Help please! Diamond and Setting advice needed

Lec8504

O.G.
Nov 10, 2006
2,917
768
Hi Girls! I used to be pretty active on tpf but have been lurking lately because of a lot of personal things (basically caring for a very sick father and the eventual passing of my beloved dad) going on in my life for the past year or so, but I think the saying goes something like after the rain there's always the rainbow or something hehe.

Anyways, my boyfriend and I are planning to take the next step, we're already in contract for our first ever home (YAY!) and he actually took the intiative to take me to the jeweler and look at rings with me (YAY! again lol).

He knows how picky I am with EVERYTHING, so he wanted me to pick out my ring and to just let him know and he'll pick it up once "the mood is right" LOL. So I've been looking around, the local jeweler we went to has this diamond that we did like, and I went online and found a few others that I liked also. I posted this info on PS (but no replies yet :sad:) and thought I should post it here to see what my fellow tpfers think, since I personally believe that tpfers have amazing taste :biggrin:

The 1st ring, was the one that we saw in person at the jeweler, it was eye clean and pretty nice the 1st time we saw it. Yesterday when I took my gf there to look at it again, she said that it didn't look as sparkly as the other stones, so I'm kind of worried about that :/ The jeweler said that the price for that is $10400 if we pay in cash, and $11k if we finance.

1. 1.22 carat VS2 E ideal cut (hearts and arrow too i think) - attached
2. http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2397479.htm
3. http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2523209.htm


Now..next question: the setting. No solitaires for me, I've always been lusting after the halo setting :heart:
I have definitely narrowed it down to 2..
I LOVE the Tacori 2520 setting that I saw in person, this is the exact setting (courtesy of Antiquehalolover on PS, her thread with more pictures: http://www.pricescope.com/forum/sho...-with-halo-and-pave-t129800.html?hilit=tacori)

tacori.jpg



Or this Beverley K setting:

175PP18.jpg


I haven't seen the Beverley K setting in person, but this vendor said they're going to ship a sterling silver c/z version of it to me so that I can look at it. I'm just worried that this setting might be a little thick base on the picture. My ring size is 5.5, so I don't have small delicate hands but my fingers are pretty long and narrow lol, so I don't want the ring to overwhelm it. So what do you guys think?

(sorry for the rambling, I'm just super excited :yahoo:)
 
Welcome back!!

I'd personally go for the bigger WF stone that's an F. If size matters to you, I'd also consider going down to G. I have an H and notice no color whatsoever.

As far as settings are concerned, the Beverly K settings are all gorgeous and much more delicate in person. Does Pearlman's say how thick the shank is?
 
I'll ask Pearlman for the measurements of the shank :smile:

Size matters but not by much, like the tacori ring that's picture, that's almost a carat and it looks pretty big on her hand. I tried on the tacori setting with a one carat on my hand too and it's pretty big, so I don't want to go super big, otherwise it'll just be too much that I can't wear it almost daily. I think around 1.2-1.3 carats then I'm happy with. I don't really mind going down on color but I just wanted to get the best bang for my (his) buck, which our price range for the diamond alone is around 10-11k.
 
An ideal cut 1-ish carat stone alone shouldn't be $10-11k, you should be closer to $7-8k.
1.2 should be just under $10k IMO.

That GIA stone is okay, but is not ideal or excellent based on those specs.

I like the vintage looking settings a lot, but wanted to talk about the stones first.
 
Thanks for your input Swanky! Do you think maybe that's why when I saw it the 2nd time, my friend said the stone didn't look to be that sparkly? But then the GIA cert said that the cut is excellent, or should I not even bother to look at that and look at the actual dimensions?

Someone on PS said the #2 stone is ok, what do you think? I'm just so worried about buying it sight unseen but I heard WF and GOG are reputable vendors, so I'm kind of stuck.

oh Ahertz - the ring shank is 1.5mm for the Beverley K, is that relatively thin? I need to find out the Tacori shank and compare then...
 
