Q&A: Help Choosing the Best 1.5 Ct. Emerald Cut Diamond

Sir/Ma’am,

Good morning, and I hope this email finds you well. My girlfriend and I are looking into having an engagement ring custom-made, and I’ve found your educational articles very useful, so I wanted to see if your team could help us make sense of a stone we’ve been viewing on the James Allen website.

The stone is an emerald cut diamond, 1.55 carat, sku 2593080, viewable at:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.55-carat-e-color-if-clarity-sku-2593080?a_aid=dmnd1357

We’ve been puzzling over this stone since Sunday afternoon, when we first saw it. We had already decided to go with a ~1.5 carat emerald cut diamond, so this stone immediately caught our attention. However, we’re wary since it seems like there must be something “wrong” with it in order for it to be priced as (relatively) low as it is, given its listed stats. Attempts to set up filters on James Allen and Blue Nile to find stones with similar grades and characteristics have produced stones that are significantly more expensive, so we’re trying to understand why this stone is priced the way it is. Any insight you could provide would be most-appreciated.

On an unrelated note, I also wanted to compliment you on the educational articles you post on your site – I’m entirely new to the jewelry world and had a lot of catching up to do when my girlfriend and I started discussing stones and rings. We’re both in the military and assigned to overseas bases (I’m in England; she’s in Japan) and so it’s not like we have a lot of opportunities to discuss these things in person. Your site has helped me close the gap and be able to discuss stones with her without feeling like I’m completely lost. So, thanks for the help in that regard.

Have a good one.

Nice to meet you, and thank you for the response. My girlfriend suggested that this morning (her evening?) after looking at the stone I sent you side-by-side with several others for almost an hour – she noticed the fluorescence was the only significant difference. I passed your explanation along to her, and there will be absolutely NO living with her now… 🙂

We’ve both looked at the stone you suggested, and we’re wondering how it really stacks-up against this one:
www.jamesallen.com//loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.51-carat-f-color-vvs1-clarity-sku-2543078?a_aid=dmnd1357

“3078” (as we’ve been calling it) is one we’ve been looking at for several days. While the “excellent” symmetry notation on it sounds good, based on articles I’ve seen on DiamondPro’s site and others it doesn’t seem like there’s much actual difference between that and a stone with “very good” symmetry. Also, we’re pretty set on doing the ring in yellow gold (personal preferences, despite what we’ve been told about avoiding yellow gold with emerald stones), so we’re wondering if the stone you suggested wouldn’t work better in that regard because it’s a G instead of an F?

I also noticed “6253” (your stone) is notably less expensive – is that primarily because of the difference in color grade?

Thank you for your assistance so far.

……

Howdy! We have been discussing the stone you suggested and comparing it to others we’ve seen. Earlier today I found this stone at Blue Nile:
Blue Nile LD07980756

It seems comparable to the James Allen stone you suggest, though with incremental improvement in each of symmetry and color grade. I wouldn’t expect prices for stones having similar (though not necessarily identical) stats/characteristics to be the same between Blue Nile and James Allen. However, I’m curious as to your take on the driving force(s) behind the price difference between the stone you suggested and this one. As with my prior email, I’m wondering if a color grade difference, alone, can really account for a $2,500-$3,000 difference in price, or if the color grade and the symmetry improvement combined cause that result.

Again, thank you for your help!

Thank you for your latest response. I’ve contacted Blue Nile and asked for an actual image of the second stone I sent you the link to.

Regarding the first stone I sent you the link to (James Allen, SKU 2543078), could you please provide a bit more substantive commentary on the significance of the differences between that stone and the one you initially recommended (James Allen, SKU 2506253)? We’re aware that differences in grades and characteristics can influence price a great deal, but what we’d like to get better educated on is the actual extent to which the color, clarity, and symmetry differences in those two stones are driving the differences in their prices. (We understand that the analysis won’t be an exact science, but we’d like to better understand WHY the stone you recommended is significantly less expensive. Otherwise, the temptation is to assume there’s something “wrong” with it that we just don’t know about.) Ultimately, an explanation of that aspect of the comparison will help us become more comfortable with our decision-making process and more confident that we’ll be able to make an appropriate selection.

Also, regarding our initial question about the color of the diamond and its relationship to the color of its setting material, is it generally considered true that diamonds of lower color grades (a G versus an E, for instance) appear better in yellow gold settings? We’re attempting to determine whether a higher color grade should be a priority or if we’d just be adding expense without any actual additional benefit.

Thank you, again, for your assistance so far – it’s been very helpful. Looking forward to hearing from you.

……

Apologies, but I meant to ask in my last email… How does the James Allen diamond you suggested (SKU 2506253) look with respect to black windowing effect? I’m vaguely familiar with the concept, but I don’t know how to go about evaluating a stone in that regard. Thanks!

Thank you very much for your patience and assistance – those last couple of responses knocked out all of my remaining questions, and I really appreciate it. I looked at the JA stone you recommended, side-by-side with each of the black windowing effect stones you provided, and I definitely understand the difference now.