Q&A: Help Finding a Perfect Oval Diamond For a Platinum Pave Setting With a $3,000 Budget

Hi there,

I’m looking to purchase this diamond from Blue Nile to be incorporated into an engagement ring:

Blue Nile LD11261519

My only tiny concern is that I am not really able to tell whether the inclusion cited would be visible to the naked eye. Of course, as it’s a SI1 it doesn’t necessarily guarantee an eye-clean diamond, but equally I want it to be worth the investment. I’d like to be sure that there won’t be any nasty surprises when it arrives. I’ve never purchased a ring online from images only, so don’t know exactly what I’m looking for.

Thank you so much for your help.

Thanks so much for getting back to me. I really appreciate your advice, and it’s really interesting about the fluorescence. I’d love any help you can offer in finding the perfect diamond. I’ll give you as much background as I can here.

My chosen diamond will be making up the solitaire on an engagement ring for my partner. The band will be a very thin platinum with pavé diamonds around half of the circumference – it will be a traditional round shank. The diamond will be a brilliant oval mounted with four-prongs.

As for the diamond itself, I’m looking to maximise the carat (or most specifically the table face dimensions for aesthetic size – generally I feel anything above 8 x 5.75mm is good) primarily between 1.04ct and 1.20ct, but maintain a colour grade as near to colourless as possible. I’m not going below an I, and my budget seems to stretch to about an E/F depending on other factors.

The fluorescence is something I wasn’t hugely concerned with, unless it can be used to improve the ‘naked eye’ colour quality of lower colour grades. For example, I was aware that a colour grade of I could be made to look slightly more colourless if the diamond had a strong blue fluorescence. But after your advice, I imagine it’s prudent to look for diamonds with a very low fluorescence if above a colour grade G.

The sparkle and face size are paramount in my decision, so if there’s opportunity for compromise elsewhere without affecting those two factors (cut and carat really) I am more than happy to.

As for budget, I am aiming for anything between £3,800 and £4,300. Obviously, I’m prepared to stretch high if the diamond is exactly what I want, but I will then be spending less on the custom made band and mount. It’s something of a balancing act.

I’ve been looking at a variety of online diamond retailers, but latterly just on Blue Nile. This is because they include all of their customs tax and delivery fees to the UK in the price quoted. James Allen is great, however I keep having to account for the customs tax and delivery when I consider their diamonds being shipped to the UK. This tends to add £500 or more onto the quoted cost.

Apologies for such a huge dump of information; it’s oddly therapeutic to share all of these decisions and research. Particularly with an industry expert. So thank you.

…

I did some research and came across another potential diamond – whilst I mentioned before about James Allen’s customs additions, in some instances I can still find a good diamond for a good price including the estimated customs tax.

Let me know what your thoughts are on this one:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/1.03-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-5916858?a_aid=dmnd1357

This is great – thank you so much for finding such a perfect diamond!

As this choice is right at the top end of my budget, is there anything else you can see which is towards the lower end of my budget? Just by means of comparison.

The diamond you found is so beautiful, but as it’s the absolute maximum I’m prepared to pay I would love to have a secondary option to consider it alongside.

Thank you so much. Loving the quality of diamonds you’re selecting for me!

My favourite at the moment is the 1.01 G SI1 in the last email you sent me.

Do you think there are any options closer to 3,000 GBP, without compromising too heavily on the most important factors? I’m just starting to worry about my budget as I speak to jewellers about creating the band, so I want to see what cheaper options there are.

Great curveball – absolutely love the 0.9 E VS2! The dimensions are still within .2mm of the other more expensive diamonds, but it doesn’t sacrifice any colour or clarity.

What do you think the cut, fluorescence and symmetry etc? If it’s still got an amazing sparkle to it, I think it’s worth the money.

So, I came very close to purchasing the 0.9 E VS2 above. However, I contacted the UK customs and found that the customs tax would increase the price by £780, which is more than I’d anticipated. At the same time my financial position has changed slightly and my budget has had to decrease.

I’m now looking for a diamond that is maximum of £3,000, including all VAT and transport fees. This may mean that there are some diamonds from Blue Nile that are good options now. Any from James Allen will have to be a maximum of £2,600 to account for the customs tax they charge on UK purchases.

I’m so sorry to keep moving the goal posts on this. I really do appreciate all of your help. I’m struggling to find something that isn’t significantly lesser quality for that price – I, of course, accept that there will be some compromise, but I’m slightly unsure where best to make them.

These are a couple I came across which may be acceptable:

Blue Nile LD12006515

www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/0.90-carat-d-color-si1-clarity-sku-6779957?a_aid=dmnd1357

Lovely – it looks beautiful. What are your thoughts on the depth? Will that high a value negatively affect the cut of the diamond do you think?

Ah okay. That’s good.

I’m between the one you sent me and this one:
Blue Nile LD12017443

Just to let you know, I went with your choice. You’ve been a huge huge help – honestly could not have got to the point of buying a diamond without your assistance.