Shopping Discussion

Have questions about diamonds and engagement rings, ASK ME ANYTHING...

Poll: What is most important in your ONLINE diamond shopping experience?

  • Total votes: 738. You have voted on this poll.
Price
 
414
56%
Selection
 
49
7%
Reputation
 
199
27%
Information
 
34
5%
Addons (warranties, trade up policies, free cleanings)
 
7
1%
Location (Canada, U.S.)
 
8
1%
Customer Service, purchase assistance
 
27
4%
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
keepingherhappy wrote: Hey thediamondshopper,

Was going to buy diamond studs for my wife and read on here that large retail stores are not the answer as one just tried to sell me an IMP2 clarity. I'm no expert but I had never heard of it and found this forum searching IMP 2. Where do you recommend that I look?
Hi,

Yes buying from retail/mall stores can really be a mixed bag. I work with both good and bad retailers and unfortunately there are sometimes more on the poorer end value wise than on the good end. They cater to a specific audience that favors convenience and immediate deliver over purchase value. Many jewelry consumers are not informed so this is a huge segment of the market.

Unfortunately to keep this thread info only I would rather not make specific recommendations on where is best to shop as my opinion might be seen as biased. Also this decision really depends on what you are looking for in terms of service as there is a broad spectrum from retail stores to costco to niche jewelry shops to wholesalers. All offering something different in terms of the mix of price vs services.
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
ProductGuy wrote: Thanks, I ended up getting one from the Bay as they had 70% off sale. I got the below for $1600 taxes in. What do you think?

http://m.thebay.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s ... -24?&pdp=1
Its really tough to comment on value for an item like this as the diamond is not graded by a major grading lab. They state that the color is H-I an Clarity I1-I2. Usually with diamonds not graded by GIA or AGS you can assume that it is on the lower end of this range if not even lower. So lets assume I I2, if this is what it wold have been graded by a major lab it is not such a great deal as you could have found similar GIA graded diamonds in that setting for $1200 or potentially less. If on the high end say H I1then its not a bad deal maybe something you could have found for $1400 or so GIA graded. I would have it evaluated by an appraiser to see what you got. Big sales on jewelry usually never work out in favor of the consumer as the price is artificially inflated and then discounted. Diamonds and gold have fixed prices in the market and the only price difference a consumer can find is where in the chain from mine to store they are able to buy the ring and the margin of the seller.
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Newbie
Jan 14, 2011
84 posts
14 upvotes
Calgary, AB
Hi Thediamondshopper,

I'm hopping to get your opinion on a ring I bought (before reading this thread).

The ring was on clearance at Costco.ca for 12500$ so I thought I'd take a chance on it. I do still have a couple of months to return it.

Specifically I'm worried about the cut and color. HCA rates it as a 3.6 so that is concerning to me. Also the color is I, I have no way of knowing whether it is closer to a H or a J. Any pointers in that department would be much appreciated.

The ring is a 1.53 diamond solitaire in a platinum setting.
GIA # 2171630158
https://www.gia.edu/sites/Satellite?rep ... 25&qr=null

Basically I'm wondering what you think of this diamond and if it was worth the price I paid?

Thanks and Merry Christmas!
Newbie
Dec 19, 2017
3 posts
Hi thediamondshopper,

Thanks for your knowledge and input throughout this thread. I have learned a lot going through the thread.
I'm considering between these 2 diamonds and I would like to focus on a great cut that can provide a sparkle.

I would like to get your opinion on the proportions on these 2 GIA diamonds 5276211453 and 5181765229.

Thanks for your advice!
Newbie
Jun 22, 2006
67 posts
20 upvotes
Edmonton
There is so much information in this thread, I love it! Thank you so much TheDiamondShopper, it is greatly appreciated. I've read few pages but couldn't find the answer, so hopefully I'm not repeating a question that's been asked already, but what is your take on lab grown diamonds? And whether you deal with them? I read earlier on in this thread that you mentioned Color being an issue with synthetic diamonds, do you know if this is still the case?

I've just recently started looking and have checked out:
GIA : 6272240351
Mounted on something like this:
https://imgur.com/Uonp8XY

Would I be able to get your take on this
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
Both are modified brilliant cuts, so mainly cut for weight retention. I would usually only suggest this type of cushion cut if your main concern is price as they are cheaper than hybrid and cushion brilliant cuts. With both you can see the light leakage in the table even in the video so not the greatest of cushion cuts.
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
beatuptruck wrote: Hi Thediamondshopper,

I'm hopping to get your opinion on a ring I bought (before reading this thread).

The ring was on clearance at Costco.ca for 12500$ so I thought I'd take a chance on it. I do still have a couple of months to return it.

Specifically I'm worried about the cut and color. HCA rates it as a 3.6 so that is concerning to me. Also the color is I, I have no way of knowing whether it is closer to a H or a J. Any pointers in that department would be much appreciated.

The ring is a 1.53 diamond solitaire in a platinum setting.
GIA # 2171630158
https://www.gia.edu/sites/Satellite?rep ... 25&qr=null

Basically I'm wondering what you think of this diamond and if it was worth the price I paid?

