Q&A: Experience Shopping for Diamond Studs on a 2k Budget

I recently set out to purchase a pair of diamond studs for my wife to give as a gift on our upcoming anniversary. As someone who likes to research and make informed purchases, I found the information that you provide on your website to be invaluable. Interestingly enough, my wife is very modest and isn’t really into fancy jewelry (lucky for me). Knowing this might be her only pair of diamond studs, I wanted to make sure I purchased her something classic that would be appropriate for all settings. I also needed to make sure that the earrings would not be so flashy or expensive that she would be uncomfortable sporting them. With this in mind, I set my budget somewhat arbitrarily at 2k and tried to find the best diamond studs possible for that price.

In my search, I checked out all of the websites you reviewed. When my wife and I were married nearly eight years ago, I purchased her engagement ring and wedding ring from Blue Nile. But this time around, I found the fact that Blue Nile doesn’t have pictures of the actual diamonds I would be buying to be a little unnerving. Even so, I considered whether I would be better off buying one of the pre-set pairs offered by these vendors sight unseen, or whether it would be more cost effective to purchase the diamonds and settings separately.

Eventually, I narrowed my search to James Allen. I fell in love with James Allen’s website and the ability to see large 3D images of the actual diamonds for sale. However, I felt that the selection of round diamond pairs was poor for my purposes. Most of the diamond pairs at .75 ctw or greater had unnecessarily high color and clarity ratings for use in diamond stud earrings, and that drove the price up considerably. The only option I found for less than $2,000 were .76 ctw. They looked fairly decent, but one of the diamonds had some black marking on its face which I feared would be seen by the naked eye. I determined that if I bought from James Allen, I would be best served by a taking a change at their pre-set .75 ctw diamond studs.

But then I noticed in a separate area of your web site you had reviewed Brian Gavin Diamonds. I almost gave up on his website very quickly — the guy sells some pretty expensive diamonds. However, I kept poking around and changing search parameters, and eventually I found what seemed to me to be one hell of a good deal: 0.81 tcw. J color VS2 Gavin Brian Signature Hearts and Arrow Rounds. I coupled these with classic four prong studs for a grand total of $1,991. Impressively, this price included the diamonds, settings, AGS Certificate, laser inscription, lifetime warranty, lifetime upgrades, earring box, glamour images and even complimentary 2 day FedEx shipping with insurance.

Here are the specifics for my order:
www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.418-j-vs2-round-diamond-ags-c-104067104076?a_aid=y

www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.406-j-vs2-round-diamond-ags-c-104069438081?a_aid=y

www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamond-earrings/studs/four-prong-basket-earring-14k-white-gold-5382w14?a_aid=y

I don’t have a trained eye, but from what little I know, I think I made the right choice. Have you seen or are you aware of many better options for diamond studs on a 2k budget?

Thank you so much for your help and advice. I have a hunch that you helped me make a smart purchase.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story and address my question. I had not read that J color diamonds are usually recommended for those with darker skin. My wife’s skin is very, very, very fair. In Michael’s article on diamond studs, he recommended H-J because of the distance at which diamond studs are usually viewed from. Also, in his article on color, he said that because of the excellent cut that Brian Gavin’s Signature Hearts and Arrows round diamonds have, the color of the diamond is very difficult to accurately identify.

I will be picking up the diamond earrings from FedEx this afternoon. I cannot wait to see what they look like. I’m hoping that going with the J color in order to get a larger size and better cut was the right call. I will be back in touch once I have had a chance to look over BGD’s work.

Thanks again for the excellent resource you provide and for taking time to help diamond consumers free of charge.

Thanks for following up with me. You can see for yourself what the earrings look like, BGD sends those silly glamour shots 🙂

To my untrained eye, I think the diamonds look perfect. I could not be more pleased.

More importantly, my wife is in love with them. Plus, on top of everything else, the BGD’s customer support throughout the whole process was fantastic. Seriously, I could not be more pleased with the diamonds or with BGD. I would recommend BGD to anyone in the market for diamonds.