Ira, Been reading your blog and site for the last month or so and its getting close to the time to pull the trigger. I am trying to find my best choice for at least a 1ct round cut diamond for my girlfriends engagement ring. I have been looking at the jamesallen site and have found a few stones that look good. I am seeing if you can help me choose better, or find a way to go slightly larger while keeping the stone eye clean as you say. She is a tall girl with bigger hands so I want to make sure her rock looks good on her!! Here is what I have found so far:
https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1248428.asp
https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1194081.asp
My goal would be to go slightly bigger if possible, but I can’t really judge well how well they would look. They will be in a platinum setting btw. You have a great site and thanks for all your help in advance.
I’m glad you enjoyed the site!
Have a look at this:
https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1199457.asp?a_aid=dmnd1357
Going down to an I color is perfectly fine for platinum. You can even go down to J, and the stone will still look white.
If you’re open to it, let me know, and I’ll send you some Js. If you go to J, you’ll really be able to knock up the size notably, I believe.
Here’s an example:
https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-SI2-Premium-Cut-Round-Diamond-1266283.asp?a_aid=dmnd1357
Let me know what you think!
The setting I am looking at has four sidestones, the site says they are G-H in color. Would the J still look ok next to the others??
I’ve had readers of the site in your exact position before. When that happened, I recommended that they call JA customer service and ask them, since they see every ring they put together, and they’d be able to tell much better than me. Every time they ask, JA always says it’s not a problem at all. You see, they don’t want to risk sending something out that doesn’t match – returns are very expensive for them. If you select a diamond that won’t look right with a particular setting, they won’t let you buy it because they’ll be too afraid you’ll return it.
I have been checking out things more the last couple of days I actually found an I1 that looks ok to me. Here is the link
https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-I1-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1210084.asp
If it doesn’t look good to you, I will probably go with one of the stones you sent me before.
I’m so sorry I didn’t response earlier. I don’t know what happened. I just decided to go through all of my old messages in my inbox to follow up with people who haven’t responded to me, and I found this email. Did you end up buying this stone? If not, where are you holding in your decision now?
I was sick last week and someone snatched up that stone before I could make a purchase, so I am starting to ramp the search back up. Probably need to make a purchase this week.
I’m actually happy to hear that. I didn’t like that stone. If you had bought it, I didn’t want to start killing your enthusiasm by trashing it, so I wasn’t going to say anything.
The feather on the girdle is really strong and there’s a black inclusion dead center that likely will be eye-visible.
Would you like me to send you some more suggestions?
yeah, I noticed the center inclusion later, it was sorta hard to see at first, but later I saw it.
I would love to see some more suggestions. I am looking to buy this week.
……
Sorry for a bunch of emails in a row, but this one looks nice to me, and looks like a decent value
https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1259885.asp
Don’t apologize!
That’s a great find. SI2 is all on the side – can easily be covered by a prong. Medium Blue + J Color is a great combo that will whiten the J a bit. Excellent GIA Cut.
Go for it!
Ira,
Thanks for your help and the work you have done on your site again.
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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