Thanks and Merry Christmas!
Hi,

The first thing I should mention is that in the current market for diamonds GIA very good cuts in my opinion arent priced low enough for what you give up going from Very Good to excellent. The GIA excellent grade even still has some diamonds that have poor light performance and will show light leakage. I am a bit biased on this topic as I like to promote buying what you can see, and cut and apparent size are much more observable than color and clarity in most cases.

With this specific diamond the cut is not at all optimized for an I color. When you have a diamond in the I and lower range you want to find a cut that will help to reduce the appearance of color. The crown on this diamond is very steep, likely why it got a very good cut grade, this poses two problems. 1. steeper crowns tend to cause the diamond to show more color and 2. This steep a crown is hard to pair with a pavilion angle, diamonds are more or less a set of mirrors and when the angles arent lined up optimally there is lots of light leakage. The diamond is also on the deeper side 62.6%, which can contribute to showing more color as the longer the path of light in a diamond the more color it picks up. I attached an ASET (angular spectrum evaluation tool) rendering below showing how this diamonds light performance would compare to an ideal cut. The ideal cut diamonds is mostly red, where as this diamond is almost all white and green meaning that it has very poor light performance and lots of light leakage.

I can speak to where on the range the color sits without seeing a diamond in person but regardless of that everything about the cut is working against how it is showing color so odds are it wont look great,

Price wise for a brick and mortar store like costco it is an ok price, I think it should sell for even less as nice diamonds with the same specs would be comparably priced if not a bit cheaper.

Considering you buy a diamond to show brilliance and sparkle and this particular diamond dosent do that optimally it kind of defeats the purpose IMO.

Hope that helps

Happy Holidays
Images
  • RFD 1514.jpg
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
davesmith18 wrote: Hi thediamondshopper,

Thanks for your knowledge and input throughout this thread. I have learned a lot going through the thread.
I'm considering between these 2 diamonds and I would like to focus on a great cut that can provide a sparkle.

I would like to get your opinion on the proportions on these 2 GIA diamonds 5276211453 and 5181765229.

Thanks for your advice!
Hi,

5276211453: I would say could go either way in terms of how the angles work together because GIA rounds the proportions. IF you go a couple pages back some one asked about a very similar diamond and I explained it in more detail.
Seeing as though it is an I color you would be better off with something not cut quite as deep as added depth shows color more. Also because of the added depth and thicker girdle the face up size of the diamond is smaller than average for a .9ct. Ideally would be 6.25-.63mm where as this one averages to about 6.15mm.

5181765229: will be a nice cut and not as subject to rounding but as above faces up small and is not cut optimally to hid color ie, depth and steeper crown
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
jonnyboi wrote: There is so much information in this thread, I love it! Thank you so much TheDiamondShopper, it is greatly appreciated. I've read few pages but couldn't find the answer, so hopefully I'm not repeating a question that's been asked already, but what is your take on lab grown diamonds? And whether you deal with them? I read earlier on in this thread that you mentioned Color being an issue with synthetic diamonds, do you know if this is still the case?

I've just recently started looking and have checked out:
GIA : 6272240351
Mounted on something like this:
https://imgur.com/Uonp8XY

Would I be able to get your take on this
Your very welcome!

I work with few stores that sell lab grown diamonds but personally I dont sell them. Main reason is that they have no resale value in the open market as no one in the industry will rebuy them and they will likely follow the trend like cultured pearls where they are worth much less. That being said they are not discounted enough currently to balance out their potential lack of resale value IMO. So I wouldnt feel comfortable selling them as I like to provide our customer with the best value for their purchase.

For the diamond you linked to it is very hard to find well cut diamonds right around 1ct (.98, .99) as most would be cut to 1ct to take advantage of the bump in price. Its not say that this is the case with this diamond but from the proportions it looks like they tried to save weight were they could and couldnt quite make it to 1ct. Im not sure of the price so it could be very good value if it was priced lower than comparable 1ct diamonds, size wise it faces up the size of a smaller 1ct option. Could be a good diamond to consider but you would need to have it looked at or get an ASET image or similar to evaluate the cut.

For that size I personally think that G VS1 is a bit over kill but if you preference is towards how the diamond looks under magnification then thats a different story. Ive made similar ring styles before and they come out quite nice you just have to make sure the band isnt to wide so that it dosent over power the center stone as there are two intertwined bands.
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Newbie
Dec 19, 2017
3 posts
thediamondshopper wrote: Hi,

5276211453: I would say could go either way in terms of how the angles work together because GIA rounds the proportions. IF you go a couple pages back some one asked about a very similar diamond and I explained it in more detail.
Seeing as though it is an I color you would be better off with something not cut quite as deep as added depth shows color more. Also because of the added depth and thicker girdle the face up size of the diamond is smaller than average for a .9ct. Ideally would be 6.25-.63mm where as this one averages to about 6.15mm.

5181765229: will be a nice cut and not as subject to rounding but as above faces up small and is not cut optimally to hid color ie, depth and steeper crown
Thanks diamondshopper. If you say 62.5% depth is too deep for a I colour, what depth range would you recommend? 61-62%? or even less?

