Hi Diamond Help!
I have read through your website and looked at the tutorial videos, and firstly – thanks so much! You’ve made a quite daunting process a lot simpler!
I think I’ve narrowed my search down to the following three diamonds:
I want to ask a few questions:
a) Is the difference in colour from an H to an I likely to be discernible to the naked eye?
b) Do any of the imperfections (i.e. the blemishes or inclusions) in these three diamonds look like they would be visible to the naked eye or badly located?
c) It seems like (3) presents a trade off – it has a larger carat but lower quality (e.g. worse colour, less square and more imperfections). Do you think a larger carat (1.13 rather than 1.07) is worth the lower quality by those other indicators?
d) As far as I can tell, (1) and (2) are pretty similar but have quite a large difference in price. It seems like (1) has excellent rather than very good polish, is VVS1 rather than VVS2, is slightly larger and slightly more square. Do you think that the combination of those factors is going to make for a diamond that is visibly nicer (and worth the extra cost)?
Also – in terms of preferences, I know that my partner wants a princess cut ring with a solitaire setting (probably platinum), in case that is useful.
I have a budget of approx $4,500 for the diamond itself (though could do $4,600 for (1) above if it’s worth it).
Thanks so much for your help!
Before I answer your questions, do you think you could request the GIA certificates from JA? They took them off their website and we need to see those reports in order to inspect the cut parameters and clarity notes. Thank you!
Great, thanks so much for your help.
I’ve attached the three GIA reports from James Allen. Let me know if
there’s anything else that you need.
Great, thanks a lot!
On to your questions:
a) As long as you use a simple solitaire setting, it’s not. Even a pave would be fine. I’d go with an H color only if you were to go with a halo where the melee diamonds are too close to the center stone and thus might make a color difference.
b) They don’t. All three diamonds you selected are absolutely eye-clean.
c) www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.13-carat-i-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6517702?a_aid=dmnd1357 is a beautiful diamond and it’s the largest of them all. I don’t think it’s worse than the rest of them – I color is perfectly fine for the setting you want, it has a great cut, no inclusions visible to the naked eye and the 1.01 L:W ratio is almost ideal (it’s from 1.05 and up where it would be visible less square).
d) Appearance-wise, they are going to look the same. The difference between Ex and VG polish and VVS2/VVS1 clarity grade is negligible and wouldn’t be noticeable in person. The only thing you might be able to see is the difference in size between the 1.13 and the other two.
Great, thanks!
I just went through to checkout for the 1.13ct diamond but I didn’t realise that tax was not included in the quoted price, so unfortunately that takes me out of my budget.
I think that with tax I should still be able to afford the 1.07ct diamond. Is there a big difference in the size between that and the 1.13ct (trying to work out whether I should wait and try to find something larger, but I doubt that I will be able to with my budget)? And did the 1.07ct still look good to you otherwise?
Just a quick question: are you buying from the UK? If so, wouldn’t it be better for you to go with Blue Nile? They have European operations and don’t charge any custom tax on UK purchases, just the regular VAT.
Ah no unfortunately I’m buying from the US 🙁
Aha, thanks for the clarification.
I don’t think that the slight difference in size will be an issue.
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.07-carat-h-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-7290173?a_aid=dmnd1357
This diamond is an excellent option too and it’s only a few tens of millimeters “smaller”. I wouldn’t worry about it and if it suits you price-wise, go for it.
I’ve ordered the 1.07ct diamond!
Thanks very much for your help, I really appreciate it!
That’s great news! Thank you for the nice words, it was my pleasure helping you.
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. James Allen will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free International Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisals
- One free resizing within 60 days of purchase
- Free ring inscriptions
- Best-in-class high quality imagery of all diamonds in stock
- 24/7 Customer Service
- Best-in-class packaging
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.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisal
- One free resizing within the first year of purchase
- High quality images of about half of their diamonds
- 24/7 Customer Service
- 100% credit towards future upgrades (must be at least double in value)
- Best in class fulfillment
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