Q&A: Looking for Oval Diamond for ~$10K Budget

I am looking for a diamond for my girlfriend. Preferably oval or round since she has to wear latex gloves for work and square shapes are more likely to tear. Leaning to oval due to more stone for the price.

I would like to spend 8300 to 9500 for the stone and prefer size and light to purity. So, like you often say on your website, more size and bang for the buck. But not noticeably flawed. Size range 1.4 to 2 carats.

I am 51, widower, she is 48, divorced for 29 years. In case that helps.

My idea was to give her the stone in a simple and inexpensive white gold or platinum setting and then she can remake the ring with her jeweler or whomever I buy the diamond from. So I am really getting her a diamond but letting her do the ring herself. She has some other stones from the past so I am guessing she would use them in the setting. I think she has a couple smaller emerald cut diamonds, maybe some pave. It is possible that she might want to flank it with sapphires too(blue.)

Thanks for the input. The 1.61 is just out of my budget range.

A couple of questions:

-The 1.31 for $9308 looks like it is not only bigger, but cleaner, correct?

-The clarity on both of these is very good, is the trade-off of clarity vs a larger stone what you are recommending, and why?

-If I go for an inexpensive setting in white gold or platinum for the oval, what settings do you recommend?

-In your opinion, is there any wiggle room in the diamond pricing or cost of setting?

-Lastly, why do some diamonds (like the 1.61) have old GIAs? Have they been floating around looking for a buyer or did someone store them for investment?

Thanks for the answers. I had not thought about people trading back their diamonds when things get tough. There is a lot of David Yurman on ebay for the same reason I think.

I have placed the 1.31 carat diamond on hold with James Allen while I get ring size. I did it all through Chat with them. Worked fine. I will let you know how things go.

Will Do.

…….

So far so good. The diamond arrived and looks nice (what do I know). The packaging is very nice and high quality. I have an appointment with an independent gemologist appraiser this Tuesday just to see that I got what I paid for.

She only appraises and didn’t seem to have an axe to grind. I basically told her I don’t want a valuation, just confirmation that it matches the GIA cert. What I paid etc is my business.

I will let you know what she says. I appreciate the advice.

Everything went well. The stone you helped select was very nice, and when I took it to the appraiser she agreed. She showed me how to read the GIA cert and valued it for about 1 to 2k more than I paid.

Thanks for your help.

They were very nice to deal with on the phone. I think there are just two people X and Y. I spoke to both of them, first X on Chat to reserve the diamond, then Y the next day to buy it. I like that it does not seem to be a big organization, and that they are not on commission.