Q&A: Help Choosing a Round Diamond for a Solitaire With a $5,500 Budget

I’d be happy to make some recommendations for you, but I need a little more info.

What style setting (solitaire, pave/side stones/halo) and metal (yellow/white gold, platinum) do you want to use? This may affect the colors that I recommend for the center diamond (as we explain in our post on color).

Thanks for the additional info.

For the type of setting you selected, J color is our usual recommendation and it still looks colorless.

I like these diamonds for you:
https://www.ritani.com/diamonds/round-diamond-1-25-Carat-J-color-GIA-certified/D-63PP15

Blue Nile LD09030506

I couldn’t find anything larger on JA. These two are beautifully cut and either of them will be very brilliant.

What do you think?

Well, K color is what we recommend only for a yellow gold solitaire with yellow gold prongs. A K color diamond in any other setting might have a strong yellowish tinge. Fluorescence can help the diamond look whiter, that’s true, it but won’t bring up an entire color grade up. I’d stick with a J, but it’s up to you.

I actually searched in the SI2+ clarity range, but the diamond I sent you is the best eye-clean option I could find there. Most of the SI diamonds are not eye-clean.

I love the cut on the first diamond, but some of the inclusions on it might be visible with the naked eye.

For metal, we always recommend white gold over platinum because of the huge disparity in upfront costs: https://www.diamonds.pro/education/platinum-vs-gold/. Both metals require upkeep every few years. WG needs to be dipped to retain its color and luster while PT needs to be cleaned and polished because it gets scratched and duller over time. So in the end, platinum costs you more in the beginning and doesn’t end up saving you any money in the long run.

I looked at the diamonds you selected and I’m not a huge fan of their cut. I’d go with something like this, it’s much better cut and will be more brilliant:
Blue Nile LD07995496

Not at all. Clouds are not an issue on high VS1+ grades. The “Surface graining not shown” note is fine, too. It won’t be visible to the naked eye. It does not affect the clarity grade or the diamond’s structure. When it doesn’t affect the clarity grade that means it’s nominal and doesn’t affect the appearance of the diamond.

It’s nicely cut, but there are a lot of troubling inclusions in the clarity plot. You have to ask for its picture to see if it’s eye-clean.

Thank you for the picture. It looks ok, the twinning wisps should get unnoticed in the structure and the feathers are conveniently located on the edges.

I like the 1.33ct you sent me in your last email. It’s the largest and cheapest of all the diamonds we’ve shared in our conversation so far. My #2 would be the 1.21ct one, it’s cleaner and the difference in size shouldn’t be visible.