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Q&A: Looking for a Round Diamond for a Solitaire or Side-Stone Setting With a £2,300 Budget

By Mike Fried,

I want a round ideal cut. My budget is around £2,300 for the stone alone.

I have been reading your great articles. Top criteria is probably an ideal cut, GIA, ideal polish and proportions. Of course it should be eye clean, and I am not too concerned about the colour, up to I-J is fine if having medium blue fluorescent helps ( the setting maybe gold so a tinge is fine )

Carot will probably have to be 0.8 but if I can get a nice eye clean stone closer to 0.9, thats a bonus.

I would prefer a solitaire, but if I can find a setting of solitaire with 2 small diamond side stones within budget I would consider it too.

I have narrowed it down to these 3. All look great on the 3D video. All priced similarly.

Blue Nile LD12296636
Super ideal dimensions on paper. Decent size for ct. Bit better colour.

Blue Nile LD12272157
Has best arrows symmetry in photo. Smallest of the 3.

Blue Nile LD11690545
Largest of the 3. Not sure its 100% eye clean as I can see a number of crystals or white spots (can you confirm?)

This stone is eye-clean (Blue Nile LD11690545). Bear in mind that these videos are extremely magnified, I don’t think you’ll see any imperfections in person. This stone is perfect too: Blue Nile LD12272157.

I wouldn’t recommend the last stone Blue Nile LD12296636. We always advise our readers to avoid getting SI diamonds under 1ct that have clouds mentioned in the first place in the clarity characteristics (there is no clarity plot in the certificate that shows how big the cloud is and where it’s located). Such stones may look cloudy and milky.

Thanks very much for your summary. Do you think Blue Nile can take inclusions into account during mounting and hide with prongs when possible?

You can definitely contact BN and ask them if they would place a prong over the inclusions. They always try to make their customers as happy as possible. Worst case scenario, if you end up not liking the stone you buy, you can easily return it (hassle-free).

I have placed my order today.

You have been a great help making the process so quick and easy. Many thanks again!

James Allen James Allen is the leader in online diamond sales. Their imaging technology is the same as inspecting a diamond with a jeweler's loupe. They have the largest exclusive loose diamond inventory online and fantastic prices. They also have the nicest collection of lab-created diamonds online.
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
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Blue Nile Blue Nile is the largest and most well-known internet jewelry seller. They have a very large exclusive online inventory. Their high-quality images are catching up to James Allens' and their prices are amazing. Save 25% on settings at Blue Nile!

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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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