I’m looking for a diamond and ring for my girlfriend, to propose. We’re on a budget. Probably in the neighborhood of $5k. I don’t care about much other than: I want her to have a simple platinum solitaire cathedral setting 2-3mm with as big of diamond as possible.
The diamond is where I have trouble. I want something as big as possible but clean to the naked eye. From what I can tell, “I” color is fine… VS2 clarity is fine, but I’m not sure about SI1. I just want to stuff the biggest princess cut diamond in the setting as possible. Blue Nile settings are more to my liking than James Allen. Maybe there’s a bunch I don’t understand.
Thank you.
We’ve had great experiences with both companies, James Allen as well as Blue Nile. I just found a better option on JA at the moment. Here’s a 1.22 carat stone with the quality I’d recommend:
It’s very well cut, eye-clean and going to look colorless.
https://www.diamonds.pro/education/color/
What do you think?
Yeah, that looks great. I touch more than I wanted to spend – I was hoping to spend ~ $5k total, including setting. Still, that’s very nice I’ll definitely consider it.
Side note: I’m not really wild about the JA settings.
The diamond looks great. Exactly the type of thing I’m after.
Thank you for your feedback. I’m happy to hear that you like my suggestion so much.
I checked and found this 1.01 carat on Blue Nile:
When it comes to princess cuts, it’s very important to check the eye-cleanliness as well as the corners. There can’t be any feathers or crystals as the corner could chip easily. I didn’t find any 1.10+ carat on BN that I could recommend at the moment. That’s why I’m sending this 1.01 carat.
Let me know what you think.
I purchased the first diamond you suggested from James Allen.
Thank you for your help.
That’s fantastic news!
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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