Q&A: Round or Princess Cut for $10-15K Budget

I’ve read a lot of your Q&A responses and blogs and I have really liked your advice and the diamond recommendations that you have made over the years. Thanks for taking the time to read my email. Your help is much appreciated.

Here’s my story: My budget is roughly $10-15K with the high end being out the door price (setting, tax and any other costs included). I really am interested in finding a good value diamond in this range (i.e. the best value mix of the 4 Cs) but I am willing to stretch for the right value diamond.

Shape: Round or Princess. I could go either way. I lean toward the round shape but size is relatively important to my girlfriend and I know you can get more size for the price with princess cuts.

Setting: I am very open to suggestions on the setting. My girlfriend likes classic and simple, so I was leaning toward solitaire? Possibly Pave? As far as metal type, I am looking at platinum or white gold only.

As far as the four Cs go, I was hoping for your help in getting the best bang for my buck:

Cut: This seems to be the most important of the C’s to me, so I don’t want to skimp here. I was figuring ‘very good’ cut as a minimum?

Color: I am not too familiar with what is the best value for this C, so I was hoping for your help. I was thinking H as a baseline, but I am not sure if there is much difference between H and I or H and G?

Clarity: When I originally started looking for diamonds, I was set on VS2 as the lowest I wanted to go, but the more I look and read, the more open I have become to SI1 clarity. As long as the inclusions are not visible by the human eye or can be hidden by the setting, I am definitely willing to consider the SI clarity. The bottom line is, if my girlfriend can’t see the inclusions, then I am happy. Otherwise I’d jump up to the VS range.

Carats: Obviously, after all of the other C’s are decided, my budget is pretty set, so where ever I end up on carats I am willing to accept. I was hoping for somewhere between the 1.45 and 1.95 carat range, but I believe in quality over quantity.

Vendor: I really like the selection that Blue Nile has, but it’s tough to go with them knowing that I can’t see the diamond like you can with James Allen. Bottom line, I am not too picky here, so whatever you think is best in your experience.

Thanks again for your help with my situation. I would really appreciate any recommendations or thoughts that you have. I am in no rush with the proposal, so I am willing to wait for the right value here.

So my thoughts were that Blue Nile seems to have a bigger selection, which is nice, but it is tough to get past the fact that you can’t see the diamond like you can on James Allen. I’m pretty impartial though. As far as the setting goes, I haven’t looked into it too much, but there seems to be settings at both places that I’d be willing to go with (as I am looking to go pretty simple/traditional with either the solitaire or pave setting).