Q&A: $3200 Budget. Thinks she wants Round Brilliant Diamond, Finds out she Really Wants Princess Cut Diamond.

I personally think rounds are the best as well.  They sparkle the most, return the most light, and have the most beautifully symmetrical look to them.

To match with that ring, you’d be fine getting a J or higher color stone.  A J color stone will still look totally white to your eye when set in that ring.  I’d recommend getting nothing better than an SI2.  Any stone I recommend to you will be clean to the naked eye, so there’s no need to pay more for a cleaner stone if it’s not going to be any cleaner to the naked eye.

Here’s what I found:

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-SI2-Premium-Cut-Round-Diamond-1266283.asp – THe stone has an “Excellent” cut grade from GIA.  The SI2 looks very clean.  It’s more than your budget, but did you know about the TAD0611 coupon to get 10% off the engagement ring?  That’s another $180 right there if you’re going with that ring.

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1260292.asp – nice like the last one

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-SI2-Premium-Cut-Round-Diamond-1194113.asp – A little closer to your budget.

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1197428.asp – This stone has Strong Blue Fluorescence.  So I wouldn’t recommend you buy it until you as someone from JA to pull the stone and inspect it for you.

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-SI2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1271344.asp

If you’d ask me my opinion, I’d say to go with the first choice if you can fit it into your budget.  It’s noticeably the largest. Quality-wise, it will look identical to the other stones with your naked eye.  It will fit that ring wonderfully.

I’m so glad you wrote me back.  I went back to check the first stone I recommended to double check the picture, and it wasn’t the stone I remembered recommending.  I must have had my cursor over the wrong stone when I copied the URL.  I’m sorry about that.  THIS is the stone I meant to recommend to you:

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-SI2-Premium-Cut-Round-Diamond-1246330.asp

You can see a blown up pic here:

https://www.jamesallen.com/diampics/AB1017PIC.JPG

And yes, with this stone, even her girlfriends won’t be able to spot anything.  Let me know what you think!

What’s important to me is what GIA says about a stone, not what JA says.  The stone I like is graded Excellent in cut by GIA, some other stones, while graded Ideal by JA, are only graded “very good” by GIA.  GIA’s system is much more elegant and true to life than JA’s.

I just got your other email about princess cuts.  I’ll happily take a look, but a little later.  Stay tuned.

I’m sorry for the delay.  I was out all day yesterday.  I actually had someone fly into Israel from the UK who I met on the website.  I took him to the diamond exchange in Israel. It was a nice experience.

Anyway, I took a look for you, and one stone totally jumped out at me:

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS1-Premium-Cut-Princess-Diamond-1256376.asp

The cut on this stone is rediculously nice.  The depth is at the bottom of the range of what’s still considered nice, which is very rare and basically means you’re getting a stone that looks much bigger than it is and yet still sparkles like crazy.

Let me know what you think!

Great to hear!  Sorry again for the delay!

I wish you and your fiance-to-be a long life together filled with health, happiness, and love.