Q&A: Ideal Cut Round Diamond for $1500 Budget

I will soon be purchasing an engagement ring. Soon, as in the next week or so. I’ve been researching and learning for months though, through bluenile.com, jamesallen.com, and your wonderful website. I feel like a bit of an expert now, but thought I would solicit your advice before I make the final decision. I finally have the money, I’m ready to go, I just want to find the perfect stone now.

Here’s the deal. $1500 is my absolute limit, I know it’s not much, but I want to get the best I can for that price. With the basic ring options on BN and JA, that leaves about $1100 tops for the diamond. My girlfriend and I looked at rings together about a year ago, then put the idea on the back burner because of money issues. She doesn’t know I’ve been secretly saving up this $1500 all year long. She’s a bit of a tomboy, doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry, and when we looked together we were looking at small sizes anyways. I was suprised when she was ”grossed out” by the 1 carat sized diamonds and quickly passed them off as too gaudy (lucky me!). She was happy with a .33 carat, but I could really tell she liked the half carat a lot. So, that’s my goal, a .45-.50 carat diamond. But the most important part is the sparkle, the stones we were looking at really sparkled and she couldn’t take her eyes off of it, no matter the size.

So, here I am, diamond shopping online. I’ve found what I’m looking for, in terms of size and what-I-think-will-sparkle expectations. Examples:

BN: .46, Ideal Cut, H, VVS2 for $1030

BN: .47, Ideal Cut, I, VS1 for $978

BN: .46, Ideal Cut, G, VVS2 for $1060

J

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, I really appreciate it. I’ve now read your article on clarity, and I totally see where you’re coming from on that point. Now I’m looking on James Allen at the choice you suggested and others like it. I guess I was just scared of ordering a diamond that I’ve never seen before and getting one with a dreaded “black spot” on it. Too much shopping on Blue Nile I guess.

I think I’ll be sticking to James Allen now. Unfortunately, a lot of the ones I’m looking at right now don’t have a picture uploaded online, but I’m requesting them individually. I’m no expert, so another apprehension I have is that I can’t really be sure what to look for in the virtual loupe. Any tips? I’m looking for the black specks, but are there any other things I should be aware of that will be noticable by the naked eye?

Thanks again

Just wanted to say thank you. I jumped on the diamond you suggested for me. I used the chat feature on the james allen website, and they were also able to confirm that the diamond is eye clean (not that I didn’t believe you, but two heads are better than one!). I get regular email offers from blue nile, so I knew that they were currently offering a New Year’s $100 discount, and I mentioned it to them and they matched it! So I got the diamond and saved $100! Pretty great stone for only $920!

So, thanks to you, I have a sparkling new diamond being set and it’s a tenth of a carat bigger than I ever dreamed it could be! That extra little bit…well, not so little, it’s a 25% increase to the size…is thanks to you and I’ll never forget it! As soon as I propose (in about 2 weeks), I’ll spread the word of your website and your advice to everyone I know!

Thank you, sir!