Would something like GIA 1278650153 be better? Thanks!
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD09829833 - has nice proportions but isnt the greatest SI2 as it has a large black inclusions just off to the edge of the table, I think it would be visible without magnification but wold be better to ask
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD09480180 - looks to be a bit nicer of an SI2 but the proportions arent the greatest so the diamond will not have as good light performance, the crown is a bit to steep for the pavilion angle.
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD09020568 - has average proportions and angle combination not quite ideal but not bad either, clarity wise it looks like it wouldnt be eye clean similar to the first options it has a large black inclusions just off center.
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
davesmith18 wrote: Thanks diamondshopper. If you say 62.5% depth is too deep for a I colour, what depth range would you recommend? 61-62%? or even less?

Would something like GIA 1278650153 be better? Thanks!
The right depth really depends on the pairing with the crown and pavilion angles so it is hard to generalize and say that a certain range will work out. The new diamond you linked to has a better set of proportions for helping to mask color as the crown and pavilion are complementary, the crown is average, and the depth is shallow. I would make sure to ask though if there is a strong or brown tinge to the diamond.
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Newbie
Feb 20, 2009
63 posts
Toronto
thediamondshopper wrote: https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD09829833 - has nice proportions but isnt the greatest SI2 as it has a large black inclusions just off to the edge of the table, I think it would be visible without magnification but wold be better to ask
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD09480180 - looks to be a bit nicer of an SI2 but the proportions arent the greatest so the diamond will not have as good light performance, the crown is a bit to steep for the pavilion angle.
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD09020568 - has average proportions and angle combination not quite ideal but not bad either, clarity wise it looks like it wouldnt be eye clean similar to the first options it has a large black inclusions just off center.
Thanks so much. Are you using your eye to identify the location of the inclusions? I don't see a map on the GIA report.

The three I linked are unfortunately all sold now. This seems to have good dimensions to me, and is surprisingly inexpensive.
https://www.bluenile.com/ca/diamond-details/LD09673561.
Am I missing something? Is Blue Nile trustworthy if I ask them if it's eye clean?
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
strife220 wrote: Thanks so much. Are you using your eye to identify the location of the inclusions? I don't see a map on the GIA report.

The three I linked are unfortunately all sold now. This seems to have good dimensions to me, and is surprisingly inexpensive.
https://www.bluenile.com/ca/diamond-details/LD09673561.
Am I missing something? Is Blue Nile trustworthy if I ask them if it's eye clean?
Yes I was able to see the inclusions on the video, with diamonds under 1ct there usually isnt a plot of the inclusions,

With the diamond you linked to the main inclusions is a cloud so when combined with a low price it almost certainly means that the diamond will have a hazy appearance. With diamonds when the price seems too good to be true it always is.
Blue Nile dosent own the diamonds they sell so you would have to rely on the supplier most are pretty good, but odds are that the Blue Nile reps might not know which suppliers are good and which arent and "eye clean" is subjective.
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Newbie
Jan 9, 2018
1 posts
Hey thediamondshopper, I'm a long time lurker of this thread. Finally getting to that time where I'm looking to get serious about taking the plunge.

I'd love to discuss some of the details with you but for whatever reason I cannot figure out how to PM you! Any idea why this may be the case or any way you could PM me?

Thanks!
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 29, 2013
1475 posts
657 upvotes
Toronto
Amado88 wrote: Hey thediamondshopper, I'm a long time lurker of this thread. Finally getting to that time where I'm looking to get serious about taking the plunge.

I'd love to discuss some of the details with you but for whatever reason I cannot figure out how to PM you! Any idea why this may be the case or any way you could PM me?

Thanks!
That’s weird with the PMs I seem to be getting some. I’ll PM you now though.
*Please read the Diamond Thread Summary on page 1 before posting especially the first 5 points :)*
**If you find the thread useful please give it a thumbs up**
Newbie
Aug 9, 2014
91 posts
18 upvotes
Mississauga, ON
Hi thediamondshopper,

I would have loved to get the engagement done from you, however, since I am based in USA now, i think i will save on some taxes if I buy from here. I went through all 101 pages to try to become more knowledgeable.I am looking for a 0.9 carat diamond and going through everything you have suggested, I have chosen the following 3. I was wondering if you had any comments on them?

GIA 2181390215 , HCA Score 1.1
GIA 2257634754, HCA Score 1.4
GIA 2181938546, HCA Score 0.8

I did use the recommended table, depth, crown, pavilion ranges to select these 3. All three are similar priced. Thanks!!
Jr. Member
Jan 29, 2007
170 posts
96 upvotes
Markham
hey thediamondshopper,

wanted to ask you a few questions regarding looking for a diamond engagement ring.

i will be in contact with a diamond distributor to find a diamond but wanted to know what would be the best value i could get for around $8k.

from looking at your posts i believe i should aim for something with excellent cut, clarity at SI1 and colour at I rating?
with those specifications, would i be able to get something over 1 carat for $8k?

before i read your posts, i was aiming to get something close to but below 1 carat with excellent cut, clarity VS1 and H rating.
not sure how to best spend my money as i would like the diamond to be presentable.

thanks in advance!

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)