Hi Lec8504,

Glad to hear that you have something positive to focus on and look forward to. I think your Dad would be happy for you :smile:

Take your time choosing the right stone. Good things have been said about Jonathan of Good Old Gold, so I'd give him a call if you're worried. It can be daunting purchasing sight unseen.

I also prefer the Tacori setting if I had to choose between the 2.

Any other settings you're considering???

And for the record......we're a much friendlier and attentive bunch than on (uh....em) PS!
 
I know Jonathan at GOG sells Tacori, get a price from him on that setting as well as Pearlmans, and look at GOG for diamonds too. If you can get him to match Pearlmans price on the setting if you buy the stone from him that would be your best bet.

The difference between WF and GOG is really just that GOG sells more cut styles and has MANY more tests done on every diamond they sell. The guy is a nerd. He loves diamonds, he loves cut. So give him a shot.

As for the two settings you showed above, the Tacori blows that Beverly K away in my opinion.

As for the two diamonds, DEFINITELY #2. That's a stunner.

I have dealt with both WF and GOG. I would not hesitate a SECOND to buy from GOG again. I will never work with WF again however. I had issues with workmanship and their handling of it was atrocious. Their customer service sucks. Their stones are great, their jewelry is not.

So if you buy that diamond from WF, have it sent to Pearlmans for setting in the Tacori--Tacori will almost certainly require that they set it in house, not pearlmans.

Pearlmans rocks btw.
 
contesta - Yeh, I notice the atmosphere there isn't as friendly as here, I'm just going to chalk it up to having a lot of people in the trade hehe. And yes, I honestly do believe that he's watching over me right now. Everything is moving so fast though, it kind of freaks me out :nuts: But having this whole house buying process and ring buying process definitely helps with keep my mind away from everything, which I'm very thankful for. Um...I've been really just focusing on the Tacori setting (it's my favorite setting out of all of their settings), but I just found out about the Beverley K setting :heart: I'm open though, as long as it halo, antique-ish look, and still look relatively "dainty".

candice - thanks for the input, another vote for the BK!

Ame - I actually looked at GOG once and that was it haha. So I'll try again and maybe even e-mail him. My most important priority is the cut, I want it to just sparkle like crazy lol.

Not to add more confusion to this but what do you guys think of these two?
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-1466973.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2517171.htm

I heard a lot of people have G color diamonds that they say don't appear to be yellow at all and are all white face up, and my ring will basically be covered on most of the sides with either of the setting that I choose, so do you guys think a G color diamond would give me more bang for my bfs buck? I just want a really nice sparkly ice white diamond, that's why I'm just worried about going below an E color.
 
They are both very pretty! I just got my diamond reset and I know how difficult it can be to make a decision. The way settings look enlarged in photos is not at all the way they look on the hand and it's probably going to depend on how you feel when you try them both. From the photos I like the Beverly K better because it's cleaner looking (less prongs sticking out in all directions on the halo itself) but it also has more metal, so that's a matter of preference whether you want a lot of metal showing or not. Definitely go with your gut & good luck!
 
If you are concerned about G color then I would definitely check out some G colored diamonds in person because some people can see the color in stones no matter how ideal cut the stone is. I'm very color sensitive and I can see the color in G stones. Just my two cents. The tacori setting is beautiful!
 
wow you guys weren't kidding that GOG does a lot more tests on their diamonds.

I did a quick search and found that they had only 1 diamond that matches my criteria
http://goodoldgold.com/diamond.php?...12000&resultsColumns=268435471&singleResult=1

What do you guys think? One of test shows that the white light and fire is really high, which looks really good to me, but I'm far from an expert hehe.
I WOULD BUY THAT DIAMOND NOW. That is going to be a KNOCKOUT. It's got an Isee2 test on it that shows great return. That's really amazing looking. Reserve it if you want it. Seriously.

G will NOT show warmth. It MIGHT next to a D of the same size but side by side you'd barely notice the differnce. I have an H and you cannot see it in mine.