Q&A: Help Finding a 1.8 Ct. Round Diamond for a Yellow Gold Solitaire With Around $11k Budget

Good evening. Thank you in advance for accepting my question. We are looking for a diamond 1.75 ct or bigger. Our budget is around $10,000. The band will be 18kt gold, cathedral setting (Tacori). We saw this diamond on Blue Nile and they put it on hold for us:
Blue Nile LD08320782

My question being, is this the best bang for our buck? Could we get something better anywhere else or from Blue Nike?

Thank you for any input/advice!

Good Afternoon!

Thank you so much for the quick response. The setting is a Tacori 18 kt gold band that is smooth looking on the top, plain gold with I think 3 very small diamonds on the side, which you can only see from the side, and are tucked under the “cathedral buttresses”.

I can’t remember what the color grade is of the diamonds Tacori uses but I think they are toward the highest end as far as color goes. It looks like this band except the “basket” is plain, no diamonds and our band we picked out is 18 kt gold. It looks like a solid gold band from above, you cannot see any diamonds

My main concern was the color of the referenced diamond and was curious if you think a gold band will enhance the color or make it look worse?

Thanks so much for your input/expert opinion!

……

I’m sorry, I left out the fact that our band will be yellow gold. Thanks!

Yes we put the diamond on hold. So you would not suggest we look at other diamonds? We were concerned at the “cloud” piece in the middle of diamond (you can see where it is on the GIA diagram) and we’re wondering if you can speculate whether it will be visible to the naked eye as an obvious defect?

It’s not a problem for us to look at other diamonds but we also don’t want to let this one go if it’s a good deal for the money. We do want a good looking diamond and size is not the first priority.

Thanks so much for your input!

That diamond is gorgeous! Thank you for suggesting. After discussing with my boyfriend we have decided we can go up to $11,000 or slightly more if we can get a diamond that is gorgeous like the one you suggested except a little bigger, in the 1.8s preferably…

I know I originally said 1.75 or larger but my boyfriend prefers we start at minimum 1.8 if the quality and size fit within our price range. We will look also and I will send you anything we find to see what you think.

Thanks!

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We found this diamond, what do you think?
Blue Nile LD08635311

Thank you for this suggestion. I definitely like that it costs less but of course, as novices, we are hesitant to buy a diamond without actually being able to see it`, so its a hard decision to make. We will give it some thought and talk to BN about their thoughts on covering the crystal under a prong.

The diamond will actually be set by Tacori so not sure how much help BN will be but we will definitely reach out to them. I’ll let you know what route we decide to go. Thanks!

……

I got blue Nile to send me a picture of this diamond that you suggested. We really cannot decide which diamond to buy. The lower cost is very appealing but we are so worried it won’t be as pretty as the last one I sent you. Do you think VVS diamonds are not worth the extra cost?

I got that impression when I talked to the Blue Nile person because he immediately said we should get the 1.9 Ct diamond. I was very surprised since it’s less expensive. At least I know they are being honest… Or hope so!

Any thoughts?

OK, thanks so much for all of your input! We will probably decide today what to do so I will let you know.

Thanks!!

As luck would have it, although we had the diamond reserved, it is out at another vendor right now for another client to look at, so I’m not sure what is going to happen with this diamond.

We may be on the hunt for another one soon. I’m not too happy that it works this way and may look at James Allen if we have to look again. I’ll let you know what happens. Have a good weekend!

Guess we need some more help. We were just notified by Blue Nile that the 1.9 diamond is unavailable for purchase now, so back to square one. We are going to start looking again but would like your help because the 1.9 was a really good find (and not your fault at all that it was not available and we know that), so would like to see if you can find a similar deal. It seemed like a great find.

We want to steer clear of Blue Nile at this point because we don’t want the same thing to happen again. There are so many online vendors and we don’t know who are reputable and who are not and assume you would know more than us when it comes to that. Please let me know if you need our specs again because they are way down in the first email and think I changed our budget in there somewhere too.

Thanks so much for your help!

I sent you this email yesterday but I see it did not go through, pretty weird.

Here it is again:
We got an email from Blue Nile telling us they have the 1.9 back in their possession and we can purchase it right now. Although we are annoyed we are going to jump on it. I wanted to let you know ASAP in case you were looking at other diamonds, don’t want you wasting your time.

The order will be under this email. Let me know if you need additional information for your tracking purposes. Also, in case you need it the item number of the diamond is Stock #LD08717474:
Blue Nile LD08717474

Thanks so much for all of your input!

We picked up the diamond last night and it is beautiful, completely eye clean. We are so happy about it and glad it all worked out. We owe you many thanks! I will send you a picture when it is set.

Have a good weekend!

We got engaged last night and I adore the ring! The diamond really is beautiful although you can’t really see it in the pictures. I’ve realized quickly is very hard to take a picture of a diamond ring that looks good.

Your diamond pick was a fantastic one. Thanks for all of your help!

Thank you!