Q&A: $8000 for Ideal Cut Round Diamond in a Platinum Nouveau Setting. Needs Quick Turnaround for Paris Proposal.

First of all, thanks for the kind words about the site. I’m glad you’ve found it useful.

Now let me hit some of your more specific questions:

1) Color – You really can’t use JA’s color tool to give you any real sense of what diamond color looks like. When you match diamonds for pairs, it’s an accepted rule that you can be off by one color grade and still have two diamonds match perfectly. The differential between any two adjacent color grades is so slight that it’s not detectable to the human eye – especially in a face-up ideal cut round brilliant stone. So you can DEFINITELY, without any concern whatsoever, go for an H color. I often advise people to buy Is or even Js. In an ideal cut round, a J color will still look white.

2) Fluorescence – Strong blue fluorescence in a G color is the kind of thing that most of the time, it doesn’t make a difference, but there are times on certain stones, where it’s very noticeable and makes the stone look milky and dull. If you’re buying online from BN and not JA, then I would say to stay away. BN doesn’t have physical access to the diamonds they sell. They are all over the world in vendors’ vaults. JA, on the other hand, only works with vendors within walking distance to their NY office, so they have access to any stone listed on their site at any time. So you could always have the people at JA check a stone physically to see if it has any negative effects from strong fluorescence.

3) BN vs JA – I don’t like recommending stones from BN because I can’t see them. JA has real magnified photos of their diamonds, so when I recommend a stone from there, I can be confident that what I’m recommending is a great stone, free of any eye visible inclusions. I can’t do that with BN. Would you mind taking another quick look at the following settings? They are very similar to the one you picked on BN:

https://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/ring/item_412-1936.asp?a_aid=dmnd1357

https://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/ring/item_412-3713.asp?a_aid=dmnd1357

https://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/Platinum-Art-Nouveau-2-0mm-Pave-Set-Diamond-Engagement-Ring.html

If you like any of those, you can use the TAD0611 coupon to get 10% off the setting. So that should save you another 300 or so compared to BN. If you put that towards the diamond, take a look at what you can get:

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/H-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1285072.asp?a_aid=dmnd1357 – it’s a GIA triple excellent. Medium Blue fluorescence on an H color makes the stone look slightly whiter, so it will probably be somewhere between a G and an H. I checked the picture, and it’s a very nice VS2. Completely clean to the naked eye.

Take a look at those rings and let me know what you think. If you still want the ring on BN, I’d be happy to look through the selections on BN and give you my recommendations.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I’m away from my computer, but I recall that the neavu ring on JA was a few hundred dollars cheaper than the ring on BN.  You have a 10% coupon both at JA and BN, so you still gain the difference in price by buying the setting from JA.

……

Now I’m back at my computer. I realized that the stone I suggested was out of your budget, I just thought it was such a great find, I wanted to suggest it anyway. 1.40-1.49ct stones are VERY rare. I justified showing it to you because I was saving you some money on the setting, and you told me your max budget was 8500 for the stone. So I thought you might be able to squeeze out a little more.

But anyway, I love the stone you suggested. It’s triple excellent. Guarantee eye clean. A really great stone. Lets analyze this more closely.

Rings:

Blue Nile: 1650*0.9 = 1485

James Allen: 1450*0.9 = 1305

Diamonds:

BN: 1.38 H VS2 8045 (no idea what the VS2 looks like. Could be ugly black inclusion in the center. Stone also isn’t available anymore)

JA: 1.36 H VS2 8090 (confirmed eye clean. Great VS2. Stone is available)

BN Total: 9530 (theoretical)

JA Total: 9395 (actual)

In the end, you’re basically getting the same level of product from either JA or BN. But JA always has the edge in my book because they have physical access to the stones and offer the pictures.

Honestly, I’m not really sure why there are holes there.  But they for sure wouldn’t be noticeable to the person wearing the ring.

within a day or two.  But you should call them today and ask them to put it on hold for you until the pictures arrive.  Btw, the cert is already online.

I only saw two stones linked. One is the 1.44 that doesn’t yet have the photos. The other is the 1.36. THe 1.36 is 100% eye clean, but the page says the stone is no longer available.

Were you referring to something else?

Got it.  That stone, too, will be clean to the naked eye.  That center inclusion is rather small.

Let me know what you go with in the end!

It means the stone has the letters “H&A” inscribed on the girdle.  It doesn’t mean anything really.  When vendors have stones that they consider to be “hearts & arrows” sometimes they’ll pay a little extra to have GIA inscribe the letters H&A on the girdle in addition to the cert #.

Another great stone.  Also totally eye clean.  I guess it will come down to how much you want to spend.  The extra cash will get you a slightly larger stone.  So it’s just a matter of whether you want to spend that or not.  In terms of quality, they’re pretty much identical.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get back to you sooner. The stone looks great. That little black inclusion won’t be noticeable as it’s very very small. I’m sure you’re going to be VERY please with this stone.

Please drop me a line and let me know how it looks when it arrives!