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I’m looking to purchase an emerald cut with solitaire mounting. I’ve visited a couple of the local jewelers and have found a couple of diamonds that fit my budget ($3000 including mounting). The first is a .88 ct, H, SI1 emerald cut with the diamond priced at $2300. The second is a .52 ct, D, SI1 emerald cut with the diamond priced at $2000. In your opinion, with a solitaire mounting, would it be worth it to go with the .88 ct diamond, even though the color grade is lower, or would it be better to stick with the .52 ct with a higher grade color? Thank you for your advice!
Are those diamonds GIA certified? Or are they non-certified (or worse, gimmick certificates)?
Thanks for getting back to me! I know that the .52 ct D SI1 is not certified. The jeweler offered to have it certified if I wanted, but for my budget and the size of the diamond, advised that it may not be necessary. I’m not sure of the certification status for the .88 H SI1. However, both of these jewelers are very reputable in my area and I know several people who have been happy with the quality of work and customer service each has provided. I hope that helps clear things up a little bit?
I find that very hard to believe. Every horror story we get from readers starts with ‘trusted jeweler.’ Why don’t you offer them this deal; have the diamonds sent to GIA (only GIA). If the diamonds get the grade they claim, you’ll pay for it. If it doesn’t, you don’t pay.
Thanks Mike! I will offer that. What’s the usual charge for GIA certification? Let’s hypothesize that both have accurate grades from GIA, do you think I would be better off with the .88 H SI1 or the .52 D SI1? Will she, I, or anyone else notice that H color in a solitaire mount if we aren’t diamond experts? Conversely, will she, I, or anyone else be able to tell the difference in size between a .52 ct and .88 ct (generally speaking; I understand carat is a measure of weight and not necessarily size)? I’m looking for the biggest bang for my buck, and you can probably tell I’m a little inexperienced with this. I really appreciate all your help!
Cut is far more important than the color/clarity (assuming it’s eye-clean). I would take a better cut 0.52 over a poorly cut 0.88. You seemed to grasp that intuitively (based on your comment on weight vs. size). Once you have a proper certificate, you can better figure these things out.
Ok. I will check out the certification status on the .88 ct H SI1 and keep you updated. Thank you for your help!
My pleasure.
I’ve found a stone that I like. It’s a .77 ct H VVS2 emerald cut certified by EGL USA for $2600. Good buy?
No. It’s a terrible buy. Never buy an EGL.
Thanks Mike. I’m going to do some shopping online and see what I can find. I”m a little hesitant to purchase anything online just because I can’t actually see the actual size and how the stone would look when mounted, and my overall inexperience purchasing diamonds. With an emerald cut, are there dimensions for the table, depth, girlde, etc. that I should look for or avoid? I know clarity is very important for this stone and would want to stay away from anything less than an SI2. What about color? In a solitaire mount with white gold, am I going to be able to tell that an H, I, or J is going to be slightly yellow? Or do I need to stick with a D, E, or F? Thanks!
Cut is very important, but the first thing to focus on is L:W ratio. All the other stats don’t matter without knowing the context (e.g. a longer diamond will naturally have a higher depth%).
You should not be getting an SI diamond at all in emerald cuts. Occasionally there is an eye-clean SI1, but its very rare.
This is a fantastically cut, and eye-clean, diamond that I would recommend for you:
Looks very nice and seems to be a good price. That LxW ratio is about 1.5. Is that about the magic number? My girlfriend saw the bezel setting on James Allen’s website and loved it. What are your thoughts on that setting for an emerald cut?
My thoughts on settings are ‘go with what your girlfriend likes’ 🙂
Seriously, the technical advantages and drawbacks on different settings have so little impact on the brilliance of the diamond, 95% of what drives the setting choice should be style preference. If your girlfriend likes it, go with it.
Yes 1.40-1.50 is the ideal L:W ratio for an emerald.
What are your thoughts on this one?
That looks like a great diamond to me.
Are you tired of me bugging you about all these emerald cuts yet? Haha. In all honesty, I really do appreciate your insight and advice, and apologize if all these questions are getting annoying. I’ve found a couple more that I like and I’d like to get your thoughts.
I know that you don’t normally recommend a J colored stone, but as I look at it, I barely notice the tints of yellow as it moves. Maybe its a pride thing where I tell myself I don’t notice it so I can afford a 1.0 ct diamond. Keeping in mind that we aren’t diamond grading experts or have a trained eye for diamond color, and also considering the white gold bezel setting the stone would be placed in (which I’ve heard also helps hide some of the color and makes the stone appear more white), would this be a good buy?
Comparing the 0.75 H to the 0.93 I, they have nearly the same LxW ratio, but will I (or more importantly she) be able to notice a difference in size, in your opinion? If not, it would seem that the 0.75 H is a much better value considering the lower price and better color grade, but at the same time, I don’t want to be cheap.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks Mike!
Honestly, I think you should go with the original 0.80ct that we talked about.
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