everything looks good?

Also, in the meantime, I’ve still been shopping other places. One thing I ran across was really good feedback about CostCo diamonds. Can you give me your opinion on the this ring, please:
http://www.costco.com/1.95-ctw-Round-Brilliant-Cut%2c-VS2-Clarity%2c-H-Color-Diamond-Three-Stone-Platinum-Ring.product.100049278.html

I think the obvious big issue with this is we can’t see the diamonds when ordering online and thus where the inclusions are located in the diamonds. Is the VS1 grading high enough not to worry about where the inclusions are? It seems to be a really good value since the platinum setting is included for about what I’m paying for the diamonds from JamesAllen.com. I’m still going to have to spend another $1500-2000 on a setting for JamesAllen diamonds.

Thanks for all of your help. 

1) that diamond is great and it matches up well.
2) That costco ring actually seems like a good deal. Its true that you can’t see it, and its a smaller center diamond. But if you are looking to cut the budget its a good alternative. 

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What we love about them:
  • No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. Blue Nile will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
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